An explanation of "Fan Service"

This term fan service is a really important one for a librarian to understand if she doesn’t want to end up getting in trouble from parents. Some background information: in Japan most manga is made for men in their late teens, twenties and early thirties. In order to capture young men’s attention two things are necessary; sex and violence. Now violence is pretty easy to spot, and is pretty acceptable in most people’s minds for older children. Sex on the other hand is still culturally taboo. So the pool of non sexy and none bloody manga is pretty small, and then that pool is filtered again by the American companies who buy and translate it. After all they want to sell copies too. It’s for these reasons that buying manga for young men is so much harder than for girls.


And now fan service. Most people think of fan service as your basic panty shot, and that’s pretty much what it is. It seldomly gets to full nudity, but the girls might as well be naked because they often end up drenched and in clinging clothing or strategically covered in some nearby object. Sometimes it’s more of a costuming thing; the main character may end up dressed up as a maid or in cat ears and a tail. In the same way we have sexy school girls and girls with guns the Japanese have a whole gamut of sexy outfits including a simple “girl wearing glasses.” Dressing up a character in one of these outfits is considered giving the fans service.

Sometimes fan service is just funny, but sometimes it’s really worrying. Some of the artists really love the female form, in the same way a boy here would love the form of Pam Anderson or any other large chested female. The trick to finding something acceptable to you is to skim all books that look like they are aimed for young men and see if it’s too much.

A side note: Japan is still a little behind on what is considered socially acceptable in the sexual harassment department. Flipping up a girls skirt to show her panties is considered funny by men and just annoying by the girls it happens to. While they are making changes to the legal system I haven’t seen a lot of change in the manga. You may want to keep an eye out for that, or be prepared to talk to people (the students, parents and other teachers) about why skirt flipping is okay in Japan and why the book was chosen for the library.

The Thief of Hearts

The Japanese seem to have this fascination with all things cute, and it extends to professions we Westerners might not think of as cute. This juxtaposition leads to the gentleman thief, a loner with a heart of gold who steals from the rich to give to the poor, o at least they steal from the rich and give to someone. Sounds familiar right? Shades of Robin Hood? Yeah I thought so. Saint Tail is a manga that had a gentleman thief, only the thief is a young girl.

Enter Meimi Haneoka a high school girl and her friend Seira Mimori a young nun in training. Meimi's father is a magician and Meimi follows in his footsteps using stage magic to steal back items that have been stolen from innocents. Hot on her heels is a young detective named Asuka Jr. who goes to her school. Keeping her secret from Asuka during the evening is compounded by the fact that she grows to care for him. The high school drama amps up with new love interests for both Meimi and Asuka and new police schemes to catch her in the act. While it is a sugary sweet romance, it does have some interesting characteristics. Like Superman before her you worry about how she will get out of her next predicament, and cheer at the inventive ways she does.

Something fairly noticeable is the constant reference to the Christian God. I know most people won't have a problem with this, and will even encourage it, but some secular schools might have a fight on their hands. The only other thing that might should be watched for are the guns sometimes used by the criminal element and Meimi's thefts. But in the later case it really isn't encouraged, and the stolen objects usually are stolen buy others and Meimi returns them to their owners. Still she does find herself on the wrong side of the law.

So that's Saint Tail in a nutshell. It's cute, it's for girls, and other than a few minor things I would recommend it for any age group. Check out the corresponding anime for extra episodes.

A simple idea for librarians.

A short time ago I spend some time working in a high school library. The librarian passed on some manga because it was inappropriate. This is unfortunate because library budgets are tight and it's a shape to spend money on something you can't put in the collection. The librarian wasn't manga savvy (hence the blog) and had to rely on the recommendation of students. Obviously the student had a higher standard of what was acceptable (or perhaps lower) than the librarians and likely the parents if they had ever gotten a chance to see it. So here is a basic tip people. If it comes in plastic wrap, don't buy it. It's full of panty shots and wet t-shirts. Manga covers every genre that a book does, up to soft and hard core porn. Most stores don't sell that stuff, or at least post warning signs. The stuff in plastic is not porn, but it's also not suitable although it can be suitable for public libraries depending on the content. So unless you have accepting parents it's just better to avoid buying the plastic wrapped volumes, or at least asking the store to preview them. Don't waste your money, or if you do then see if you can send them back for money.

Running the Clamp gamut

For those in the know Clamp is one of the longest running teams of manga artists around. It's certainly the only one I've heard of making it here. While most manga writers work with a team Clamp is composed of four women who take an equal share in the creation of their work, often shifting roles depending on who's baby it is. Beacuse of this the style of each comic changes while still sharing a sligh similarity. That's why I'm not featuring any covers on todays post, but please check out my shelfari list for some because their art is just beautiful. They sell artbooks of steller pictures that I would buy for my mom the artist to put on her table.

