It’s Spring Cleaning here at Okazu Central and that means Lucky Boxes full of utterly random things. I really mean it’s random. I pack these for fit, not for continuity or sense – if a random volume of a thing fits, it goes in. ^_^ And because we still have a good 2 dozen boxes of Bruce’s books in the basement, I’ll be doing more of these all summer long until the garage is cleaned out.

This time we have 5 Lucky Boxes: 1 Large box, 1 Premium Medium box and 3 regular Medium boxes. All the boxes contain a random assortment of manga, books, candy, toys, random pieces of paper things I put in there, and a lot of stuff from our friend Bruce’s collection.

In addition, we have 2 boxes full of BL and adult doujinshi culled from my wife’s collection. These are classic series, like Yu-Gi-Oh and KareKano.

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #1. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.

Large Box 1 – Claimed
Medium Premium Box – Claimed
Medium Box 1 – Claimed
Large Box 1Medium Box 2 – Claimed
Large Box 1Medium Box 3 – Claimed

For the BL doujinshi, we have 2 medium boxes, doujinshi only – these are priced to pay shipping, Paypal fees and handling (i.e., the price you pay for me to carry piles of books up and down stairs, pack them up and such.)
We have two 16lb boxes at $20 each.

BL Doujinshi Box 1 -Claimed
BL Doujinshi Box 2 – Claimed

I can 100% guarantee these boxes are filled with absolute pure stuff, with no guarantees of any other kind. No returns, because look – either you like the fact that you’re spending money on someone else’s stuff, or you don’t.

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To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they go fast and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1- You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs – sorry about that, really. It’s vexing, I know.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing which books you get and since these boxes have doujinshi and other items, I really don’t know what you’re getting.

3 -Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly. Because I will reply asap.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^ 

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!

Okazu is not a globally influential news site, so we’re not in the habit of reporting deaths. We’ve lost a few friends over the years, however. Today we’re joining thousands of others as we say goodbye to ANN Editor-in-Chief, Zac Bertschy.

I knew Zac from back in the day, but over the last decade or so, we’d grown a little closer. He was kind enough to have me on ANNCast from time to time. I always had so much fun talking with him about whatever.  I’ll regret the rest of my life that I never actually got to meet Zac in person. It always seemed like we’d have time. He wasn’t able to make it NYCC last year and we just soft-promised to catch up this year.

What I will remember about him, is the way his voice cracked just a little as he and I talked about Revolutionary Girl Utena and how much it meant to us on ANNCast. He was opening himself to me and to all of our listeners and it was a lovely, vulnerable moment. Thanks, Zac, for letting me come on the show and talking about the things we love together.

Here are links to the shows I did with Zac. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Revolutionary Girl Erica – ANNCast

El Gee Bee Tee – ANNCast

Pop Vulture – ANNCast

ANN La CAST

Zac was a massive influence on thousands of folks every day in the anime community. He has left us a legacy and I hope all of us can continue his work, spreading love of visual media and pop culture.I know. I’ll  continue to do my best. 

RIP, Zac.

Today we’re doing something completely different! We’re going to be looking at an upcoming how-to-draw-manga book that is really worth your time, whether you want to be be able to draw manga or just really want to understand the visual language manga uses. We’re looking at Manga Drawing Deluxe: Empower Your Drawing and Storytelling Skills by Nao Yazawa, creator of Wedding Peach and Moon and Blood. Yazawa-sensei has been teaching folks to draw at her Manga School Nakano for a number of years and these lessons and her own knowledge are boiled down in an understandable and fun book which will be hitting shelves in June 2020.

