Asian comics: Manga and Anime

At first I was going to name this topic "Japanese comics", which were a big influence on Elfquest. Then I expanded it to include manga and anime throughout the Far East.

Two important figures in Japanese manga and anime are Osamu Tezuka and Rumiko Takahashi.

I recently got into anime and manga and a few months back I started a blog about my newbie experience watching and reading it.

Here is a Post I wrote about elfquest actually, and it's manga ties.

This is a nice addition to the forum trollbabe.

I don't read much manga but I am very much into anime, up to the point where I have a fair amount of PVC figurines of anime characters Wish there were some good ElfQuest figurines I could add to my collection, but alas....

btw my favourite shows are Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Fate/Zero, Steins;Gate and Kill la Kill.

I have become quite the full metal alchemist fan, for both series. I'm actually rewatching the 2003 series now and as soon as I'm done I'll be watching brotherhood again. Both excellent. I need to read the manga next.

Thank you, Evie!

Personally I have noticed that distinct cartoon styles evolve in different areas of the world.  In the Mideast, cartoon styles appear fluid, like Arabic calligraphy.  Visiting the UK as a kid, I noticed comic book characters with rounder heads and smaller eyes.  (One of the effects was actions written out like sounds - a character staggering with the word "stagger" next to his feet.)

The Japanese took naturally to cartooning, as it resembles their art tradition which Evie mentions in her blog as influencing Art Nouveau.  Manga and anime characters, at least the good guys, look like the Elfquest elves they influenced.  The big, glossy eyes are a trademark of anime.  An episode of Urusei Yatsura called "Terror of the Girly-eyes Measles" makes fun of this tradition.

Watching the domestic anime scenes, I find myself reversing and re-watching bathroom scenes.  The difference in bathing and plumbing customs is a little confusing.  The bathtub is in a room by itself, with a floor drain.  You scrub yourself off before entering the tub. Toilets (Eastern or Western) and sinks aren't in the same room as the tub.

Spoiler:

And some more because not everything fits in these two closets

For those who are not familiar with these characters:
On the top rows we have:
Left: Roy Mustang and some chibi characters (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Right: Matoi Ryuuko (Kill la Kill)

The shelves underneath that:
Left: Archer & Rin Tohsaka (Fate/Stay Night), Saber Alter & Saber in a Kimono (Fate as well)
Right: my trio of Good Smile Company Sabers (Fate/Stay Night)

Underneath that:
Left: Souji Okita (a 'saberface' from Fate/Grand Order) and Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid)
Right: Eren, Levi and Mikasa (Attack on Titan)

Finally, the bottom shelves:
Left: a character named "Hunter" (sorta figurine original)
Right: Red from the Pokémon Games

That's an impressive collection Zinegirl

What I find the most interesting about bathrooms in Japan is that are so many monsters and creatures associated with them. It's really an interesting theme in their folk lore. If a random voice ever asks you if you want red or blue toilet paper, politely decline them or you will die...

This weekend I discovered an anime-elfquest connection (probably other folks already know this, but it was new to me!)

When I'm not complaining about FQ, I enjoy watching competitive figure skating. In honor of the conclusion of the 2017/18 season, I decided to rewatch an anime I really enjoyed from Fall 2016, Yuri on Ice. I love that show, I've probably rewatched it four or five times since it aired. I can go back and forth on the dub or sub depending on mood, but the dub is wild and always makes me laugh, so I decided to go with that.

For the first time, I noticed that the dub director was none other than Sonny Strait! I'll admit that overall, I'm not wild about what Sonny did in FQ, but if part of the problem was that his time was taken up working on Yuri on Ice, one of my favorite media properties from the last few years, then I'm fine with whatever he did for EQ, lol!

[And just as an aside, I think Yuri on Ice was a beautiful example of how to handle a same-sex relationship in a way that was respectful and very natural in the larger context of the characters' lives (in contrast to, say, Dart and Mender in FQ, where their romantic relationship felt very forced and yet shallow and disconnected from the rest of the story.) The ice skating is front-and-center in Yuri on Ice, and as a fan of the sport, that was so much fun to watch. All the good character stuff was icing on top.]

I just finished watching Wolf's Rain. For anyone liking wolves and fantasy themes it's a very good watch

Has anyone else seen "Star Blazers", animated or live-action? The original Japanese series title translates to "Space Cruiser Yamato."

Let's do a collection update again:

Spoiler:

On the top rows we have:
Left: (Part of) my Fullmetal Alchemist collection; Roy Mustang & Edward Elric and 10 characters as chibis. I have more FMA figures, but they're at my mom's house.
Right: Good Smile Company Sabers (Fate/Stay Night)

Shelf below that:
Left: two figures of Saber Alter, 1 figure of Okita Souji, 2 other figures of Saber. All from Fate/whatever
Right: Saber en Rin Tohsaka from the Type-Moon Racing set, and Hunter.

Below that:
Left: Souji Okita again and Hatsune Miku!
Right: Archer & Rin (Fate/Stay Night) and in the middle we have Matoi Ryuuko and Satsuki Kiryuin (Kill la Kill). Got the latter for a very good price on a local convention.

Finally for the bottom row:
Left: Mikasa, Levi, Eren from Attack on Titan
Right: My Pokémon Collection! With Red, Green/Gary, Serena and Selene/Moon from the games.

These are only the figures in my student room, I have more stuff at my mom's house (really need more closets to put them in)

Aside from Tezuka, Junji Ito is one of my favorite Mangaka. His work is exquisite, though not for the faint of heart, as he's also picked up the nickname of Japan's Stephen King. Though some of his stuff is definitely more early Clive Barker.

Yotterashai mitterashai, Yami Shibai no Jikan dayo~

https://www.crunchyroll.com/yamishibai-japanese-ghost-stories/episode-1-the-talisman-woman-641887

I like this little anime. Every ep is only like five minutes.  Some seasons are hit and miss with story and/or art, but they're so short it's easy to power through. I wish they'd all stuck with the kamishibai feel of the first season, tho. The animation feel is so different from most anime.

My favourite anime series : Muromi-san on the shore. The craziest and most bizarre anime series about mermaids, a boy, a harpy, yeti and other mythical creatures.


This is kind of the original intro movie-clip (only sung in russian)

My favourite character is the blue haired Levia-san , who is nobody else than the Leviathan itself! LOL

Even better, the version using Vocaloid tech showing more clips.

Some Manga I like to read is:

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto: It's about a girl named Maomao who's working in the palace where she uses her knowledge about medicines and poisons. There she solves a lot of mysteries. (This manga is based from a novel, just to let people know)

Psychic Princess (Tong Ling Fei): Quian Yun Xi is the oldest daughter of the Prime Minister, but she's been considered as a bad omen because she can see spirits and communicate with them. So she was sent to Ling Mountain and when she's 16, she's substituted her younger sister and married into Prince Ye Mansion.

They've made an animation series too with it. If they're gonna continue I don't know. But the manga is still ongoing.