Otaku Champloo

Tag: mmf

  • #801MMF Spotlight: BL’s New Wave

    When a couple of Japanese BL scholars went down to Manila, I spent a good week with them – interviewing local female artists and getting to know BL fans in Manila. During down time, they had a chance to ask me, “What kind of BL do you read?” And as with everything that involves my feels, it was hard to say a proper answer and went on to say the names of the authors I love: Yamashita Tomoko, Nakamura Asumiko, Kumota Haruko, etc. As I go down the list, they were completely unfamiliar with the names until I said “Est Em” and one of them interjects, saying, “Ah! So you like New Wave works!”

    “Eh? New Wave?”

    “Yes. New Wave.”

    Back then, I had no idea if they meant some 80s music movement but I silently nod until months later, upon reviewing for this MMF and the Fujoshi Bible, I’ve been reminded of the term New Wave. It seems this New Wave is sweeping the future of BL.

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  • 801 MMF: A Fujojo Fiyaysta!

    801. Yaoi. Boy’s Love. Tanbi. Shounen-Ai. BL. Pr0n. 

    Call it whatever you want.

    Fujoshi. Fudanshi. Fujojo.

    Call us whatever you want.

    We probably wouldn’t care because all we know is that 8/01 is our special day and here in Otaku Champloo we’ll be celebrating a fiesta for what we fujoshi love: Boy’s Love manga.

    From 8/01 until 8/10 (OMG YES!) Otaku Champloo will be celebrating Boy’s Love manga with all you fujojos and curious bypassers out there. For ten days (FO REALS!), we’ll be talking about those comics where boys who like boys who do boys like they’re girls or like boys! We’ll be talking about our favorite titles, our favorite ships, and our favorite kinks.

    The 801 MMF will be a celebration of a genre that has been around for forty years and has given countless of women thousands of feels which eventually transformed manga conventions by producing works that challenge Japanese concepts of aesthetics, fiction, and sexuality.

    It’s an exciting time to be a fujoshi! So if you have some thoughts and feels about Boy’s Love, feel free to join us in the 801 MMF!

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  • History MMF: Little Loud Voices: World War II Remembered by 3 Artists

    War is a victorious, perhaps bitter, maybe a painful playground for adults. In war, we imagine soldiers moving to shoot their enemies, nurses rushing to heal the injured, politicians and generals posing in front of battle plans, and civilians running away from the crossfire. Our memories of war are ingrained with images of adults trying to make sense out of that chaos. For years we have been surrounded by timeless photographs and movies about that war that to this day, we envision the war strongly as an adult’s world.

    But what about the children? Where is the child’s place in our social memory of the Pacific war?

    Finding the child’s place in social memory entails an understanding of social memory and the value of children’s experiences in relation to the grand historical World War II narrative. Their frail voices in World War II histories speak of how much their war experiences have been neglected. However, as these children find their voices as adults, the recollection of their World War II experience as children becomes unbearably loud.

    These are the memories of three Japanese children during the war against the images of Japanese childhood as constructed by Japan’s propaganda machinery. The memories of Keiji Nakazawa, Osamu Tezuka, and Shigeru Mizuki present a different story of the Pacific War —providing a fresh yet powerful social memory that makes us question on how war affects people at all ages.

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  • History MMF: #24 – Ooku no Ko by Bikke

    Tudors England is quite tricky — especially when you have a king who’s been hacking off his wives’ heads. One can only imagine the level of distrust in a royal court filled with intrigue and political turmoil. Ooku no K0, Child of the Kingdom, by Bikke rides on this atmosphere as Henry faces his last few days. Many were counting the days until his death while others were already plotting on who they should support next.

    Mindful of of this political game is a young William Cecil who crosses a young actor on stage. He drags the young man to court and shows him to a young Elizabeth. He suggests that this young man be Elizabeth’s political decoy, a body double. And while Elizabeth finds it hard to believe, the young man proves to be as regal as her.

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  • History MMF: Hajimari

    Hajimari. Beginning. The start. The foundation. The cause.

    Many of us often neglect the beginning because we’re so caught up in the present and the future. We often assess today — with hopes to move forward — and yet we tend to forget and reflect on why we are even here and the purpose of our existence.

    The beginning is as crucial as our present. But where do we begin? From our birth? From the time we became conscious? Or is it even further? How do we identify ourselves from the start?

