This week marks the start of the Moyashimon live action TV-series. Beyond the cute bacterias… like every good manga turned into a drama… the drama produced was completely different from the manga. AGAIN.

Can’t these drama folks keep the story as it is, the way the people have loved it in the manga, the way that the manga is popular to begin with? For those who have followed dramas, we have seen how in the likes of Yoshinaga Fumi’s Antique, they had to make Ono straight rather than gay. Now… they kind of jumbled the story line of Moyashimon, turned Kei into a girl and… I… whatever happened to the relaxed pace of my bacterial manga!?! Everything bursted out of this comic like hiochi that the sudden skips from this to that made the story lose its laidback yet interesting turn of events.

It’s insane and I’m not exactly sure if I’m disappointed just yet. The series does run for thirty minutes and I suppose they’re trying to make things as compact as they can to integrate plots that came after the anime. Then again, I have a feeling these guys won’t be travelling to France.

On the other hand… the hiochi/kiviak scene was really strange. In a dank, damp, place like that, would the kiviak even ferment? Honestly. What were these guys thinking?!

It may sound that I’m being a manga purist, but I’d like to believe that there are reasons why they animate/dramatize manga stories and the strongest of which is the story’s own good story line. Hence, why would they change it? Why would they try to make the flow of the story different?

Sometimes I wonder if it’s really the artistic interpretation of the director however… didn’t the author have a say in the production of his own work as well? Sometimes I wonder if the mangakas allow the changes because this is how they foresaw their story but failed to put it in print. However, sometimes I think that the mangakas may have been too nice to really say a word or may have been too cooped up in their own manga duties that they didn’t have the time to oversee the creative direction of the work. I mean if the Korean version of Antique Bakery managed to pull of the gay and everything else in the story quite successfully, and the Taiwanese managed to follow HanaKimi quite faithful to the manga. I don’t understand why the Japanese have to change these things.

As much as I love Moyashimon, I’m going to have to force myself to stop twitching at every change they made to the story I love. Fundamentally, the story is still the same it’s just… it’s weird. Then again even the anime version of Moyashimon was just as weird for me. It’s still to early in the game to throw the hatchet though. Besides, the 3D integration of the bacteria is just awesome.

A couple of people have asked me recently on how they can use mangas to actually study Japanese. I don’t think I’m truly an expert at this, but I can share my experience on how manga has helped me understand the language. The truth is, I can barely brag about my Level 3 certification but I can say, by my experience, that reading manga does help a lot in building my vocabulary and grammar. I must admit that it’s the very reason why I started learning Japanese in the first place.

Beyond the usual route of taking classes, mangas provide an avenue to learn more words and grammar patterns which can open up more areas for knowledge and understanding. Besides, for me, it was the best way to put to use the Japanese mangas that used to gather dust in my closet. I think we can relate to that one point in time wherein we merely bought Japanese mangas to support the mangakas. If you’re up for it, then I hope this entry encourages you to take those mangas out of the closet. I cannot guarantee that you will be an expert in Japanese after reading this (you definitely won’t be close to an expert at all!), but at least you can start your learning process and proudly say that you managed to at least read that Japanese manga that you bought.

So, are you ready to start your Japanese?

For starters

Before we actually start, there are some things that you would need to maximize your learning experience.

1.Japanese Manga
Of course, we first need the manga. If there’s a requirement for it, it has to be your favorite manga. If you don’t like the manga, then you won’t even bear through all the text just to read it. If you are starting, with absolutely no knowledge of hiragana and katakana, then it would be helpful to have a manga that has furigana. Most shounen mangas from Shounen Jump and Shounen Sunday have furiganas with with their mangas. If you have access to Children’s manga (like Doraemon), that would be greater even. Shoujo titles from Hakusensha (Lala, Hana to Yume) would also have furigana with their titles.

If you can read some bit of hiragana, katakana, and some kanjis (and how to write them), then stepping up with some seinen and josei mangas would be great to take your Japanese to the next level.

