Otaku Champloo

Author: khursten

  • Ah~ I know how you feel.

    This morning, I was reading through my feeds to see a translated interview of Hagio Moto by Matt Thorn. I was rather surprised to find Hagio-sensei to be a girl. All this time I thought that the writer of one of my favorite SF stories, They were 11, was a guy. I ahve never read the manga and only saw the anime through a friend and I was breathtaken. I was rather surprised to see that she was a girl. More so, she’s one of the Magnificent 24!! So I just had to read it and sure it was fun to see her experience as a writer and how she is paid this much money for a page (which then made my wonder… “do mangakas take advantage of the amount of cash they earn per page that’s why sometimes… they waste pages on long and pining battle scenes?”) What was interesting to read though was when Moto-sensei mentioned…

    “I know how you feel. I know exactly how you feel!”

    She said this in lieu of reading Ozamu Tezuka’s Shinsengumi!. For her, seeing characters express their feelings and being caught in their emotions was the heart of being a mangaka. My heart went a flutter just thinking of all these nostalgic moments in manga where I have wept, leapt, and tore my hair out in frustration for the next chapter. And true enough. There is a strength in manga which I seem to not find much in anime. It is this aspect of feeling the character, as though you were that character or his best friend.

    Anime is all about the visuals, like a wikipedia entry or a webpage that doesn’t like to use the cut option. Everything is laid out and all the cards are shown. Not all animes are like this, however weekly animes tend to be as predictable as cheeseburger. They expect you to accept the character for who he is. Unlike in manga wherein you grow with the character.

    Growing with the character is something that I think you can grasp stronger in manga. It is in manga where page by page you discover more about the character and mangakas make every effort to make a panel say a thousand words. There is an inner mystery that only the mangakas reveal and only those who get affected can discover. And so true. God, I can attest a lot of scenes that have swept me off my feet and have literally taken me to their world.

    Ahahaha! I can only imagine a number of anime nuts who could possibly hate me for this entry. But this isn’t an entry about an age old debate. Anime and Mangas are two entirely different mediums and you can’t compare an apple pie and an ice cream sandwhich. Both are great in their own right and have their own strengths and weaknesses.

    I wrote this because well, friends always find me silly crying, whining, laughing over a manga. They’ll say “Dude! It’s just manga.” But to me, the emotions felt in a manga are real. The emotional connection between a character and its reader is no different to that of the reader and his friend. Its true and as pure or deceitful as it gets. Just like real life. Hence, I know how you feel… exactly how you feel.

  • Yes! Another Year of Fangirling fun!

    Yes! Another Year of Fangirling fun!

    This year, we only have one battlecry: ?????There??????s no girl who doesn??????t like yaoi!?????

    LO 2007: The 4th Lights Out Philippine Yaoi Convention

    Featuring Film Screenings, Round-table Discussions, more BOUND Pairs Cosplay, the LO Yaoi Library, the LO Pr0n Trading Post, and our first ever ILLICIT Illustration Contest. Win cool prizes, pick up some great freebies, and have lots of giggly not-worksafe fun with your fellow yaoi fangirls.

    MAY 26, 2007 from 1PM to 6PM
    Venue announcement to follow
    Tickets @ PhP 150*

    *PhP 130 for Lights Out Mailing List Members and Ongaku Society Preferred Members

    Register with the Official Website now for news, updates, and information on the upcoming convention and other related activities! Site members also gain access to our exclusive features, including customized avatars and signatures, interactive article comments, full forum access, shoutbox access, members-only downloads, and so much more!

    So what are you waiting for?! Support Lights Out and log on now! See you at the Con!

  • Finding more titles from Kissa10

    This is quite a late entry (as other entries), but I gave myself a shot at going to Kissa10 just to see what they are up to and for those who have been monitoring what’s new and what’s not at Kissa10, I’m sure most of you guys would be interested on what else you can read there.

    There is still no sign of Kissa10 grabbing english titles. I can understand it on their part since English titles are rather pricey, but Filipinos can all hope for it. In the meantime, just enjoy the latest manga zasshis.

    What is interesting is the line of shoujo mangas available in Kissa10. They have added Nana in their roster, along with other oneshot shoujo titles that I really didn’t bother to read with because they were shoujo smut, as a friend puts it. ^^;; Not that I’m being a manga elitist or something, but I did say the last time that I was planning to finish some titles. And so I did! I read Happy! and more!

    I had 3 hours to try to get to read some more mangas from their shelves (which is at its 65% capacity), so naturally, I caught on Happy! which ended up having a very nice ending. I would still recommend it for the same reason. And no, I don’t hate Oohtori anymore and he has his saving grace in the series. It was a little dramatic, especially towards the latter part where scenes seem to have been ripped from a Yakuza soap opera, nonetheless, the series ends happy!

