Manga Talk

The Yaoi Hero - The Hero's Journey

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:38:16 GMT

Hello all,

I just published an article on my blog Myth and Manga about the Hero's Journey story structure when applied to Yaoi/Shonen Ai manga.

The full article is about 3 pages long and I didn't want to post it in full here and take up all the screen space. :D So below is an excerpt. It uses the manga Wild Rock as an example and therefore there are spoilers.

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My curiosity about the validity of the Hero's Journey when placed in another culture's setting prompted me to apply it to a tightly focused sub-genre that is mainly written by Japanese women for women.

How does Joseph Campbell’s the Hero’s Journey, a story structure supposedly inherent to all cultures around the world, apply to the yaoi/shonen-ai genre?

As a test I've taken Wild Rock, a yaoi/shonen-ai manga, and applied the structure of the Hero's Journey to it. My results surprise me....click

Rape in Shoujo Manga

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:40:30 GMT

Hello! New member here. ^^ Just want to say that I love the depth and thought all of you put into your questions and answers, and I love manga and discussing it, so it seems this would be a good place to be.

I've been watching anime for a couple of years now but reading manga for only a number of months. Needless to say, there are some notable storytelling differences between the two media, not the least of which is how sexually explicit a series can be on-paper versus onscreen - so the deeper I delved into manga, the quicker I was sucker-punched by *points to the subject title* that aforementioned notable difference.

(Note: I'm also including yaoi when I say "shoujo manga", by the way! I am probably not correct in doing this, but I'm referring to the elements both genres share and are primarily found in shoujo.)

This is not to say there isn't rape in anime either, certainly not - but it's definitely not as easy to find as it is in shoujo manga. I've read enough titles to notice that it's not unusual for the offense to be easily forgiven, justified as some awfully warped expression of love, or in other ways slipped noiselessly under the mangaka's moral radar. They aren't isolated incidents, either; rather, it's a trend.

"Personally, I don't care how much of a trend it is; if I see it, I'm quitting the series." This was once an easy conclusion to make. But!

The trend comes with a spectrum. I've found instances of "Rape is Love" (as TVTropes puts it) in both crappy series and series that are otherwise very wonderful and not demeaning about its female characters in any other way. This trope isn't something against which I can measure a series' worth anymore. Instead, as a reader, I am torn: the mangakas' morals come into question, and so do the genre's, and then so do my own.

The typical shoujo rape case is easy to dismiss, no question about it. When I say this, I mean something along these lines: girl/girl-boy and boy in a relationship, boy is too horny, girl/girl-boy is too weak, rape ensues, girl-boy is tearfully upset but apparently not enough so to break off the sexual relationship. My hatred for this case is not one I would ever, ever doubt.

So what makes a conflicting rape case, apart from a series' otherwise feminist-positive nature? From my experience:

one that isn't a cheap catalyst for the couple's sexual relationship.
(Example: the two characters aren't sexual after the incident at all.)

one that is initially agreed to be consensual/partially consensual.

one that isn't a culmination of the heroine's submissiveness/shyness/impreparation/whatever.
It isn't representative of any imbalance of authority in their relationship either. Rather, it's the author's method merely to explore the characters' (particularly the rapist's) rather skewed psychological states.

You can probably tell that the (one) case I have in mind is deeply psychological, with some complicated circumstances tied to it. (*points at number 2, which honestly I am still shaky about including*)

For anyone feeling adventurous and curious about the series I'm referring to, it's Please Save My Earth, and I'm talking about Mokuren and Shion and his regrettable loss of control. Their deal to sleep together wasn't even part of their developing romantic relationship in the first place, despite its massive impact; it was under the pretense of busting him out of confinement, whereas their mutual romantic affection was incidental. The fact that Shion's actions descended into rape are evidence of his seriously messed up psyche and resentment against Mokuren's kind, not just a gross exaggeration of his affection.

Despite being rape, it doesn't undermine nor contradict Mokuren's strength as a woman, or her control over their relationship, nor does her Kiche (which symbolizes her innocence) disappear. The act of rape was a manifestation of Shion's own personal demons, and what he thought was an act against "the Sarjalim [god] who blessed everyone but him" rather than Mokuren, the woman he loves. It wasn't about exerting his intentions as a male over her resistance as a female; it was, however, an explosion against everything else Shion has ever hated. This is not any better than harming Mokuren in the present, but viewed in this light at least it is not counter-feminist.

