Week 14: The influence of Manga and Anime in the West

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?
I thought this Webtoon was awesome and presented the troubles of growing up in a unique and interesting way. I liked how the author chose to represent childhood by magic and the structure of adulthood with concrete. The visuals of Ildeung and L being trapped in concrete walls really showed the pressures that parents can put onto children to be the perfect version of themselves that they wish them to be. I've never read anything quite like this story and really enjoyed it, each chapter desperately made me want to keep reading and I'm glad I got to.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?
I was able to connect a lot with the story because I have always wanted to be an artist but had to face the realities of it not being viewed as a "steady" or "adult" job. Much like the main characters, I was a very good student who wanted to be a conventionally successful adult. But, much like them, I didn't view this path as fulfilling so I took the more difficult road. In the eyes of The Magician, I went to the flower field instead of the concrete path. I also related to the theme of not wanting to grow up and the fear of becoming an adult. I think what this story made me realize was that the conventional "adult life" of getting married, having a good job, and starting a family can be scary for people. It's not what everyone wants but its whats presented to us ad the "adult life" as children. But, we see L as an adult living his dream life of a Magician, something he's focused his whole life on to chase his real happiness. I think it's important to teach kids that there can be a balance in life between completely losing yourself to adulthood and following your dreams while still being a functioning adult. I think the characters of Ah-ee and L show the contrast between those two worlds.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose; what changes would you make?
I think this story would make a good live action movie. I would wanna push the paper-cut elements that the author chose sometimes for her story. I think it was good to represent childhood and add a bit of magic into the story. I really enjoyed Ildeung's character arc and know that his odd looking design was the highlight his growth as a character but I don't think it would be necessary in a live action remake. It might just be affective to have him change his image a bit when he is feeling that he is stuck on the concrete path. I would also probably change the ending a bit and have Ah-ee meet L at the very end once she has become a magician. 

4. In what ways does this story seem more adapted to an online environment?
What stood out to me the most was the use of vertical panels that you had to rotate your phone to view correctly. It allowed for the artist to make more impactful scenes that weren't confined to the usually horizontal view. I think it's great for an online environment because it's so experimental stylistically. It used a lot of photography and photomashing which I believe is best viewed online. Also the story was a pretty short read so the online environment allowed me to consume to the story pretty quickly which helped me grasp the entire concept as a whole. 

Week 13: Manga, Anime and Japanese Cultural Values

This week I read Oishinbo and it honestly was one of my favorite reads this whole semester. I love cooking and I love any kinda media about cooking. Especially those that explore the cultural aspect of cooking. I also love mangas that teach me a lot and this was defintely did. The culture of cooking in Japan makes for a perfect base of a manga. It starts with a good base and finishes with great characters. No character is taken too seriously and there is a lot of stereotypical but it helps to contrast the seriousness of Japanese cooking. In general, I found the characters very charming but also humorous. The rivalry of our protagonist and his father really made for some great comedy moments especially when he helps the kid get back into the restaurant.



The art of this manga was very unique. The males to me looked more like western comics style while the girls were straight up out of a 90's shoujo. It was a bit weird at first but the more I read, the more I loved the character designs. It just felt so unique and fresh while also helping to add to their characterizations.



This manga just wanted me to keep reading it and I couldn't put it down. Not to mention that is made me extremely hungry even though I don't eat or like fish they were able to make the dishes look like the most delicious things on the planet. This was a unique read and I actually recommended some of my friends who also like Japanese cooking to check it out. Now I'm interested in watching the show/films.

Week 12: Contemporary Manga

For this week I read some of Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa which I was pretty excited to read. I never watched/read Full Metal Alchemist but I have a lot of friends who absolutely love it so I had high hopes for this series also by her.



I think it's really awesome how different this work is from her other and how she has a personal connection to agriculture which helped make the manga seemed so based in reality. I was worried this series was going to showcase stereotypical sunshiny farming life but it defintely different. She was able to get across the theme that it can be extremely harsh but beautiful. She also successfully included a lot of stereotypical manga character traits so that the reader could relate to the characters more without it feeling cheesy or out of place. In general, the manga was enjoyable to me but also a bit tough to read because I am a longtime vegetarian so it was a battle with my own morals. But, I like how she showcased the realities of farming and the the ethical questions that come along with such a job.