    History is an important, if not a convenient player, on helping us identify who we are. If your local historian is good, he or she gives you a nationality to identify with. However, if your historian is great, then not only do historical people shape your perceptions of nationality, but it even pushes you to question and shape your own emotions, thoughts, and the character you consider your identity.

    History has the power to shape us. And it shapes us in the most conventional ways such as through textbooks, museums, classrooms, and heritage sites. And then there are unconventional ways, through stories both real and imagined, of which some are written as novels while some are drawn in pages of comics.

    This month’s Manga Moveable Feast is a celebration of the great histories in manga that has moved and shaped our lives. We are looking at the grand romances of the French Revolution and Victorian England. We will be moved by the heroism of soldiers, shocked by the horrors of war, and weep at the sorrows that come after.

    This MMF will be looking at great historical stories that help us not only recognize the differences in people’s culture but also the similarities in our human experience and how their history is our history as well.

    I’m happy to welcome you to this beginning — history’s beginning in manga.

    —

    The History MMF will be running from 24 March – 1 April 2014. If you’ve tackled historical manga one way or the other, please feel free to check this MMF’s guidelines. Send a tweet, a tumble, or an email with the hashtag #historymmf or the subject [historymmf]. I’ll be posting an article hopefully by tonight and as well as a round of people’s historicity.

  • Oishinbo MMF: 7 Unlicensed Food Manga Worth Looking At

    This was a difficult set to write because it was difficult to whittle down the list to seven. This week/month, I’ve been reading various food manga and here are the seven titles that I enjoyed… right now. I have a feeling that if I read the other stories, I’d probably go to my wits and them here. But right now, these are the titles that we’ll all probably enjoy, regardless if we love manga or food a little more than the other.

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  • Oishinbo MMF: A pancake from a loving granddaughter

    Oishinbo MMF: A pancake from a loving granddaughter

    I’m not a dessert person. AT ALL. Thus, as much as I’d like to try all these amazing desserts in Oishinbo, I know I will be bound for failure. But I did recognize that my meaty offerings of beef and bacon might not be to everyone’s fancy, this pancake might just be the closest I can get to making a dessert from the series. Besides, it’s fun to end this Moveable Feast on a sweet note.

    By the time you reach the 62nd volume of Oishinbo, you probably won’t be surprised in seeing the Yamaokas (they’ve been married by then!) picking up another lost kid in the street. It’s a common theme in this series and this time, Takako was out searching for her mother.

    While the adults discussed the mother’s difficulties in her household, Takako spends some time with Haru and cooks up an awesome pancake that Takako’s grandmother taught her.

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  • Oishinbo MMF: The Sixth Course of Bread,Spaghetti, and Green Tea?

    Oishinbo MMF: The Sixth Course of Bread,Spaghetti, and Green Tea?

    It’s been a busy day yesterday and I apologize for not compiling the summary any sooner. Despite this, I’m more than pleased that not a lot of people lost heart and still continued to submit to the feast!

    For this course, I’ve taken a look at how Oishinbo is made to look like it’s an exotic cuisine in the English editions. I found this particularly problematic as it made it appear that Oishinbo was a post-colonial manga. In many ways it is but if the editions balanced the presence of the various cuisines present in Oishinbo, then it would have given justice to the series’ faithfulness in showing Japan’s culinary tension and the “globaization” of their cuisine.

    Over at Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown looks at the budding romances in Oishinbo. It’s a really fun and light-hearted view of the comic. To add, in the Japanese editions, many of Kurita and Yamaoka’s female officemates actually found their husbands in either an Ultimate Menu trip or a foodie adventure. Food definitely binds people together!

    I am quite pleased that there are a lot of dishes submitted for the sixth course and most of them are from Kitchen Princess! Now, isn’t this a nice proof that these dishes are actually feasible? 😀 In Reading is Delicious, Izandra tests two dishes from the series: Yoghurt Bread and Neapolitan Spaghetti. She really made it appear like baking bread is easy peasy! The Neapolitan spaghetti is also something quite interesting because for a dish that names itself after an Italian town, in Japan, it has ingredients not used in Italian cooking! Neapolitan spaghetti is to meat spaghetti or spaghetti Bolognese to Americans. It’s an easy dish that everyone loves to eat and make in Japan. Except… if you’re Aoba. In Anime B&B, Marina tried making a Green Tea Creme Brulee! I’m honestly impressed with all these budding chefs who make an effort in cooking such complicated dishes! Good job, guys!

