Rate My Professor Francesco Panto

Francesco Panto is an Italian-born psychiatrist and visiting research fellow at Yokohama City University’s Minds1020Lab. Born and raised in Sicily, Italy, he developed an early interest in Japanese anime during childhood, which helped him navigate personal challenges including bullying and feelings of isolation. He studied medicine at a university in Rome and obtained an EU medical license before moving to Japan in 2015 on a Japanese government scholarship. There, he studied under Professor Tamaki Saito at the University of Tsukuba, focusing on hikikomori research. Panto learned Japanese through self-study, passing the JLPT N1 exam on his first attempt, and obtained his Japanese medical license in 2018 after passing the required national examinations. He completed his trainee period at Keio University and has since worked at several clinics in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Panto is the originator of “anime therapy,” also referred to as character-based counselling, which draws on narrative elements from anime to support mental health treatment, particularly for conditions like depression and hikikomori. He published the book “Anime Therapy” in 2022 with Kobunsha and has been involved in a collaborative pilot study at Yokohama City University with Dai Nippon Printing, testing online counselling using anime avatars. His work emphasizes the potential of anime storytelling to reduce barriers to seeking psychiatric care. Panto also serves as CEO of Aniwell LLC and maintains a clinical practice while pursuing research in mental health applications of popular culture.