I thought the artwork was nice. I don't think it added too much to the story nor take anything away. Some of the designs were quite funny, like the riding club teacher but it wasn't that distracting. These little character design changes made it easy to keep track of who was who. Also, I liked her used to a character guide to remind the viewers who we were reading about. It helped me a lot to understand what was going on.

Week 11: Horror

For this week I read quite a bit of Tomie by Junji Ito. I am familiar with Junju Ito just because I am a horror fan and so are my friends so I see posts about his work every now and then but haven't actually read any of it myself. In general, I'm a fan of j-horror and have seen a handful of movies so I was excited to finally experience reading j-horror.



I didn't realize this before I started reading that it kinda switches through timelines and different Tomies which did make it a bit hard to read at first. But, I think this confusion only adds to the creepiness of the story. We see her repeating a gruesome cycle so many different ways. It made me think about the saying "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Part of the thrill of this manga is getting to experience the cycle as a viewer and not be able to do anything about it.



I also wanted to talk about one of my favorite J-horror franchises, Battle Royale. It stems from the 1999 novel and has a manga plus a live action movie. The premise is that a bunch of highschoolers are sent to an island and they have to kill each other until there is only one of them left. It's not the most unique premise but the way the characters and handled and how the gruesome deaths are showed really makes it an amazing franchise. I highly recommend watching the movie first and then branching out to the other forms of the story if you enjoyed it. 

Week 10: Isekai

Besides shoujo, I am pretty familiar with Isekai's but never actually knew the name of them. Of course it started with my obsession of Sword Art Online in high school which besides its controversial seasons, I think had a very good first season and solidified Isekai as a popular genre and story telling medium.



I decided to read Konosuba because I had seen a few seasons of the anime and enjoyed it so I wanted to get to know the source. The manga followed pretty closely to the show in terms of humor and style. But, it follows mostly Megumin which makes me understand now her popularity within the fandom. I think modern Isekai's can easily be viewed as problematic because of their fanservice and unnecessary sexual moments/characters but I don't always think its a bad thing. Konosuba doesn't take itself seriously. It's almost self aware in its absurdity of boob shots and perversion which adds a lot of humor to the story that itself isn't taken seriously. I also think the female characters, although sexualized, are very strong and passionate which I enjoy. I think all of this is a unique charm of Konosuba but I can understand why others might not feel the same about it.



I also read a bit of I Got Reincarnated as a Slime which actually reminded me a lot of Konosuba and made me realize the similarities of all the Isekai's I've read/seen. They love to have a large cast of girls surrounded by a not-so-capable man.  I don't think this is necessarily a bad trope, because it can lead to a lot of good female character development but mostly the female characters are a lot more interesting than the main male protagonist. I would love to see an all female or even all male Isekai.

Week 9: Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a genre I was a bit unfamiliar with prior to the week. I knew the general style as an aesthetic but had never watched/read any cyberpunk. For this week I read some of Ghost in the Shell and watched Akira which I was unfamiliar with both.

I thought Akira was incredible! The animation wasn't anything like I've seen before. I thought it really pushed the capabilities and limits I thought 2-D Animation had, even all the way back then. I thought in general, the movie was very intense, especially the street riot scenes. The themes of terrorism and anarchy were very thought provoking and nothing like I had seen before. I understand now why this film is so inspirational to anime fans, creators, and even filmmakers. It told an intense story well in a very aesthetically interesting world. Kind of a side note but I really think the poster for this movie is one of the best designed movie posters ever, its so intriguing and well designed making anyone want to watch the movie. 

I also read some of Ghost in the Shell which I again, had no prior knowledge of besides seeing jokes about the remake. I thought this manga was a bit hard to understand because it seemed to jump all over the place. I'm not one for wanting everything explained to the viewer in media but I think this manga didn't do enough explaining and left me just confused instead of curious. Visually though, I thought it was wonderful and i appreciated the badass female protagonist but I'm not sure I'd recommend for anyone else to read this. Maybe I should watch the movies.

Week 8: Diversity of gender and sexuality in Manga and Anime

This was my favorite week to discover because I hadn't ever really read LGBTQ+ manga that I felt realistically represented the community (in a non-festishy way). So I really really enjoyed My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, so much that I also recommended some friends to read it.

