Looking for Manga in a Japanese Bookstore

Posted on by

If you’re looking to buy a manga from a Japanese bookstore but you don’t want to ask a clerk for help or just plain order it online, you should keep in mind how manga is organized.

First, you have to know the basic genre of of the manga. There are usually categories like shounen, shoujo, seinen, adult, and so on. Make sure you know what genre it’s officially categorized as because your initial impression may be misleading.

Second, is publisher. Before even the title of the book itself, manga are organized by who publishes them. If you want to get a volume of Dragon Ball Z, you’ll have to go to the Jump Comics area with the Shounen section. If you want a volume of Genshiken, you have to go to the Afternoon Comics area of the Seinen section.

Then, after all that, you get to search by name. But then you have to keep in mind that Japanese bookstores use Japanese alphabetical order.

Japanese alphabetical order goes like this: A, Ka, Sa, Ta, Na, Ha, Ma, Ya, Wa, Ra, N. And with each set of letters, it breaks down into a, i, u, e, o. So if you’re looking for Hokuto no Ken, you go to Ha, and then look down past Hi, Hu, and He, to Ho. If you’ve taken any sort of Japanese class, Japanese alphabetical order is probably already familiar to you.

This sort of thing isn’t really necessary to learn, but if you want to get better at focused browsing in a Japanese bookstore, these are good tips to keep in mind.

Today I went to one looking for a specific title, but I didn’t know the publisher so I gave up.

Good Slow Power Creep

Posted on by

Hajime no Ippo is getting a new anime this winter. Eyeshield 21 just finished what one might call its “Part 1.” Both have gone on for many chapters, and both are excellent examples of how to properly show the progress in skill of their characters. There are many reasons why I call this Good Slow Power Creep, and much of it has to do with making the increasing skill levels feel as natural as possible.

In both Hajime no Ippo and Eyeshield 21, the natural progression of their main characters’ abilities in their respective endeavors are tied to the natural progress of the art by their creators. Both start off weak and dumpy-looking, visually the art styles are decent but could stand for major improvement. As the series have progressed over the years, both Sena and Ippo begin to look better and better, gaining maturity and confidence just as the artists have as well. As the artists’ techniques become more sophisticated, Sena and Ippo make leaps and bounds over their former selves. It’s as if the effort of these heroes is a direct result of the effort put forth by their creators.

The best thing about the gradual and almost-unnoticeable power creep is that neither series feels like it’s jumped any sharks. Quite the opposite, they feel like they’ve only just begun. If ever either series begins to falter, I think it’ll be evident in how (un)natural the skill progression will feel.

What’s old is new again with extras

Posted on by

The Genshiken Official Data Book is due December 16 in English, providing profile details, side stories, and even an interview with Love Hina and Negima creator Akamatsu Ken. I already have the book in Japanese, so I was a little on the fence about re-buying it in English, but then I went to Del Rey’s site and it mentions that this book will come with a free poster. The Japanese version did not come with anything of the sort.

So it’s tempting…very tempting…to have something Ogiue-related on my wall.

Can the Dirty Wash Their Hands?

Posted on by

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the most popular female characters ever. With such popularity, it’s very easy to look at Sakura and assume that she’s just a manufactured collection of moe features, or that she’s purposely designed to appeal to pedophiles, to which she is no doubt a popular character. Here is where I tend to argue that people who claim this to be the case are seeing the fruit and not the root. Sakura was not forged in the fires of Moedor but is rather an innocent character so well-conceived by her creators that people could not help but like her. This is what i believe.

But then consider the creators of Cardcaptor Sakura, the all-female manga duo CLAMP. CLAMP is no stranger to the world of otaku. They love manga and anime themselves. They miss deadlines because they played too many video games. Most importantly, prior to their big break they were doujinshi artists drawing things like Saint Seiya.

Kamichu! is the story of a junior high school girl who finds out that she is a god. It’s a sweet kind of slice-of-life story. The creator of Kamichu! is Naruco Hanaharu, artist of many, many pornographic comics.

The question  I ask here is, can a character truly be innocent if their creator has publishing material under their belt that is anything but? Is extensive experience on the adult side of manga a detriment to one’s ability to produce works of innocence, and if so is the damage too much?

I personally believe that it is possible to wash your hands clean and have work that is separate enough that they do not hold sway over each other if the creator so chooses. However, I know that some would disagree with me, and I have little confidence that I’ll be able to just outright convince people otherwise, especially if it’s a strong belief. What I will say is that in comics in general, there’s a lot of proof of comic artists around the world who have done children’s comics and then some “extra” work on the side. Are they all condemned as well?

That said, I do draw the line at a certain point, which is when you draw smut of your own characters who are supposed to be innocent. So sorry, Gunslinger Girl, you have author-drawn doujinshi of the non-wholesome variety. You do not pass this test.

The Fujoshi Files 7: Asano Yukina

Posted on by

Name:Asano, Yukina (浅野 ゆきな)
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Midori Days

Information:
Asano Yukina is a soft-spoken girl who has been drawing manga since she was little. As a child, she had formed a friendship with one Sawamura Seiji, who would later grow up to be feared by men and women alike for being one of the toughest delinquents around. Asano is well aware that Sawamura had a tremendous crush on her, but it appears to not have affected their friendship in any negative way.

Asano’s favorite manga character is Amagasaki Iori, whom Asano refers to as “Iori-sama.” Her favorite pairing is Iori x Fuyuki. So strong is Asano’s love of Iori that she can ramble on endlessly about his wonderful qualities both as a character and as a person.

