Last week there was a post floating around about anime being better than cartoons. While that title brings forth irony, in that anime is a form of cartoons as well, I think what the author meant to say was anime is better than American animation. It sparked many comments from all sides, and I think it’s still ongoing. But the most interesting thing about this post was there wasn’t specific examples on each point to lead in as proof. Forgive me if I’m going all English Major on you guys, but really. If you want to convince me, show some proof and not just pictures. Though I find the post flawed, it does have some good points I would like to share and rebuttal all of them.

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Sorry for the three days of postlessness, but school is so demanding sometimes. I only had two one-paged papers to turn in, but found myself overwhelmingly critical of what I wrote. Did it sound scholarly? Are there minor errors I missed? Does the thesis exist? So many damn questions to answer in under one hour of editing. Note to all: don’t major in English if you don’t want to write essays.

As tired as I am, all this work has led me to an interesting idea for a post. Since I’m in editing mode, I’d like to share some advice when it comes to creating an entire article or paper on, what else, comics. Though I don’t claim to be an expert editor (I have made some mistakes here and there), I know a few techniques that could help others with their writing. I’m not going to go over how to brainstorm ideas for a topic or the five paragraph rule. I’ll assume you know this already and if not Google.

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While I was going around the web for some manga news, I found an interesting post about the New York Times Best Sellers List regarding manga in their “Graphic Books” section. The post is an open letter to the New York Times asking them to find someone who can clearly present an unbiased view on the summary of their best selling manga.

You may be thinking “it’s just a summary, who cares?” I would have thought the same thing, but being an English major it really gets to me when biased views are clearly present in term papers. So I had to check it out, and sure enough it got to me. Original posting by Erica Friedman at Okazu.

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Lots of things to cover today. Let’s get started.

There is a big sale going on at GoComi.com. The week Ultimate Venue Vol. 1-5 are $32.99. For those who need help on the math, it’s like getting two volumes for free. Limited time only. There are more titles and sales going on the site, so check it off for yourself.

Reminder: Jason Thompson, author to the Manga: The Complete Guide, has been giving away manga EVERYDAY since September 16 at Suvudu.com. If you want a chance to get your hands on his manga, go visit the site for the details.

Another Reminder: The Japan National Tourism Organization is holding a contest right now for all you dreamers. All you need is an essay or a picture essay stating why you want to go to Japan. Get the official rules and details at their site.

Whether you like it or not, a live adaptation of the anime Cowboy Bebop is in talks to be a Hollywood movie. It won’t be in the works for some time, but that hasn’t stopped fans from complaining about the main lead going to Keanu Reeves.

Well, I would be one of those people.

I just can’t see him, the actor with the surfer accent, play one of the best anime characters of all time. (This is the fault of Steve Blum for making Spike so damn awesome.) Seeing as Hollywood has yet to fully prove themselves capable of adapting a Japanese franchise, I’ll hold my biased judgment until I see the trailer. In the mean time, let’s have some fun. Movie sites love to play casting director with actors on certain franchises. Why not us? Here are some Hollywood actors I would like to see take on the Cowboy Bebop roles.

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This is a genuine question that I’m curious about: is reading manga seen as feminine? I mean socially.

If you want my view on the question, I’m going to have to say yes. I don’t have the statistics on the number of female and male readers, though I assume that there are more female readers than male readers. I’ve seen girls browse manga sections of book stores where boys tend to browse the graphic novel and tradeback section. I wondered whether it was a social thing. Though the reason to my thinking is because of one thing. That thing is shojo manga. I think female readers want to read comic books, but don’t have a specific genre played out to them.
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Title: Akuma Bengoshi Kukabara

Author: Youn In-Wan

Artist: Yang Kyung-Il

Chapter: 1 (One Shot)

Summary

When someone dies, their afterlife will be spent either in Heaven or Hell. But what happens when Hell awaits you in the afterlife? Jake Watson is the latest soul that will experience an eternity in Hell, unless he signs a contract to the devil advocate. The devil advocate will agree to defend Jake in exchange for the devil essence that surrounds his soul when he died. He now has a choice: to make a contract with the devil advocate D. Lorian Kukabara, or have his soul taken to the fiery depths of hell.

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There is something about manga, something appealing, something unique, and something great about it that captures you in like a good book. So what if it’s not considered literary (which is debatable since I just took a class on literary themes in comic books, manga included), it’s enjoyable, entertaining, and arty. Ok arty isn’t exactly a word, but that is what it is. It has specific demography coded in their genre making it easier for those to see what is targeted to them. But even the most open-minded person has preferences and a limit on letting certain content side. Shoujo will be our example for today (don’t worry shounen, you’ll get yours soon).

Shoujo is targeted to young girls (age is uncertain, could range from seven years to late teens). Yes, there are people outside the age range that have an interest in shojo, but I’m assuming that number is low. The flowery background, female protagonist, “beautiful” boys, and romantic themed storyline are no stranger to shojo manga. But sometimes there is a lacking here and there that separate it from gaining an older audience. Here are just a few examples.

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Title: Apple

Author & Artist: Naoshi Komi (First name, last)

Chapters: 1 (one-shot)

Summary:

Aramiya Satoshi has the ability to shapeshift into any living thing on earth, as well as some psychic abilities. Life is simple and swell in his junkyard home, except for the fact that the Government wants to capture him and use his abilities to control the outcome of the Earth. And all this trouble was due to a theory that the Earth created him in order to save itself. In other words, he is the key to saving the Earth. Hopefully the whole thing will blow over after dinner.

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A manga giveaway and a trip to Japan contest. Oh yeah.

Jason Thompson, author to the Manga: The Complete Guide, will be giving away manga EVERYDAY starting September 16, 2009 at Suvudu.com. Mark your calendars. See details at About Manga.

Ever wanted to win a trip to Japan? The Japan National Tourism Organization is holding a contest right now for all you dreamers. All you have to do is write an essay…waaaaaaaaiiiit… you can send a photo instead for non-writer types. The topic: WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO TO JAPAN? For the essay, a max of 2010 characters including spaces. That’s about 400 words, give or take. For the photo, a picture and a caption with 201 characters including spaces. That’s around 30 words, give or take. Get the official rules and details at their site.

Good luck to all you participates.