Its main researcher is Domingo Sánchez-Mesa Martínez, Professor in Theory of Literature and Coordinator for the Degree in Audiovisual Communication Studies in the University of Granada (2010-2015). It is an Investigation Project authorised by the Spanish Innovation Office (I+D) CSO2013-47288, based in the University of Granada, but it gathers researchers from other European Universities: University of Barcelona, University of Santiago de Compostela, European University of Madrid, Fernando de Pessoa University of Oporto and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Project Nar_Trans "Transmedial Narratives: new ways of audiovisual fiction, informative communication and performance in the digital era" aims to investigate transmedial narratives and their theori cal and critical specificity, the emerging conditions for its creation, distribution and reception or expansion among the user public in the context of multimedia industries combining, on one side, the investigation on the products of the audiovisual mass industry in their digital metamorphosis and its intersections with the new genres and products from the industries of infoentertaining, as well as in the readjustments of the new literary system and the new ways of theatrical performativity, and, on the other side, the analysis of the deep transformations that are taking place in the news publishing industry all of which tries to answer the demand for transmedial literacy from researchers, creators, students -in their roles of future entrepreneurs- and general public, and also to serve as meeting point for all of them.
The following article relates and contrast these notions to international (“Western”) character theories and argues for their relevance beyond “exotic” Japanese contexts. Kyara can just as easily be enacted and performed as they can be brought back into narrative ( kyarakutā ) contexts. Theorists such as Itō (2005) or Azuma (2009) therefore differentiate sharply between kyarakutā und kyara, the latter being a pre- or meta-narrative “nodal point” for diverging games of make-believe. Such “characters without stories,” or kyara, are thus best understood as “mediated performers,” as fictional actors that can take on any fictional role attributed to them within the participatory cultures and collective creations of fan manga ( dōjinshi ), fan artworks, or even cosplay. They are nevertheless quite typical for the Japanese “media mix” franchising model, designed to allow for user-level reshuffling and reenactment. Rather, virtual idols like Hatsune Miku, fictional mascots like Kumamon, or notorious product placement figures such as Hello Kitty all seem to circulate mostly on non-narrative artifacts such as clothes, office supplies, or decontextualized artworks, and within mediated performances such as stage musicals, cosplay, or public appearances in full-body suits. This article proposes to take a closer look at a variety of contemporary Japanese “character” franchises which cannot be accounted for if the entities in question are primarily understood with reference to diegetic worlds or stories.
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