Another 3 day weekend meant time to reconnect with some discs lying around. My good friend Yue occasionally shares with me some video files she gets from friends online or from Nico Nico. This time, her disc contained something called Manga No Genba (( Trans. Manga Scene)), an NHK BS2 show that reviews manga and introduces viewers to the people and the inspiration behind some manga. The show’s hosted by a Amano Hiroyuki and just recently, Ooshima Mai of AKB48. The show’s got a laidback feel of featuring interesting manga that perhaps the whole family can read. Perhaps.

The show’s got three sections. First is the feature section, Yomite no Genba. They get to feature a manga that’s liked by a guest. In the screen cap here, it’s Yotsuba&!. This part is cute because they talk about the manga and they give a glimpse on what the manga is all about. While going through the manga, there are scenes that would even be voice acted just to put more life into the panels. It’s really nice because it’s like listening to a drama CD and then reading the manga together. After the summary, the guest and the hosts would talk about what they like about the manga and what makes it particularly interesting.

Then the next part is the production of a particular manga, Sakusha no Genba. They will feature a particular manga, show again a summary of the story (with voices!), and then how the manga was made. This time you’ll have a chance to see the mangaka at work. This is really a feature on the mangaka and the manga they’re currently doing. How they find inspiration for their characters and their story. It’s amazing! I had a chance to look at Agi Tadashi (writers of Kami no Shizuku!) and how they basically find a wine every damn week! IT’S AMAZING! They had like huge wine cellars in their home! And they’re wine drinkers too. It’s amazing! I also had a shot in seeing Liar Game in the works. It’s amazing how he meticulously plots out every round (and even had the editors’s help in the re-entry round). This is perhaps the section I treasure the most because it shows the hard life that some mangas live just to come up with the pages to write for this week. It makes you appreciate their hard work as well.

The last part is called M’s Cafe which is the recommendation of the readers ((Thanks Yue for the correction!)). This is short and gives only a brief idea on what the manga is all about and what to expect from it.

The show’s very informative and the hosts are not dumb and all about manga. Amano-san is an avid manga reader and is fond of the shounen genre so he too gives a word or two about some mangas. And really, in a show like this, it’s the mangas that do the talking. The mangas they choose are rarely mainstream and are often mangas about different topics like the clothing retail industry and wines. If you’ve got access to Nico Nico and understand Japanese, try to get a glimpse of Manga no Genba. Alternately if you have sattelite access to NHK-BS2, its shown from 12:00a.m.-12:30 a.m. on Wednesdays and 6 to 6:30p.m. on NHK-BSHi.