Where program and fantasy meet: Female fans conversing with character bots in Japan [symposium]

Abstract

Character bots are automated programs that post—that is, tweet—characters' lines from popular manga, anime, games, and so on. They post regularly, and in the past few years they have become difficult to ignore, especially in fan communities. Many fans take great pleasure in interacting with favorite characters as bots; rhey also enjoy the communities that spring up around favorite series, characters, and, yes, even bots. Here I adopt an ethnographic approach to analyze the human dimensions of the phenomenon of character bots, based on participant observation among female fans in Japan.

Keywords

• Fan community
• Fandom
• Fujoshi
• Japan
• Popular culture
• Twitter
• Women
• Yaoi