The use of the term in the Japanese (popular) media, however, is rather vague and undefined. Just as in English-speaking circles, but with a slightly different outcome, IMHO. The wikipedia articles on Frontier and the Valkyrie Masterfiles diligently repeat that stock disclaimer that these books aren’t ‘official setting’ (「公式設定」ではない. See here, for example.) However, when I asked some of my Japanese friends what the term referred to, none of them were able to say. Admittedly, none of them are all that interested in the anime, manga and game industry, where “koushiki settei” is most frequently encountered. Furthermore, these friends probably belong to the majority of individuals who are not particularly concerned with the ‘canon’ of a favourite series or franchise. Just as most people probably don’t spend much time or energy on it in the English speaking world.
Ending that tangent, this prompted me to investigate the term a little further. Googling the kanji for “koushiki settei” (公式設定 (NB: google in different regions may find slightly different hits. This one’s from Singapore)) produces some interesting results. Most commonly, it is not used on its own, but rather as a part of several other key phrases in the anime, manga and game industry. The most common one is “koushiki settei shiryoushuu” [公式設定資料集], or “official (setting) documents collection”. Next, we have “koushiki settei gashuu” [公式設定画集], that is, “official (setting) art collection” and “koushiki settei shuu” [公式設定集], aka the “official setting collection”. And yes, the unwieldy English has resulted from me merely lumping the WWWJDIC translations of the individual terms together, though it’s important to note the common word: ‘collection’. If one then investigates what these collections are, one discovers books that detail many of the important official materials produced in the development of a particular work or franchise. They typically consist of sketches of the characters, vehicles and even backgrounds, along with interviews with key creators – the director, the writer, the character designer, the composer, even the seiyuu – detailing how a particular work was made. In other words, one finds what we in the West might call ‘guidebooks’, ‘materials books’ and ‘artbooks’.
Behold: the typical contents of a book with "koushiki settei" in its title...
Behold: the typical contents of a book with “koushiki settei” in its title…
The one exception that I’ve been able to find is from the Gundam franchise, where “koushiki settei” appears to have been used, by both fans and creators alike, to refer both to those official materials, and also to in-universe materials. A key example is the volume known as the Anaheim Journal (Mobile Suit Gundam Official Setting Collection [機動戦士ガンダム公式設定集 アナハイム・ジャーナル U.C.0083-0099]), which has been written as a bunch of material produced in-universe by Anaheim Electronics, a fictional weapons producer that appears in the U.C. Timeline. It’s an interesting book: from a quick glance, it reads like a magazine that has been produced by Anaheim to showcase its technology, replete with ads from other groups that have helped fund its publication!
But I’ll come back to this later.
