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Watching
Dragon, Growler's Hidden Anime! - Reviews
(Volume
Zero One) |
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INDEX
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See
what's cool in Anime! Japanese animation is at the cutting edge of sci-fi,
supernatural and fantasy storytelling. Highly innovative, you often find
amazing concepts that are executed brilliantly in a manner you won't forget.
Here are some of the anime titles that you need to check out.
Rawle
Austin presents...
| Manga
to Anime - Setting the scene... Part Two... |
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The
manga industry in Japan has an annual turnover of about £2 billion.
It's biannual Comic Market is luring more visitors there than the annual
Tokyo Motor Show.
Manga
are often confused with ‘anime’ by the majority of overseas
onlookers who don't read them.
Anime
actually refers to animation or animated cartoons. Many manga titles
are adapted to anime and vice versa.
Manga
magazines (or comics) typically contain serial stories and are generally
30 – 40 pages long. They can have many different episodes
of popular titles in a particular issue.
Manga
books (or graphic novels), which collect volumes of magazines, can
have a total page count ranging from 200 to 800 pages! Each issue
comes out weekly or monthly.
Because
of the high print runs and cheap price, manga has a legion of casual
fans that view the books as disposable, mass literature.
Bought
for entertainment and to pass the time.
There
are also many collectors or fans called ‘otaku’ who
keep their favourite books and make manga culture a way of life.
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Click
here to check out Draw Your Own Manga: All the Basics by Huruno Nagatomo
Manga
can be bought from newsagents, bookshops and specialized shops the world
over, but in Japan you don’t have to buy them to enjoy them. The
manga café (or manga kissaten) is a phenomenon in which is massively
popular.
Some
of the most popular are in Tokyo' s Akihabara district known as Electric
Town.
Mingled
among multi-storey comic warehouses, manga cafe's are places where you
can drink coffee, read manga and best of all, membership is free.
They
are open 24 hours a day and many have Internet access to enable
access to the many manga related websites. Members then pay a small
hourly fee to read comics that could cost thousands of yen (Japanese
currency) to buy.
Some cafes have huge selections containing 20,000 to 30,000 books
to choose from!
Residents
of Akihabara district are known as Akibakei and this is swiftly
becoming a badge of coolness.
T-shirts
with 'Akibakei' splashed over them are all the rage in Tokyo, even
in the mega trendy areas of Shibuya and Harajuku.
Manga
are produced for teenage boys (shonen manga), teenage girls (shojo
manga), children (kodomo manga), men (seinen manga) and women (josei
manga).
Many
comic books produced in the American market constantly re-use similar
superhero themes as they are consistently popular with the market,
the readers. |
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Click
here to check out Manga Mania: Chibi and Furry Characters - How to Draw
the Adorable Mini-people and Cool Cat-girls of the Japanese Comics by
Christopher Hart
Manga
creators (or mangaka) however, catering to a very different market, have
always been free to explore every nook and cranny of human life and are
constantly updating and innovating its content.
The
characterization found in manga is simply brilliant and facial expressions
are captured in such a fashion that you find yourself caring for the characters
you read about and wanting to know more.
| The
action scenes of some stories are so kinetic, shown by speed lines
indicating motion, that at times you feel you are watching a blockbuster
action movie!
Of course, manga is not all action and the artwork within can range
from the cartoony style to the heavily and ornately detailed.
These
few facts alone help to explain why manga has a such a massive,
ever growing worldwide audience.
Popular
genres are science fiction, romance, martial arts, everyday life
and many, many more.
The
individual creators of manga stories both write and draw the series.
Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of manga creators, is one
of the all time great manga sagas.
It
tells the science fiction story of a robot, Pinocchio-like character. |
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Click
here to check out Manga Studio Debut 4.0 (Mac/PC CD) by Smith Micro Software
Osamu
Tezuka (1928 – 89) is widely regarded as Japan’s Walt Disney
or Stan Lee and he created many other characters including Kimba the White
Lion.
Other
popular manga titles include Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, Dragon Ball
by Akira Toriyama, Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and FullMetal
Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa.
And
who can forget the global smashes that were Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and
Ultimate Muscle?
Currently
blazing a trail through popular culture are the titles One Piece,
Shaman King, Full Metal Alchemist and the hip-hop inspired Samurai
Champloo by Shinichiro Watanabe.
Though
many manga creators are male there are quite a few female author/artists
who have made their mark.
The
first was Machiko Hasegawa who created the shojo manga series 'Sazae-san'
which was the story of an ordinary woman coping with everyday life.
Her work was so popular that it was published regularly in the Asahi
Shimbun newspaper, one of Japan’s largest. |
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Click
here to check out Manga Studio for Dummies by Doug Hills
Other
notable women authors in shojo manga are Yumiko Oshima, Keiko Takemiya,
Riyoko Ikeda and Moto Hagio.
Shojo
manga is giving way to the more relevant 'garu komikku' (girl comic books).
These are being advertised in women's fashion magazines with slogans such
as "Garu komikku wa kirei ni kiku!" (Girl comics have beautifying
effects).
Or,
"Sokorahenno otoko to deto suruyori, hayaku kaette komikku yonda
hoga toku." (It's more profitable to go home and dip into a manga
than go on a date with some ordinary guy).
One
author who paved the way for 'garu komikku' was Kyoko Okazaki. Her
comic book "Pink" was very popular.
The
four largest manga publishers in Japan are Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha
and Shogakukan and they have done much to spread the quality.
Manga
culture is booming worldwide and can be seen on all forms of merchandise
including t-shirts, school bags and toys.
Many
western comic books are now using manga styles to re-invigourate
old titles and bring in new readers.
Manga
is now being produced outside Japan and is called Original English
Language (OEL) manga. This is a growing industry in the U.S.,the
U.K. and worldwide.
A
leading U.K. based publisher of OEL manga is Sweatdrop Studios,
www.sweatdrop.com
|
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Click
here to check out 500 Manga Characters: A Complete Clip Art Library of
Professionally Drawn Manga Art (CD Rom & Book) by Sweatdrop Studios
The
British animated music group the Gorillaz www.gorillaz.com
are also loosely based on this style and recent music videos by the group
Daft Punk have been shot in anime (the animated version of manga).
There
are many books produced showing fans ‘How to Draw Manga’ and
these are often best sellers.
Manga
magazines and books are available in many UK bookshops and comic book
retailers.
A
popular anthology title featuring many popular series is Shonen
Jump by publisher Viz, check it out at www.shonenjump.com
Tokyopop
is a major publisher producing many great titles for the Western
audience, www.tokyopop.com
To
learn more about Manga you must read 'Manga. Sixty years of Japanese
Comics' by Paul
Gravett.
This
is an extensive study of the history and culture of Manga in Japan
and a great read.
Also,
check out, U.K. based, Neo magazine for the latest manga news and
more! www.neomag.co.uk
For
links to more manga and Japanese pop-culture related information
you must go to Anime Web Turnpike at www.anipike.com
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Click
here to check out The Complete Book of Drawing Manga by Peter Gray
Manga
are guaranteed to have something to appeal to every taste so for an alternative
read, give them a try.
You’ll
be glad you did!
Check
out these links to learn more of this cool, creative genre called manga;
Manga
WorkShop, Mega
Tokyo and Manga
News.
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