Jinbocho

Most checked out books of 2010 - NY Public Library

2011-01-23T21:39:00.005-05:00

Any librarians wondering what manga series are worth investing in should check out the Young Adult catogory of the highest circ books for 2010 for the New York Public Library. The list includes Naruto, Bleach, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z so Viz must be very happy. On the list for children, the very charming Babymouse makes her mark.

Red River

2011-01-23T16:15:00.008-05:00

I am currently reading Red River by Chie Shinohara, an older release of Viz which has a few volumes that have fallen out of print. The plot involves Yuri, a Japanese school girl, pulled into the past who becomes involved with Mursili II of the ancient Hittite Empire. Sounded like Fushigi Yugi, one of my least favorite manga series. So I avoided Red River for years, but a Viz sale on Right Stuf and the fear that the whole series would go out of print pushed me to finally buy all 28 volumes.

I am on volume 14 and have to say, I was completely wrong in seeing Red River as another Fushugi Yugi. Red River does have the same plot contrivance of a Japanese school girl transported to a new world, but Yuri's modern sensibilities are used to play up the differences between our time and the Bronze Age. The plot focuses on the politics of the Hittite Kingdom and the often murderous schemes of the Queen dowager. Yuri is a compelling heroine and her maturation into a formidable woman is completely believable.

The art is wonderful and Chie Shinohara creates a Hittite Empire that is truly authentic in feel and look. It doesn't hurt that she also is a master at erotic scenes between Yuri and the men that love her. However that same skill makes this a tricky purchase for a public library in anything but the adult collection. Great fun so far!

The Art of Osamu Tezuka - review

2011-01-23T15:45:00.008-05:00

The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga by Helen McCarthy is a lavishly illustrated look at a man who revolutionized the manga and anime industries. The book details how Tezuka built a manga and anime empire and how his cinematic style influenced generations of artists and creators.

I had great fun reading about the manga and anime series created by Tezuka and Ms. McCarthy enthusiasm for Tezuka's work is contagious. My only complaint is that so few of the series discussed have been translated into English, though the wonderful work by Vertical gives me some hope that we will see more of these translated into English. My personal wish list - Rainbow Parakeet and Barbara!

Be sure to check out the fascinating bonus DVD that is included with the book which looks at the daily life of Osamu Tezuka. All in all a highly recommended library purchase and a must have for any anime and manga fan.

Intellectual Property and Cartoons

2010-03-10T12:43:00.003-05:00

Preparing a session on intellectual property, and am amazed at how utterly different Japan is from the U.S. in it's approach. I suppose it's a cultural quirk that makes piracy shameful but doujinshi acceptable, even encouraged. Speculating if we could be like them is futile, but clearly something has to give somewhere. The current copyright environment is toxic; all sides are guilty, and everyone loses. Companies harass the creative and legitimate, consumers make like thieves and drive businesses into oblivion.

Information isn't free, but people want it to be. Yet if it's free, who will bother to make it, or make it good? And when culture is bound and protected from change or use, it becomes a sterile artifact. How ridiculous that the remixing and recycling of culture ends with the Great Depression. Death + 70 years, the current time of copyright protection, is far beyond the original idea and intent of the law. But then, consumers sure aren't invited to the White House for secret meetings. (here) Not many deep-pocket lobbyists for less copyright.

The issue is complex and murky. What is clear is that our present is unworkable, and our future unsustainable.

Back again, sort of

2010-02-26T15:31:00.004-05:00

I've resurrected the old anime blog my sister and I did a year ago. In the class I am co-teaching, there is an assignement to do blogging on various topics. A lot of the student blogs are really interesting; thoughtful, funny, well-written. Wanted to leave some comments, since nothing is worse than a blog nobody reads (right, Liz?) ^o^

So, if any anime fans stumble in, pardon any How We Know class stuff. And for any students, I hope you like anime, manga, and video games!

Not Your Father's Berserk

2009-07-14T13:10:00.004-04:00

Berserk the anime was a huge hit among US fans. Uber dark and violent, the series hit just the right chord with older shonen viewers. As a fansub, it was instrumental in the formation of FIU's anime club at the north campus. It still has impact today.

