If you’re not at Anime Expo, don’t despair—there’s plenty of good stuff going on that you would probably miss if you were standing on line in Anaheim. So relax, put your feet up, and get a load of today’s links.
Bento Physics is going to take a look at a subject that I’ve always found fascinating but too broad to tackle in a blog post: The attitudes toward women that are expressed in shoujo manga. Their inspiration is this livejournal post by Rachel Nabors, on the dearth of comics for women, which is an interesting commentary in its own right.
There’s something new at Mainichi Daily News: a manga that you can read in Japanese or English. The text on the screen is in Japanese; mouse over it for the English (the translation appears very low on the page, so this works best with a big screen). The first work to get this treatment is titled A six feet girl: She cares about it being tall, which doesn’t make me real optimistic about the translations.
A Seattle paper looks at the graphic novel phenomenon, including manga, and elicits some thoughtful comments from purveyors.
Graphic novels were prominent at the recent American Library Association conference; ICv2 has the report.
This article from Korea looks at the popularity of “Against the Korean Wave,” the Korea-bashing manga that seems to be doing well in Japan:
According to Mainichi Shimbun on July 1, the comic book, which criticizes Korea in provocative languages, going against the Korean wave that swept Japan, has sold 670,000 copies a year after its release.
Apparently it actually has a plot, although I can’t imagine it’s a very good one.
Pingback: Love Manga » Blog Archive » Online translated Manga
I understand that article was written because of “Superman Returns” this week and comic book movies but from a standpoint of “phenomenon”, isn’t the real story that manga is taking off and leaving American comics to adjust?
According to Bookscan numbers isn’t the graphic novel phenomenon essentially the manga phenomenom? I don’t see a single American comic in there if it doesn’t have a major motion picture helping promote it.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
That article from the Dong-A Ilbo is pretty highminded when it comes to ignoring the fact that Koreans give just as good as they get when it comes to the cultural war being waged between Korea and Japan in the mass media. You should see the level of anti-Japanese sentiments in some of the most widely-marketed movies that come out of Korea every year (“2009 Lost Memories” and the upcoming “Hanbando” come immediately to mind, but there are at least a dozen others). Responsible journalists, when writing an article like this, should mention that the battle of words and images between Korea and Japan (always couched in the most passive-aggresive they-started-it-we’re-just-retaliating language imagineable from BOTH sides) is simply a part of both national cultures that will not only probably always be there, but is actively encouraged and passed on down the generations as well.
Neither side is right. Neither side is wrong. If I were forced to moralize on the point, I would only say that I personally find teaching hatred to one’s children and grandchildren a bit distasteful.
Sorry, just had to rant for a minute. Forgive me?
Jack: Keep an eye on Fun Home—it made the top 20, it got a great review in the Times, and I even heard an interview with the author on NPR. That could be the non-manga breakaway.
Mike: All opinions welcome, as long as you’re not selling pr0n or v14gra. And besides, you’re making sense! I do think we need to rise above such things if the human race is ever to evolve, but years of experience suggests it’s harder to do it than to say it.
Pingback: TangognaT » Pillows and Manglish