    I also managed to catch newer volumes of Ciguatera by Minoru Furuya. Mangascreener has this as one of its projects and I suggest you guys give this a look as it is funny. There are some issues in the manga that was highly exploited, however one of the main issues remain unresolved (in fact, I was left hanging by volume 6 on what happened with the new bully issue. ^^;; So yes, 3 volumes just about him and his girlfriend. ;A; Great.) This is one of the few series that are okay to keep track of. But I can at least sleep on it for a while since I’m quite annoyed with the hero’s girlfriend.

    Another interesting manga that you guys might want to check is “School of Water Business/Toritsu Mizusho!” I accidentally saw this while looking through the Urasawa pile (which now has 20th Century Boys! Yay!) and this was a manga I’ve been hearing about but never really had the guts to read, until now. So far, 1 group has scanlated it, but I’m not so sure if they’re continuing it.

    Toritsu Mizusho! is the story of a school specializing in the ‘water business’ trade in Japan. Water business is a term that is used to refer to businesses of the pleasure trade, such as host clubs, cabaret clubs, soap salons, and the likes. So this school teaches high school kids in the pleasure trade. There are even different sections such as one side specializes in being waiters, the other in being hostesses and the likes. The students are outright funny although honestly, for me, their logic, especially on entertaining guests just fails me. XD Its not advisable for people who are queasy about issues related to the sex industry, but if you have no troubles, give this a read. It’s dead funny.

    Other new titles added in Kissa10 is Spirit of the Sun! I have yet to read this, but I’m sure some of you guys already know about this title. One cool aspect that they added in the shop is they now ask the customers what they would like to read in Kissa10. Naturally, dear me requested for Kekkaishi, Nodame, and Bokurano. I’d definitely kill some heads of salarymen if I ordered for BL, but maybe next time, if I cross tenchou, I might ask him if it’s okay to bring in some BL titles for fujoshi’s like me. ^^ ehehehe…

  • Manga Kissa 10 in Multiply~!

    Manga Kissa 10 is on Multiply!

    Well, what do you know. My favorite manga cafe is now online and people can now browse through their humble little store. They also did a google and checked the people who wrote reviews about their store. I’m not quite surprised that mine was there. *fufu* I’d pimp their cafe anytime I want.

    Anyway, they’ve stacked new mangas in their shop and they now have a suggestion box, asking people what titles they would like to read in the shop. I naturally placed “Nodame” and “Kekkaishi” up front. lol. god, I have yet to get used to writing in Japanese. lol.

    Among the new mangas up in their shop is Nana, the rest of Death Note, 20th Century Boys, and Monster. There were a couple of other shoujo titles in the shop, but since I lack knack for oggly shoujo smut that day, I really didn’t check it out. ^^v I’ll take note of it next time.

  • Manga Kissa 10 e ikimashita~!

    Manga Kissa 10 e ikimashita~!

    keaton ?????????,??????:*:????????????o(?????????????*)/????????????(*?????????????)o?????????,??????:*:????????????

    Waaaaaiiii!! Yesterday was the happiest ever because my friend and I managed to go to this new and probably the ONLY manga kissaten (cafe) in Manila! (?????????????????) Yesterday, a manga cafe just opened in Makati. The place is owned by a Japanese and it caters to the Japanese salaryman who’s comissioned to stay here in Manila (along with other Japanese nationals who reside in Manila). Hence, most mangas are either seinen or shounen in nature. More than that, all of them are in Japanese. ^^v. The place is located near Makati Square. From Waltermart, you can see MANGA KISSA 10! lol. I swear, it’s old man’s humor but I thought it was funny to name the manga cafe like that. lol. The owner is very nice and they even have maids!! it’s like a maid cafe and a manga kissa all in one! I felt quite pampered yesterday. :3 ??????????????????????

    What I found strange was that everyone was talking to me in Japanese. That might sound strange but I do look like Filipino and I am living Manila, and yet here were the nice maids asking me if I want another cup of coffee in really polite Japanese. The manager would also remind me from time to time to check on what I want and stuff. And even if I looked Filipino, they would talk to me in Japanese. ^^;; Yesterday, I came in with my Japanese friend, Yue-tan. And we were browsing through the shelves and I was just happy to see the entire set of Captain Tsubasa. The manager came to me and asked what mangas do I like. Yue-tan then tells tenchou that I can understand Japanese and I’m like “OH DEAR! I HAVE TO TALK IN JAPANESE! DAI-PINCH!” ^^;; I’m so used to reading it, but I’m not entirely used to speaking. Nonetheless, tenchou asked me the same question in Japanese and I go… “Spo-tsu manga ga suki. Seinen manga mo suki… (I like sports manga. I also like Adult manga)” in a very nervous and weird sort of way. Iyaaa hazukashii na. But tenchou was nice to talk to me in Japanese the whole time and thank god I didn’t painfully misreplied or anything. I think. ^^v