2. Japanese – English Dictionary, preferably one with a hiragana and katakana chart
Whether it’s the old school Merriam dictionary or an electronic one (doubt you can use this though, but if you do, cool), it is important that when you’re starting you have a hiragana and katakana chart with you along with an Japanese-English dictionary. If you can’t find one because quite a couple of kids have been studying Japanese too, then Meguro Language Center will have a Hiragana and katakana chart for you and Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC will become your best friend.

Eventually, you’ll want a more sophisticated dictionary. The Nintendo DS has a great Japanese – English, Japanese – Japanese dictionary. This will be a lot helpful if you want your dictionary portable. Alternately, if you can’t find words in either dictionaries and you think it’s too slang that it’s probably otaku-related already (e.g. Fujoshi, tsundere, etc.), you can check out Bangin’s blog!

3. A Grammar Guide
This is just as important as the Japanese-English Dictionary. Without this, the words wouldn’t make sense at all (and you’re bound to misunderstand what you’re reading.) If you have access to Japanese Grammar books, that’s great. The grammar book I use is Minna no Nihongo. Others might recommend to you better books. Whichever is really convenient for you, really. Lately, there’s been some great online grammar guides that can help you distinguish your ni from your no. Guide to Japanese.org and Jgram.org are great places to start. The DS Japanese-English dictionary also has great notes for grammar words.

4. Determination
You definitely need this because it is a difficult process especially if you’re doing this as self-study on the side. Without determination, you won’t even get past the first bubble. So you’ve got to be determined to finish the first volume. I used to read a chapter of my first Japanese manga, Kare Kano vol. 9, for a week (or month if I get lazy). It was really hard, but once you’re done, you’ve got such a great sense of achievement that you just can’t wait to read the next volume.

5. A friend who knows Japanese WELL and is willing to help
For me, this helped a lot. I’m forever grateful to my friends and teachers who are always happy to answer me whenever I ask them stupid questions about the silliest words and grammar patterns (especially slang speeches which are EVERYWHERE in manga). If such friends are unavailable to you, there are different forums dedicated to Japanese language (in some cases, manga translation) that can help you. And you can prolly find your own friends there.

With those in mind, I’m pretty sure you’re ready start reading. I’ve set 4 stages to studying Japanese. This is how I studied the language and how I’m continually trying my best to master it. This is not the common path to take, but I think it’s just as enriching as those that are usually taken.

Stage 1: Crawling through all the kanas and the kanjis.

The first hurdle I encountered in reading my mangas were my kanas and kanjis. In the beginning, they were all scribbles to me. I had to first distinguish what is hiragana and katakana and what is kanji. This is where your hiragana and katakana list comes in. It will let you know which is kanji and which is hiragana and katakana. If you’re an absolute newbie to Japanese, and your manga has furigana, then reading through the manga will be a breeze since you can ignore the kanji and just read through the furigana. Furiganas are kanji-reading guides. They’re usually beside a kanji to help the reader know how that kanji is read in Japanese. And with the help of the furigana, you can easily match it up to the word with your dictionary. The trick here is memorization. Try to memorize the shapes of the hiragana and katakanas. If you can even try to write them (just for retention), all the better.

Of course this is tricky because some mangas won’t place furigana for commonly used kanjis such as watashi, ore, and iu. It can also be tricky when the entire sentence is in hiragana and you can distinguish where one word starts and where another ends (I still encounter this trouble myself!). My only advice is be prepared for it and try to memorize the shape of the said kanji. It’s meticulous, confusing, and difficult, but eventually, with enough reading, you can finally recognize that watashi refers to “I” and hito refers to “person”. The more you expose yourself to reading the more that you can get used to reading some hiragana, katakanas, and kanjis. Of course, this part is just the tip of the iceberg. What’s the use of knowing how to read it if you don’t understand how and why it’s said? This is where your grammar comes in, one which will probably make your manga reading a lot more difficult than it already is.

