REVIEW: One Piece

One Piece (manga)

By Eiichiro Oda

One Piece

Began monthly publications in Shonen Jump starting 1997 to today

·         As per Shonen manga series premiers for contemporary manga, One Piece opens up with a two page spread of all the important characters initially since the beginning of the series (Luffy, Nami, Zorro, Shanks and Shanks’ pirate crew). It is to note that Shanks’ cast does not show up as much since the pilot first volume. (Page 5)

·         The story in fact starts with a prologue of sorts where Luffy gains his powers though this makes the manga go REALLY slow in terms of pacing. As a One Piece fan, I admit that the pacing of One Piece since the beginning first arcs is extremely slow and hard to take in.

·         Zorro as a character and first mate doesn’t show up until Page 91. Nami doesn’t show up until the end of Volume 1 too.

·         It is to note that the first volume’s villains are defeated relatively easily and quickly, taking no more than a few chapters at most. This is a common trend in Shonen manga first volumes so as to establish protagonists being relatively strong in their introductions and to introduce character motivations and possible recurring characters.

·         Luffy is like a baby faced Western character (ie Tintin) where he looks like a young adult (eighteen years old when the series started) and yet he manages to do things that even trained adults cannot do.  Unlike tintin however, Luffy is noted to actually be aged by the author as with Tintin it is ambiguous to how old Tintin actually is.

·         One Piece is a noted example of a “three group friend” Shonen manga where there is a happy-go-lucky protagonist, a more practical male friend and a headstrong female friend. This is noted in series like Naruto (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura), Rave Master (Haru, Hamiro, and Elie), Magi (Aladdin, Alibaba, and Morgiana) Yu Yu Hakusho (Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Boton), and other Shonen manga.

·         It is to note that besides the barkeep in the beginning and Shanks, Luffy’s parents are never addressed and neither his relationship with the others that live in his island town. While this is addressed MUCH, MUCH later in the series, it could be seen that Luffy was like Doctor Who in that he did amazing things and yet we knew nothing about him, allowing us to mask ourselves into his situations and the like.

·         As this is a manga, the pages are printed black and white save for Page 5 where a bit more detail towards grey scales are given to the print. This may be as the original serializing of One Piece in the Shonen Jump monthly publication was originally in color and yet the reprint into a serial for One Piece by itself had it so the inking was noted instead of coloring.

·         One Piece admittedly is not a great series when it first came out; as it carried many of the troupes that contemporary manga has today. However, unlike its contemporary Shonen Jump titles like Bleach and Naruto, it seems to me that One Piece keeps getting better and better with each new arc. Naruto and Bleach are notable as series that started off really strong yet eventually reached a tournament story arc that drew readers away or lasted much longer than need be due to the goading of editors. One Piece is noted to be only half way done since 1997 so if the series was to continue on in the vision that Oda planned it we would not see the end of One Piece until 2028.

Bibliography:

Oda, Eiichiro, and Lance Caselman. One Piece. Romance Dawn. San Francisco, CA: Viz, LLC, 1997. Print.

REVIEW: Ghost in the Shell (film)

Ghost in the Shell (film)

By Masamune Shirow,

Ghost in the Shell (film)

Originally aired in 1995

·         The film deviated from the manga mostly towards the end where Makoto in the manga was part of a manhunt and pretended to be killed by the police due to the accidental killing of a surrendered criminal. In the film, Makoto merged with the Puppet Master before her old body is destroyed and her death had no bearing on her being on trial.

·         They included a completely non-cyborg companion to Makoto who unfortunately played no major role in the film other than to note that not everyone in their universe are enhanced. However, this officer is noted for pointing out things the more by-the-program cyborg police fail to note.

·         Makoto in this film is noted to be much more philosophical and mature than her manga counterpart who is more bubbly and silly towards her colleagues until her merging with the Puppet Master.

·         The film focused on the first and last chapters of the manga and skipped out the parts with child trafficking and the narcotics trade that Makoto tackled in the manga.

