Hrmm… a little late, but it’s better late than never! \o/
This year, rather than talking about the animes I’ve seen and loved this year, I’d share to you one of the best things I’ve had for a year.
I’ve always been hesitant to buy manga magazines. I think for the longest time, I’ve been pondering over subscribing to Shounen Sunday or Shounen Jump. For a while, I even pondered about subscribing to Kiss. Somehow, I never really had the chance to subscribe even if I was actually interested in it. Until last year, when a little trip to the grocery store got me wondering if I could actually get a subscription locally.
When 2008 started, I realized that a local Japanese Grocery store1 carried the magazine, Morning. Now, I’ve been eternally curious about Morning since Ed from Mangacast spoke highly of it. More so, a couple of titles I’ve been interested in were running there, such as Kami no Shizuku and Kinou Nani Tabeta. It wasn’t my usual cup of tea (really, I was more interested in Shounen Jump), but I thought I’d give it a shot. So I bought a copy. The next thing I know, I was already asking the manager if I can get a subscription.
Sure, Morning doesn’t have the most popular titles among kids but it does have a great array of reads that I did not expect. It ranges from the unexpectedly cute with Chi’s Sweet Home to the intense Zipang. As I flip through the pages, I fell in love more and more with the magazine, unexpectedly drawn to read stories that I’d probably wouldn’t give a second look if I was browsing a shelf. And for this I’m grateful for the magazine. Morning has nice stories to tell and if I hadn’t read the magazine, I wouldn’t know how wonderful these stories are.
In a year, I found myself enjoying a couple of titles. Here’s a rundown of my favorites currently running in the magazine.
- Kami no Shiziku (The wine manga we’ve all been dying to get translated!)
- Kinou Nani Tabeta (The Yoshinaga Fumi foodie manga we long to read about.)
- Piano no Mori (A story of a young boy who found love for music in the middle of a forest)
- Uchuu Kyoudai (A story of brothers gunning to take over space)
- Shima Shima (Can’t sleep? Then let the boys of Strip Sheep cuddle you to bed)
- Chi’s Sweet Home (Ah~ Cute little Chi~! Who can’t resist this kitty!?)
- Himawari (The dreams of a small town OL to become a mangaka2)
- Billy Bat (Urasawa’s Morning contribution. It’s becoming more trippy by the chapter! I love it!)
See, I didn’t expect to actually end up reading more than the 2 titles I actually bought Morning for. Last year, they even published a New Year’s St. Oniisan chapter in Morning and I owe it to that chapter for introducing me to St. Oniisan.
If there’s one thing I love about Morning, it’s how their catch phrase is not a lie. On every cover of Morning, there’s a catch phrase that says “読むと元気になる” (When you read this, you’ll feel great). And certainly my mornings feel great, thanks to Morning.
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I can’t get it out of my system. I’m compelled to spazz.
Three weeks ago, Morning announced that they’ll be bringing a set of new titles for magazine, the first of which was a story named Billy Bat written by Naoki Urasawa. The story, as they published in the presses, is a mix of Mickey Mouse, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Dick Tracy, and slew of other American comic icons combined. Seeing the cover art made me think once or twice about what Urasawa was up to. They even showed a cover spiel at the Morning website. First, it looked like a superflat Batman. Second, honestly, it didn’t feel like it was Urasawa’s line of work. I started to think, was Urasawa undergoing some mangaka mid-life crisis and wanted trying something very new to him? Either way, I patiently waited for my Morning issue the next week. Maybe I’ll get my answers there.
True enough, Billy Bat was on the cover in last week’s issue and the first chapter was printed on a paper that reminded me of old American comics. It was packaged in such a way that there were ads for Billy Bat and on it was a name that shook my senses over lunch: Kevin Yamagata. When I saw that name, I turned to my friend and told her, “I have a feeling that Billy Bat is not Urasawa’s work.” So I speculated to my friend a theory. That Billy Bat was a front and the real story revolves around the author, this Kevin Yamagata. I even imagined how in a chapter, the comic will pan out and it will show Mr. Yamagata working on Billy Bat. This was of course, my speculation. And really, a good part of me that week wanted to wait for the next few chapters before spazzing1 because… it was a very different Urasawa and I found it difficult to see how the hell he will spin Billy Bat‘s world and art in the same way he has spun the lives of Johann, Miyuki, and Kenji. So my theory is, if he managed to shift people’s vision of Atom in Pluto, he can do the same for Billy Bat. And so this week came, and you know what… Urasawa and I mindmelded2.
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AND TAMAKI HIROSHI IS ACTING!!!
Yuecchi gave a twit of Tamaki Hiroshi in eyeglasses, but I was more surprised when it said that he is acting for MW! Wow. That’s cool. It’s probably one of his more serious roles. He probably can handle it, then again, I haven’t really seen him in a serious role.
Sorry, fangirl post. :3 I can’t help it! I love Osamu Tezuka and Tamaki Hiroshi. Of course the latter has more… fangirling bearing. He’s… Chiaki-sama after all.
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Congratulations to Ishikawa Masayuki for winning for Moyashimon!! Finally, they notice the genius of processed foods and the power that bacteria has in our favorite foods!
The 32nd Annual Kodansha Manga Awards has just been announced and Moyashimon got an award for Best General Manga. It also won the grand prize for the Tezuka!! Yay! I’m not so sure if the anime played in its popularity or at least exposure, but a lot of interesting things did happen to the manga last year so it’s quite amazing that way. :3
Another personal favorite of mine won. It’s called Kimi ni Todoke and it won for Best Shoujo. I’m not so sure if it’s licensed yet, but yeah, this is another great shoujo story and I hope it gets translated in english too. Its story is similar to The Wallflower without being too repetitive and stubborn. Its delightful without containing too much drama from shoujo mangas.
Manga awards are a great way to find titles outside your usual haunts. Some people are always iffy about award-winning mangas because some think it’s for those with sophisticated tastes and all that. However, it would never hurt to understand why it was shortlisted or why it even won for that award. I was a Naoki Urasawa fan and was pleased to see Pluto win for a Tezuka before. That same year, there was that shortlisted manga named Nodame Cantabile that got me curious. After checking it out, I was blown away with Nodame’s insanity. That experience convinced me that there’s a greater world out there other than those deemed as ‘popular’. So don’t be afraid to check these mangas out if you can. It’d be quite an experience. :3
So for a short quip, congratulations to Moyashimon for winning the lot this year!!
みんな！かもすぜー！
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Yotsuba and Danboard, the environmentally friendly robot, wants to remind you some environmentally friendly tips that otakus like you and me can do to make the earth breathe every now and then.
- Turn your PC off tonight. Make it rest. Someone will still be seeding those torrents tomorrow.
- Got some old issues of Shounen Jump or Ace lying around that you just bought for knack but never read? Tear them up to pieces and use it as bed for your cat or dog.
- Reuse all those amazon and yes asia boxes. You can store all your undisplayed figures and outgrown mangas there. lol.
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Stand up from your desk and have a walk at the park. Turn off your PC while you’re at it.
- Use a bike going to work pray that somewhere in between your home and work, you go into a time slip.
- Don’t use your aircon for a day and give some lovin’ to the earth by opening your window for fresh air.
We otakus can take a part in saving the environment despite our dependency on technology and material things. It’s the least that we can do before some alien further destroys our earth and we go to an epic journey of finding a way to get rid of them.
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Gan on 
Goran Markovic on 