Now here's the problem in talking about Clamp. They can write things like Clamp School Detecives and Angelic Layer which I think could be read by anyone. They also write Chobits and Tsubasa, which I think are not appropriate for younger children. They make both styles of comic really really cute. How can you tell which is which? The only way I've found is to actually read them. This is pretty easy most of the time, many of their series are two or three books long. You could spend a half hour sitting on the bookstore floor and go through about 7 series. The longer the series the oftener they get to some pretty good writing though. The better books often have more pages.

One of the big big warning signs for the books that look cute is the Clamp relationships. Now I'm not going to state my own oppinion here, but I do know that some schools have a problem with same sex relationships. Clamp does not. Anotherthing Clamp seems to ignore is age difference, you can often have young children crushing on much older people. This is a little weird to me, but since none of the relationships proceed beyond crushing I'll let you decide for youselves.

Some of the adult stuff is really off the wall (I'm only thinking Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland) but most of it is okay for high schools. Some sexual diologue, some violence depending on the series. All in all most of it is good. Some of it is also literary, and challenges the reader on philosophical and moral grounds. So go give it a look see, if nothing else the drawings will give you a suger rush.

The cure for the common Shojo

One of my favorite reads right now is the wallflower a quirky sort-of romance. The main influence is the nightmare before Christmas, and it reallllly shows. The premise takes the usual harem plot and twists it on it's head. The main character is Sunako Nakahara, a high school aged girl new to the city. Her "harem" is the four hottest guys in school and she's forced to live with them in her aunts mansion. The twist? She hates beautiful people and would rather stay in her dark room watching horror movies and wearing ugly old cloths. The boys have to "make her into a lady" or get kicked out of the house/ pay huge amounts of rent.

Now before you start in about forcing girls to change because of warped ideals of beauty and all that let me tell you something. Sunako is easily the coolest girl character you'll ever read about. She's a proficient chef, amazing martial artist and speaks English fluently from watching movies. Watching her fight the boys tooth and nail is utterly hilarious and watching her literally beat up people who try to harm them is often really cool. The boys are interesting too, each one is distinctive while still playing one of the "tropes". None of them enjoy their status as perfect beautiful boys. The leader especially had to leave his home and parents to avoid mobs of crazed girls. It's a little over the top, but that's what makes it so fun.

So here's why you might want to be cautious. Firstly the boys end up semi naked pretty often, mostly due to girls tearing off their shirts and so forth. Same girls have a habit of talking dirty, although swearing is usually represented by symbols. As for actual sex? It takes several volumes to even get a kiss out of people and although it isn't finished I would be surprised if it ever gets any further. Secondly is the large amount of blood. The Sunako looses so much blood on a regular basis I'm surprised she doesn't need a permanent transfusion. While her bleeding is usually in the form of nose bleeds the boys often get into violent scrapes either with girls or with people wanting to exploit their "prettiness".

Despite that I just can't recommend this title enough, especially for teens. Watching these five strange, awkward people eventually become like a family is sweet, and the characters are fun. It might even cross the gender roles and be readable by both boys and girls (if they can get past the cover first). The artist also talks about the Japanese music scene a lot, so if any of this sounds interesting then give it a read. Trust me, you'll feel prettier after :)

A little bit of kitchen magic

So like most people I have a pretty basic knowledge of how food works. At least I haven't managed to poison anyone yet and I consider that a good feat. However I stand in awe of those people who can open a fridge, size up what they find and then whip up a delicious and healthy meal without looking at a cook book. Those amazing people who know exactly why each ingredient is added to any dish and how much is needed to serve four people. For people who are culinary challenged there is Kitchen Princess instead.

Centering around Najika, a young high school girl with a perfect sense of taste, this comic is a sweet love story and cooking manual combined. The art is cute and girly (very pink) and the characters are interesting. No bad guy is truly bad, each one shows their motivation and is eventually won over buy our feisty heroine and her tasty meals. This is one of those stories that's almost too sugary but it works.

Now the warning signs. This book contains no sex, no drugs or violence. The only worry is in the form of two accidents. One of the main characters dies in a car accident and a side character is shown to have died in the past. This alone would probably not make it ideal for the youngest of children, use your discretion with the maturity of the child.

Now, the thing that makes kitchen princess rise above most generic girl manga is the food! The recipes are always interesting and Najika gives little tips along the way. This never makes the dialogue weird, which you might expect from a lesson. The very very best part? All of the featured recipes are given at the back of the books. If you read about something and it looks nummy you can just head to the kitchen and make it your self. Most of the recipes are easy too so you could follow them with a very young child. Or if you're like me you could just follow them without mishap, a treat in it self.