    Some people were moved to review thanks to the feast. Lori Henderson looked at Neko Ramen, a title I’m curious about considering how adorable it looks and how cute it is to see a cat making their own ramen stall! However Lori’s funny bone didn’t get tickled with this title. Sweetpea from Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses looks at Kitchen Princess, a title we know we could learn a lot of good food from! Terry Hong from Book Dragon started his own wine journey by reading through the first three volumes of Drops of God. And in Heart of Manga, Laura Mucciarone looks at The Manga Cookbook which uses manga as a means of instruction in making Japanese food.

    That’s quite a heavy serving and quite rightfully so as we begin to wrap up this Moveable Feast. Tomorrow (err… today for some) is the last day for the MMF, so if you have any other dishes, do send ’em over with the hashtag #oishinbommf at twitter or email my gmail: punkednoodle. Thankies!

  • Oishinbo MMF: Orientalizing Oishinbo

    Oishinbo MMF: Orientalizing Oishinbo

    In a dinner where Japan’s most elite gathered to discuss Tozai News’ plan for the Ultimate Menu, most men proclaimed that the most luxurious cuisine, there the most ultimate menu in the world is French. Each man was not short of giving their compliment on French ingredients and cuisine however one man couldn’t handle this pretext for the Ultimate Menu.

    Yamaoka Shiro, Tozai News’ Ultimate Menu journalist called them and said Japanese Cuisine and this pretentiousness was all a . He asked the man to give him a week to find the ingredient that was just as luxurious as a French foie gras. Many in the room were not having any of it, but a week later, Yamaoka gives them a plate that almost fooled everyone. What they had thought was French foie gras was in fact the liver of a monkfish, ankimo.

    Stories of East vs. West often line up in the pages of Oishinbo. If you consider the time that Japan has been open to the West, this whole East-West foodie tension should have been done and over with by the time Oishinbo was written. But does the fact that the comic continues to question the superiority of Western cuisine make Oishinbo a post-colonial text? Is the comic a tale of Japan’s own battles in preserving their own food culture?

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  • Oishinbo MMF: The Fifth course of curry and more

    I was a little worried that there wasn’t going to be any post today because I decided to take a break due to bad eyestrain last night.

    Fortunately, the community didn’t disappoint and still gave me a slew of posts to share with you! Thank you guys! \o/

    The slew of food manga that we have been sharing has brought people down memory lane in recounting their own food manga favorites. Kate Dacey noted down her list of 7 Mouth-watering Food Manga in Manga Critic. I am not going to contest to her list and it’a quite a great mix of both established and new titles. Although I would probably add some other titles like Moyashimon. Justin from Organizational of Anti-social Geniuses also looked into his own food manga journey that goes way back to Iron Work Jan!

    Over at Manga Theraphy, Tony Yao shares his love for Addicted to Curry, a personal favorite of mine as well and it tackles one of my favorite cuisines. He thinks the time is right in bringing this curry series into the US however, I’m not sure how far Tony has read but Addicted to Curry doesn’t tackle so much of Japanese curry style but is more involved in varieties of Indian curry as well as experiments with the spices. Nonetheless, this is a must for curry lovers and Tony’s right, there’s some great health benefits to curry.

    Kitchen Princess gets a spotlight from Izandra and while this is a shoujo title, it’s also a wicked cooking manga that’s great for introducing girls to cooking! And over at Cucina Giaponese, an Italian fan of Japanese cooking shares Oishinbo’s legacy in Japanese culture. The entry is in Italian but isn’t it fascinating how there’s also a curiosity for Oishinbo elsewhere in the world? Then again, I myself am a litany of that given I’m all the way here in the Philippines.

    Erica Friedman shared to me this last minute addition which I got quite excited about because it does fit with how manga serves as a mean of instruction when it comes to food. Chef Taro.com is a website that teaches people the “foodamentals” of Japanese cuisine. Their blog is quite insightful when it comes to some recent Japanese food trends but I treasure their manga a little more because it’s so adorable!

    Hopefully this serving can whet your appetite! Again, if you have your own food manga or Oishinbo journeys, do share with me over at twitter with the hashtag #oishinbommf or send it to my gmail: punkednoodle.