I'm watching the series for the 3rd time, the first on DVD. The improved quality is rather surprising. The VHS fansub was dark and murky; by contrast the DVD is so bright in parts it seems seems positively cheery. Still, it has the same harrowing, bleak attraction as ever. My 17 year old son is captivated (he's been waiting years to get Mom's OK for viewing), and so am I. And yet, the anime is so much less than the manga.

Don't get me wrong. The anime is great, but the singularity that makes it strong also weakens. In a 25 episode series on what was then an unfinished, 9 year manga (It's 21 years old now, and still not finished), something has to give. Various characters and themes were dropped to focus on the relationship between Gatts and Griffith. A lot of the humor that contrasted with the extreme violence was left out, with the aim of creating a dark and hopeless saga. It all works, of course, but if you think Berserk is only what you see in the anime, read the manga.

The manga has a lot you would never suspect from watching the series. There's Puck, an androgynous little fairy who accompanies Gatts, serving as conscience and counterpoint. There are a slew of fascinating secondary characters who sometimes threaten to upstage the main event. Miura, like the best of mangaka, breathes life into a wide variety of people, making even the most despicable interesting and sometimes even sympathetic. Although still looking good for an anime of it's time, the cartoon cannot compare with the intricate draftsmanship and composition of the printed page. The broader themes of the manga, Fate, and Man's place in a precarious and coldly uncaring world, are more fully developed in the longer telling of the comic.

Finally, and most surprisingly in this bleakest of all worlds, there is Hope. It's a startling thing to encounter after the anime, and there isn't much of it. But it's there, and all the more luminous for the darkness that surrounds it.

Seeing Berserk the anime is like reading The Hobbit. It's a tiny piece of a much vaster world. If you loved the anime Berserk, or if you didn't, you should try the manga; it's an altogether different, and more rewarding, experience.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T14:25:00.003-04:00

Like everything else at Jinbocho, we're a day late. Never mind. Happy 4th!

To celebrate, we'll look at some anime that have America, or Americans, starting with Kaleidostar.

Kaleidostar is the charming story of a girl who runs off to join the circus, or, in this case, Kaleido Stage, a sort of American Cirque du Soleil. Sora Naegino's first impression of the US.. (L.A., by the look of it) is a dizzying succession of crime, cops, and very large, very nice people. One of the cops that helps her out becomes her first fan and driver for a tryout with the troupe. Always interesting to see yourself as others see you.

Twitter. No, really.

2009-07-01T19:11:00.002-04:00

George is now Tweeting. So far it looks sort of stupid, but it's now part of a liberal arts education, so there it is.

To hear George tweet, go to twitter.com, find people and type in animelibrarian

2009-07-01T18:29:00.002-04:00

We'll just pretend a year hasn't passsed since the last entry...

In the interim, our fanaticism for anime, manga, and video games has not dulled. Our wits, our bank accounts, but not our enthusiasm. Once again we'll try and keep this blog ongoing, even if nobody but the two of use seem to read it. 0_o

Great Librarians of Anime I: Patchouli Knowledge

2008-08-02T15:08:00.004-04:00

Well, stricly speaking, Patchouli Knowledge does not hail from an anime, but a PC game series, The Touhou Project. Never published here, the game claims a small, genuinely fanatical following in the US. The game is a shooter, not to be confused with one person shooters a la Halo or Counterstrike. Classic Japanese shooters are generally 2 dimensional, with the shooter (usually a plane or ship of some sort) following a track and, well, shooting things.

Japan has some really odd examples of the genre, such as the unabashedly homoerotic Cho Aniki. Touhou is what's called a bullet hell, or manic shooter, where the entire screen is alight with fire and enemies. Contrary to how this sounds, the game is incredibly aesthetic, a colorful dance of fireworks and flower petals. Incredibly, it's all a one man project, explaining in part the distinctive quirkiness of the game.

A good example of how it looks is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQZsDtmobG4&feature=related

The cast is all-female, or nearly so. The premise is that a succession of exorcists travelled to a remote area to fight monsters. With the monsters under control, the exorcists sealed of their little realm and over the years created their little world. The games have generated an astounding amount of fan support: doujinshi, art work, and even magazines.

