MomoCon 2026 Academic Symposium
May 21-24, 2026
Georgia World Congress Center (Atlanta, GA)
https://www.momocon.com/
Deadline for Submissions: March 1st, 2026
Contact Email: Susan.Noh@uga.edu
Theme: Content Adaptations From Page to Place
Adaptations have always been a central component of the global anime industry. The franchises
and content that we love are often dependent on vast, ever-expanding webs of adaptations to
continue to provide diverse avenues for consumer engagement.
Historically, media mix has played a key role in popularizing the cultural form of anime and is
responsible for contemporary industry formations as we know it. Japanese pop culture industries
find themselves having to adapt to changing social, cultural, governmental, and economic
realities, which in turn influence the kinds of commodities that are produced and circulated
around the world. Thinking of the many ways in which one can apply the concept of Adaptation
to the study of anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture as a whole, we encourage submissions
that reflect on this theme broadly construed.
MomoCon’s 2026 Academic Symposium strives to bring together panelists from varied
backgrounds to present their research, exchange innovative ideas, and celebrate Japanese pop
culture with fans, scholars, and industry professionals from around the world on the topic of
Adaptation. We invite affiliated and independent academics and industry professionals to submit
their research. By bringing together a diverse group of participants, we seek to connect
researchers with a broad non-academic audience and exemplify the rigorous research that is
currently being done in anime and manga studies.
Possible areas of exploration can include, but are not limited to:
• Trans-media content expansion (manga, light novels, video games, anime, amusement
parks, etc.)
• The evolving production practices of creating and distributing anime/manga
• Impact of recent technologies on production and consumption practices of anime and
manga
• Hybrid “anime-inspired” productions and shifting understandings of what constitutes
anime
• Engagement between the global anime industries and the anime fandom
• Shifting features of genre
• Copyright and other legal issues around anime/manga cultures
• Reflections on current sociocultural and political issues and their relationship to
anime/manga
• Issues of representation regarding gender, class, race, sexuality, and other identity
features.
• Evolving fan practices in how one engages with anime/manga culture
• Historical research around production, genre, fan practices, etc.
• Interactive or ludic content worlds
• How Japanese pop culture commodities affect our understandings of cultural and
geographical imaginaries
• Spatial experiences involving connections to content worlds (VR, ARG, tourism, etc.)
• Crafting the everyday and bringing the fictional to life (cosplay, food cultures, etc.)
• The adaptation of anime, manga, and related media for schooling and other pedagogical
purposes
As the symposium will be open to all MomoCon attendees, speakers are encouraged to consider
subject matter that is accessible to non-academic audiences.
Even if your research does not fit neatly with the theme of Adaptation, we encourage you to
apply! The theme and ideas that are listed above are merely suggestions for directions your
research can take.
For consideration, please submit the title of your paper and a 250-word abstract to
Susan.Noh@uga.edu
In extenuating circumstances, we may allow for a virtual modality. Please let me know in
your abstract submission whether you believe that a virtual set-up may be necessary.
All invited in-person participants will be offered free four-day admission to MomoCon 2026.