In the beginning of Manga Drawing Deluxe, Ann decides to draw her own manga, but her brother Dan tells her it’s crappy. Two manga fairies appear to guide the siblings through the steps of ideation and creation of a manga story – with tips and thoughts from Yazawa herself, through the course of the story – in order to help them, in the words of the fairies, make manga that isn’t crappy! ^_^

You’ve probably run in to the same kinds of how-to-draw manga guides I have, common in craft and book stores. Many of these are not drawn by manga artists, but by manga-influenced artists…many of whom are talented in their own right. (Camilla d’Errico’s Pop Manga series comes to mind.)  But it’s pretty rare to find an English-language book by a Japanese manga artist who has been specifically teaching how to draw manga to English-speakers for years. Which makes this book an extraordinary tool for a person trying to understand what makes manga different and what makes it work.

In this book, Yazawa dissects manga composition, story boarding, character design and give useful advice on timing, emotional impact, visual and sound effects, all from the perspective of, specifically, creating manga…although practically all of the book can be used for understanding many different kinds of visual media. I mean, vanishing point is universal and my wife and I ended up discussing de Chirico’s work when I was relating Yazawa’s discussion of how diagonal panels create an “unstable” emotional mood.

If you’re watching Keep Your Hands off Eizouken and enjoying how the series breaks down anime art and techniques, so you understand it more and become a better viewer (and you should be…it’s a magnificent anime series,) you will absolutely appreciate Manga Drawing Deluxe for doing the same with manga. I’ve been reading, and editing and publishing manga for decades, but I learned quite a bit from this book.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 8 Starting with “crappy manga” was perfect. ^_^
Characters – 8 Actually quite fun
Informative – 10

Overall – 10

If you are or know a budding manga artist, or just want to be able to understand what you’re seeing as you read manga, this is an exceptionally good place to begin.  Raise your MQ (Manga Quotient) and become a better artist – and a better manga reader – with this relatable, entertaining and informative how-to-guide.

My very sincere thanks to Yazawa-sensei for an ARC of this book, I will look forward to getting it in print and giving it out as gifts!

In Haru to Midori, Volume 2 (春とみどり) having committed to being a foster parent for her late childhood friend’s daughter, Midori struggles daily to separate her feelings for Tsugumi from the child who looks so much like her. Haru is trying to create a life with this woman who clearly loved her mother, but who seems to have little life of her own.

Tsugumi’s belongings arrive at Midori’s place, and her child’s first thought is to throw it all away, starting fresh. Midori, though, goes through it, knowing the value of items that have no value but are irreplaceable. Haru watches Midori interact with her own mother, able to see the bonds between them, and reflecting on her own bonds, now permanently severed.

In turn Haru and Midori become ill. Haru finds herself comforted by this woman who is not her mother, but finds it in herself to care for her. When it is Haru’s turn, shes not surprised, but still befuddled to be mistaken for her mother, by a feverish Midori.

The gyre turns and turns, spinning Haru and Midori in a circle around their memories of Tsugumi, but every spin, brings some small change in them. Haru’s new life begins to take form and almost amazingly, so does Midori’s. Midori who now wears new clothes to work, and is teased by Haru and her mother and has, at last, started to realize how little she has moved forward since Tsugumi left.

This series is neither melancholic nor nostalgic, although we spend a lot of time looking backward. If it were literary, I’d read it as if it was a memoir told by an adult Haru about this moment in her life. “That time my mother’s friend (who was in love with her) took me in after her death.” It’s a sad series, because death is sad, but there’s bits of humor and comfort that keep it from becoming maudlin.

This is only Yuri in retrospective, as they individually unpack Midori’s feelings for Tsugumi. I hope that they can be allowed to come to care for one another without it becoming romantic, as that would reek of lazy writing.

I have no idea what will become of Haru and Midori, but wherever they end up, I think this has been good for both of them. I can easily imagine that they will come to rely on their relationship through Tsugumi less and on each other more.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9 A lot of time is spent in interior monologue
Yuri – 3 Only in retrospective, as they individually unpack Midori’s feelings for Tsugumi and
Service – 0

Overall – 8

Still awkward, yet sincerely and appealingly so, much like Midori herself. Still ongoing online at Comic Meteor, I’m looking forward to a third volume.