Manga Readers Read Badly, Anime Watchers Watch Badly

November 6th, 2009

I’m on my way to present at an event tonight, so don’t have time for a review, but I wanted to share something I’ve been thinking for a while…and open it up for discussion.

When I was a kid comics readers were also book readers. Voracious book readers. Kids who read comics read pretty much anything that had words on it and for ages every comic fan I knew read way above their “appropriate” age level. We were the only kids not surprised in sex ed class, because we’d all been reading books for adults for so long that it wasn’t a shock to the system how that all worked.

I can’t help but notice that many manga and anime fans these days seem to be…pretty bad readers. They don’t get literary or artistic references. In fact, if it’s not games, they often miss that anything all was referenced. They haven’t read classics in mostly any genre. If it wasn’t a movie, they’ve never heard of it.

I’m not saying every reader of manga is a bad reader or every watcher of anime is a bad watcher, but based on comments here and on forums Internet-wide and in fansubs, where references are often missed in herds, some folks really need to crack open a book without pictures from time to time.

So, here’s the discussion part.

If you were going to suggest *two* novels for a manga reader to read to extend their understanding of the world they inhabit, which novels would it be? It can be any genre, history, myth, sci-fi, non-fiction, anything. If you are suggesting a book like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it might be helpful to suggest an edition or ISBN, as well.

My two suggestions are:

Summer of the Ubume, by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, recently translated by Vertical. It covers a *lot* of ground through Japanese religion, mysticism, the world of Yokai and science. All very useful information if you want to understand tons of references in anime and manga. And there was, gods help us, an anime based on the next book of the series, Mouryou no Hako. Yes, it’s that author.

My second suggestion may seem totally off the wall, but trust me there’s a reason I’m suggesting it. If you haven’t already read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, I beg you to do it now. It’s a brilliant tale of human nature. Which is *exactly* what manga and anime fans seem to lack – a critical understanding of human nature. Not only does a little dose of Stalinist Russsia make you realize how wonderful your life is, Solzhenitsyn is simply a great writer.

I’ll take the best and most cogent comments (suggestions with commentary on why it’s a good choice) and move them to the body of the post with links for easier access.

And let me remind you that classic literature is often found for *free* in your local library. So you don’t really have an excuse to not at least try a book or two.

So..let’s have ’em – what do you think people ought to read in order to be better readers of manga and watchers of anime?

***

WOW! What fantastic suggestions! Here are a few that are either extremely popular, or just amazing, “You really ought to read this” kind of books. I’ll break them down into a few categories for ease of understanding the motivation behind the suggestion. But don’t limit yourself to these – read all the comments and read all the books. I’ve added a few to my own to-read list, in fact. And please remember, you can find almost all of these and the ones suggested in the comments at your local library – for FREE.

Japanese Literature

Kwaidan – A must-read for understanding of Japanese spirits and monsters, known as yokai.
Summer of the Ubume – a must-read for psychology meets yokai
Tale of Genji – Aside from being the oldest novel, it’s the oldest josei work. You’re read this a million times even if you’ve never read it once – it’s about a pretty boy, the women he treats like crap and his clothes.

Russian Literature

Crime and Punishment – As Kate mentions, many Japanese manga artists went through a “Russian” phase. This book is a classic of psychology.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – because this lesson of managing expectations is timeless.

There are no new plots

Shakespeare – He did it all.
Decameron – Boccacio did it all first.

Classic Girl’s Literature

Anne of Green Gables – intense friendship between girls, echoed by practically every schoolgirl story ever. Got your souer right here.

Little Women – Classic, classic, classic. And mentioned in every third school play.

Little House on the… – no one mentioned this, but this, along with Little Women *defined* American girls’ literature for a century, in the same way Hana Monogatari defined Japanese girl’s lit.

Human nature

1984 and Animal Farm – These two brutal, ham-handed allegories on politics make sense every day in every place on the planet.

Tale of Two Cities – Deception, love, self-sacrifice and giving one up for the team maps perfectly to just about any anime or manga.

and in a category by itself;

Just READ this already

Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass – These stories have been ripped, stomped, shredded, parodied in too many anime or manga series to count. It has instantly recognizable visual imagery and is, after the Bible and Shakespeare, the third most quoted book in the *world*. If you haven’t read the original, you’ve missed.

Read. It’ll make you a better person and a better fan!

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion | 52 Comments »


New Anime Fall 2009 Season: Kämpfer

November 6th, 2009

Kämpfer is either an incredibly silly anime with no redeeming value whatsoever or a surprisingly intelligent critical look at “magical girl” tropes in seinen anime.