·         The film notes the details of Makoto's body being made in the beginning of the film and the details of the environment that the characters live in. It is to note that like the manga it appears that they are in a world where though there are cyborgs about the rest of the world's architecture and social structure did not change in the slightest since the introduction of such technology.

·         The film ends with Makoto's head/ a likeness of Makoto's head being in a body that resembles a younger version of her, which contrasts with her obtaining a male body by the end of the manga. This younger version resembles the original's personality more than the male body of the manga.

·         The talk of identity through augmentation and the talk of genes and memory happen in narrative in the film alongside the relevant portions of the plot whereas in the manga most of it is exposition dump towards the end when Makoto merged with the Puppet Master.

·         The film makes clear that Makoto is NOT seen as a criminal by the end of the film and that she is choosing to work in the shadows as Section 9 has too many restrictions on her being free to do what she wants. It appears that she still has good relations to everyone that isn't Kusanagi. With the manga, on the other hand, Makoto is branded as a criminal and even her likeness is not allowed to be seen by those who she previously cared for save for Kusanagi. She also wasn't disgraced publicly in the film as her killing a surrendered criminal was excluded.

·         The VHS forced us to sit through by the end an exposition dump on how the film was made, which would have been extra content if this was done on VHS.

·         Although the manga and the anime ended on similar endings with Makoto going into hiding and operating from the shadows to fight cybercrime, the film's ending felt like the story could continue on while the manga's ending made the original Ghost in the Shell story feel self-contained. It could be that Makoto is in a drastically different body by the end in the manga which would give this feeling.

·         Makoto is noted to be extremely flat chested when in clothing in the film and have more female traits when nude in the film. This contrasts to the manga where her body maintained a base female form.

·         Makoto's dive into the Puppet Master's body does not result in her exploring the meta feel of sensory where she sees an "angel" before the Puppet Master's demise. Rather, in the film they simply switched bodies and the merging of their forms makes the angel appear.

·         Overall, this is an excellent film. There are many iterations of the Ghost in the Shell series, each with its own interpretation of Makoto. With this, however, Makoto is not seen as a childish figure like in the manga and serves as a good basis for the other Ghost in the Shell stories in other adaptations, as this film is literally the first anime done on the series.

Bibliography

Ghost in the Shell. Dir. Mamoru Oshii, Perf. Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka,Iemasa Kayumi. 1995. Manga Entertainment (international release). VHS.

REVIEW: Tekkon Kinkreet film

Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White (film)

By Taiyo Matsumoto,

Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White (film)

Originally opened in 2006

·         Unlike the manga, White is noted to have an orange shirt in the film as opposed to white clothing. Black, while keeping to his black attire, does not have the kanji for black on his back.

·         The film opens up with the brothers fighting another set of brothers as opposed to random gangsters.

·         It could be the American-style print of the manga, but Black’s scar is on the other eye in the film.

·         The atmospheric scenes of the film expand upon the more compact aspects of Treasure Town that the manga was limited to due to the medium of manga.

·         The reactions of the crowds are in the film towards the Cats and Chocolate’s gang and the other yakuza in Treasure Town, which is notably limited or excluded in the manga.

·         White’s innocence and slight mental challenges are more noted in the film than in the manga, which seems to center more on Black and his troubles with the city.

·         The hint of Black being one with the Minotaur is hinted at earlier in the film than in the manga.

·         Kimura’s relationship with his wife is also touched more in the film than in the manga, where she only serves to be there for him in the end and does not play too much into his development.

·         The nonsense language of the aliens sounds more Japanese than the implied Chinese-style of the assassins in the manga.

·         The Japanese theme of the town is made lesser with the graffiti being in English and the town signs also being in English. This could be due to the director of this film being not-Japanese and this film being geared towards an international release.

·         They include a Japanese shadow puppet thing in the film that wasn’t in the manga.

·         Suzuki dies earlier in the film than in the manga, where all the adult yakuza die about the same time.