I'm not asking if the action is forgiveable - I'm a teenage girl, how can I - but is the story? If the situation is too complicated for it, can we still look at the instance of rape and pin it as counter-feminist when the relationship continues?

Presently, I've determined to swallow the bile, continue reading past these incidents, and form conclusions with the rest of the characters' circumstances in mind, instead of closing my mind because of the instance by itself. Nonetheless, if I like the series, there's too much risk I'll subconsciously rationalize the instance of rape and forget the larger picture: it's still rape. In fact, when I read the above listed, I feel like that is exactly what I am doing.

How do the rest of you react to any conflicting rape cases? Do any of you believe that such a case (in manga) isn't possible? If it fits the listed criteria, is it still counter-feminist or can it be treated just as another instance of gritty psychological exploration? Do you have a different criteria for what might be a conflicting rape case? Am I a terrible female for posting something like this?

And a question for the mods: What's your spoiler policy? I would like to provide the title of the manga I based my questions on (if not here, then in the comments), but it'd result in awful spoilers for anyone still reading the series. Some info: it's an old title, long-finished, but also quite popular, so there's a chance it still has new readers.

Anyway, I look forward to your insights and hope posting something like this isn't too heavy-handed. ^^;; If the whole first-impressions thing is right, then I'm sunk.

Japanese mystery and mystery manga

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:50:21 GMT

Crossposted to my own LJ.

Manga fans and mystery fans, I need your help!

I've been asked to put together some mystery-themed Japanese literature and manga for an event next spring. Despite the fact that I am a huge mystery buff, when I went looking, I realized I only know a few mystery manga titles, and absolutely nothing about Japanese mystery prose. Can anyone recommend some titles to me? English-language translations and U.S. publication are preferred, as is stuff that's still in print.*

I already know about Kindaichi Case Files, Case Closed (aka Detective Conan), Kamen Tantei, and Spiral: The Bonds of Reason. I also am familiar with Phantom Thief-esque titles, thriller titles and mystery/horror/supernatural titles such as Ghost Hunt, Lupin III, Man of Many Faces, Death Note, and Monster. Any additions I can make to this list would be greatly appreciated! Please, tell your friends, hit up that guy you met at the con. Reply here, at the entry in my personal journal, or e-mail me at alicegakuen3 at yahoo dot com.

*However, feel free to suggest untranslated, not-in-the-US, and out-of-print material, as long as it's identified as such--if nothing else, it'll be handy background information for me.

Manga Reviews

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:06:34 GMT

A little pet project of mine that I've been working on for the past few days. I read a lot of manga but I forget about them quite quickly because shoujo plots are really similar to one another. However, I don't want to feel like I wasted my time reading it, so I decided to compile a list of all the mangas I've read so far and write up a little review about each one so that I can spread the love ♥~

Feel free to recommend a manga that I haven't read yet :) I'm always open to new reads ;)

( slightly image heavy, and quite lengthy 8D )

Around 22 mini-reviews up so far ^___^

best place to buy manga?

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:02:58 GMT

Hi guys, where is the best place to buy mang? are there any LJ communities that are devoted to just selling manga? what are some trusted online stores that sell manga for less than retail? thanks in advance.

Does color really distract from the manga experience?

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:35:55 GMT

Well, I'm new here and I know it's a strange question. I would like to see manga in color sometimes but some people say it distracts from the manga reading experience. I want your opinions on this.

I hope I don't sound needy but does anybody support OEL manga because I have an OEL manga support community.

Here's the link if you want to join: http://community.livejournal.com/oel_manga/profile

text in comics & visual fluency

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:52:58 GMT

A brief summary and discussion from Neil Cohn of an article on eye-movements reading comic pages, for those interested in that sort of thing. One thing noted: participants in the study were more likely to skip past a panel if the next panel contained a block of text; modifying the page so that the text was farther away from the skipped panel resulted in less skipping. Cohn wonders what level of "comic fluency" the participants possessed, since it's not discussed in the article, and comments, "The desire to jump towards panels with dense text insinuates a focus more on text than on the visuals, which was characteristic of a naive comic reader's eye-movements compared with an expert reader in Nakazawa's eye-tracking study." It's a nifty discussion, if a bit short.

