This semester, we will explore a wide range of media works with a focus on experimental and narrative cinema, including eco-horror, melodrama, romance, tech-noir, and anime. Going beyond the concerns of auteurism and national styles, we will approach contemporary Japanese cinema and media as a participant in a series of transnational conversations about cybernetics, media mix, gaming and database aesthetics as well as on emergent forms of sociality (gender, race, sexuality) intimated by the reconfigurations of communication technologies. In addition to discussing the transcultural give and take of media theory, we will explore the various intersections of Japanese cinema with other media forms.