While I often complain that the Philippines does not have a rich localized manga industry like Singapore and Indonesia, we do have a very rich history in animation.

Some of you may have heard of members of Pixar coming from our shores, but for all the local otaku out there, did you know that Toei animation has been in Manila for 25 years?

Last Nov. 16, Toei celebrated their 25th anniversary in the Philippines, sharing the works that they’ve done all these years as well as some goodies (in fact, A LOT OF AWESOME merchandise!). Currently, Toei Manila is working on Precure, Toriko, and One Piece. Their animation history extends as far as Dragon Ball, Sailormoon, Kinnikuman, Hokuto no Ken, and Voltes V (The Philippine Fan favorite). Almost all of these titles have had their chances in being shown in local television.

Seeing the event reminded me of all the anime that was generously shown in local TV. I suppose, it’s not much of a surprise that Filipinos immediately associate Japan with anime rather than manga because most Filipinos encountered Japan through television… and World War II… but we’ll get to that later.

The brothers are back to back in a kick ass diorama.

I was fortunate enough to be dragged along as a volunteer for this event again, and while the morning was spent as a Toei family day, they had booths open to the public where they have some One Piece figures on display, have your photo taken with Sakuragi, or… have yourself sketched by one of their animators.

Out of the lot, I found myself lurking around the animators because I had one request that KimuTaku fought so hard for.

See, there’s an episode of Smap x Smap where KimuTaku and friends answered a One Piece Quiz. The prize was an illustration of the winner with the Strawhats crew. Clearly, KimuTaku fought hard to win it, eventually gaining a portrait of himself with the Strawhats crew. The thing here is, it wasn’t an illustration by Oda. It was actually an illustration from Toei animation.

Hence, I took this opportunity to take my chance in getting myself illustrated by one of One Piece’s animators. According to her, she’s currently a background designer for One Piece but she’s had her shot in drawing Luffy and friends. Thus, it was very easy for her to draw my strange request: a picture of me and Luffy eating a giant onigiri.

I am now a part of the One Piece Family! o/

Towards the afternoon, there was a fun karaoke contest and TOEI held a parade which was smaller compared to their 20th anniversary parade, but just as fun as the last one. I think they’ve taken note that in the next event, they’ll put on cosplayers rather than beauty pageant finalists.

Going Sunny.... sort of... :3

The final event was a cosplay competition which was kinda awesome given how well craftsmanship in Philippine cosplay has evolved. There were transforming robots, kamen riders, and tons of magical girls. The winner was a SuperRobo Wars, Philippine fan favorite: Voltes V. I’m quite sure that 80% of the people who stopped by has no idea what One Piece is, but I’m quite sure that 100% knew Voltes V… enough to even sing the ending song during one skit of the winning team.

You can check magnetic-rose.net for the other details about the event.

Big thanks to Toei animation for working hard in giving us some fun anime to remember!

As soon as the new season of the Gintama anime started, I noticed a couple of tweets asking whether the Gin Tama¹ manga was cancelled since the US Viz release of the 23^rd volume was declared as the final volume. The manga is still going strong in Japan and when I checked my 23^rd volume, it didn’t have a joke on being the last volume. Hence, I was surprised with the blurb in the same way that I was surprised that this even happened at all. How did one of Japan’s most popular titles close its pages in the US? Perhaps I should first ask: how did Gintama get translated in the first place?

I do remember what I felt in seeing the first volume of Gin Tama (as appropriated by Viz) a long time ago, wondering even why it exists. Having been a fan of the Japanese original, there were two problems I saw with a Gintama translation. First, it was deeply entrenched with Japanese concepts, trends, and puns that it would be difficult to translate without having to write tons of footnotes on why that pun was supposed to be funny².  Second, the manga’s loaded with childish Japanese humor, the stuff that young teenagers refuse to let go of. We’re talking about poop jokes, dick jokes, boob jokes, idiot talk, idiot choices, and warped childish logic that are certainly not everybody’s cup of tea. At least to my experience, not everyone can ride on that humor. Unless you’re a Japanese kid³

When I browsed through that issue, I found myself appreciating the lengths that Viz had done for the US translation. They chose the path of keeping the humor and the story but they sacrificed a bit, and at times a lot, of the context. Gin Tama’s for a different audience after all. When American teenage boys are hell bent on their action heroes beating people to a pulp, seeing a hero pick their nose might just throw them off. It’s not a bad thing. The comic was still funny even if Gin Tama was not Gintama. It might sell but as I placed the volume back to the shelf, I had a feeling that kids might not get the 魂 (tama or in english “soul”) in Gintama.