·         The Snake character is notably blonde and looks foreign compared to the manga where he looks still Japanese though with bleached hair.

·         It is the death of Suzuki and not the killing of the two alien assassins that spurs the humanity in Black again in the film.

·         The foreign amusement part of Treasure Town is made more prevalent with Part 3 of the film than with the manga where it felt like there was little change in Treasure Town saves for which gangs were in power.

·         They include a hugely surreal scene where Black sees where the darkness of hate leads mankind by the semi-supernatural powers of White.

·         Suzuki survives by the end of the film, where he died by the end of the manga after killing Snake.

·         Overall, the film I felt was just as good as the manga if not slightly superior as the pacing of the manga seemed erratic at times yet the film fitted them more fluidly. Also, the mundane dialogue of the beginning of the manga was left out for more development of side characters though this story is still about the two boys.

Bibliography:

Tekkon Kinkreet. Dir. Michael Arias. Perf. Kazunari Ninomiya, Yû Aoi, Yûsuke Iseya, Kankurô Kudô, Min Tanaka. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2007. DVD.

REVIEW: Battle Angel OVA

Battle Angel (OVA)

Original manga by Yukito Kishiro

Battle Angel (OVA)

Originally aired in 1993

·         Due to the translational difference, “Alita” is “Gally” in the anime and the manga.

·         They add a romantic interest in an assistant to Doctor Ido in the OVA and downplayed the romantic tension between Alita and Ido.

·         The language used in the anime is Korean despite the fact that the Battle Angel Alita series is implied to either take place either in Japan or America in the future.

·         Unlike the manga, Ido is much more reserved in the anime and comes off more altruistically, not depicted as a sadistic hunter of rogue cyborgs but rather a proper father figure for Gally. He is also implied to be a great surgeon who helps cyborgs in the slums which is seen as beneath him despite the depiction of him in the manga.

·         The love interest for Gally and the lady doctor turn out to be shady characters in the anime and that Gally and Ido are the most balanced of the bunch.

·         The back story for the spine/brain stealing giant cyborg was changed to be less sympathetic in the anime as he is seen as but a tool for the lady doctor to get back into a floating city.

·         The back story for Gally’s Berserker armor is never explained and Ido placed the destructive machine body onto Gally despite the dilemma as a father figure he had in the original manga.

·         Violence has been toned down in the anime save for the dismemberment of a dog, where cyborgs and people are only implied to be killed with blood splats but nothing more violent than that.

·         The one black character looks complex compared to the simplistic and relatable designs of Ido and Gally in the anime, who is in turn beaten up by Ido for tricking the boy Yugo into stealing spines and getting himself turned into a cyborg.

·         Cyborgs are touched more upon in the anime than that of the manga, where cyborgs are seen as either forced implants to keep one alive or something you do in order to become more like a warrior. This was not touched upon in the manga as cyborgs are still considered “people” as with Alita’s case in the manga.

·         The fates of side characters are notably more brutal in the anime though not depicted, like how Yugo was killed from trying to get into the flying city and the lady doctor being killed and harvested for her organs by the shady black man.

·         The anime itself was called “Battle Angel” as opposed to “Battle Angel Alita” or “Gunnm” as with the original Japanese title. There were only two episodes “Rusty Angel” which was a retelling of Gally’s origins and “Tears Sign” which was original for the anime (at least not being in the first volume).

·         Overall, it was a great watch but the politics of organ donations played more into the anime compared to the definition of being human as with the original manga.

Bibliography:

Battle Angel. Dir. Hiroshi Fukutomi. Perf. Miki Itô, Amanda Winn Lee, Shunsuke Kariya, Kappei Yamaguchi,  Mami Koyama. Prod. ADV Films, 1993. DVD.

REVIEW: Battle Angel ALita

Battle Angel Alita

By Yukito Kishiro

Battle Angel Alita

Originally published in 1991

·         The cover depicts Alita with angel wings despite the fact she does not get any wings in the series. In fact, her name is that of Ido’s dead cat as established early on.