Wandering off the starting point, in my journal, I probably don't make any original observations about dense text in comics, and how hard it is to go from Japanese to American comics.

Honors Thesis

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:42:36 GMT

Just sharing the project I submitted to the History of Art Department at UC Berkeley as my honors thesis.

Follow this link to my journal.

It deals with gender and representation in manga, specifically examining the dismemberment sequences in CLAMP's manga X. Could be a fun read. :)

Feel free to let me know what you think!

EDIT: If the link expires, just let me know and I'll be happy to put it up again.

Flipped/unflipped

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 02:06:15 GMT

I just joined this group while looking for an academic or professional source about the trend toward unflipped manga. If anyone has such a link, could you pass it along?

It's for my thesis project, which is largely a ESL/EFL curriculum design based on using translated manga. My classmate and I did a presentation on a related topic at conference a couple of months ago, and the turnout was huge! There's an online version of our handout here: http://www.sharedwing.net/tesol/manga/
I'm still working on it, so if you have suggestions, please pass them along.

Out of curiosity, are any of you on AMRC-L? (It's a very good, if occasionally contentious, mailing list for academic discussion and research on anime and manga.)

Anime Archetypes

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:49:04 GMT

I wrote this awhile back..I don't believe that I've ever posted it...and all those words may be of interest to someone else...

Ever wonder why you see the same anime characters popping up over and over again? No…it’s not stealing. They are just archetypal characters: generic personalities that pop up in every culture.

Dowload the pdf for write-ups of 19 male and female archetypes like the Sullen Bishonen, Perverted Old Man, the Female Prince and others.

It'll be up on my blog Myth and Manga as soon as I figure out my password. *doh*

Manga/Anime Documentary

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:58:00 GMT

I got this link from the Anime/Manga scholars group I'm in. I'm not sure if it's been posted before. Mods, if you guys know if someone's already shown it, feel free to delete this post. Check it out if you're interested!

The South Bank Show tackles Manga Mania.

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the U.S.

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:16:30 GMT

Hi guys, if you're interested, I gave a pretty ~~thorough summary~~actual outline and my thoughts about this talk given by Roland Kelts in Berkeley today.

It's over here on my journal.

On the search for scholarly articles on manga...

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 06:46:24 GMT

Greetings everyone, first time poster here.

Mods, let me know if this post isn't allowed. I just thought this would be another great resource to explore.

I'm an art history major focusing on Japanese art in Berkeley but I'm also a big fan of manga which is why I'm excited to be working on my own topic this semester.

AND before you even entertain the idea that all I'll be basing my 30+ paper on is pages and pages of "OHMYGAWDTHEYARETHEAWESOMEBOMB"-ness...I suggest you read on further on what I have to say.

I am interested in exploring the idea of an "art history of manga." Should art history be even utilized to analyze manga? My professor and I agree it should.

Much of the work I've been pulling up for my bibliography do not go in-depth with an exploration of manga as a visual art form and by that I mean truly unpack the hows' and whys' manga seems to be effective in its narration. I've read some work that have done crucial work as far as looking into the process of production (Sharon Kinsella, Adult Manga) as well as looking into its place in globalization (Wendy SiuYi Wong) Globalizing Manga: from Japan to HongKong and Beyond, Mechademia Vol. 1)

I chose CLAMP not only because I've been a follower of their works for some time now, but also because they are a unique team of four women specializing in a variety of themes and styles. The recent hiatus regarding their X/1999 title seems interesting too, and has been compared to the self-censorship of the film industry post 9/11. What's going on behind this?

If you guys have any thoughts on the subject or potential sources that you think might be useful for my research, I'd really appreciate the help. You will ofcourse be properly acknowledged and credited in the actual paper.

Character Themes in Naruto

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 05:16:48 GMT

Hello everyone...thought I'd share my lastest article with you. It's my first post. Hope it's interesting to you all. thanks.

