Jun
30
A friend of mine recently asked me to write something about manga for a national broadsheet, the Manila Bulletin. Instead of shocking kids with my rabid fujoshi fangirlings, I decided to take the safe route and explored the different aspects of monsters seen in manga. I’m not entirely an avid of monsters in manga, but I took this as an opportunity to explore their presence and their effect in manga. It turned out to be more interesting than what I had expected. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it too.
Manga and Monsters
Published June 28, 2008 in the Manila Bulletin. Online on June 30.
Manga may appear to be literature for children yet they speak to us of change that is universal to many. No matter what shape or form, change will happen in our lives…
I hate monsters.
Ever since I was a kid, I abhorred the idea of Halloween because of the various monster specials shown on TV. They eat you, consume you, and even in your sleep, they haunt you. And for years I tried my best to evade these monsters the way you try to avoid bullies in your school. Don’t look at them straight in the eye. Keep calm, ignore them, and just walk away.
And yet here I am, years later, reading my manga, suddenly staring at one monster straight in the eye. Just like that high school bully, they’ll find their way to get back at you.
Finding a monster in a Japanese comic, most popularly known as manga, is like finding a cockroach on your cupboard. Having a monster in their manga is a natural occurrence and it revels at that moment when you scream on top of your lungs.
For a tight-lipped society like Japan, monsters not only spark interest because of their strange looks but also because of their ability to elicit change. This is why they’re called bakemono by the Japanese – things that can change. This ability to transform himself or his surroundings is the very heart of the Japanese bakemono. And in manga, we see these in various shapes and sizes that it’s interesting how even if I change the genre of comics I’m reading, one way or the other, I’ll end up facing a monster.
Children’s manga is bombarded with bakemonos. Instead of seeing drooling sharp-toothed beasts, they have talking trains, electric yellow kittens, and humanized bread.
Continue reading Facing the bakemonos of manga
Jun
17
Goodbye, Kissa10
Filed Under Features | 5 Comments
It breaks my heart to say this, but this month, my second manga home, Manga Kissa 10 is closing its doors. No more maids. No more mangas.
Because of this, they are selling all of their mangas for the price of P50/tankoubon. Despite this, you can only buy the entire set of mangas and not by piece. If you buy a series with more than 30 volumes in it, you get a 20% discount. When I visited Kissa 10, a good number of the good mangas were already disappearing. Some of my favorites were still there, but Touch and Master Keaton were no longer there. I managed to get some but I had to stay within a particular budget. If only I can save all the mangas there, I would. ;A; So many mangas all gone.
I’ve had lots of great memories with Kissa10 and I really wished the cafe would last a longer. But life in this island is very difficult, and more often than not, people would rather spend their 500 pesos in a restaurant than in a manga shop where they can only read. I will miss Kissa 10 greatly. This would only mean losing access to some really great mangas.
The shop will no longer be in operation starting this week, but they are still open just so that people can buy the mangas off their shelves. Manga Kissa 10 will be open until June 30, from noon to 8 p.m. Their mangas are already P20-P30 per piece… so enjoy… those who can still enjoy it.
Jun
11
#13 - Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi
Filed Under Comedy, Gastronomic, Reviews, Seinen, Slice of Life | 3 Comments
きのう何食べた？ (What did you eat yesterday) by Yoshinaga Fumi
Serialized in Morning
Published by Kodansha.
What did you eat for dinner last night?
Fish and chips? Chinese takeout? Pot Roast? How about a grilled fish, marinated in soy and miso, but not too long to save the sweetness of the fish, matched with a clear vegetable soup and red rice? And probably at the same price as your Chinese takeout. Yoshinaga Fumi returns to us with a very delectable treat, one that we have missed ever since Antique Bakery. We now have 2 guys in their 40s, sharing an apartment, and eating some of the yummiest dinners with ingredients bought in the best of seasons and on a budget. Yes, Fumi’s back in her element with a delightfully yummy manga serving where she asks us “Kinou, nani tabeta?”, what did you yesterday?