·         A lot of terminology in the series requires use of sci-fi captions as characters rarely dive into the nature of the world that they live in. An example would be when Alita is appraised by Ido to have the legendary fighting style Panzer Kunst (Page 28), which is never explained in story yet there are captions forced into the gutters explaining to the readers that it is a form of martial arts.

·         Alita is appraised as being a human being by Ido in the beginning despite the fact that she is clearly cybernetic and that there are no indicators that she is a cyborg or even organic early on in the story (Page 8-9). This could mean that humanity has moved past the vanilla idea of what constitutes a human by this futuristic story.

·         Alita’s dream sequence has it so she sees herself as a child (Pages 86-88, 98) when Ido first found her which contrasts with how we see her as the reader as a broken robot (Pages 1-11).

·         This whole segment of Alita being a discarded robot with amazing fighting powers contrasts drastically with how Tezuka portrayed Astro in Astro Boy, another robot child with super powers and a heart of gold. In fact, the brutality of Alita’s world takes a greater toll on the cruelty mankind can have on “lesser humans” than that even portrayed in the Astro Boy series as (Pages 79-83) Alita and Ido are clearly on the verge of death and yet the common citizens of the world care not for a bleeding man and his almost completely destroyed robot child in a society where robots and humans apparently become one in the same.

·         The brutality of the strong is made apparent in Alita’s world with how people have their brains eaten easily by monstrous cyborgs (Page 42) to how people pour acid into sewers where homeless children live(Pages 236-238).

·         Ido is himself a shady father character who grew up with handling the brutality of the world around him, as with the case of him being a hunter of rouge cyborgs (Page 46-49). It should be noted that he does not want Alita to delve into the world of violence she has been reborn into (Pages 44-45).

·         The exact nature of the story’s history is never made clear past that this takes place in the far future where people normally are cyborgs. There was apparently a super war in space that happened as with how Alita gets her Berserker body (Pages 92-97) which was a war machine that was used by soldiers and found by Ido.

·         Overall, this series is a great read especially when contrasted to the more kid-friendly Astro Boy. Battle Angel Alita was clearly tailored towards an adult audience and touched themes not normally presented in Western kids comics.

Bibliography:

Kishiro, Yukito. Battle Angel Alita. San Francisco: Viz Comics, 1994. Print.

REVIEW: Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1

Lone Wolf and Cub

By Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, introduction by Frank Miller

Originally published in 1970

·         There are many ridiculous forms of martial arts that is used in the series, like the “Hawk style” where the assassin’s against the Wolf and Cub used a hawk as the major part of their martial arts. (Pages 17-19)

·         A lot of the comedy of the manga comes from the interaction of the child with his environment, like with the daimyo threatening our protagonist while the child was crying to pee and they had to let the protagonist go so he could let his son piss. (Pages 23-25)

·         The action is notably defined by the lines used with the deadly slashes seen in the manga. (Page 28-29).

·         There is a lot of iconography of the father and son motif in this manga, like the image of introducing the Wolf and Cub assassin with dialogue with the image of a literal wolf and its cub and the two animals heading to the readers. (Page 37)

·         It is to note that the horse stampede is drawn realistically, but also that the assassin Lone Wolf is willing to use his son and the environment around him to throw his opponents off track: like how people are unwilling to slash at him because his son is on his back and then Lone Wolf cuts them down due to this flinch in weakness. (Pages 52-55)

·         The cart is notably its own character in Lone Wolf and Cub, as it is not only bulletproof but also can be used as a tool besides the sword and his son for Lone Wolf. (Page 85)

·         The child is notably very intelligent for being a three year old boy, being able to recite music and choose the way of the sword compared to the way of normalcy. This would imply he’s as much a warrior as his father yet this requires the suspense of disbelief that a child could be so capable at such an early age. (Page 114-117, 224-228).