Gintama takes pride in being a series with a lot of soul. The main character, Gintoki believes that as the hero, he upholds the soul and dreams of many boys. This can mean a lot of things but it can go as easy as helping the elderly to doing what you think is right to protecting the people you love. But this is just a part of Gintama’s soul. The entire city of Kabuki-chou, its crazy denizens and its culture, is a microcosm of metropolitan Tokyo. In it there are women who work in cabaret clubs, men in host clubs, brothels, thieves, otaku, perverts and the occasional densha otoko. The characters fall in love with digital girlfriends and they go in online anonymous boards to get advice on love. Gintoki is an avid reader of Shounen Jump and is not afraid to reference it everytime he needs to put his manga into place. This series is not afraid to represent Japanese social reality in its pages that it’s hard to divorce Japanese culture from its pages. It captures the vibrant and ever changing soul of Japan hence to appropriate or to even translate the series to another culture or language compromises Gintama’s soul.

Panels from the Viz edition of Gin Tama. Catherine was based from Cat's Eye, another Jump title.

Personally, I understand why Viz even picked up the title. It’s a funny series, more so, an amazing story. To me, it’s possibly one of the best titles serialized in the Japanese version of Shounen Jump. Gintama’s also been receiving some following ever since the anime started and fans bear through tons of footnotes and explanations that come out in the fan subtitles of the series⁴. Some scanlations were emerging and at that time, it felt like the English-speaking fandom might be knowledgeable and mature enough to understand some of the jokes pulled in the series. Unfortunately, if they are indeed pulling Gintama off the shelves, then English-speaking world just didn’t click with Yorozuya.

If they are pulling off Gin Tama off the shelves⁵, then the series is a great reminder of how some things are better left untranslated. As a fan of Gintama, I too want the series translated however as someone who understands it in Japanese, I know that it would be impossible to port the series at 100%. A lot of us would like to think that manga has a universal appeal however, the failures of series like Gintama is a reminder that sometimes, some manga just don’t have an international audience in mind.

I’m quite curious if Gintama suffered the same in other international editions. So I’d like some readers (outside of the US) does your country translate Gintama? If they do, how were the translations? Was it successful or did it wrap up like Gin Tama did?

1. From here then on I will refer to Gintama as the Japanese version while Gin Tama as the VIZ releases
2. which kind of kills the jokes, doesn’t it?
3. and even that is quite questionable since different kids have different tastes
4. I must confess, even reading the fansubs of this series is half as good unless you don’t have a deep understanding of the Japanese context
5. this could be just a joke after all. Gintama‘s very fond of such jokes

I thought that this has got to be the funniest joke but it turns out, it was no joke at all.

I’ve seen this being tweeted for some while but it wasn’t long until I finally saw the commercial for Shueisha’s new quarterly BL magazine (under its subsidiary Homesha), BL-ink.

But don’t they have Weekly Shounen Jump already?

I know. It’s crazy. But it seems Weekly Shounen Jump is not the “Sweet BL” that BL-ink is trying to offer. The magazine is a dedicated BL magazine for Homesha and I think this is perhaps an outright acceptance of the popularity of BL.¹

What I found interesting was it took some google powers to find the site. It’s mostly mentioned as BLink which doesn’t come out much in searches. Looking at Shueisha’s website doesn’t even announce the magazine (or at least I didn’t see it.) I had to find the websites of actual authors in the magazine to actually figure out that it should be searched as BL-ink to finally find the proper search term for the said magazine.

As I mentioned, BL-ink will be sold more under Homesha, but it’s inevitable to not associate this publishing firm with Shueisha. In fact, in the advertisements, they would proudly put the banner of Shueisha as if it’s quite important and crucial that Shueisha’s involved in this. After all, the company has had a love affair with fujōshi especially with Shounen Jump.

This love affair can be seen with the appearances of some famous JUMP BL doujinshika turned mangaka in the magazine. The two that I recognize are Aoi Levin, who is notoriously famous for Dino x Hibari from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and Ichinomiya Shihan, known best as the circle Love Potion No. 9 and is known for Gintoki x Hijikata doujins from Gintama. I’m quite sure that other mangaka in the magazine had also done some SJ doujin at some point. Upon researching, the mangaka for the opening story (in color) is Natsume Isaku who has done Sanji x Zoro from One Piece at one point. So does Takaoka Nanaroku who did Inui x Kaidou from Prince of Tennis, and L x Light from Death Note.