Continue reading #13 - Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi
Jun
2
Mr. Welsh, I feel you. There is an ongoing frustration among English manga readers of not getting their hands on some really good mangas. My friends alone would make it a habit to ask me what happened in the latest Nodame or Moyashimon not because they can’t buy the manga in Japanese (it’s a lot easier for us here) but because they cannot read it. At least for Nodame, it’s being translated (you just have to be patient about it), but there are a wealth of mangas that would some time to get translated, or probably will never get translated at all.
I always wondered why some mangas never see the light of licensing among the US publishers. For most, it’s whether it will make a sale. 20 or so manga bloggers who blog about Japanese titles wouldn’t probably make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Putting it into english and in a quality that readers like would mean costs. And I think most of us know that. Although fans would say they’ll buy it, more often than not, it’s only those who really can afford it do buy the manga the moment it comes out in the list. And they’re not a lot among manga fans. But sometimes, they do take a risk. Who knew Nodame would hit big when Del Rey got it? So there must be something other than costs on why they license and probably not license a title.
In a conversation with Ed, he told me how publishers in Japan sometimes push titles for licensing. He asked me about a particular title and what I thought of it since it was in consideration for licensing and I was thinking “Why not get Chi’s Sweet Home instead?” Ed enlightens me that even if english publishers want to get something more popular (e.g. Moyashimon), because they are already popular in Japan and probably earning a lot, publishers won’t push these titles for licensing and would probably place it at the end of their agenda. It’s not saying that they won’t be licensed, but instead, they just want to perhaps make up for the cost of a manga that was probably eating up their resources, hence the push for the obscure titles that are good but not exactly popular in the Japanese market.
To be honest, that’s rather upsetting because it only means that for some titles that we like, we’ve got to lobby for it to get it and that would take some time. A manga’s popularity sometimes ride on its popularity in Japan. When you hear the buzz about it from those who are in the scene, you wish that you can easily get it. Like I’m sure fans of Moyashimon who managed to see the anime want to get their hands on the manga. The manga’s richer in story compared to anime, but yes, it’s only in Japanese and quite difficult to read too (especially since it doesn’t have furiganas for those sc). When the hype for a series is gone and your patience has worn down, sometimes you lack interest in getting that said title to the point that you don’t wish to get it at all. And there is little market in nostalgia for mangas and this is probably why Slam Dunk never really got past the first two volumes in my country. We can at most, be really hopeful that eventually, it will come to our english-speaking shores. Hopefully not too late because we’re really missing out on a lot. Because there are lots of mangas that are left untranslated and they have stories that I’m sure we’ll learn and enjoy. Stories like St. Oniisan, Moyashimon, Detroit Metal City, Touch, H2, Cross Game, Rough, Himawari, Kimi ni Todoke, Arigatou, Zipang, Candy Candy, Kaze to Ki no Uta, Glass no Kamen (Glass Mask), Cat’s Eye, Tokimeki Tonight… As more time passes, more and more mangas are coming with great stories.
In this scenario, would our best bet to get these read in English would be those scanlating groups online? Scanlating’s a whole post altogether (and a lot of people have said a word or two about it) but although I see the convenience and accessibility of scanlations, it’s still nice to read a manga leisurely in your couch knowing that you fed your favorite mangaka and his assistants for at least a day.
May
29
So I’ve been professing and doing evangelical work for Saint Oniisan (Saint Young Men). I swear to god, I love this series in the same way that I love espresso brownies! It’s different, pleasing, and truly an enjoyable read (plus a guilty leisure, with all the religious implications involved!). Today I realized I shouldn’t really feel that way, thanks to a really interesting interview of Hikaru Nakamura, author of Saint Oniisan. Manga no Hi’s Manga Interview section, Manga no Chikara) features Nakamura-sensei as she talks about her manga career and how scribble probably has made me (and a couple of other fans) A BELIEVER!
Continue reading An interview with Nakamura-sensei at Manga no Chikara
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Otaku Champloo is...
a small serving of bittersweet manga bits by a manga addict named Khursten.
She currently digs mangas about boys who live to be men. -
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