·         Much like Miller’s work, women in Lone Wolf and Cub are notably capable of being adversaries alongside the normal brutes that make up the enemies of the protagonists. This is included with the eight deadly femme fatales that Lone Wolf and Cub had to surpass and kill in one story arc. (Pages 137-157)

·         Women are also victimized in the series as one lady was raped and strangled to death in front of the Lone Wolf and Cub, which contrasts with what we read in the previous chapters with femme fatales and with the gentle ladies. (Pages 173-174) This is to contrast with Miller, however, as he does not include gentle ladies in his works, only femme fatales and ‘whores.’

·         Overall, this is an excellent series but it is noted compared to other manga works due to the outlaw style of storytelling. This is a huge contrast with the manga that was designed for children that we saw with Tezuka.

Bibliography:

Koike, Kazuo, and Goseki Kojima. The Assassin's Road. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2000. Print.

Miller, Frank, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley, John Costanza, and Bob Kane. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2002. Print.

REVIEW: Manga Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

By Paul Gravett

Printed in 2004

·         The book notably tackles the stereotype that manga is science fiction stories made for little boys full of action where manga, like other media, is a diverse genre that is not so easily defined by one term.

·         They note that American comics did influence the publication style of manga significantly and as such much after comics fell from the popularity of America it is still strong in Japan.

·         Printed blocks is in itself a form of manga printing but this is minute compared to the influence American comics have in manga.

·         In the Japanese education system, they do indeed teach manga as an art form but at best it is a footnote in the history of Japan and claims that Japanese block art is the complete influence of how manga came to be.

·         Unlike American comics, which require lots of colors and its own expensive print method, Japanese manga is noted for being printed in a cheap giant book weekly or monthly subscription form that is to be discarded unless someone wants to own a specific series, which in that case they are to buy a trade paperback of a specific series.

·         The book talks about how manga is creator owned in most cases, so once a writer-artist dies his work also goes with him. However, this allows more creative freedom for the artists and their assistants who help him ink, draw backgrounds, etc. However, given how editors still play a major role in the manga industry some series seem to last much longer than their initial stay in my opinion (like Bleach and its current forced longevity).

·         Early manga before Tezuka show more styles akin to American style as opposed to “big eyed” styles that we are accustomed to in manga today.

·         While American comics are usually sold in specialty stores today due to the lack of drive for everyday people to continue to read three dollar issue comics, manga in Japan are sold in most any market or common grocery store: showing that the livelihood of manga is much stronger than its American counterparts.

·         Digital distribution is a key part of American comics today, but given that Americans need to go to specialty stores today to look for comics this may be why digital distribution is key in the States. In Japan, however, digital distribution is not yet implemented in the norm due to the success of print already in the local Japan.

·         Much like American comics creators today, manga studios can range from a location studio where people have an art desk to just having a really messy art room in one’s apartment.

·         Manga as we know it today stems from what influences Tezuka gave, but also from many lesser known comics creators before Tezuka’s time: like the creators of Sergeant Norakuro.

·          Overall, this was quite an informative book and I enjoyed reading it.

Bibliography:

 Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. London: Laurence King, 2004. Print.

REVIEW: Buddha (Tezuka)

Buddha (manga)

Original manga By Osamu Tezuka

Printed in 1972

·         The story is noted for not focusing on the character who would become the “Buddha” in the beginning but rather it focuses on side characters who would influence the Buddha in future chapters, be it in their current incarnation or reincarnation.

·         Despite everyone being Indian as with the origins of Buddhism, the design is reminisce of Tezuka’s other works which makes the characters more simplistic in order to make us relate more to them.

·         Sacrifice of oneself in order to have a better reincarnation is a common theme in this manga. This is exemplified even in the beginning of the story where the rabbit was to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the dying hermit and thus transcended to a higher plain of existence, which was a theme to be consistently delved into in the series. (Buddha, Pages 22-25).

·         Slaves are treated horribly in the comic, as with the example of the slave boy in the beginning with his mother (Buddha, Page 40).