The other authors that are contributing in this magazine are Sakura Haiji, Haruno Ahiru, Takanaga Hinako (The Tyrant Falls in Love), Kusunoki Jun, Akiba Touko, Kamon Saeko, Hashimoto Aoi, Enzou (who apparently made a Gintama doujin BUT I DON’T KNOW AS WHAT CIRCLE! THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!), Tamaquis Wren, Misasagi Kumiko, Kawamura Natsu, Murakami Sachi, Kuju Sham, Cotonorino Desuko, and Jaryuu Dokuro.

The magazine presents itself as a collection of “Sweet like chocolate” BL stories and it shows in the number of authors that will be present in the magazine. I’ve read most of these author’s works outside of the magazine and they’re the kind of authors who will write sickeningly sweet BL that would make you either believe in romance again or for rather cynic readers, make you flip over the next page. Of course, the road to love might come a little different for everyone, but I’m quite sure that those in the magazine will make any fujōshi squee and giggle. What is amazing is that hardly any of these artists are familiar to American audiences as only Takanaga Hinako has been licensed in the US. Still, a number of these authors has been causing waves in the fujōshi world that their presence in this magazine is nothing but important.

Minazuki Yuu also contributes to this magazine by writing a column. To cap it all off, magazine will also include a CD called “Icha icha CD” and eventually they’ll also have a net radio.

I’m completely roaring in laughter upon hearing this endeavor. I am totally amused and mildly excited for this issue, hoping to see new works, familiar works, and at least evolution of the Shounen Jump BL doujinshika into a full-fledged mangaka.

It’s interesting how it comes full circle doesn’t it? These girls starting out in admiration for Shueisha’s titles and now they are writing for that magazine. I wonder if it’s greater respect if they can actually manage to write a title in Shounen Jump. CLAMP (who did St. Seiya parodies) managed to break through Jump Square… but it’s not quite Jump yet. Other authors like Natsume Ono (who did Kakashi x Gai from Naruto) and Yoshinaga Fumi (who did Mitsui x Kogure from Slam Dunk) have found their niche and have soared far from the pages of Shueisha. These BL-ink authors may have possibly tickled the fancies of Shuiesha’s Homesha enough to at least merit them the pride of writing for the first BL magazine for that company. Of course, I wasn’t surprised that they got some of the most romantic mangaka in BL, but hey, Shueisha’s the kind of company that takes pride in formula. These girls can sell and for their first BL project, they’ve got to make sure that it sells.

BL-ink will be on sale in Japan on February 7. You can visit the site (which still seems to be in construction) at bl-ink.net. You can view the Niconico douga ad here. You’ll need a niconico account to view the video.

1. strangely, the niconico video has only been seen by 1000++ people!

Listen to “Oh Shounen Jump!”

I didn’t believe this at first but my good Japanese friend gave me a copy of a song, a fervent anthem for Shounen Jump! I don’t know if this is a real song but it seems to be sung by a real band named ザ・ブレッスン・フォア. They seem to have sung other anime songs such as Combattler V theme and the Kamen Rider theme.

The song is actually quite amusing and captures the spirit of the magazine’s kickass nature. So it tells you to share a punch or two with your siblings and never give up when you fall. Well, what do you expect from a song about Shounen Jump?

Enjoy listening to it. It’s quite a treat!

For those who wants to sing it, here are the lyrics. Sorry if I don’t translate it to romaji. A little pressed for time here. But for those who can read, enjoy!

君はもう読んだのか　うわさのマンガ　週に一度だけ会える男のドラマ
心をときめかせて　夢を求めて
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

ストラトスのエンジンが　とどろくサーキット
吹雪裕也の背中に狼の影
マシンに命かけて走りつづける
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

イケイケ両津　ひるむな両津
葛飾亀有公園前

投げるボールは快速球
すごいぞ村瀬　その手で勝利を掴めヤングジャイアンツ
負けず嫌い礼儀さ　意地を貫け
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

絶対通る　必ず受かる
お猿高　東大１直線

血潮交わした兄弟の
明日を背負い　遠く雄雄しく旅立て朝太郎
弱音吐かぬ根性ぶつけて進め
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

猛練習で最下位脱出　セリーグのオアシス
千葉パイレーツ

姉と二人で鍛えた　ワンツーパンチ
涙見せるな竜次　リングにかけろ
汗にまみれて育つ戦いの日々
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

いまだレックス飛び出せレックス　追いかける匂いは凶悪犯だ

走れ谷口　打て打て墨谷
団結だファイトだ　プレイボール

さえるグリーン踏みしめて　頑張れヤイチ
狙えバーディーイーグル　ホールインワン
はやる重い静めて　瞳凝らして
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

熱いロマンの青春を生き抜いて
飛べ輝け　さわやか万太郎
赤く燃える太陽　胸に焼き付け
おおお　ジャンプジャンプ　少年ジャンプ

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.

