A very important qualifier

So I'm talking with my partner yesterday and he brought up this interesting point. He mentioned that according to my blog it sounds like too much effort for a person to go buying Manga, or like I didn't approve of it. That is so far from the case that you could only find it on Mars! I love Manga and Japanese culture, I'm just often bewildered by it. But isn't that usually the case when learning something that's so very new? I think that any medium that gets kids and teens reading is a valuable one, and should be used as a tool in getting more to do so. Having Manga and comic books in a library is great because even poor readers can follow a few sentences and a series of pictures. My only worry is that some parents or librarians might object to some aspects of the story lines and may wish to self sensor. I only wish to provide a guide so that the Manga buying experience can be a happy one and to prevent people from deciding that there is nothing worth while in the genre and giving it up entirely.

So here is a self history, I started watching Anime with Sailor Moon, and moved on to the more available and cheaper format of Manga that same year. My friends and I wrote our own stories and comics about the show, placing ourselves as heroines and friends of the characters. It was sappy, but we were twelve, and there were a lot worse things that we could have been doing. Since then my love of Japan has brought me to a once in a life time opportunity to travel to that country and live with two families there. It has brought me to many new and interesting people to be friends with, and it has taught me many new things. I've leaned about cooking from Kitchen Princess, about football from Eyesheild 21 and about Norse mythology from Ah My Goddess. Above all this I've learned social tolerance for same sex relationships and other cultures moral norms. I consider it a broadening experience, and I think everyone should get a chance at that. So happy shopping, and happy learning. Get out there and read.

Random Rant about Japan and Sex

What is it with Japanese comics and the casual use of sexual harassment as a plot point? I understand that culturally that kind of thing was seen as normal and expected, and that it’s only now starting to change. Still it can make a librarian’s job difficult if they don’t wish to acquire titles with sexual content. Sometimes they can have the oddest couples (like an adult and a small child, or a human and a robot) and the relationships will be really sweet and innocent. I was reading one comic (Skip Beat, I’ll blog about it later) where the protagonist hasn’t even realized that she likes someone. It’s twenty volumes in and no romance has happened but in one scene this guy chases her down, grabs her, opens the back of her dress and then threatens to either rape her or just tell everyone that he did and thus ruining her reputation. It came out of nowhere and was followed by a return to the starting style. It wasn`t even really mentioned again after that. So that is my argument for flipping through every volume before you buy it, or paying really close attention to the ratings and plastic wrappings on some volumes. Shop safe people, but don`t get discouraged because there is a lot of good stuff out there. It`s worth reading, and great for reluctant readers at every age level.

Hot Gimmick

Okay, first things first: I liked this series; I liked it the same way that I like pork rinds. I eat one and even though it tastes greasy and makes me feel a little sick to my stomach I find myself polishing off a whole bag. The soap opera drama gives me the same icky feeling but I find myself unable to stop reading.

Let me tell you a little about this guilty little pleasure. The main character is Hatsumi, a young teen aged girl who lives in company housing. Everyone in the apartment building works for the same company so there is a lot of adult drama and this usually impacts the relationships of the teens too. The only son of the company president, Ryoki, blackmails Hatsumi into becoming his slave. A childhood friend, Azusa, returns as a model to get revenge against her father. Hatsumi also learns that her older brother is not only adopted but has been madly in love with her for years. Sadly of the three he ends up being the best of the three love interests.

So yeah, the things that might put you off picking up the series are pretty obvious. The faux incest is a biggy, as is a scene of attempted gang rape. I can’t decide if the female protagonist is just super forgiving or if it’s not seen as a big deal because she seems to forget it so casually. There is lots of sex talk and attempted sex, boob grabs, etc... Another thing that put me off is the wimpyness of the main character. In the modern atmosphere of really strong girl protagonists it’s a real shock to find someone this passive. She seems to let everyone bully her and the few times she tries to stand up for herself she fails spectacularly and turns instantly back into a door mat.

Here are the good parts of the series. Hatsumi’s little sister starts out as a little brat who basically gets her sister into the mess she ends up trapped in. By the end she ends up in a sweet romance with the geeky boy next door and shows awesome maturity. Hatsumi’s brother is a genuinely nice guy, although obviously a little confused. Another thing I really liked was the art; it has clean lines and a nice feel to it. The drama is intense and will really pull you in and make you a part of things. I’m hoping that other works by this author, like Honey Hunt, will be more palatable.

Doubt!!

Doubt is a newish series I just picked up from my local public library. The series stars a young girl called Ai Maekawa as she starts out at a new high school. She has decided to re-vamp her whole life after learning that she is the type of girl that guys don’t notice. After spending the time between middle school and high school dolling herself up she becomes friends with the two hottest guys in school and learns that being pretty doesn’t make life easy.

The message may not seem like the best thing for young girls (Being pretty and perfect is all that matters) but reading deeper we find out that isn’t all there is to this series. We see that Ai’s transformation isn’t really what changes her life; instead her personality is what seems to grow and is the catalyst in her life. She has to fight for every inch she gains at her new school and for the affections of popular but aloof boy Sō. This manga made me chuckle to myself so much that I got weird looks on the bus. There is a lot of slapstick, some of which is cultural, and usually more serious chapters are balanced with funny ones. While it is a romance the main love interest is a real break from the usual “prince” stereotype. He’s defiantly not a perfectly attentive doormat Mary-sue like many guys in teen romances are. In fact he’s kind of a jerk sometimes because being attractive and popular gave him a bad personality. He’s a nice guy; he’s just kind of bent.

The premise is a young girl who doesn’t want to still be a virgin at thirty. There is a lot of talk about sex. The actual depiction of sexual acts stops at kissing but everyone seems to be sleeping around except for Ai and Sō. One young man wakes up in someone’s bed and has to deal with morning after fall out. Everyone teases Ai about her sexual innocence at the drop of a hat; it becomes a running joke throughout the series.

I think this series is appropriate for a high school library despite the massive amount of sexy talk. High school teens have to hear that kind of talk all the time and probably expect some level of sexual knowledge in someone their own age. The development of Ai is great and watching her go from meek to badass is loads of fun. The two hero’s make a cute couple without being that kind of overly cute couple that make you deal out the punches.

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.