·         People have mystic powers that are not explained well in the mythos of the manga but they serve as part of the narrative to how certain things in the Buddha’s life came to be, Tatta exemplifies this with his powers of going into animals like when he saved the slave mother for his friend (Buddha, Pages 65-69).

·         Death and destruction is a common theme in the manga as people are killed, maimed, sold to slavery, etc that is less seen in mass in any Tezuka work, like the death of entire village with Tatta’s mother and sister dying (Pages 85-89).

·         As a piece of biography, this manga follows much of the established traditions of the Buddha’s lifestyle in the religion and philosophy with added side characters that Tezuka incorporated.

·         Tezuka does not insert himself in this work, notable compared to his other works to stress that this is a piece of fiction. Tezuka not being in this manga can be seen as stressing that this is NOT fiction, making us awe inspired and lost in his work as opposed to the other works where he tries to test our sense of reality.

·         Despite characters looking evil in the manga at times, it turns out that looks can be deceiving as morally decent characters actually can be good while morally deprived characters can look beautiful.

·         Characters dying in this manga are common, but as reincarnation is the theme of Buddhism it is not necessarily the case that we never see the character again: they can reappear as another person later on.

·         In the first book, the titular Buddha character does not even show up until the very last part, and even then he is but born.

·         Animals have their own will in this manga and tend to act rationally as people do. Given how animals can be reincarnated people, however, this should come to no surprise.

·         People are horribly mutilated in the Buddha series.

·         The only character to continue on by the series’ end was Tatta.

·         Overall, this was an excellent series worthy of Tezuka’s namesake.

Bibliography:

Tezuka, O. (2006). Buddha. New York: Vertical.

REVIEW: Astro Boy Film

Astro Boy Film

Directed by David Bower, Original manga By Osamu Tezuka

Film distributed 2009

·         Unlike the original origin of Astro Boy, Toby (the original boy Astro is based on), does not die from driving a future car but rather an incident with a rouge robot with a red evil core. In addition, Dr. Tenma is more open to accepting Astro as his son in this film as opposed to other adaptations of Astro Boy where he rejects Astro but still accepts him as his creation.

·         Past some key citizens of Metro City who are actual side characters from the original Tezuka works (including a cameo of Tezuka himself as a scientist in the film), the other added characters to the franchise look nothing like the style Tezuka made for the series. In addition, the technology and the looks for the robots look nothing like the sci-fi look that Tezuka set for his series originally.

·         Metro City, despite having a distinct Japanese feel to it, is not noted to being part of any country specifically in the film. There are references to New Jersey and other non-Japanese locations and culture making this adaptation unfittingly feels less Japanese and more International.

·         Astro is noted to keeping a shirt and pants for most of the film as opposed to only having underwear like his original comic. In addition, he doesn’t use his signature blaster gun hands and machine gun butt until later on in the film.

·         This film was notably co-created with a Hong Kong animation firm as opposed to a complete Japanese animation house.

·         The film specifically focuses on robotics for the majority of its sci-fi element whereas the original source material had cyborgs, plant people and aliens more regularly in the plot.

·         The classic style of Tezuka interacting with the audience is left out in this adaptation past his cameo as a scientist, which seems lacking in how Astro Boy comics and Tezuka’s style normally is in his animated films and manga. Normally, Tezuka would interact with the audience early on in his works to remind people that what they are reading is fictional, a personal trait of his works after he had experienced the aftereffects of World War II in Japan and how that affected the Japanese mindset.

·         The rules or robotics is made clear that robots cannot harm humans save for an ancient robot ZOG, which sets up irrational situations where robots try to get at humans by circumventing the rules.

·         Instead of the Heart power that Astro gained in the manga and his slow coming to becoming more like Toby, the Astro of the film immediately was given Toby’s memories from a strand of hair DNA and powered by the plot-driven Blue Core.

·         The forced tension of romance with Cora with Astro was unnecessary.

·         Overall, the movie was indeed enjoyable save for the forced friendships that Astro gained with the kids from the surface world. The political tone of the film also drew away from the manga origins where Tezuka focused on human suffering as his subject to his manga and/or how people overcome hardships on a regular basis. Overall though, I enjoyed the film.

