The abridged phenomenon: the fan made parody of anime

Abstract

This article aims to study the abridged series, a type of western fan made parodies that use summarized original footage from famous animes. This phenomenon has become popular on Youtube and shows the possibilities of adaptation and transformation that have the anime fans through new media and new technologies. Also, abridged series demonstrate the tendency of fans to employ the parody as a way to apprehend the media universe and as critical commentary about reality. In the context of digital culture, the abridged series based on Dragon Ball Z, Yu Gi Oh!, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are analyzed through reviewing the parody, the intertextuality, and the intermediality theories. From this exam, it can be concluded the following: firstly, this type of parodies are closely related with other fan made expressions, such as fanfictions, or fanfics, fansub, fandub, fanart, fanfilms, and fangames. Secondly, abridged series, as well as any other fan made recreations of anime, are intertextual and intermedial devices that refer to constituted textual worlds to convergent media. Finally, fictional and media universes can be conceived as artifacts to comprehend and to communicate with reality. Coupled with this, abridged series, as parodic fan made recreations of anime, are a way to the reinterpretation of these worlds, as well as a form by which fans appropriate the reality, or realities, referred by the anime and other cultural products.