As a silly anime, it’s the story of Senou Natsuru, a stereotypically nice but sort of dorky guy who, for plot purposes, suddenly changes into a girl in order to fight for her life. Natsuru is one of those characters who asks the wrong questions badly, so gets useless information in return. Several episodes into the series he still has basically no clue why he’s fighting. Natsuru as a boy is nice, ineffective and stutter-y. As a girl, Natsuru is *exactly* the same, except she now has magic powers. Natsuru’s neighbor and friend, Sakura, is uninterested in Natsuru as a guy, but when she is saved by female Natsuru, she falls head over heels. (“And the moral of that story,” said the Duchess, “is that women will always fall for magic competence over ineffectual niceness.” To which Alice replied, “Nonsense! The moral of the story is that Sakura is a lesbian.”)

As a surprisingly intelligent critical look at tropes of the guy’s version of magical girl anime, we are introduced to a man who is a better woman than he is a man, but really not that great of a woman. He transforms into a magical fighter then given *no* reason to fight; he is pursued by the women around him as both a man and a woman, but is incapable of following through with any of them in any form. There are “cute” magical mascots in the form of eviscerated and mangled stuffed animals – I’ll come back to them later – and, in what I consider a piece d’resistance – he is subjected to all the stereotypical service dress-up scenes after which he sighs, “I feel as I’ve just had my humanity stripped from me.” Yes, Natsuru, you have. Just as all the other girl characters who’ve been put through that nonsense have.

The real reason any sane person would watch this anime is the “Entrails Animals.” These evil and unpleasant little mascot creatures are voiced by popular voice actresses – with a 4th wall crushing recognition of each other’s voices. Not *just* popular voice actresses, but VAs that have themselves built up a following voicing characters in exactly the kind of anime of which this series is a meta-comment.

I’d like to give Kämpfer the benefit of the doubt and assume that it is consciously written as a poke at the genre. I’d like to, but I can’t. It’s probably just a really silly series. (“And the moral of that story, said the Duchess, “is that you can’t compare gender-switching comedy anime to a critical reading of societal norms.” Alice nodded solemnly. “I think that’s the only sense I’ve ever heard from you.”)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 4
Characters – 5
Yuri – 7
Service – 36

Overall – 7

Posted in Miscellaneous | 7 Comments »


Taisho Yakyuu Musume Manga, Volume 1 (大正野球娘) Guest Review by George R.

November 4th, 2009

TYMM1Once again it is my great pleasure to welcome back George R., with another timely review, so I can get a few chores done. :-) As it happens, thanks to another Okazu Superhero, Bruce P., I am currently reading this very volume, so I may have some comments at the bottom. In the meantime, George, the room is all yours….

Seeing Taisho Yakyuu Musume from this summer’s anime lineup prompted me to look at its appearance in other media. This show followed the now-common path of starting as a light novel series, then branching out to both manga and anime adaptations. I’ll talk about Volume 1 of the manga here, as I still need to get the novels. In this case, the manga adaptation is done by Shimpei Itoh, a well-established mangaka, though not one known for Yuri.

I think the manga works well on its own, though it is interesting to see how it differs from the anime. For instance, several girls end up playing different positions, which makes me wonder where the novels originally assigned them.

The art is unquestionably Shimpei Itoh’s style. This differs from the anime, but is just fine in its own right. In fact, the art and humor remind me of his 1999 manga, Shoujo Tantei (Girl Detective), which was also set in the Taisho era, but has no Yuri. I think Itoh-sensei’s girls are a bit less moe than those of the anime, or at least Koume and Noe are.

It also follows Itoh-sensei’s story-telling style including a healthy dose of physical comedy and over-the-top humor. Somehow I doubt the novels include Noe experimenting with small rockets for military use (unsuccessfully) or suggesting they make bats from aluminum (accompanied by an illustration of an aluminum-armored tank from the ’70s). Those just seem his style. A couple bath scenes give us a little humor and also a chance to see the characters modelling their birthday suits. I wonder why the Japanese seem to have a fascination with spring-based resistance training harnesses. I’ve seen these in multiple shows. These appear a couple times here, though only played for humor.

The first volume of the manga covers introducing the characters and assembling the team. Baseball doesn’t even come up until the second chapter where we get Akiko’s motivation and her request to form the team.

Koume is still the sweet girl who happily follows and supports her friends through their adventures. Her mother seems to have no problem with her and baseball, wishing her a fun time and even letting her wear a western school uniform.