NSFLibraries?

In the interest of fairness to the boys I'm going to talk about Sorcerer Hunters, a fun filled romp with magic and lots of sexy girls. That's right, sexy girls. Lots and lots and lots. Already I'm sure some warning flags are rising. This is definitely unsafe for an elementary school. That's where I read it, but then I had pretty awesome parents. I'm betting most parents would not approve.

So, what about high schools? I'm going to let you be the judge of that. The things to watch out for are the main character's very casual approach to sexual harassment and all the partially clad women. You aren't going to see nudity but it comes pretty darn close. One main character wears nothing but suspenders on her top (I'm guessing she has shares in the double sided tape company). The main character is constantly beaten up by EVERY girl he meets, mainly because he's a perv. Here's another flag, the two main girls are sisters and they pretty much dress like dominatrices.

So what makes this story good then? Excellent story telling. It's loosely based on mythology and is just chock full of fantasy elements. It's also pretty funny. The whole thing has this marvelously light hearted attitude which is why I still recommend it. It should be on my ewwy, don't touch pile but I loved reading it. Reading it as a young teen I didn't even notice the sexual content of this manga, I just thought it was funny when Carrot got hit with a mallet. I guess I liked this comic as a young girl because it showed me that girls could be in charge and take care of themselves. Most of what was published for girls had the heroine being rescued by handsome princes on white horses. The main hero, Carrot, is a flawed character but still a good guy and the girls rescue themselves.

Why do the Japanese sometimes name people after food? Everyone in this Manga is named after deserts. We have Carrot and Mellon Glace(called Meron in print, but it's a pronunciation error), we have Chocolate and Tira Misu and finally Gateau. These five people go around saving the country side from magic users who abuse their power. Tira is the brains, Chocolate is the beauty, Meron is the magic user, Gateau the strong man and Carrot is the punching bag. Each character is interesting, their powers are interesting and their style of dress is very interesting. If you think you'd like putting this in your library than give it a brief read trough. Please don't skip that step though, I won't be responsible for a mob of parents with pitchforks. :) Well all this talk of food has made me hungry. Happy reading folks, I'm going for lunch.

His and Hers Circumstance

I wanted to talk about Fruits Basket but really, who doesn't already have it for their collection? So instead I thought I'd tell you about something a little older that you may have missed. His and Hers Circumstance in English, and Kare Kano in Japan, is a sweet but wacky love story. The main protagonists are teenagers Yukino Miyazawa and Soichiro Arima, two seemingly perfect people who meet and fall in love. That's the surface, now lets get down to the meat of the matter. Yukino is a great character, and something not often seen in girls YA novels. She starts out as a scheming manipulator who would do anything to become loved and trusted by everyone she meets. She has a pathological need to be adored. When she meets Soichiro she originally hates him, but has to put on a sweet face. When she finally beats him at something she learns that he's a better person and that everything she's worked for from then is a lie. Her personal growth through the series is a joy to see, really, she's smart and brash and not afraid to go for what she wants while never really stepping into the territory of "Bitch".

Some worrisome areas for libraries are that it does get really dark in the middle, I mean pretty pitch black, can't see in front of your face dark. Soichiro's motivations are similar but less self centered than Yukino's. He was a victim of child abuse and neglect, something both of them must work through. Eventually the two are lest alone for the day and do have sex, resulting in a pregnancy. But really, it's the slowest buildup and sweetest seen you'll ever read. If you're in a high school library then it's nothing new to most of your patrons. Most of the relationships between the very large cast of three dimensional characters end up being love stories, the book is aimed mainly at girls. But don't let the covers stop you, some pretty tough guys I know read this too. It's smart, well written and the characters are people you'd love to make friends with. Give it a read, and let me know what you think about it.

Why Blog?

I've started this project for two reasons: the first is because of a school assignment and the second is because I feel many librarians are interested in Manga for their libraries but aren't sure what's safe to buy. Because Manga is from another culture and because it has a wide variety of genres some of what is offered is completely not acceptable for children. But then there are some really cute stories acceptable for elementary students and some really epic story telling that could grab the attention of teens and never let go. This is what happened to me when I was twelve and it's spawned a love of Japanese culture and a two week trip to Japan.

My starting goal is to review Manga that I have either completed or read most of. Some times the stories can start out quite tame and take a turn partway through as the action gets more intense. I won't be giving age recommendations unless it's really obvious. I will be looking at certain risk areas like sex or violence and then let the reader make the choice about weather they want the books or not. I'm going to try not to make value judgements people, but if one creeps in let me know. There's some really good stuff out there, so lets get started.