FEATURE: Schoolgirls & Mobile Suits

Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Manga and Anime a.k.a. SGMS is an annual event and workshop exploring the creative and cultural implications of anime and manga art. It’s smart, it can be taken for credit, it’s wacky and fun. It may be the most unique gathering in the world of anime and manga fandom. I’ve been honored to be a speaker there three times and they even let me co-teach a class with Tania Del Rio, their most notable manga-ka graduate. Here’s what they have to say about the event. Below are links to manga by MCAD students, photos of the many SGMS presentations and shows, and much more.

~Jeremy Ross, TOKYOPOP Director of New Product Development

Hosted at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, this internationally recognized three-day event comprises manga drawing workshops, guest lectures by academic experts and professionals in the anime and manga industry and a cosplay fashion show. Attendees have the option to take the workshop for college credit.

SGMS takes place every year in late September -- click HERE for the latest SGMS information from MCAD. 

Since its inception in 2001, SGMS has become a center for discussion on the cultural study, creation, aesthetics, sociology, fascination and wonder of the remarkably broad range of objects and practices that have developed around the global proliferation of Japanese manga and anime.

Neither a convention nor a conference, SGMS has developed over time a casual and intimate interaction between audience members and speakers. The session combines the fun of cosplay, Otaku bazaars, fashion shows and anime screenings with the presentation and discussion of academic papers and the demonstration of artistic techniques, resulting in freewheeling discussions between guests and participants.

Over the years, SGMS participants have gained access to notable experts across a wide range of perspectives, such as Susan Napier, Patrick Drazen, Christopher Bolton, Sharon Kinsella, Masami Toku, Antonia Levi, Brent Allison, Brian Ruh, Marc Hairston, Udon, Tania del Rio, Theresa Winge, Trina Robbins, Peter Paik, Crispin Freeman, C.B. Cebulski, Jeremy Ross, Wendy Siuyi Wong, Tim Lehman, Phil Anderson, Ke Jiang, Erik Lervold, Jeana Jorgensen, Lea Hernandez, Frenchy Lunning and Verssen Werks.

As the workshop evolved, it spawned Mechademia, an annual journal published by the University of Minnesota Press. The heart and soul of Mechademia is found in the work of these speakers and the work of a growing wave of young scholars and creators. As we look to the future, the SGMS workshop will expand and continue to open the discussion and ask the questions of this uniquely pervasive and influential culture.