Patchouli, our first Great Librarian of Anime, is a reclusive scholar who lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. An obvious bibliophile (rarely do you see a picture of her sans book), she serves as a librarian with magical power over the seven elements. Sadly, she suffers from asthma, which hinders her spellcasting somewhat. With her crescent moon ornament and long, purple hair, she is easilly recognised among the large cast.

So here's to you, Patchouli Knowledge! May all your spells explode like rainbows, and may Marissa return all the books she borrowed.

The inexplicible, "You should drink cucumber flavoreed beer!" featuring some of the Touhou girls, by IOSYS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXkqJxYdbdg

Dororo

2008-07-30T20:37:00.005-04:00

Osamu Tezuka was an insanely prolific manga author. Best known in America for children's series like Astroboy, his work is incredibly diverse. Despite the cute looking characters, a manga like Dororo is strikingly dark and violent.

The story is harrowing enough: a samurai trades 48 body parts from his unborn child to demons in exchange for worldly power. Set adrift like Moses, the new born Hiyaki Maru is little more than a lifeless lump of flesh. Taken in by a kindly old inventor, Hiyaki Maru is given mechanical prosthetics that enable him to survive. More than survive; he trains and becomes a deadly swordsman, determined to hunt down the demons and restore his fragmented body.

Not coincidentally, the story is set in the bloody Warring States period. Like Hiyaki Maru, Japan was a country torn asunder, divided by a succession of warlords, great and petty. The trauma, waste, and horror of war, often a theme for Tezuka, holds sway here as the swordsman and his sidekick, the child thief of the title, Dororo, travel a shattered and broken land.

The art style is strong and dynamic; this is a man at the height of his storytelling power. Reading Tezuka is always like watching a movie, a good movie with a good cinematographer. Swords rip through frames, huge demons twist and distort borders. The manga was influential, and spawned an anime, movie, and excellent video game for the PS2, Blood Will Tell. The third and final volume is due out in August from Vertical Inc, who are to be congratulated for a high quality, oversize presentation.

Angry Fairies

2008-07-29T19:50:00.003-04:00

Japanese horror stories are full of angry ghosts. Turns out their fairies are pretty torqued off, too.

Fairy Cube is a new manga by Kaori Yuki, the author of Cain Saga and Angel Sanctuary. Which was full of angry angels, now that I think about it. Anyway, Cube is the story of Ian Hasumi, whose body is stolen by the malevolent changeling fairy, Tokage. Ian wrangles another body, and fights to get his revenge and his girl back. The Japanese often have a very different take on things Western, fairies being no exception. In Cube, even the cute ones, like Ian's companion Ainsel, are pretty scary. She may look like a primped up Tinkerbell, but when she considers eating Ian if he isn't useful to her, you believe it.

The story moves very quickly; you think Ian will have a tough time getting his high school girlfriend Rin to believe he is now "in" the body of an elementary school boy, but that seems to get resolved at the end of volume one. Fairy Cube demonstrates for the umpteenth time that in Japan, stories for girls are rich and varied, and often have quite an edge.

Where were you guys?

2008-01-31T18:08:00.000-05:00

Goofing off. This blog is rather, well, intermittent.

So what's up with the anime librarians?

We finally finished Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, the classic released here in the US as Battle of the Planets and G-Force. This is a 105 episode blockbuster that first aired in 1972. It's astounding how cool it still is after 35 years. The characters are interesting, the music and action rock, and for retro anime it looks great. One of the sadder aspects of fandom is a general disregard for older anime. What shows like Gatchman and Astroboy lack in polish, they make up in energy and fun. Too many people are seduced by the siren call of special effects.

***

Kudos to ADV a great release that featured all the violence, drinking, smoking, and cross-dressing from the original, plus a plethora of interviews, extras, and art by Alex Ross. Gatchaman can be had cheap right now (check out Best Buy and Amazon), and would make a great addition to a YA collection. Bird Go!

