Nov
18
Oh My Jump Heroines
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How do you like your Shounen Jump heroine?
Do you love her dressed in a pristine school uniform, where her smiling face (and possibly panties or if your lucky, cleavage) grace every panel? Do you like her making bentou for the hero, sharing laughs right before he enters the greatest of his greatest battles? Or do you love her strong, the type who would smack the hero when he is wrong and is generally unforgiving to anyone who insults her short skirt but is soft to the hero who basically ignores her D-size bra? If she has one.
For years, legions of Jump readers, particularly women from the Western frame of thought1, would write a post or two complaining why women in a particular Shounen Jump manga is often misrepresented. An interesting rant came by my timeline today, a disheartened Katekyo Hitman Reborn! fan who cannot forgive Akira Amano for making cooks out her heroines. In her blog, she pines about why the female characters in Reborn have been ill-presented, nothing but dolls whose only purpose in the story was to make the boys look better.
Yeah. Right.
Continue reading Oh My Jump Heroines
- Oh yes! Orientalism plays a key part here! [↩]
Oct
29
Distracted by Urasawa’s Billy Bat
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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.
Continue reading Distracted by Urasawa’s Billy Bat
- although at this time, I was already spazzing because I find his drawings cute [↩]
- Insert my fangirling screams here [↩]
Oct
27
Read Morning Two for Free!!
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YES! This is probably the best news I’ve heard this week!
This week, it’s been announced in Morning that you can actually read back Issues 14 to 16 of Morning Two for free in the Morning Two website. ISN’T THAT THE BEST THING EVER!?! Well for those who are currently in a bit of a financial pinch and needs some free manga love, it’s the best thing~!1
I’m actually excited about this because Morning Two is running an interesting set of stories. My favorite being St. Oniisan. Another comic I crossed in Morning Two and loved is Fushigi na Shounen, an enchanting read about a boy time slipping his life away. There are other stories like Fantasium which I’ve always been curious about but never had a chance to read it in Morning Two’s maiden monthly issue. So this is the PERFECT time to browse through Morning Two and see if you can actually love some of the new mangas here.
Ah~ This is definitely going to take a good part of my Morning reading. <3 <3 I hope you guys give this is a shot too! It’s going to run from Oct. 22 to December 22 and the issues are changed every month~ <3
Note: You need to install a browser plug-in named Crochet to read the manga!
- Ugh yeah. My recent European trip really got my manga spree down to the bare essentials [↩]
Sep
7
Walking the thin line between humor and oppression: Axis Powers Hetalia
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I got another chance to write again for the national broadsheet, The Manila Bulletin. This time though, I took a chance to sit through my thoughts about one of my favorite web comics to date, Hidekaz’ Himaruya’s Axis Powers Hetalia.
Walking the thin line between humor and oppression: Hidekaz Himaruya’s Axis Powers Hetalia
By Khursten Santos
Comics are nice cheap fun. Rarely do we take comics seriously for their content, enough to make us laugh and smile for a day.
But there are some that just poses questions in our head.
Last year, a friend of mine introduced me to a Japanese web comic shouting “CountryxCountry” relations. I checked the website only to immediately fall in love with it, not only because it is a comic about countries, but also a parody of nations during World Wars I and II.
The comic is called is Axis Powers Hetalia, Hidekaz Himaruya’s hilarious vision of historical international relations.
The story of Hetalia revolves around the three Axis Powers during World War II: Germany, Japan, and Italy. Himaruya leisurely tells the difficulties that Germany and Japan experience for bearing with their useless comrade, Italy.
Stories such as how much Germany always saves Italy when he’s in trouble, how Italy is always the first one to leave in battle, and how much he believes that with pasta, you can survive any war — are some of the jokes throughout the series. Italy’s ineptitude as a military leader garnered him the nickname Hetalia — an abomination of the name Italia and the Japanese word for ‘useless’, hetare.
Of course, how can there be a war if it’s just the three of them? Eventually, Himaruya-san expands his Hetalia empire and adds the Allied Powers (America, Great Britain, France, and Russia) and other countries that caught the snare of the World War. Only when these characters were added did Himaruya’s Hetalia did become a true international affair. Now you can say you have the whole world at war in her comic.
Hilarious Stereotypes
The comedy of Hetalia rides on Himaruya’s understanding of national stereotypes and historical facts. It does not help that Himaruya draws these nations as soldiers in battle.
For example, Germany has a strict demeanor yet occasionally acts crazy when he’s drunk from beer. Then there is America, who acts typically American with his sense of heroism and love for burgers. Britain is tight-lipped and often sarcastic. And Japan is steeped in tradition and order. When these nations interact with each other in his panels, Himaruya takes these stereotypes to her head and imagines hilarious conversations exchanged during particular points in history.
It helps if you have a base knowledge of a nation’s stereotype because it makes things tons funnier than it already is. If you have traveled or encountered foreigners of the same nationalities as those in Hetalia, you might find their attitudes strikingly similar and real.
Himaruya’s conception of these characters and how he makes them interact make this work brilliant. It is not hard to imagine Italia as a guy who loves to greet other people with kisses. It’s not hard to imagine France throwing roses with his sheepishly perverted grin. It’s not hard to imagine Russia drunk over vodka. Mix these stereotypes together and you have one hilarious comic.