I've just finished a long ass article on why the anime/manga Naruto has compelling characters that are larger than life...and why I care.

Warning: there are spoilers. I cover Volume 1 – 19 of the manga and Episodes 1 – 96 of the anime. The characters touched on are Naruto, Haku, Roc Lee, Hinata, Neji, Gaara & Sasuke.

Here's Naruto's write up...my blog MYTH and MANGA has the rest.

Naruto.

Theme: To be acknowledged
Goal: To become Hokage of the Leaf.
Character Intro: Vol 1, Ch1, Pg 3

On the surface is a one dimensional character with the stated purpose, “to become the Hokage of the Leaf.” His personality is brash, bold, daring, loud, and dumb which I don’t care for at all BUT his whole character is driven by the personal theme, to be acknowledged.

Anyone who feels lonely and left out and who is striving to get the attention of their peers or recognition in anything can identify with that character theme. That is why I eventually warmed up to this character because at his core, Naruto is a lonely orphan who has been shunned by his village because a fox-demon was sealed within him at his birth.

Naruto wants to be seen by his village as someone who is valuable to the community and the person who is the most valued is the leader, the Hokage. As Naruto has no family, last in his class, and an outcast, to been seen he’s had to be the loudest one there is. The only thing that sets Naruto apart from the geniuses that surround him (apart from the Fox Demon within him) is that he never gives up.

Ch 166 18 & 19 – Jiraiya acknowledges Naruto as a “spirit that never gives up.”

Ch 98 11 – I may appear strong to you but that’s because I act though because I’m so frustrated of always failing. – Naruto to Hinata

Megazine (for scanslation lovers, by scanslation lovers)

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:53:49 GMT

The creator of the eponymous scanslation group MegKF also oversees Megazine, an online magazine focusing on the online industry/community of yaoi & shoujo scanslators. There are only 5 intermittently-released issues of Megazine so far, but it's an interesting look into a gray area of the manga industry that rarely gets much open acknowledgement. I'm glad it exists as some measure of historical record.

The issues are arranged as zipped image files, so I recommend using CDisplay or similar to read them. I've communicated by e-mail with MegKF and received her permission to redistribute the files on manga_talk.

ETA 10/21/07: Removed broken links. All issues of Megazine are now available for download at the MegKF site.

MegKF says of Megazine: "I've finally got some people interested in helping me make this so hopefully a 6th issue will be out soon. First 2 issues aren't that good, I was just getting the hang of things. Issue 3 was edited by someone really good and I tried to follow her example in issue 4. Issue 5 is pretty much the format for the future issues I think."

Kodansha Announces International Manga Competition

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:19:05 GMT

Not sure if this goes here, but I'm posting it anyway.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its manga anthology "Morning", Kodansha has announced a new International Manga Competition to look for new manga talents from around the world.

http://www.comipress.com/news/2006/12/22/1199

"Morning" is the magazine in which Vagabond, Zipang, Planetes ect. are being/have been published in.

What I found interesting is the comment from the translator at the bottom. I didn't know that Kodansha had published works from artists living outside from Japan (Taiwan, Korea, France)... I spoke with an editor from Shogakukan once, and he told me that it's absolutely necessary to live in Japan to publish a manga in Japan, since you need to meet up with the editors regularily.

Mechademia

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:54:01 GMT

The first issue of Mechademia, a new academic journal devoted to anime and manga, can now be ordered from the University of Minnesota Press.

The Mechademia site, where you can find their call for papers for the 3rd issue (deadline January 5, 2007), if you're so inclined.

Tokyopop vs Viz

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:53:24 GMT

homasse kindly pointed out this community to me (thank you!) and I thought it would be a good place for my research. I'm in the middle of my final term paper, which is a comparative analysis between Tokyopop and Viz. It would be very much appreciated if you could answer a few question about the topic.

1. Which do you prefer, Viz or Tokyopop? Why? (Is it because of the titles, translation, packaging or anything else?)

2. Which is the better publisher, in your opinion? Why? (Again, is it because of the titles, translation, packaging or anything else?)

3. Why do you think other people prefer Viz/Tokyopop over the other?

Thank you for your help.