Red Garden: And I thought I felt sick

2007-11-02T19:33:00.000-04:00

Red Garden is one of those anime that is deucedly hard to categorize. I suppose it's mostly horror, though of a peculiarly Japanese sort. Four girls from an exclusive high school on Roosevelt Island in New York City find themselves entangled in a bizarre and frightening situation. At night, they hunt semi-human monsters, while during the day they try to lead normal lives. The basic plot device has been rattling around in anime at least since Devil Hunter Yohko in 1990, and is perhaps most familiar to Americans in the guise of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

In at least in the first four episodes, Red Garden forgoes the comic relief of its predecessors. The lives of the girls are shattered; they walk through their day in a distracted haze of anger, denial, and regret. One episode focuses on the excruciating tension of waiting for a midnight call to go out and kill. The camera follows each girl separately, one staring at the clock, another shaking uncontrollably. One akwardly excuses herself from the family table at a restaurant and hurries to the ladies' room to throw up. In a strange and brilliant touch, they all begin to sing the same dark, melancholy song of hopeless resignation and despair as the final minutes tick away. It's an odd, touching scene quite unlike anything I've ever seen.

In the end, the real interest of Red Garden isn't the monsters, or the murderous villains, or the conspiratorial organization that manipulates them to fight. It's the girls themselves, how they react, what they feel, how they are with each other. Japanese horror can be plenty gruesome and scary, but the focus is ever on the psychological trauma that whole human beings suffer when they confront the unwholesome. This is a very promising series.

Luminous Manga

2007-11-01T19:11:00.000-04:00

While recovering from a nasty cold that derailed my plans for a 3 day weekend (hence, no posts of late), Liz sent a Care package of anime and manga. Goodies included the Gall Force OVAs, the first Air DVD, the next DVDs of Full Metal Alchemist, and some other manga. In my groggy state I managed to read Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, and see the first three episodes of Red Garden.

Town of Evening Calm is a pair of sweet, painful stories of people affected, directly and indirectly, by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Brief, but incredibly poignant, the stories are jewels of emotion and compassion. Unlike the more famous Barefoot Gen, the one volume work by Fumiyo Kono takes place years after the blast. But the effects, physical and psychological, linger on.

At heart, the Japanese aesthetic is poetic, in the sense that a work of art is often crystallized into a spare, deceptively simple frame of astonishing power and meaning. The art work here is clean and pure of line, yet captures the details of life with astonishing clarity. The dialogue seems almost mundane, yet sparkles with life and depth. So much compressed into two little stories! It would take a novel hundreds of pages to clumsily do as much.

An amazing, beautiful manga that you should read. Kudos to Last Gasp Press for bringing this award winner to America. http://www.lastgasp.com/

Anime Pumpkins! And Licca-chan!

2007-10-26T20:36:00.000-04:00

Cool looking pumpkin carving contest on animenewsnetwork.com: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/contest/2007-10-26/annual-pumpkin-carving

Take a look at the winners from previous years. How do people do things like this?

Halloween in Japan has been growing in popularity lately. I guess we won't be seeing many more episodes like the one from Super Doll Licca-Chan. With a great pumpkin as a backdrop, little girl Licca earnestly explains the true meaning of the holiday to one of her dolls: that Jesus Christ is the King of Halloween.

Licca-chan, btw, is Japan's fashion doll diva from the 60's. With a French cellist for a Papa and a Japanese fashion designer mother, Licca was bicultural long before it was cool.

Hell Girl

2007-10-26T19:26:00.000-04:00

Pretend this is still Thursday, OK? That way I'm still posting once a day, and feel better about not missing yesterday.

We'll keep going on our Halloween theme with Hell Girl, which sounds like the punk band that never was, but should have been. The more elegant Japanese title, Jigoku Shoujo, better fits the elegant horror of the series. Well, of the first episode, anyway, which I saw at the anime club Wednesday night. Saw, and wanted more.

Fortunately, Liz has some of this on order, and the big Funimation and AN Entertainment sale (40% off until November 4) means she'll be pre-ordering the rest of it. Here's Right Stuf's site if you want to take a look: http://www.rightstuf.com/

Sarte said, l'enfer, c'est les autres, "Hell is other people." That's a pretty modern take on the nether regions. My son is currently reading Dante, who gives you that ol' time Inferno. Hell is payback, on a grand and glorious scale, with the rich and famous highlighting the hit parade of tortures and torments. Somewhere in-between Dante and Sartre is Hell Girl.

The first episode focuses on a particularly nasty form of bullying, more psychological than physical. Class pretty girl Kuroda Aya teases and eventually blackmails the quiet and passive Mayumi, pushing her into a corner of alienated humiliation. Desperate, the girl finds a rumored Internet site that promises the ultimate in revenge: send your enemies to Hell with the click of the mouse. Sure enough, she soon meets Enma Ai, the Hell Girl of the title pictured above.

