What should a university-level course about manga and anime culture cover as part of its curriculum? This question is not asking about a course that teaches how to create manga or anime, but a curriculum of a course similar to English literature. Such course would teach the history and culture of anime and manga by studying representative works of different periods and genres and their cultural and social impact.

The answer should consider the following:


No previous manga and anime exposure nor Japanese language required.
The course should take one or two semesters (8-16 weeks). Each week, students should spend 3-4 hours at school weekly and some additional time doing homework. 
The format of the course should be lectures + seminars, where lectures take form of presentations by the lecturer and seminars consist of reading, watching and analyzing selected works. Homework should be just about reading and watching the selected works to prepare for seminars.
The course would probably be best suited for online education, but that should not be a limiting factor for the answer.


After finishing the course, the students should:


know what anime and manga is, where it began and how it become popular
have watched and read the most notable examples works in anime and manga (not necessarily full series)
understand different periods, genres and styles of both anime and manga
catch the obvious references to the anime and manga classics in other tv shows, movies and books and graphic novels
be able to select manga and anime for themselves that they could read/watch and enjoy


What format should be given in the answer?


A syllabus of the course
Each week's description should have a title (such as: "History of Manga and Anime" or "Miyazaki's work and influence") and description itself, a short paragraph and notable recommended works to read and watch.


Existing courses

The following courses can serve as an inspiration:


https://www.coursera.org/course/comics
Some Notes Before Reading

This is an imaginary course that I have created. I think it gives a broad enough overview of the subject for a single term, but I think it could be extended easily to a two term course if a more in-depth knowledge was required.

I'm assuming 1 hour lectures twice a week, enough time in seminars to do full screenings, and a knowledgeable lecturer. There are 8 weeks to a semester, as described by the original question.

The course could be an elective for new students studying film, media studies or a similar subject. 

It could be easily enough adapted for an online course through discussion forums and recorded lectures/seminars.

Course Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction to Anime/Manga Culture


Lectures

A - Introduction to course and its aims, Brief overview of syllabus and related items
B - Anime vs Cartoons, Brief description of differences and history

Seminar - Watch an episode of both a distinctly "cartoonish" show and an distinctly "anime" show - (Suggested Looney Toons Vs Cardcaptor Sakura) . Discuss and follow up with a less clear-cut comparison (Suggested: Avatar: The last Airbender)
Homework - N/A :)


Week 2: Anime in the Western World


Lectures 

A - Mainstream anime - Ghibli, Pokemon
B - Broader interest - Crunchyroll, Vertical Publishing

Homework - Watch and review one student-chosen translated animated film that displays distinct cultural differences from western shows. 
Seminar - Watch lecturer-chosen film and have an interactive discussion cultural differences and etc with the class (Suggested: My Neighbour Totoro for both its popularity and contrast of culture [beliefs in spirits, etc])


Week 3: Genres of Anime/Manga and their development


Lectures

A - Anime/Manga genres &amp; their associated tropes &amp; features
B - Gekiga Movement, Moe and the history behind some of these genres 

Homework - Read and review a work by a Gekiga author (Suggested Osamu Tezuka)
Seminar - Screenings of episodes of well-known titles within different genres. (Suggested "Sailor Moon", "Naruto", "Gundam")


Week 4: Anime &amp; Manga during Wartime


Lectures:

A - Background information about Japan &amp; WWII
B - Manga as a political medium

Seminar - Screening of "Grave of The Fireflies", "The Wind Rises", or other suitable item
Homework - Read lecturer-selected war-themed manga from this period (Suggested MW by Tezuka).


Week 5: The evolution of Artistic style


Lectures:

A - History of artistic style - Humble beginnings to 1999's
B - Recent Changes in style - 1990's to Present

Seminar - Comparing and contrasting recent shows with ones from different time periods (Suggested: "Saru Masamune", "Doraemon", "Ranma 1/2", "Akira", "K-on")
Homework - Essay comparing a modern anime to a pre-1990's anime 


Week 6: The anime production process


  Note: Week 6 could be replaced with extended discussion of week 5 if the lecturer so desired



Lectures:

A - Acquisition of an anime, pitches, support.  Second half of lecture to describe the production process
B - Production process cont., Sales &amp; Promotion

Seminar - An inspection of different works, analyzing the reasons why they greatly succeeded or failed (Suggested "Neon Genesis Evangellion", "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" for successes)
Homework - Write report on contributing factors to anime commercial success


Week 7: Akibahara, Otaku and the obsessive culture surrounding anime


Lectures

A - Cosplay, Conventions
B - Otaku, Social stigma, "Weeaboos"/"Wapanese"

Seminar - Screenings of convention recordings (both East &amp; Western) and otaku interviews (There are several documentaries that cover this topic) - With optional discussion afterwards.
Homework - N/A


Week 8: The increasing ubiquity of anime


Lectures:

A - Anime stylism in government posters, advertisement, increasing appearance in everyday japan
B - Revision Lecture (Assuming an exam at the end of term)

Seminar - N/A
Homework - N/A


Assessment:

Personally I would have a 50:50 ratio of coursework to exam marks in order to attain a final grade. This exam would consist of a 2 and a half hour exam covering topics from each section of the course. Coursework would be graded on the quality of the deliverables, with additional marks for novelty.

With an online course, this may be adjusted to suit the setup accordingly.

Suggested Additional Reading Materia


Selected volumes of http://mechademia.org/
Anime: A history by John Clements
A Geek in Japan: Discovering the Land of Manga, Anime, ZEN, and the Tea Ceremony  by Hector Garcia
Starting Point by Hayou Miyazaki
A Drifting Life by Yoshiro Tatsumi


What will I get out of this Course?

The students will, after this course, be able to:


Appreciate differences between anime and western media
Understand the culture around the media
Understand the genre types within the media
Be able to identify and discuss the different periods of anime
Recognize many anime references within other media