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Non-Human Celebrities in Digital East Asia

Special Issue of Celebrity Studies–Call for Papers

We are seeking proposals for articles to be included in a special issue on non-human celebrities in East Asia.

Celebrity Studies has expressed interest in publishing the special issue.  

This proposed special issue explores the phenomenon of non-human celebrities in East Asia in the digital age. Non-human celebrities refer to prominent figures that are not human beings but have nonetheless achieved celebrity status in media, culture, and public life. These include animals, fictional characters, mascots, computer-generated personalities, and even personified objects. With the advent of AI-generated figures, some virtual entities are now designed to be virtually indistinguishable from real humans in both appearance and behaviour, further complicating ontological distinctions and challenging the very definition of celebrity. 

While existing scholarship has addressed some of these figures, key gaps remain. As John Blewitt (2013) observes, non-human celebrities, particularly animal stars, are “a human construct,” and their popularity often reflects human desires, anxieties, or ideals.

This perspective becomes even more relevant in the context of today’s platform-driven media environments, which amplify the visibility and marketability of non-human figures. However, most studies to date have taken a predominantly anthropocentric and Western-centric view. There is thus a need to reconceptualise non-human celebrities from a posthuman perspective, while also examining how the phenomenon is shaped by the specific cultural, technological, and social conditions of non-Western contexts. 

East Asia offers particularly fertile ground for such inquiry due to its well-established and globally recognised culture of non-human figures. Examples such as Japan’s Sanrio mascots, South Korea’s webtoon icons, and the capybara craze in Chinese online communities illustrate this deep-rooted cultural engagement. In recent years, technological advancements have further expanded this landscape, enabling the emergence of virtual idols such as the Japanese Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, the AI-generated K-pop group Eternity, and the Chinese AI beauty influencer Liu Yexi. 

We therefore invite contributions to that examine how digital infrastructures, cultural imaginaries, social identities and transcultural activities in East Asia shape the production, circulation, and reception of non-human celebrities. This special issue aims to expand the scholarship on non-human fame in the digital era by offering new theoretical insights and spotlighting understudied cases from the region. 

We are interested in for contributions examining the phenomenon of non-human celebrities from various perspectives, such as: 

• The construction of stardom of non-human celebrities in East Asian context in a digital age 
• The reception and impact of non-human celebrities in East Asian societies 
• The reincarnation of non-human, fantasy figures in East Asian popular media or digital platforms 
• The (re)construction and impact of non-human celebrities out of or into East Asian societies through transcultural activities 
• The shared or concealed stardom of humans behind non-human celebrities 

We welcome articles on subjects including but not limited to:  

• Animals (e.g. panda Fu Bao, border collie Chen Beila) 
• Mascots (e.g. Kumamon, Pengsoo)  
• Animation, manga or visual novel characters (e.g. McDull from McDull franchise, Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion) 
• Videogame characters (e.g. Ch’en from Arknights)  
• Virtual idols, idol groups or VTubers (e.g. Hatsune Miku, Eternity, K/DA, Kizuna Ai)  
• AI-generated influencers (e.g. Liu Yexi)  
• Fantasy figures from myths, folktales, and stories reincarnated in digital media (e.g. Wu Kong from Black Myth: Wukong, Ne Zha from Ne Zha) 

Please submit a title, a 300-word abstract, short biography, and contact information to the editors

• Elaine Chung (ChungE@cardiff.ac.uk),
• Qi Ai (Qi.Ai@outlook.com),
• and Qipeng Gao (GaoQ6@cardiff.ac.uk) 

Deadline for abstract submission: 30 June 2025 

Notification of Acceptance: 15 July 2025  

Full manuscript submission deadline: 15 January 2026