Once you can manage your hiraganas and katakanas, you can start studying your kanjis. Kanji workbooks and a dictionary with kanjis (this is where your electronic dictionary or Jim Breen will really help!) can be your best friend. Nintendo DS also has a bunch of great kanji DS games. Learning how to write the kanji and how to read it can make your life a whole lot easier later. Eventually you can manage to read kanji combinations without the help of dictionaries.

Stage 2: He gave what to what!?!

Recognizing and reading the word is half the problem. The next and most important part of learning Japanese is learning the grammar structure. There is a great likelihood that your first bubble won’t have an easy grammar structure. My advice is to read up ahead on grammar. If you want to read your grammar patterns before you read your manga, then that’s cool. That first bubble would be a lot easier to read.

Sometimes, I like getting lost in the dialogue. I usually find the main words first, the noun, adjectives, and the verb, then look at the words that serve as prepositions or what I would informally say as ‘grammar markers’ and then check grammar sites like jgram, guidetojapanese, or my Minna no Nihongo. I will check how those markers make sense to the other words. Eventually, you manage to memorize the grammar patterns and like hieroglyphics, you can decipher what that first bubble is talking about.

To be honest, this is the most difficult part in understanding Japanese through manga. There is a great percentage that you won’t easily find the grammar markers for the dialogue in manga because some of these dialogues are either in modern slang and dialect. This is where friends who know Japanese can help. They can either help you in understanding that pattern, or either guide you where to look with regards to that meaning.

At times, to help my learning curve, I check English translations of that manga (if available). I would try my best to resist reading just the translation, but rather, understand why that person translated that bubble in that manner.

The more you read, the more words you encounter, and eventually the more patterns you’ll remember. Forget it if the words are totally uncommon words like mahoutsukai or youkai. The point is before you got to those words you actually encountered words that are common to the Japanese tongue.

Stage 3: 絶対負けない！ (I won’t lose!!)

If you have reached this stage, it means that it’s probably months or even years since you started reading Japanese. Reading Japanese doesn’t mean you’re a master of it. By now, you can probably understand the language but yet only have a quarter of understanding of the whole language. This is the time you reinforce your knowledge of Japanese. The time wherein you move out of the furiganas and start reading some seinen manga. If you’ve reached this far, it means that your love for manga is beyond that your favorite title. Along the way you have embraced the culture behind the language and probably has a broader perspective about Japan, one that is beyond ninjas and shinigamis.

So how do you take it to the next level? This is the time I would suggest getting formal classes in Japanese, one that is a little above the basics and one that is a little before the intermediate. Seriously, without this, you cannot tie some loose ends together. If you have the chance to be in an intensive course, that’s great. If you have the chance to even go to Japan and study the language there, even better (since you’re immediately immersed in the language).

Some of my friends don’t do this and instead immerse themselves deeper in Japanese either by playing Japanese video games (from PS2 RPGs to MMORPGS), reading light novels, even visiting Japanese sites, or listening to drama CDs, or watch your anime raw. Some even start writing entries in Japanese sites such as mixi. Although, that’s kind of impossible now since they restricted it from foreigners. The point is, exposure is the key to mastering the language. The more you read, speak, write, listen to a language, the more it becomes second nature to you.

By doing these, you’re finally at that point where you’re pretty much slowly letting go of that dictionary you’ve always had in your bag. The key here is immersing yourself in the language everyday and have someone correcting you or guiding you.

Some people (myself included) do personal translation of series we love that are yet unnoticed by licensing agents in the US. There’s a wealth of great manga out there, many of which are still untranslated and would barely reach American shores. So if you love that manga and you want to pimp it to everyone, go ahead and translate this manga with all your might. My good friend Melz is doing this for the last few volumes of her favorite series. I’m doing this for Moyashimon and for a couple of series I’m interested in. Translating is a great way to understand the fluidity of Japanese dialogue, at the same time, it’s the perfect way to brush up on your vocabulary.

