HARTZHEIM, Bryan Hikari
- Posted
- Wed, 06 Jul 2022
*Not in charge of directed research due to sabbatical leave from March 2026 to March 2027.
*Application for September 2026 entry is closed.
- Title：Associate Professor
- Degree：Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Directed Research：Game and New Media
- Research Field：Media Industry and Production Studies
Biography
My research concentrates on the history and forms of new media industries, with a focus on Japanese popular and digital culture. I’ve been at Waseda now for over ten years and co-run the Waseda Game Lab with my colleague at SILS, Joachim Scharloth, where we have hosted various talks and workshops related to game studies.
I have several overlapping research interests. The first is in game and media production studies, an interdisciplinary field concerned with the cultural, industrial, and material conditions that shape the production of media. My book, Hideo Kojima: Progressive Design from Metal Gear to Death Stranding (Bloomsbury 2023) examines the development culture behind the games of director/designer Hideo Kojima and his teams at Konami and beyond. It has been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. My anthology, The Franchise Era: Managing Media in the Digital Economy (co-edited with James Fleury and Steve Mamber, Edinburgh University Press 2019), analyzes the production, management, marketing, and distribution of tentpole films, television platforms, animation series, and video games to argue that franchises have become the dominant global media-making mode in the early 21st century. I have written several articles on development and licensing in the mobile games industry as well, where I worked as a game planner.
Production studies is also concerned with historical developments within labor and industry, and my book looks at game and technological discourses to map platform and computational histories. I was the guest editor for a volume of Mechademia that focuses on “Media Industries and Platforms” (University of Minnesota Press 2024), in which many of the essays dealt with archival sources and media of anime. I have similarly analyzed the historical discourses and contexts of anime studios such as Gainax and manga publishers such as Shueisha in order to show how labor and branding often reinforce one another.
Finally, I am also interested in how production conditions affect media forms and designs, such as how platform affordances and genre expectations influence game designs and development pipelines. I have written articles on how production conditions of anime television shows shape the screen product, how mangaka play with publishing formats for formal and narrative paratextual experimentation, and how game designers create ludic self-representative forms to critique management.
My current research project is funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science on the indie game scene and culture in Japan, where I look at the forms and genres of Japan’s indie games, as well as the scenes and motivations of its developers and promoters.
Major Works / Publications Awards
Details of a Researcher – HARTZHEIM, Bryan Hikari (waseda.jp)
Directed Research
The MA seminar engages with new media forms and cultures broadly. Students who have a strong interest in digital games and animation, media industries, or the popular culture of Japan are encouraged to apply. The goal of the seminar is not to simply promote or describe media but instead to critically question its meanings and excavate its contexts. Central to this goal are close-reading strategies – whether applied to game and media texts, critical theories, historical archival documents, or popular media discourses – which draw out the deeper meanings of media beyond the established. Students who have academic experience closely analyzing games, film, literature, history, art, social media, and other subjects in the humanities are particularly well-served in this type of research, though students in the social sciences and sciences are welcome to apply if they are open to closely reading various texts, images, artefacts, documents, and spaces. We spend much of the seminar reading theoretical and historical texts in game and media studies, so regardless of background, students should come out of the MA with a stronger ability to think critically about media and its contexts. Recent student thesis examples have looked at ethics and imperialism in tactical and grand strategy games; the substance of the line in animated music videos; female characters/audiences of camping anime and otomé games; definitions of soulsborne and doujin game genres; and the history and shape of mahjong in Japan. A feature of the seminar is that students support and provide feedback to their peers rather than solely rely on their supervisor for guidance.
PhD candidates should have a background in game, media, or cinema studies; cultural studies; area studies; or a related field. Prospective candidates should be self-motivated and articulate a strong research plan – as the doctoral program is more research rather than coursework focused – that provides a specific critique or intervention in their chosen topic and field of study. Students who have topics related to game and digital media or methods in industry and production studies – such as those related to history, labor, and their influence on form and design – are particularly encouraged to apply.