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I Like It Hard - Why I Still Love Manga in Print
“Why yes, I love the smell of freshly printed manga in the morning.”
While buying the latest English volumes of Blue Exorcist and Attack on Titan recently, some thoughts resurfaced on why I still prefer print manga. With JManga biting the dust, people are wondering about the future of manga digitally. To tell you the truth, print is still the primary focus for the manga market overall and a preference that I still love for reasons I’m about to get into below.
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We’re All Brains at Heart - Haikyuu!!
March Madness may be over, but competitive sports continue to be a daily fixture in our lives. One such competitive sports manga title that recently got readers talking is none other than Furudate Haruichi’s “Haikyuu!!”. It is a manga that focuses on teenagers playing volleyball competitively in high school. You know how sports teams have certain pre-game rituals/speeches to get themselves going? Wait until you see what one team in Haikyuu!! does to kick some butt and how it involves a bit of neuroscience.
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Starting a Spin-Off - A Final Fantasy X-2 Psychlogy Blog
If there’s another medium besides anime and manga that really gets me going, it’s none other than Japanese role-playing video games. JRPGs have been a big part of my life and with the announcement of two of Square Enix’s top RPGs, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, being remastered in HD for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Vita, this is a good time to come up with a side sister blog to this one in the form of a Final Fantasy X-2 blog.
Final Fantasy X-2 covered the adventures of three young women as they go out, hunt for relics in the form of video spheres, kill some monsters, and save the world in the process. All while having fun doing so. The main character was a girl named Yuna (in the center of the photo), who helped saved the world of Spira from an entity calleded Sin in Final Fantasy X. The other two girls are Rikku (left) and Paine (right). Rikku appeared with Yuna in FFX, while Paine is a new character. Together with a few others, they make up the Gullwings. The game is noted to be much more light-hearted than its predecessor.
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Mountains Do Inspire - The Summit on Anime in North America
This past weekend on March 23, 2013 in Denver, Colorado, USA, a huge important gathering of professional folks involved in the anime and manga industries drew a lot of attention despite being held in frigid conditions.
The 1st-ever Summit on Anime in North America was an event done to ask the question that has some people pondering for quite some time: “Why is anime so popular in North America?”
My buddies at Anime Diet got the lowdown on what happened. Take a look and see how far the U.S. has come with the wacky, immersive medium that continues to inspire a wide variety of fans and will do so for years and generations to come.
Lots of information to digest and possibly a good sign of things to come. Much thanks to Gendomike for his coverage and the folks of Nan Desu Kan for organizing the summit!
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Frieza’s Frightening Power of Effeminacy (Dragon Ball Z)
“You fool! This isn’t even my final form! Wait until you see my true power!”
And boy, does it make you look oh-so absolutely fabulous~
If there’s one anime/manga villain that has stood the test of time and encased the hearts of many, it’s none other than Dragon Ball Z’s own Frieza. The maniacal warlord and his power-ups continue to have relevance in Japanese pop culture today. however, what’s more interesting is his effeminate nature in contrast to the manly heroes. Is the character an indication of how effective effeminacy can be when it is supported by power?
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“Tell Me Whyyyy!” - The Most Important Aspect When Drawing Manga
To all you folks who want to draw manga, I found an interesting post on a MangaHelpers sub-forum on Weekly Shonen Jump about how new manga should try to appeal to readers. There’s one snippet I would like to highlight and it’s this:
“I guess the main question a mangaka needs to ask themselves in order to write a successful manga is ‘Why?’. Why should we care about your manga? Why should we bother to read it beyond the first chapter? And with such a selective magazine (Weekly Shonen Jump), the mangaka better have that question answered before chapter 1 gets published. I think that’s what separates the exceptional mangaka, like (Yuusei) Matsui and (Eiichiro) Oda, from the mediocre. I guess it’s also what defines the expression ‘doing your homework’.”
Asking “why” is the basis for life itself. I mean, we all have reasons to do and believe certain things. Give readers reasons to appreciate what you want to tell them.
Which leads to another lesson regarding the importance of asking “why”: never stop learning. There’s always something deeper beneath the surface.
You can read the rest of the post as it is pretty in-depth. Makes you think about when the next worldwide smash hit manga will come.
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Can I Haz Legal Mangaz Wit Mah Internetz? - What’s Next After JManga
Originally, this was supposed to be an article about self-awareness and how it could be the key to help saving the manga industry. And then out of the blue, the big digital manga initiative that was considered to be a “savior of manga”, JManga goes kaput. So what now and does Japan even care?
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The Insightful Raving of Mephisto Pheles (Blue Exorcist)
If there is one character that is extremely hard to read and whose mindset continues to question his peers, it’s none other than Mephisto Pheles from Blue Exorcist. In the beginning of Chapter 44, the flamboyant demon decides to lecture readers about what makes human beings go. He talks about the three main desires of human beings: material desire, sexual desire, and more importantly, the desire of knowledge. Mephisto’s words highlight a time where information has become even more key to succeed.
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Who Run the World? (Manga Girls!) - Happy International Women’s Day!
Nothing says kick-ass like a female warrior who transcends norms. March 8 has come once again, which means it’s International Women’s Day!
Here are some past articles I’ve written on some of the top female characters in anime and manga.
Hail to the Ice Queen! Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Breaking Down Character Armor (Erza Scarlet - Fairy Tail)
Princess Sapphire and the Power of Blue (Princess Knight)
Psychology of the Planets Starring the Sailor Scouts (Sailor Moon)
And for a real treat for the women who love boys being around other boys out there.
The Great Power of the Fujoshi
Ladies, keep on outwitting anyone that continues to underestimate you.
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“Koe no Katachi” - A One-Shot Manga of Harsh Reality
In the February 20th, 2013 issue of Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine, a certain one-shot manga story became quite the buzz among Japanese manga readers. It was a one-shot that truly reflected the cruel nature of humanity as a whole. Yoshitaka Ooima’s “Koe no Katachi” (The Shape of Voice) is a very emotional tale that simply says this: everyone and anyone can be capable of bullying.
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