I felt the story represented depression and anxiety really realistically and how easy it is to fall into negative cycles. It also explored the pressure women are faced to fit into boxes by what they do, how they look, and who they're attracted to. I love how the author wrote about their experience with the prostitute, it showed sex workers in a positive light and how it can really effect peoples lives. Sex work isn't always a negative thing and it was awesome to see it in this light.

I also really enjoyed the presentation on Nana. It was something I was familiar with based just on the art style but had never read/watched it. It seemed to really represent female friendships in a positive light which I think is very important. Reminded me a bit of Carole & Tuesday.

Week 7: Shonen

Shonen is a genre I have't cpnsumed a lot of so I was very interested in reading some of Bakuman. I was more of a shoujo beat kid than shonen jump. I was initially interested in it because I thought the story premise really seemed unique and wasn't like other shonen's I know like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, etc. Bakuman really turned out to be nothing like anything I've ever read before.



I loved the storyline of these highschoolers following their dreams of becoming a mangaka and the reality of just how difficult of a job it is in Japan; including the many sacrifices. This series almost in a way reminded me of some shoujos like Love Live because of it's theme of following your dreams but this series showed the nitty gritty of it. I also enjoyed the art of this manga, I wouldn't say there was anything too special about it but it was very well done. The details of the manga companies were super well drawn.



I think one of the main reasons why I enjoyed this manga was because it's so realistic. I often find myself reading things that are so far fetched that is can sometimes be hard to relate to. Even slice of lifes don't show life as realistically as Bakuman. The whole time you're rooting for these characters that you can relate to, and want to see them succeed. In general, this was a fun read and I hope to read some more of it.

Week 6: Shoujo

Shoujo is my absolute favorite genre of anime/manga since I've been a kid. Of course when I was a young girl, the stereotypical things that are aimed towards me made me reach out to this genre but even as I've come into adulthood I still love the shoujo genre. The first anime I ever saw was Shugo Chara. It is a pretty typical magical girl, middle school girl shoujo but I enjoyed it so much as a kid. The main character Amu is pretty different from the normal shoujo girl because she is "spicy and spunky" always putting on a cool front with her classmates but that's not really how she is as a person. I could really relate to her as a kid because everyone wants to be a cool girl but realistically no middle schooler is "cool" and that's okay!



In general, I've always loved the simplicity and mundaneness of a lot of shoujo. Shoujo's like Whisper of the Heart and Ao Haru Ride rely on awesome characterization to make the story interesting and engaging. They teach a lot of awesome life lessons through these relatable characters that include being yourself and how to be a good friend. Of course there is a lot of drawbacks to the shoujo genre including the unrealistic views of romance and relationships. To me, one of the biggest problems of this genre is the weird age gaps that are often seen between the young girl and an older male counterpart. For example, Amu, the main protagonist of Shugo Chara is 11 and has a romantic relationship with a 17 year old high schooler. When I was a kid, I just saw the older character as cool and hot for sweeping up Amu but really it's such a problematic relationship that is seen pretty often in shoujo. But, in general most shoujo relationships just show "first loves" or realistic little crushes that kids have and go through. Even in Whisper of the Heart when they get "married" it's clear that is a very naive and childlike proposal that fit with the youthful tone of the whole movie.

Week 5: Romance Manga

Romance manga is one of the genres I'm most familiar with as a hopeless romantic myself.  Some romance animes I remember seeing when I was younger were for Kaichou wa-maid sama, Ouran High School Host Club, My Little Monster, and Say I Love You. These were all some of the first series I had ever watched and really influenced my overall taste in anime/manga which is mostly shoujo/romance. Actually, the very first manga I ever read was a romance manga. It was called Kitchen Princess and I read it when I was around 10. A classmate of mine had an older sister who read a lot of manga so she would bring her hand-me-down books to our class to pass around. The manga was about a young girl who wanted to be a chef on a journey to find the "flan-prince" who was a boy who saved her from drowning when she was a little kid. This manga really effected me as a kid because the main love interest gets hit and killed by a car leaving the main character in shambles. I remeber crying in class over it and eventually our entire class read the series so we could all relate in the emotions. It was a lot for someone so young especially in something wrapped up in such a cute and relatable art style. I think this is where romance manga's thrive though. They are able to go places that other genres can't go as successfully. It makes the reader even more invested into the story by having such heart wrenching moments.

