Ecocriticism Representation in The Anime Tenki No Ko by Makoto Shinkai

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_15How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Tenki no Ko; anime; ecocriticism; literary sociology; Lawrence Buell

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the representation of nature in Makoto Shinkai’s anime Tenki no Ko by applying Lawrence Buell’s ecocritical framework and literary sociology. The study focuses on how nature is depicted not as a passive backdrop, but as an active entity that shapes characters and events. The scope of the analysis is limited to Buell’s four aspects of ecocriticism, namely historical nonhuman elements, the legitimacy of nature’s interests, human responsibility toward nature, and the dynamism of nature. At the same time, the literary sociology approach is used to explore how social, political, and cultural contexts influence the human and nature relationship in the film. Using screenshot documentation of key scenes, this research finds that Tenki no Ko critiques urban exploitation of nature and raises a moral dilemma regarding human responsibility for environmental conservation. The study contributes to ecocritical discourse in Japanese animation by showing how nature functions as both a narrative agent and a cultural critique of modern urban society.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muhamad Ramadhan
AU  - Budi Mulyadi
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/19
TI  - Ecocriticism Representation in The Anime Tenki No Ko by Makoto Shinkai
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Culture and Sustainable Development (ICOCAS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 117
EP  - 125
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_15
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_15
ID  - Ramadhan2025
ER  -