Enma assures Mayumi that she can have revenge, but at no little price. Though her enemy will go straight to Hell, Mayumi will too, after she lives out her natural life span. Faustian bargains are always more appealing on the installment plan, and Mayumi eventually accepts. Accompanied by her otherworldly assistants, Enma tracks down Kuroda and in a disorienting, surreal sequence bundles her off to the land of the dead. But Mayumi's satisfaction is tempered by a literal hole in her chest that marks the girl for eventual damnation. And while the Buddhist hell of Japan isn't eternal, that's about the only good thing about it: the pain and suffering there give Dante a run for his money.

The series is beautifully animated, and like much Japanese horror sad and lyrical. The tone is strikingly similar to Vampire Princess Miyu. I can't wait to see more.

Anime Party and Miyu

2007-10-24T20:09:00.000-04:00

I'm the long-time faculty advisor for Anything Goes Anime North, the campus club here at FIU. The members are currently having their annual Halloween party, a tradition nearly as old as the club itself. The president baked a very cute ghost cake, someone baked eclairs (!), others brought candy, sodas, and other goodies. I brought plates, cups, and napkins, purchased by Andrea, my wife (credit where credit is due).

Dropping by to bring a couple more sodas, I was surprised and rather pleased to see them watching the OVA version of Vampire Princess Miyu. This is an old series, licensed by AnimEigo way back in 1988. We're talking The Age of Akira here. Miyu is a lovely example of Japanese horror: subtle, quiet, beautiful, and deeply disturbing. The OAV holds up surprisingly well, and the manga remains a classic of impressionistic shoujo style. Liz and I split somewhat on the TV series; I loved it, while she favored the OVA.

Anyway, it's nice to see an older series not lost in the shuffle. The original OVA is still available, and makes a nice addition to a Halloween collection.

You can see the full anime librarian review here.

2007-10-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

Nothing since August 2nd?

Ye gods.

OK, I was embarrassed when I asked a librarian about release forms for an event Liz and I are doing in January. Wanted to get some pictures for our blog, says I. Oh, says the librarian, I didn't know you had a blog. Ball in my court, thud. How to explain I have a blog that I haven't updated since, well, since August 2nd.

The rationale has been we will publicize the blog when there is more content. But with no audience, neither of us is motivated to write.

"Main Entry: par·a·dox
Pronunciation: 'par-&-"däks
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin paradoxum, from Greek paradoxon, from neuter of paradoxos contrary to expectation, from para- + dokein to think, seem
1 : a tenet contrary to received opinion
2 a : a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true b : a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true c : an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises"
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus

I think it's 2c, don't you?

At any rate, this has to end. It is ending. I'm writing something, anything in this bloody blog every day.

Let's see how long it lasts.

And stop that sniggering in the back, right now.

Anime 2.0

2007-08-02T20:09:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the SEFLIN Energizing conference on Library 2.0, George is now madly joining the likes of Technorati, Flikr, and whatever other trendy gimmick, er, empowering applications he can find in hopes of getting someone to read this blog.

Maybe standing on the corner with a big sign on his chest?

That sounds more 1.0

2007-07-21T16:42:00.001-04:00

Just finished a series bought on sale - Melody of Oblivion. The series is very similar to Revolutionary Girl Utena and in fact some of the same staff worked on both series. Melody of Oblivion is rife with fan service, occasionally incoherent but great fun to watch. Recommended for anyone who enjoys an anime with stunning visuals and interesting ideas.

2007-06-11T15:08:00.000-04:00

Watched Le Chevalier D'Eon Vol 3 this Sunday. Another great entry in this historical/horror series which has made me hit the history books for more information on Louis the 15th and Empress Elizabeth of Russia. A great reworking of history that stays true to the spirit of the times even as the series mixes alchemy and possession. Highly recommended.

First Entry

2007-06-10T20:05:00.000-04:00

Well, here is our second attempt at a blog. We promise at least a post a week. Ok, that's not a lot. But it's more than what we were doing, which was nothing.

This is a picture of the real Jinbocho, the used bookstore section of Tokyo. The area was featured prominently in the seminal librarian's anime, R.O.D.