For this week I decided to read some of Slow Motion wo Mou Ichido. I had never heard of this manga and the plot summary sounded really interesting to me because I also really enjoy 80's music. From  reading a bit of it I thought it was cool that the main male protagonist is labeled as just "a normal guy." It reminds me of the shoujo girl and how she is usually just a normal girl. In most of the other romance mangas I've read the male love interest is almost always some sorta hunk or school-wide crush kinda character but in this manga he really is just an average high schooler with interesting hobbies. The inclusion of 80's japanese pop was super intriguing and made me want to check out more of the music from that era.

Week 3: Gekiga

This week I read Cigarette Girl by Masahiko Matsumoto which is a Gekiga, or adult manga. After Ayako, this again is my first adult manga that I've ever read. I really really enjoyed these short series of comics. Even though it's from the 1970's I felt like I was reading a modern North American manga because of the dry up-front humor. It reminded me of something that could go viral on social media nowadays because the troubles of romance are still relevant to our generation now. Even though Cigarette Girl was clearly written for a Japanese audience, I could still relate to the struggles the characters were going through because they transcended culture.
The most interesting part of this manga to was the art style. It really reminded me of modern day American adult cartoons like Family Guy and Rick and Morty. The choice of style kinda limited the characters use of expressions and emotions in my opinion but it was still super fun to look at. The biggest issue I had with the style was that it made it hard for me to keep track of characters because they were all drawn so similarly, generally with the same eyes/expressions. All in all I did enjoy reading this manga and it made me want to read more Gekiga.The most interesting part of this manga to was the art style. It really reminded me of modern day American adult cartoons like Family Guy and Rick and Morty. The choice of style kinda limited the characters use of expressions and emotions in my opinion but it was still super fun to look at. The biggest issue I had with the style was that it made it hard for me to keep track of characters because they were all drawn so similarly, generally with the same eyes/expressions. All in all I did enjoy reading this manga and it made me want to read more Gekiga.

Week 4: Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli

This was the week I have been most excited about since seeing the syllabus. I am a huge Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli fan. Like most people my age, the first Ghibli movie I saw was Spirited Away when it premiered on cartoon network. The first time I saw it was randomly at my friends house when I was around 8 or 9 while my friend was asleep. I remember it so vividly. I was glued to the tv but was also completely afraid of the movie. I was mesmerized but terrified. I had no idea what I had just watched but I knew that I loved it. The second time I saw Spirited Away was when I was home sick from school about a year later and it once again randomly came on. This time I was able to process more of what I was watching and what exactly it was. From that point on, I started to consume Japanese media like crazy but it wasn't years and years later that I finally made the connection to Studio Ghibli.

Through the years I have watched every Ghibli movie and still my favorite to this day is Whisper of the Heart. In my opinion, it's also the most underrated Ghibli film. When people think of Ghibli they mostly think of fantastical magic adventures but I think where the studio really shines is their more mundane slice of life films. Whisper of the Heart is so amazing because of the characterization of Shizuku. She is so easily relatable to any young person who is a dreamer and I really resonate with her. Honestly not much really happens in the film but it's how they handle the little things of life that makes the film so amazing. It's just such a warm film that will always be at the top of my list.

Also this week I read some of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I have seen the movie a few times and I really do enjoy it, specifically for its environmental and anti-war themes. I know those are central themes in Ghibli films but I believe it's the most present in this film and Princess Mononoke. I honestly didn't know that it started as a manga and that it was completely illustrated by Miyazaki. The only art I had seem prior from Miyazaki were his concept watercolor work for his films so I had no idea he was capable of illustrating manga so beautifully detailed. I always thought of him as more of just a great director and writer than an artist but this manga proved me wrong. He is a master at everything he does. It also seemed the manga followed pretty closely to the film which makes sense since it was adapted by him. Reading this almost made me wish he produced more manga because I felt his storytelling and worldbuilding really shined through in this manga.

Week 2: Osamu Tezuka

This week we read Ayako by Tezuka, the grandfather of manga. This was my time hearing and learning about Tezuka even though he's greatly important. This manga really took me by surprise because I had never read a manga with such adult themes as well as just being generally upfront with the themes. There was no cushioning of their disgruntled family life, and it showed a real life perspective of a troubled family.The art to me was also pretty unique to what I have read in the past. Although it's so simple, the characterization comes off so well. You really get to know each character by their art style as well as their expressions. I'm not sure I would personally say I was a fan of the style, but I can see where it inspired many and many artists to come. It was never something that hindered the story but added to it. 

Week 1