There was one comic strip I read which immediately made me cry laughing with the series. The story goes that Germany has taken Italy as his prisoner during World War I. During that imprisonment, Germany was surprised with how Italy was completely unfazed with the situation and just rolled around the floor eating sausages and dreaming about pasta so much so that it irritated Germany, who proceeds to kick him out of prison.
The strip is an oversimplified representation of Italy’s defeat against the unified Austrian and German armies in Caporetto during World War I. Of course, Himaruya does not detail the war but rather banked on that one little detail and made a funny comic about it.
Himaruya’s ability to find humor in a historical event is a mark of his genius.
As a teacher of mine once said, it takes great understanding and wisdom to make something funny out of a tragedy. And the World Wars were such a tragedy that it’s hard to chronicle it with a smile on your face.
At most, you can smile faintly, or have a terrified grin once you toiled through readings. But there are those who are brave enough to show us the lighter side of the war. We’ve seen it in Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful and now we also see it in Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia.
Yes, what is amazing about Hetalia is how you can actually laugh and poke fun at the nations as they plot their military conquests and fail over during these World Wars. Sometimes Himaruya presents it in such a way that you actually forget the tragedy of the situation that you just laugh at what she presents to you in a platter. It is that funny. It is a comic after all. It’s not supposed to make you think too much.
History Forgotten?
But for this girl who spent four years of her life studying history, it’s hard not to put two and two together and notice a little problem in this comic. It makes you forget. And that’s never good for history.
What is troubling with Hetalia is how it tries to dilute the meaning of an event because the author gives priority to the punchline more than the event at hand.
Those who understand what historical event he’s referring to would immediately connect the two together and see that event in a new light. And this is where I find the comic amazing and notable at times.
However, for those who are unaware of it, they could take the comic at face value and believe things happened that way. That Japan was simply a rude and selfish boy that he just took advantage of China. That Lithuania has a penchant for suffering.
The ease in reading this comic, along with the historical notes of the author can easily make the readers take the comic as the truth and just accept it. Many of my generation who would rather read something funny about a war rather than read 50 pages on a tragic battle. Some might even comment, “Oh it’s because France is such a pervert and he thrives in bringing England pain.”
For the uneducated, Hetalia has the ability oppress the historical meaning of an event. And that is sad because as much as Hetalia is funny, it is historically flawed and not all people can recognize this. It’s upsetting to see the reactions of people on how they forget the reasons behind some of Hetalia’s panels. How can you easily laugh at Lithuania’s scars? Or how can you love Russia so much for his sadistic tendencies? In our lifetime, marred visions of history have brought about thousands of flawed revolutions asking for the wrong things and wanting the wrong changes. Hetalia, although it’s only a comic, can have that power to change opinions.
A couple of friends of mine went into a debate trying to put ourselves on how we feel about Hetalia. I for one love it and thinks that Himaruya really did a great job in putting a new perspective to some events in history.
On the other hand, I have friends who are sound in voicing their concerns for the comic. It pushes the line of insult and oppression and I completely understand their concern (even I felt that way for some of her strips). I’ve seen and read how without thinking the comic over, you can easily create prejudices and even build a flawed history about nations.
In my opinion, Hetalia, despite its brilliance as a comic, should be taken with a grain of salt. Behind the humor lie stories, real stories, of peoples and beliefs that are important to our historical being. And it’s the responsibility of the reader to discover these stories, why Himaruya wrote it in this manner and why he presented him in this way.
I think that Hidekaz Himaruya may have presented Hetalia in this manner so that we can question our understanding of history. History is never about the cold facts, names, and dates of people that all of us are accustomed to in our school. History is a living breathing story, being written and rewritten everyday as we discover more and more about our past. One has to note that Hetalia is Himaruya’s own exploration of history. The challenge here is to find our own.
Original Japanese: Axis Power Hetalia
Translated English: Hetalia Livejournal Community
Aug
1
And on this day, we celebrate yaoi
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It’s your day today, Fujoshi. Have a nice Yaoi no Hi
Yes, yes~ this blog is a constant reminder that this day exists for us fujoshis to enjoy and celebrate everything that relates to boys love~ SO FUJOSHI, BE MERRY! YOU GO AND DRAFT THAT PR0N!!
Today’s a great day to look back and think of all the yaoi titles you’ve read in the past year. A lot of great yaoi titles were published this year too, my favorite being Seduce me after the Show by Est Em. This title is stunning, if not, brilliant — despite the really strange title. ^^;;
As a part of looking back, I thought I’d let my fujoshi imagination run wild a little and share a morsel of how this fujoshi brain works. In this Yaoi no Hi, I thought I’d teach my readers a little thing that pretty much has changed the lives of many of my friends. In this installation, I teach you… the Fujoshime (腐女子目), or Fujoshi Vision.
Continue reading And on this day, we celebrate yaoi
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Otaku Champloo is...
a small serving of bittersweet manga bits by a manga addict named Khursten.
She currently digs mangas about boys who live to be men. -
Feeds are Good!