Seriously, this magazine was not meant for you

There are two key things that “Jump feminists” must remember when it comes to tackling feminism in Shounen Jump. First, the magazine is published in Japan, drawn by Japanese mangakas,  edited and published by Japanese publishers, and sold to Japanese people. Second, the magazine’s target market are Japanese boys ages 10 to 15. These two factors play a great role in building and creating the stories that are published in the magazine.

The least of the magazine’s concerns is a 10-yr. old Japanese boys going feminist, suddenly complaining that Kyoko is only capable of making an onigiri.  I doubt 10 year olds think this way. I doubt Japanese boys, or even men would actually hate her for that.

A lot of great points about differences in culture and perspectives has been pointed here.

To wrap it up, the magazine was built for a different set of people, with cultures and practices much different than ours. The Western feminist concept does not exactly apply to them. For them, being a woman has an entirely different meaning. Hence, you cannot force the Western concept of what makes a woman unto a working theory that’s already been established and deeply ingrained in Japanese culture.

Japan loves their women pure

Perhaps I will segue here differently from Kae, looking closer to the cultural side of Japan’s feminism on why authors tend to draw their girls like Kyoko and why we would probably be reading more of them in the future.

One of the most interesting readings I crossed was Mikiso Hane’s study² on how men, after World War II, preferred their women pure. In history, Japanese women were often portrayed as ghosts or sly creatures or crazy ladies who are out to teach men a lesson or two about humanity. The war has taught Japanese men the comfort of a woman’s doting support. The purity and the innocence of loyal servitude.

Women also appreciate this fact, despite Japan’s transition into a modern cosmopolitan country. They understand that their role as women is to help build and raise a healthy family. In fact, this is an accepted reality among women in Japan. Even if they’re career women, they also have to play the role of housewives. One of the most loved comics that’s still running in Japan, Sazae-san, presents a loving wife who has found comfort in taking care of her family. Sazae’s image is one of many that has become an institution in Japanese society. So much so that women dream to be like her once they start having families. I can go on talking about the women’s double burden, but for sure, Sazae’s image is something that men and women both revere. The image of a domesticated woman is highly appreciated in Japanese society.

And this was a facet of Japanese feminism that has been highly translated in manga. From Captain Tsubasa, all the way to Reborn, and even in mangas outside of Shounen Jump, the ideal Japanese girl would be someone who has this doting innocence, the sunshine in the hero’s life.

Her bento skills may make her appear very domestic, but these are the traits that the hero respects so much that he would have an unshakeable determination ( e.g., Tsuna’s Dying Will) to protect it, may it be driven by his affections or his stomach.

But really, do their images and what they represent matter?

I would like to believe that it is not what the heroine in Jump does that really matters. They can be strong tsunderes or they can be quiet girls. They can be important or unimportant to the story. I’d like to think that no matter how small or big their role is in the story, their existence is key in teaching boys how to relate, respect, and treat the girls around them. And I think this is what is primarily in the heads of the mangakas and the editors as they shape and build these women. Maybe there are higher things, but at the core, it all boils to this, for the intended audience of Shounen Jump. They’re actually there to make men out of the boys.

Boys who read this magazine are at a fragile age where they start to realize the stark differences between men and women. In my opinion, Jump does a great job in showing the strangely complex world of women (as much as they show us what a boy’s world is like too). On one end you have the strong and independent women like Hana, Nami and Sakura. On the other end you have Kyoko and Orihime, fragile girls who appears innocent at first but learns to understand their roles in the grand scheme of things and offers as much help that they can give, to the best of their abilities. I believe, characters in Jump titles are built to represent personalities in Japanese reality. This is pretty much a fact for any story, I think. But for those who think these are fragments of fiction, then let me share that yes, strangely, in my experience at least, I have met Japanese girls who are as polite as Kyoko, and some who are as sinister as Nami.

They exist not because the authors thinks their weakness makes the boys look better. That is a lame assumption. Looking back at tons of stories in Jump, their existence are integral to the growth of the hero and his relationships with other people. Even if they’re just a side character, they offer a lesson or two for the hero to learn from.

No really, they’re cool girls

You see, Jump Heroines, weak as most appear, are really great girls. I’ve explained above why they’re admirable to the Japanese. I’ve also shown why they exist in such a shounen magazine.

So do not diss these girls just because they make onigiris than join the boys in a big fight against phantom knights and giant robots. The girls represent so much more than just eye candy for the boys. Really, without them, we won’t have heroes to admire every time we open Shounen Jump.

1. Oh yes! Orientalism plays a key part here!
2. Found in Eastern Phoenix: Japan since 1945