The first two stages can get you as far as Grades 1 or 2 Japanese. This stage will help you to make the language a part of your tongue and your thought pattern. In this stage, Japanese has seeped into your mindset that when you read a manga, you no longer translate it to english and it sometimes frustrates you to even translate it to english because you find it meticulous since you understand it in Japanese anyway. Unless of course, if you love the series so much that you want to pimp it to your non-Japanese reading friends.

For my own personal ‘training’ regimen, I’m focusing reading on seinen mangas that tackle topics ranging from economics to bacterial infection. I’m currently subscribed to Morning and the magazine has a wide array of topics. The ones I faithfully read are cooking related (and yes I love reading those cooking terms), although some stories also pique my interest as well. When I read my Morning, since it’s just a magazine, I scribble on dialogues that has words or grammar patterns that interest me. I highlight a word and then write what it is and what it stands for. This is helping me recognize that word so that when I encounter it next time, I’ll definitely remember its meaning and how it’s read in Japanese. Of course, I won’t suggest this if you are reading tankoubons (but if you can’t resist, use post-its!!).

Stage 4: Validation

Some may not take this stage, but for me, I take this as a validation of what I know and where should I improve. Every first weekend of December, there is a test given internationally called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, more popularly known by it’s acronym, JLPT. The JLPT’s a perfect avenue to test you on how much Japanese you know and understand. There are 4 Levels to JLPT, wherein the 4th Level is the lowest and the 1st is the highest.

The test tackles your understanding of vocabulary, grammar, listening, and comprehension. My JLPT experiences are always funny, whether I pass it or not. You shouldn’t take the test as one that hinders your growth in Japanese. Instead, use it as a leverage to know your weak points and how you should improve yourself.

This year, I’ve started to seriously study for my Level 2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) for next year. Yes, I’m spending two years to study the language since Level 3 only required 300 kanjis and JLPT2 requires around 1500 kanjis. For this year though, I decided to improve my vocabulary and grammar by reading more manga. I know, it sounds silly and many Japanese language students are critical of this, but over the years, I realized that reading manga is a great tool to get used to the language. It is not the ONLY nor is it the BEST way to learn the language, but it is definitely a fun alternative to overcome your fear of Japanese.

If you’ve got other suggestions on what you guys did (or is still doing) to understand Japanese, please leave a comment. Hopefully you can give me (as well as readers of this entry) more tips on how we can improve our Japanese. Currently, my brain is exploding with all the kanjis. Thank god, reading manga is making the experience a lot more fun than writing that kanji over and over again for 10 times.

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！

We had a three day weekend in Manila and I was caught by surprise when my mailman knocked at my door last Saturday telling I had a package. He gave me TWO big boxes of things. One box, we won’t be really concerned about, but the other… WHOO BOY! It’s too cute to pass up.

Let’s just say that last Friday, there’s a riot in Akihabara for something yellow and something cute. As announced sometime ago, those who will buy the Limited Edition of Moyashimon Vol. 6 will receive a 40cm A. Oryzae stuffed toy. Months ago, I was struggling between getting this or getting the DVD stuffed toy. The DVD stuffed toy was a palm’s width and when you press it, it says “Kamosuzo!” It was cute and all, but somehow at the last minute, I backed out and didn’t decide to buy it. On the other hand, there was that 40 cm. cuteness which I thought was too big for you to actually enjoy as a bacteria. Time came and went and I was supposed to cancel my order again at the last minute, but my reliable vendor has already shipped it. I was partially aghast, then thoughts of “Imma sell it when it arrives.” came to my head.

Then it arrived Saturday, just a day after its release in stores in Japan. YES!!¹ I’ve got this huge box and when I opened, the cutest and LARGEST A. Oryzae just popped out and I can totally hear him/it screaming “Kamosuzo!!” It was too cute to pass up that I literally washed my hands and my face just to cuddle the BIG BACTERIA!

