New this week: Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan is a sketch diary, not a manga, but it’s incredibly appealing and would make an excellent gift. Below is Go!Comi’s press release on the book. I definitely suggest you check out their site, which has lots of art from the book (and as a special bonus, when you click the Japan Ai link, the whole site turns pink).
Go! Comi Releases Aimee Major Steinberger’s Japan Ai, Along With Unique Web Content
Los Angeles, 12/17/07
Go! Comi today announced the official release of “Japan Ai: A tall girl’s adventures in Japan,” a manga journal of an otaku trip to Japan by animator Aimee Major Steinberger (“The Simpsons,” “Futurama”). Packed with hundreds of color and black-and-white drawings, the book records Steinberger’s trip through the various worlds of Japanese pop culture: anime, manga, maid cafes, cosplay, all-female Takarazuka reviews, ball-jointed dolls, as well as traditional culture such as hot springs resorts and ancient shrines and temples.
Adding to the uniqueness of this release is the large amount of supplemental online content. Fans who visit the “Japan Ai” section of the Go! Comi website will find an “Omake” (bonus) area containing over 60 pages of drawings not included in the book, as well as dozens of photographs of the actual places, people and events depicted in the book.
Explains Go! Comi Creative Director Audry Taylor: “Aimee’s drawing style is so appealing that cutting the book down to a manageable length was incredibly painful. When we were done we realized that we had 60 pages of cut drawings – nearly a third of the book’s length. We thought, why not make all this material available by putting it online? It’s sort of like the bonus material on a DVD. We’ve got deleted scenes, plus behind the scenes making-of photos. To my knowledge, it’s the first time something like this has been attempted in the field of graphic novels.”
The supplemental material can be viewed in the “Japan Ai” section at www.gocomi.com.
In addition to the website turning pink, did you notice that the words “The Soul of Manga” at the bottom of the page turn into “The Soul of Kawaii”? ;-)