Lost and Found in Translation

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:40:49 GMT

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the subject line sucks. But hey.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of BL manga scanlations, and paying most attention to how people translate the "untranslatable", mainly because I've noticed a trend of Japanese expressions being translated literally (ie, slang like someone getting "eaten" meaning they were, shall we say, on the receiving end of sex: "Watch out, or you're going to get eaten!") even though the expression isn't really native to English. There are equivalent expressions (like, "Watch out or he's gonna jump you"), of course, but the trend is for literal. I'm not sure if this is true in the translated stuff in the West, but considering the attempt to Westernize manga to make it more accessible (ie, in Gravitation, changing references to Japanese stars to American ones), it made me start wondering about what exactly makes a good translation.

What, in your opinion, makes for a good translation? Is it more important to be literal or to make things more easily accessible? Do you think a translator should try to do translations that are close to the text and fully understandable but maybe not something a native speaker would say, or a bit looser with the text but that sounds fully native? Where is the middle ground? And can I ask a question that actually makes sense?

What are some examples of good translations, and what makes them bad? And conversely, what are some bad translations?

Saiyuki vol. 9 art

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:30:51 GMT

I finally got around to finishing my commentary on Saiyuki's art with a post on volume 9.

Academic articles on manga

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:42:25 GMT

As some of you know, my secret identity is as an academic librarian. Every so often I do a search in some of our databases, looking for academic articles on manga. There's usually not too many, and most of them are short ones in library journals saying "Hey! Kids are reading manga nowadays!" In the past year or so, however, there has been a small uptick in the number of serious academic journals publishing articles on manga, and here's the abstracts of four of them.

I haven't read any of these yet at the time of posting, so I can't participate in any discussion of them yet - I'll do so in a day or two.

It does seem like the academic world is starting to flail over what the online fandom world is yawning over, namely questions of gender portrayal in shoujo manga, but keep two things in mind: first, this is a subject that hasn't had much serious study in the English-language academy so many of them are just being introduced to the subject, and second, that due to the nature of academic publishing schedules, the articles may have been written one to two years previous to publication, when the subject was a bit more current. and three, the the leading edge of a large wave of the fandom participants in the English-speaking world is just getting to grad school and the first professional jobs in the field and is finagling ways to get class credit and tenure for reading manga. :D

I'll post more as I come across them.

Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: "Boys' Love" as Girls' Love in Shôjo Manga.
Welker, James
Source: Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society; Spring2006, Vol. 31 Issue 3, p841-870, 30p

Abstract: The article presents information on the Japanese narrative art form manga (comics) and the emergence of "boys' love" manga in shôjo manga (girls' comics). The former began as a subgenre of girls' comics in 1970 just at time when women artists were making their space in the comics market. Soon it became popular among the girls' comics genres, and its creators became some of the best-loved artists in the industry. The presentation of androgynous beautiful boys who love other beautiful boys rather than girl characters made the boys' love narratives more impressive. These comics depicted the beautiful boy as neither male nor female, visually or physically, and his romantic, erotic interests were directed at other beautiful boys. Most importantly, his tastes were not exclusively homosexual as he lived and loved outside the heteropatriarchal world inhabited by his readers. He seemed a homosexual character but gender as performance has long been an essential part of Japanese theater.

"STRAIGHT" WOMEN, QUEER TEXTS: BOY-LOVE MANGA AND THE RISE OF A GLOBAL COUNTERPUBLIC.
Wood, Andrea

Source: Women's Studies Quarterly; Spring/Summer2006, Vol. 34 Issue 1/2, p394-414, 21p, 5 cartoons

Abstract: The article examines how the transnational circulation of Japanese comics known as boy-love manga which visually portrayed homoerotic love between male protagonists had developed a global and resistant counterpublic. The Internet facilitated discourse and textual circulation of boy-love manga among its fans, primarily towards teenage girls, in different countries which was resulted to developed a global counterpublic that is both subversive and queer in nature. According to the author, the significant change in how the teen readers conceived and fantasized about love and sex could be seen through their involvement in Internet communication, discourse and textual circulation that distinguish them as part of a global counterpublic.