Akiko is the same rich daughter who is chauffeured to school, so naturally she is called Ojou. Noe is more of a ringleader here, taking Akiko’s baseball idea and running with it. She is the only one, other than Anna-sensei, who starts knowing anything about baseball.

We are given a closer look at some of the supporting characters. Shizuka is possessive of her twin sister Tomoe, and they both seem equally athletically competent. Their dad is a well-known doll-maker, and some call the twins living dolls he made. Tomoe likes Koume’s friendliness and warmth and hopes that becoming friends will warm the heart under her (and maybe Shizuka’s) cool porcelain skin.

Tamaki and Yuki are childhood friends. Tama-chan takes care of all the cooking at home as her mother is busy being a newspaper reporter. This may be a bit anachronistic for Japan of this era, but I find it hard to argue with women having independent careers like she and Anna-sensei do. However, Tama-chan certainly wishes her mother was a bit more responsible at home, which may be the source of Tama-chan’s attitude. Yuki is her same responsible, caring self, supplying her
friends with advice and equipment among other things.

Saburo comes off well as Koume’s fiancee, even taking her out for a date to watch a practice baseball game. When he finds she knows little of the game, he happily explains it to her.

What Yuri is here requires goggles to see. Mine needed a higher setting for the manga than the anime. We are treated to displays of both akogare and shinyuu in the different relationships among the girls. Kome and Akiko vary between the two. Tama-chan and Yuki have the comfortable ease of shinyuu, whereas Tomoe’s feelings for Koume are definitely akogare, as are those of Tomoe’s fanclub.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 4

Overall – 6

In all, I found this an amusing manga. Though it never made me fall off the couch laughing, it did bring many a grin to my face. I will admit to preferring the anime. Perhaps because it seemed better at keeping the feel of the Taisho era: some of Itoh-sensei’s humor jars my mind out of the era. Or perhaps seeing the anime first left me naturally biased in its favor.

Erica here. The art style is distinctively Itoh’s and, as a result, everyone is a bit over the top. Akiko’s fiancée’s rant about women in the home was three pages long and done at high volume, as opposed to his quiet, old-fashioned confusion as to why on earth women would want more from the anime.

I disagree that baseball is not mentioned until the second chapter – and, oddly, it seems that you’re not alone in thinking this, George. In the first chapter, the baseball team is *already* formed, Koume’s mother asks her if it’s fun to play baseball, and she waxes rhapsodic about how much fun practice and games are. The rest of the story is a flashback to how the team was formed. I’m guessing that, since Itoh’s specialty is not sports manga, they skipped trying to show any of that. ^_^ So we can understand that Koume and the others are, in fact, *already* playing ball, even if we don’t see it. Which we don’t. ^_^;

The other thing I wanted to add was that the anime, surprisingly, added a great deal of dignity to the story. By pulling back from over-the-top antics and rants, the issue of feminism was handled really, shockingly, well. Considering the dehumanization of women into object d’fetish so often in anime, it was just that much better handled than I could have possibly expected. Where the anime was a comedy-drama, with an emphasis on “sports drama,” this manga is definitely “comedy.” Fun, at times funny, but firmly in the “wackiness ensues” side of comedy. It is Itoh, after all. ^_^

Well thank you, as always, George for a great review!

Posted in Guest Review, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Manga no Tsukurikata, Volume 2 (まんがの作り方)

November 3rd, 2009

In Volume 2 of Manga no Tsukurikata, it’s been a year and Morishita and Kawaguchi are still going out. They haven’t moved past the occasional hand-holding, but hey, that’s okay Kawaguchi’s manga is progressing, so…yay?

Kawaguchi’s plan appears to be working; by going out with Morishita, she has stimulated her creativity and her new manga series has debuted. She is thankful, she is kind, she gives Morishita a one-year anniversary present. Morishita is appreciative, but this prolonged strain on her one-sided feelings is starting to show. She has a crisis of faith about her own manga, and about her relationship with Kawaguchi.

I can’t blame Morishita – in a year, they still aren’t calling each other by their given names, a sign that they haven’t truly moved into any kind of intimate relationship at all. Kawaguchi is supportive and encouraging – everything a sempai ought to be, but still, is failing at the lover part.