Bibliography:

Astro Boy. Dir. David Bowers. Perf. Freddie Highmore, Nicholas Cage, Kristen Bell, Et.al. Sony, 2009. DVD.

REVIEW: Astro Boy Volume 1

Astro Boy Volume 1

By Osamu Tezuka

Published September 2002 by Dark Horse, first published 1952.

·         The origins of Astro Boy ironically do not show up in the first publications of Tezuka, instead jumping directly to the high fantasy sci-fi that is prominent for most of the story. Given that context, Astro Boy’s origins plays similarly to Batman’s in Detective Comics in that we know nothing about him in his original publication until much later.

·         Most of the first arc is dedicated to the “Hotdog Corps” arc where a loyal dog to a side character in Astro Boy’s mythos is turned into a cyborg man soldier to take over the moon with an entire corps of other cyborgs. This plays with 44, the dog once known as Pedro, always having an issue with loyalty given his stance against working with Astro Boy yet wanting loyalty for his former mater.

·         It is gruesome yet iconic for the dog cyborg 44 to be holding Pedro’s body in a non-horrified manner, giving a sense of macabre to the scene as Pedro is being intimate towards his fallen body.

·         The high fantasy end of this series stems from technology allowing robotics to allow people to the moon and other marvelous feats that is even today not in our grasp.

·         The plant people note that there are indeed aliens in this universe.

·         For some odd reason Tezuka notes that Astro himself is not allowed clothes in his origins.

·         The rushed part of Astro being discovered by the professor in a circus act mirrors that of Peter Parker’s introduction as a hero with him being a wrestler in his depute instead of a hero.

·         As one of the first manga series published, a lot of the narrative flows take its inspiration from the Golden and Silver Age style of high-end narrative and dynamic punches and poses to convey narrative as opposed to modern subtle methods that comics have adapted.

·         Though drawing heavily from Golden and Silver Age comics of America, the narrative of Astro Boy comics are not necessarily self contained and thus shows the prototype of story arcs which are commonly used in manga today.

·         Given the sci-fi nature of Astro Boy and other comics published in Japan around the same time, it can be seen why people labeled manga as sci-fi originally in its genesis.

·         It is noted that Astro Boy is the prototype for what would be called the “Shonen” genre of manga, which would have a demographics of adolescent to young adults much similar to how comics of the Golden Age were aimed towards the demographics of young boys.

·         It is to note that manga was originally printed on much cheaper and disposable paper than even its American counterparts, mirroring the fast-paced market of consumerism that Japan was emulating from the West.

·         Tezuka himself introduces story arcs in what is presented in the first volume’s tales, going as far as to critique with the characters troupes of narrative common in other media.

·         Overall, for one of the first manga ever published in a definition close to what we call “manga” today, Astro Boy stands the test of time as a great story enjoyable for all ages.

Bibliography:

Tezuka, Osamu, and Frederik L. Schodt. Astro Boy. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Manga, 2002. Print.

REVIEW: History of Anime

History of Anime

An article on Open Culture

First published online in 2012

History of Anime

·         The first animation and the animation on the Stolen Lump both are based on Japanese mythology while the last animation Private Norakuro is a satire on Japanese military.

·         The first animation and Private Norakuro both have a Disney feel to them while the Stolen Lump has realism feel to it based on art direction and the animation narrative.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted for using dialogue like a Charlie Chaplin silent film in that characters move their lips then black screen dialogue accompanied by music plays with spoken words. With the first animation and Private Norakuro, the words are spoken sometimes without regard to lip synchronization and such.

·         As early Japanese animation set in the late 20s and early 30s, it can be observed that the animation is similar to early Walt Disney animations not only in look but in how the protagonists of the cartoons act: the protagonists in all three animations act as jerks when confronted with their environments.

