A Study on the Effect of the Use of Story Marketing in Japanese Popular Culture ‒Focusing on the Secret of Success of Animation ‘Gundam’ ‒

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of the use of story marketing in the genre of animation in Japanese popular culture. Analyzing animation Gundam as a concrete research object, this paper investigates the secret to become a successful industry from the four following perspectives: a differentiation strategy of a story, comprehensive acceptance of different generations and genders, a strategy of one-source multi-use, characteristic to the genre, and continuous technical innovation. As a result, the success of animation Gundam is due to well-organized plots of a story and effective uses of story marketing.