For my part as a reader, I’m having a hard time understanding this manga. (“Understanding” as in, “why the heck am I reading this?”) It’s so barely Yuri that it’s almost unfair to give it that label, but it *is* Yuri. Morishita’s feelings are real. I’m having a lot of trouble coping with Kawaguchi’s attitude – a year is a loooooong time to string someone along when you don’t really love them. Her affection for the younger woman is undeniable, but that’s it – it’s affection. Like a sister, a friend, a sempai for her beloved kouhai. It’s annoying to watch Morishita hanging on the hook with no worm in sight.

And then there’s the real plot. The real plot has nothing whatsoever to do with any real or imagined relationship – it’s a meta-story about drawing a Yuri manga. Here I am, the mangaka says to us in each chapter, flailing around trying to write a Yuri manga when I don’t really “get” the whole thing. Which is exactly what the series feels like – a Yuri manga written by someone who doesn’t “get” the whole thing.

The issue of honesty that I brought up in Volume 1 is not addressed at all in Volume 2, and I feel like the mangaka has abdicated authority on the story, The potential is slipping away as chapter after chapter of not hardly anything glides by. As a story of a woman drawing manga, it’s not bad, but there’s this whole issue of her completely fake relationship in the way of my enjoying it. It’s not just Morishita who is being cheated out of a good experience, it’s the reader, as well.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 6

Best chapter of this volume was when Kawaguchi’s fan/assistant arrives and spends the entire chapter cluelessly dissing Morishita’s art, not realizing she’s a popular mangaka in her own right.

Posted in Hirao Auri, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Click Manhwa, Volume 4 (English)

November 2nd, 2009

There are two crucial qualities for a “Love Comedy” (as opposed to a ‘romantic comedy,’ which is something else entirely.)

First, there ought to be Love. Almost without exception, both Japanese manga and Korean manhwa fail at this part. (I don’t know if Chinese manhua does, since I have read very little of it, but I suspect so.) Instead of characters who love one another, they are filled with characters who barely tolerate each other and are, from time to to time actively violent both verbally and physically. This, we are meant to understand is because they *care deeply* about one another.

It’s not that this is particularly unrealistic. There are many couples who show their love by sniping incessantly at one another. But it’s less fun than a barrel of monkeys for people caught on the sidelines. (I’m saying this with complete awareness that my wife and I have a strong tendency to be that kind of couple.)

Translated to a story, it makes the characters really unlikable. If you don’t like him, we think, why not just walk away? Love is not some overwhelming magnetic force that means you *have* to stay with her.

The second thing a Love Comedy needs is Comedy. This is also something that manga and manhwa are pretty slipshod on. Flipping up a girl’s skirt is neither romantic nor funny, for instance. “Accidentally” grabbing a girl’s breast is simply not as hilarious as manga editors seem to think. And manic-depression in the form of denial, even when you call it tsundere isn’t really all that charmingly fun.

The problem with Click, Volume 4 is that it completely fails to have much Love or much Comedy.

There is *some* love. Joonha is “in love with” her idea of Jinhoo, but it’s not Love. It’s more like an obsession, or an itch. They would even make an okay couple since Jinhoo knows from years of experience what an ass Joonha is, but Joonha’s gender change is as much an obstacle to their being together as her original gender was.

Since we all know men and women absolutely, positively cannot be friends without sexual feelings for one another, a perfectly good friendship between perfectly good equals is ruined by Taehyun’s feelings for Joonha. On the one hand, it’s exhausting, on the other, Taehyun’s interest in Joonha is pretty much the only honest affection there is in the story.

And then there’s Heewon. She has no Love in her, for Joonha, for herself, for anyone. She’s wounded and angry and lashing out. And as a joke, she’s tired. Her verbal and physical abuse of everyone around her is exhausting, and the fact that Taehyun’s lackey friend is a perfect partner for her dominatrix side isn’t really satisfying on any level.

Every one of these characters has gobs of talent and money and not an ounce of Love or Comedy in them. It makes for a constipated read, something you watch like a train wreck, waiting for the inevitable crash.

However, I can’t find it in my heart to hate these characters. They, like Jessica Rabbit, were drawn this way. I can’t *quite* stop reading this series until Heewon gives up Joonha for good and then everyone will be tucked neatly in proper little heterosexual boxes, except for the Jinhoo x Joonha thing, which will be strung along as a fake BL story as long as the author can manage.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – .5
Service – 1

Overall – 6

Thanks kindly to the sponsor of today’s review, Dan P. I feel bad for you, my heroes, that better stuff is not being translated, but your support is nonetheless very much appreciated!

Oh, and a Love Comedy that does work? Strawberry Shake Sweet. Funny, and actually about love.

Posted in English Manga | 4 Comments »