·         Narrative for the first animation is incoherent to some points as the fox-spirit samurai seems afraid of spirits at some points in the film even though he himself is a spirit.

·         Private Norakuro is noted to be a slacker and a bad portrayal of the Japanese militant man: which would not be allowed in animation once World War II became prominent in Japan.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted as a story to be printed on Japanese art paper as opposed to the animation paper that is used by the first animation and Private Norakuro, which uses normal animation black and white as opposed to the tan color of the Stolen Lump. This gives it a calligraphy look very much fitting to the Japanese classical art style of print block art.

·         Norakuro would ironically serve as a mascot to the Japan Self Defense Force, which given his origins as a satire to the Japanese military this seems unusual.

·         In the first animation, it is noted that they had the shadow raccoon’s move alongside the background corners of the room in one scene like a shadow fitting them to the shape of the scenery. This is notable as a feat of animation that is not used as much today.

·         Although these animations predate contemporary anime, many themes of anime and manga can be seen in these animations: most noted are the stylized proportions of the characters, the emphasis on backgrounds to play a major role in the narrative and the extreme expressions of individuals to convey emotions.

·         Save for The Stolen Lump, the majority of good protagonists are noted to be in a more blackened tone compared to other characters, which can convey that they are protagonists much like other blackened early animation characters like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Rabbit and Felix the Cat

·         Overall, I enjoyed these animations and these animations clearly set the tone of what was to come for anime and other noted Japanese cartoon products.

Bibliography

"Japanese Cartoons from the 1920s and 30s Reveal the Stylistic Roots of Anime." Open Culture. Open Culture, LLC, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.History of Anime

An article on Open Culture

First published online in 2012

History of Anime

·         The first animation and the animation on the Stolen Lump both are based on Japanese mythology while the last animation Private Norakuro is a satire on Japanese military.

·         The first animation and Private Norakuro both have a Disney feel to them while the Stolen Lump has realism feel to it based on art direction and the animation narrative.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted for using dialogue like a Charlie Chaplin silent film in that characters move their lips then black screen dialogue accompanied by music plays with spoken words. With the first animation and Private Norakuro, the words are spoken sometimes without regard to lip synchronization and such.

·         As early Japanese animation set in the late 20s and early 30s, it can be observed that the animation is similar to early Walt Disney animations not only in look but in how the protagonists of the cartoons act: the protagonists in all three animations act as jerks when confronted with their environments.

·         Narrative for the first animation is incoherent to some points as the fox-spirit samurai seems afraid of spirits at some points in the film even though he himself is a spirit.

·         Private Norakuro is noted to be a slacker and a bad portrayal of the Japanese militant man: which would not be allowed in animation once World War II became prominent in Japan.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted as a story to be printed on Japanese art paper as opposed to the animation paper that is used by the first animation and Private Norakuro, which uses normal animation black and white as opposed to the tan color of the Stolen Lump. This gives it a calligraphy look very much fitting to the Japanese classical art style of print block art.

·         Norakuro would ironically serve as a mascot to the Japan Self Defense Force, which given his origins as a satire to the Japanese military this seems unusual.

·         In the first animation, it is noted that they had the shadow raccoon’s move alongside the background corners of the room in one scene like a shadow fitting them to the shape of the scenery. This is notable as a feat of animation that is not used as much today.

·         Although these animations predate contemporary anime, many themes of anime and manga can be seen in these animations: most noted are the stylized proportions of the characters, the emphasis on backgrounds to play a major role in the narrative and the extreme expressions of individuals to convey emotions.

·         Save for The Stolen Lump, the majority of good protagonists are noted to be in a more blackened tone compared to other characters, which can convey that they are protagonists much like other blackened early animation characters like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Rabbit and Felix the Cat

·         Overall, I enjoyed these animations and these animations clearly set the tone of what was to come for anime and other noted Japanese cartoon products.

Bibliography

"Japanese Cartoons from the 1920s and 30s Reveal the Stylistic Roots of Anime." Open Culture. Open Culture, LLC, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.