Reading Manga: Patterns of Personal Literacies Among Adolescents.
Allen, Kate
Ingulsrud, John E.

Source: Language & Education; 2005, Vol. 19 Issue 4, p265-280, 16p, 6 charts, 3 graphs

Sales of manga or Japanese comics dominate the publishing market in Japan. Manga cater for a wide variety of readers, ranging from children's comics to adult pornography. In this paper, we focus on adolescent readers and describe patterns of learning to read manga. The findings demonstrate the importance of belonging to a community of readers since this community enables readers to share ideas and provides a resource for developing reading skills. These skills are self-taught, developed outside the classroom, since the reading of manga is generally frowned upon in most schools. Being aware of how actively adolescents read manga as well as of the kinds of skills needed to understand these texts would provide teachers with a deeper understanding of their students' reading skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A History ofManga in the Context of Japanese Culture and Society.
Authors: Ito, Kinko

Source: Journal of Popular Culture; Feb2005, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p456-475, 20p

Abstract: This article explores the history of manga or Japanese comic art and how it reflected events in Japanese society during various historical periods. Manga has humor, satire, exaggeration, and wit. The comic art includes caricature, cartoon, editorial cartoon, syndicated panel, daily humor strip, story-manga, and animation. Like any other form of visual art, literature, or entertainment, manga does not exist in a vacuum. It is immersed in a particular social environment that includes history, language, culture, politics, economy, family, religion, sex and gender, education, deviance and crime, and demography. Manga thus reflects the reality of Japanese society, along with the myths, beliefs, rituals, tradition, fantasies, and Japanese way of life. Manga also depicts other social phenomena, such as social order and hierarchy, sexism, racism, ageism, classicism, and others. The Japanese culture belongs to what U.S. anthropologist Edward Hall calls the high context culture, in which people prefer to use more implicit, unclear, and ambiguous messages whose meanings are found in the context, rather than explicit, clear, and straightforward messages. According to Japanese anthropologist Masao Kunihiro, English is intended strictly for communication. Japanese is primarily interested in feeling out the other person's mood. Japan is a small island nation with a long history, and the people are homogeneous. In contrast, the U.S., according to Hall, belongs to the low context culture, in which messages themselves are important and everything must be spelled out. Japanese communication, being in the high context culture, relies more on contextual cues such as facial expressions, gestures, eye glances, length and timing of silence, tone of voice, and grunts, all of which can be expressed in manga very eloquently.

Manga Museum

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 06:25:21 GMT

Via Irresponsible Pictures: the Manga Museum opens next week in Kyoto.

Manga story structure

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 23:33:27 GMT

If you don't read the manga blogs, right now you're missing a go-round on story structure and books vs. serials sparked by a post by Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading and Christopher Butcher's review of tentopet's Fool's Gold.

Chronologically (so far):

1. Johanna Draper Carlson's essay about reviewing serialized chapters, in response to someone challenging her reading of Mail Order Ninja.
2. Christopher Butcher's review of Fool's Gold.
3. Queenie Chan is asked by Newsarama to write a bit on the state of OEL/global manga, and responds to the above two by detailing the story structure she followed in The Dreaming.
4. Butcher responds, challenging Chan's perception of the three-act structure she used.
5. Heidi Macdonald at The Beat jumps in also.

How's your Japanese?

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:33:02 GMT

I give you...Natsume no Me! Why isn't US tv this interesting and educational? I would watch this religiously if something like this aired here. Basically, it's an older guy with an overhead projector and a nodding panel of spectators, breaking down how popular manga work visually and storytelling-wise. One of the artists I work with sent me the first link, and then she and I discussed over email for the rest of the afternoon (work? what work?). :-) Really interesting if you can follow what's going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnQlmhbkaQo (talking about facial designs and use of expressions in Urasawa's work)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIBrzaNmOs (building dramatic tension in Beck!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z_BJGOhaQ0&mode=related&search= (helloooo, retro shojo! I mean, "classic" shojo!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piM8AMPhObk&mode=related&search= (Korean panel layout!)

the future of e-manga!

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 22:48:50 GMT

There's an interesting blog entry by Pata of Irresponsible Pictures about the complications of adapting manga to an electronic format.