• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.71-79
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• 2012

In Japan, the number of late night animations has increased from the 2000s. In 2010, it exceeded the number of other Japanese animations playing between 6:00 to 23:00 (pre-late night). People watching these late night animations were mostly adolescents or older. Late night animations involve various niche themes, however, the ranges of the main characters' actions of these stories were narrower and more limited compared to the pre-late night animations. The causes for these differences in the scales of the settings were found by comparing the late night and pre-late night animations. The most popular animations from these two time slots were used in the analysis. Firstly, the main characters' ways of approaching their goals were analyzed. Secondly, the settings and directions that the main characters used were analyzed. Lastly, the main characters' degree of interactions with other people was analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the main characters' goals from the late night animations were often found to be commonplace and they tended to achieve their goals by very realistic means. In addition to that, the stories of these main characters revolved around small and familiar communities. Thus, their connections with people were comparatively smaller than those of pre-late night animations and were based upon shared interests. In other words, the differences in the scales of the settings between the two types of animations resulted from the stories of the late night animations revolving mainly around reality, communities, and relationships within the communities.