Fujoshi Level:
Asano Yukina is a fearsome fujoshi who has rejected the realm of 3-D men. In her eyes, none living or dead, fictional or non-fictional are greater than her Iori-sama. She generally considers real men to be selfish and unkind, and seeks comfort in the purely 2-D arms of Amagasaki Iori. Even when her feelings are stirred by a brave display from her friend Sawamura, Asano’s first instinct is to turn him into a manga character, as if to say she prefers to like the fictional Sawamura over the real one.

A Maiden’s Virginity: Is it as “Necessary” as We Believe?

Posted on by

Recently there’s been some controversy among otaku on both 2ch and 4chan regarding Nagi from Kannagi. A recent manga chapter, or perhaps the minds of the otaku reading it, have posited the idea that Nagi is not a virgin. And this is apparently tainting Nagi in the eyes of some of her fans. However silly you think this to be (in my case very), it brings up the question of how valued “virginity” is for idols, fictional or otherwise.

Idols in Japan are not supposed to have boyfriends to give the illusion that any fan has a “chance.” Is this the same ideal that surrounds wanting an anime character to be pure and virginal? Both the real-life idol and the anime character are for all intents and purposes unattainable by the fans, but notion that a female idol will retain her virginity for her fans is futile at best. Maybe that’s part of the appeal of the anime-character-as-virgin, they can maintain the status forever.

(Actually, in some cases, I don’t think the fans mind. Momoi had a concert where she was already pregnant, and she was still loved by her fans.)

I was in contact with Ogiue fans in Japan back when Ogiue first lost her virginity in the manga. What’s odd, relative to this whole Nagi thing, is that Ogiue entering a clearly sexual relationship did not turn off her fans. It did not push them away, or cause them to call Ogiue a “slut.” It only made them love Ogiue more, not because she had sex but because it was a result of her finding happiness. Perhaps the place where it differs is that Ogiue’s sexual relationship was pretty much the resolution to a story while Nagi’s is background information?

Dithering While Breaking the Speed Limit

Posted on by


A few weeks ago made a post concerning dithering and its place in this current age of advanced visuals.

Here, the Kannagi anime is using exactly that effect to give the impression of otaku seeing the two girls as if they were characters in an erogame.

Though with using dithering when this is clearly supposed to be a modern pc visual novel, I have to wonder if this isn’t the visual otaku cousin of those scenes in tv shows where you hear bleeps and bloops as someone is supposedly playing a video game.

PS: Takako is wonderful.

I too shall lament the unlikelihood of Tatsunoko vs Capcom reaching American shores

Posted on by

Tatsunoko vs Capcom, the crossover fighting game which allows you to pit Roll from Megaman againt the ill-conceived-yet-somehow-awesome Gold Lightan, is probably not going to be for sale in America. Much like the Super Robot Wars series, which only managed to legitimately reach beyond the shores of Japan when it released games with Original Characters Only, TvC’s problem is primarily on the T end.

As anime gets licensed in America, there is no hard-and-fast rule that one company’s shows must all go to one US licensing company. This is good for us because if one company goes under it doesn’t take too many shows with them, but it’s also bad because negotiating any sort of crossover game is more difficult than trying to translate Hong Kong subs into sign language. Capcom and Tatsunoko are not Scrooge McDuck, they do not own giant money bins in which they can perform backstrokes, and it only makes sense that they avoid trying to release their mutual effort in game form over here, especially because Tatsunoko is not exactly well known in America. Maybe they could do better in  Spanish-speaking countries.

There’s always the rumor that they could take the engine and modify it into a new Marvel vs Capcom. I don’t know what’s up with the Marvel game license.

In conclusion, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe has terrible Fatalities. I don’t mind the lack of gore, I mind the lack of creativity.

One month to JLPT

Posted on by

And I am totally not ready yet.

Grammar and kanji are not up to snuff, though I’ve definitely made progress. I still have a month to go, but Japanese of this level is not something you can cram for in such a short amount of time.

All that’s left is to bank on that 50% pass mark, or to truly believe that courage will turn 50% into 100%.

Living Off the Scraps of Continuity

Posted on by

Although continuity is commonplace in anime, while growing I always assumed a kids’ show would essentially reset itself after the half hour was over. It was safe, it was reassuring. Nobody died or suffered any lasting consequences unless it was a two-part episode, and then it would simply reset back to square 1 at the end of the following week. I craved continuity, piecing together episodes in my head and a personal fanon (before I knew of the term) in the way a child only could. That’s why it was all the more amazing whenever a show would tease the viewer with bits of continuity.

King Mondo directly confronting the Zeo Power Rangers impressed me. So was finding out that one of Grimlord’s lieutenants was the father of the primary VR Trooper. But nothing comes to mind more than Conan the Adventurer.

Conan the Adventurer was a child-friendly version of Conan the Barbarian where Conan and friends sent their enemies “to another dimension” before Saban decided to bestow that phrase upon its Dragon Ball Z dub. And while Conan met his friends across the land and sea, and they didn’t go away after an episode, Conan never seemed to get any closer to reversing the spell of living stone cast upon his family by the evil Wrath-Amon, the very impetus of his quest. Imagine my surprise one morning(no really, do it!) when I saw Conan and his allies directly fighting not only Wrath-Amon but his lord and master Set, the big final boss master of the series. Not only that, Conan actually managed to soundly defeat both of them and even finally save his family. To actually have a satisfying conclusion to a cartoon adventure, it was such a rare sight that the memory stuck with me, as you might have noticed) even if the show was actually not that great.

But even if a show had no sense of continuity or concept of lasting consequences, I wanted there to be some. It wasn’t what I would call a burning desire, but the shows which gave me a taste of what continuity could add to a story, and the shows without continuity which simply made me want it more, I think it’s definitely one of the many factors that got me into anime.