    There are a lot of good titles, and I can’t even know where to start. What I love is it has a mix of old and new along with new manga zasshis!! <3 Particularly Shounen Jump and Shounen Sunday. As for the mangas they have complete sets or at least until the latest of: Golgo 13, KochiKame, School of Water Business, Captain Tsubasa, Kisaragi, and a whole blockade of Naoki Urasawa mangas. Did I say a whole blockade of Naoki Urasawa!? Yeah I did. <3 <3 They have Pineapple Army, Master Keaton, Yawara, and Happy! And they’re complete! WAIIII!!! So yesterday, I took a shot at reading Urasawa-sensei’s mangas… and naturally, here’s what I think…

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  • Yes! It’s all Jump’s fault!

    I have a bad habit of reading my feeds too late. And thanks to that, I get late on the news. ^^;; So, the new year started with Comipress putting the news about the special relationship with Jump and fujoshi.

    Fujoshi is what we, foreigners, would actually call ‘ yaoi/bl fangirls’. These are fangirls who have graduated from shoujo and are now crawling to the darkside and embrace Man x Man (Sometimes… Man x Boy ^^;;) affections. Because “what else could be prettier than seeing two hot boys getting at it?” To me, it’s one of the steps to otaku-dom. Among other things, it is indeed a true crawling to the darkside because well… yaoi and bl tend to be lewd in nature. It’s a little embarassing, nonetheless a very interesting experience. ^_~ You can read the technicalities of it in an earlier Comipress article

    Now, going back to the article, I honestly wouldn’t wonder why Fujoshi would complain to Shounen Jump about the fanservice they give in their jumps. Honestly, have you guys been reading jump lately? Have you browsed through tenipuri!? I swear that series is GAY! If Tenipuri was one of the reasons that brought a large girl fanbase to Jump, I’m telling you, it’s the same reason why more girls are reading other things than Jump nowadays. God. -_-;; How gay can jump get!? There are just some titles that are too gay to mention. Maybe the girls are having an overdose of stuff from Shounen Jump

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  • Takk-san blogs!

    ????(????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    One of my favorite figure makers, pinkyst, and otaku now has a blog about his otaku life! Waaai~~! What is great about it is it’s in English! WAAAIIIII!!!! lol. Not that it worries me to read something in Japanese, but it’s easier to read it in english. :3

    His site is called Otaku Journal from Japan :3. I can feel it’s a great blog because well, Takk-san is a great otaku, ne? And he’s really nice! ^___^

    He starts off his blog by looking at some spring animes! One of which is the lovely manga called Bokurano~~! Have you guys read it? YOU SHOULD!! BECAUSE IT’S DAMN GREAT!! I’ll probably write about Bokurano after my thesis… ;A; Waaah… senior just came in too fast. ;A; Waaah.

  • The year in review. (^w^)/

    The year in review. (^w^)/

    Every year, I do a little list of the fun things I’ve read and seen during the year. And in the spirit of doing lists, I thought I’d make a list of all the things that made my hobby go further down the drain this year. These are anime and mangas I’ve read throughout the year which have made an impact in my life and will definitely be my ruin for the next few years until their series finish. lol. So, let’s look how this dear otaku’s life went down the drain this year. ;A; Drat.

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  • Manga Christmas Tidings

    Manga Christmas Tidings

    Merry Christmas everybody!

    Finally, got some freedom from some school work and chores. It’s all about the holidays now. And in time with the holidays are gifts! And in the case of OtaChan, gifts come in forms of manga! Wheeee~~~!!??????????????????(( *~??????~)

    So what are great mangas to give away to friends during the holidays? Well, although it’s quite late, in case you haven’t decided yet, here’s a roster of mangas to give away to friends!!

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  • A movie for 20th Century Boys

    Urasawa fans, it’s time to celebrate as one of Naoki Urasawa’s masterpieces, 20th Century Boys, is currently being made into a movie. A friend of mine gave me a hint that came from eiga.com and the hint directed me towards the the 20th Century Boys Movie Site. So far, no details about the film are released, except maybe for the year that it’s set to be shown, 2008.

    From the looks of the teaser, there seems to be a horror edge to this. Honestly, I didn’t feel this way with 20th Century Boys. It was more of a suspense thriller than a horror. Maybe the static image made me think of The Ring or something. Anyway, the movie is slated to be good, especially since the movie production behind it is the same one in the Death Note movies. I wish they would handle this movie in the same quality that they did with Death Note. Here’s me crossing my fingers, re-planning my travel plans to Japan.