A. Oryzae was so cute!! He was so cute that all my thoughts of selling the damn bacteria just disappeared. Funny how it had a big big box for Oryzae and right at the bottom was the manga for volume 6 of Moyashimon plus a clear file that served both as book cover. Sweet. Really sweet.

A friend of mine has told me that I’m picky to buy mangas for because I always enjoy the limited edition stuff. Well, partially true. The Japanese have a knack for creating GREAT limited edition stuff. I mean, for a doll bigger than my head plus a manga and a clear file, that’s got to be the best 2,500 yen (1000 peso) buy that I have ever bought!! My word of advice, if you love a series too much and YOU KNOW they’re releasing something that is limited edition and it’s to your fancy, buy it without regret. It’s bound to be good.

I’m totally happy with my moyashimon buy! :3 Had I known moyashimon when volume 4 came out with those chibbi bacteria figures, I would have bought it. ><;; But this deal is good enough for me. I wonder if US Publishers would ever release limited goods like this with their manga. I’ve heard about the Naruto cabinet, but other than that, have there been fun ones released with the manga? The Japanese Nodame comes out with a special audio CD for their supposed ‘art book’ that contains feature on the music and stuff. Volume 18 came with a keychain. Hmm, I wonder when US would start having cool stuff like that. I might be buying more english mangas if they do. I’m such a sucker for stuff that way. XD

1. This is why I love BK1

And so I round things up, just like before, about the fun things and the good things that I read and played with in 2007. I managed to read a lot of good new manga and reconnected with the old. :3 I did a couple of recommendations for mangacast already so we’ll just stick to the fun titles that I had fun with this year.

This year was all about Moe for me. Moe and otaku culture got me strong this year so pardon mates if these are fan-frenzied choices. :3 Maybe it’s all that toy collecting. Or maybe I’ve been reading Heisei Democracy and Ace too much. :3

Lucky Star. A story about nothing and everything. This totally got my heart ablaze especially with Konata’s Otakon (Otaku Spirit). The humor is simple although you do need some otaku knowledge to get past Konata’s jokes. I cannot stress enough how much i enjoyed watching this and how this has changed my karaoke habits forever. Must I add that I love it so much I preordered the nendoroid konata? Oh yeah. love.

Darker than Black. Bones struck gold with this one for me. It was a good well paced story with enough action to keep the fanboys going. I personally loved Hei’s team and how they stick together to the end. This really isn’t a Moe selection, but Mao’s got enough Moe for all of us. :3

Moyashimon. Bacterias talking and fermenting. I’ve been hooked on fermented items this year so to see the bacterias behind just makes my heart flutter so. I cannot resist Oryzae and for 3 months, I was wishing I had that talent to see them. But sadly I can’t. But thank god for Moyashimon. :3 Love the manga too. The covers rock.

Kekkaishi. I’ve been loving the manga for some while and now that the anime is out, I’m totally hooked every week. I love the story, the kinship between the brothers and the families that nurture and protect them. The story is well paced and I see that there’s no rush to follow to the manga (Oh yeah! No filler arcs… yet.) And if you played the DS game, oh darn it’s wicked!!

Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei. I actually started following Shonen magazine because of this. But yeah, a manic-depressive suicidal teacher and a plethora of lovely students to his call and beckon is worth getting desperate over. I enjoy this series in the sick and twisted humor way.

Lovely Complex. Ah~ High School Manzai Love. <3 <3  Seto no Hanayome. Yakuza mermaids. What more can I ask for? :3
Nodame Cantabile. Because I’m a fangirl.

Gintama. Oi. This came out last year, so why am I pimping it? Because it deserves pimping. yo. And I’m using that as a lame excuse to place this image in my website.

All in all. It was a great year. :3 A very fun year, I might add. :3  There wasn’t enough drama but there was lots of comedies this year. Or maybe I was really just choosing the comedies. :3 I hope next year would be just as fun! I look forward to next year! :3