Looking for a new wallpaper that’s cute and done by an International Manga Award bronze winner? Here’s a present from SYS, the creator of Sang Sayur (The Edibles) which won the bronze prize in the 2007 International Manga Award. Right now, Sang Sayur is only in the Indonesian language, but you can still see her delicious characters riding the back of the sheep.
Please visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sangsayur or her personal website, http://www.mini-sys.com.
Good opportunity for super fans!
Helen McCarthy and I are doing a Reddit AMA on 21st March 2015.
**Background/description of AMA subject**: Anime super-fans Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, authors of the 1200-page, 1.1 million words of The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised 3rd Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation, will be answering questions about Japanese animation, comics, and fandom. Why does the world need an encyclopedia of anime? Is print dead? Why have they got such big eyes? What’s so wrong about Tenchi Muyo? What’s the worst anime ever? The best? the craziest? How much is too much? Is there a tentacle limit? Is there hope for the future? What is the flight velocity of an unladen swallow? All these questions, and…
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Reformed Fat Hater on Fat Characters in Manga
I used to hate and blame fat people for their heaviness. It’s their faults, I convinced myself. But after facing my own fat issues and reading about weight discrimination in all walks of life, I’ve changed my accusatory hate into something more productive: understanding. It’s been hard considering that I live in Japan, a country where the inaccurate BMI is still gold and sizes run all but large.
In reading a post on Tutus and Tiny Hats, I realized that this problem–making fat people the victims of a weighty situation–is ingrained not just in Japanese fashion. It’s something that even manga readers have to see in black and white: the fat characters in manga and their treatment by their thin counterparts.
Two manga come to mind. The first title is Bara no Tame ni, or For the Rose, an unlicensed title in the shoujo category. Because of its quirky plot–a chubby homeless girl starts living with her half-siblings in her movie star mother’s home–For the Rose won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994. For me, this manga proves that a manga starring an overweight woman can be memorable. I read this 10 years ago, and I can still remember how unfair and judgmental everyone was being to Yuri, who only wants to find a home with her siblings. One thing I love about this manga was how the other characters changed around her, defending and protecting her for her, not her size.
The second title is an unlicensed josei title called Cousin with a chubby girl as its main character. After Yuki graduates from high school, she meets Aoi, a carefree guy who decides to befriend her because he’s a fan of her actress cousin. Though Yuki is skeptical at first, thinking he’s a pervert, they become friends. In spite of its lackluster plot, I love Yuki and her realistic struggles with her weight and her place in the world. She faces hassles on her new job and with her new friends, but she keeps moving forward in life. What really surprised me was her family’s personality. When she decides to lose weight, her parents are reluctant at first because they “love her the way she is” (though her father adds, “I like chubbiness”). Her younger sister, on the other hand, gets on her case even more, but just as in Yuki-fashion, she is mostly labeled as an ignorable brat. I never thought of this kind of situation for a fat person. What if your family is resistant to you losing weight? What warms readers hearts about this manga is that Yuki has perseverance–and yes, she stumbles here and there–and the characters around her accept her for who she is, not the size on the tag.
I love these two manga, but as I said before, they’re unlicensed, meaning that they aren’t officially translated into English for the Western audience. I can think of other manga that have fat supporting characters, however, I’m looking at main characters. They come few and far between. This shows how Japanese comic artists stereotype fat people, usually making the defining traits for rotund characters like Choji Akimichi (Naruto), Gluttony (Fullmetal Alchemist), and Terumichi Nishida (Detroit Metal City) the same.
I don’t think fat people can be put into the same Giant Foodie Category just because they’re fat. Every person, whether they’re a size 22 or a size 2, has problems, and those problems lead people to different coping mechanisms. Some may be food addiction while others are alcoholism. Some may be one too many milkshakes, and others may be one too many sexapades. These things are just escapes from a larger issue that needs to be faced. I know for me to even start losing the weight I gained from life abroad and marriage, I had to look at my heart before my plate. If anything was going to change and stick, I had to tackle the problem(s). I’m not at my goal right now, but I am at a better place–and so are the numbers on my scales.
Now if only manga creators could find it in their hearts to make some super interesting fat characters, main or side, without using their fatness as the only defining trait.
Here are some licensed manga that feature fat or fat-thinking main characters:
Accel World by Reki Kawahara and Hiroyuki Aigamo (Yen Press)
Boys, Please Kiss Him Instead of Me by Junko (Kondansha/Crunchyroll)
Fat Cinderella! by RISE and Makoto Suzukawa (DeNA Manga Box)
I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow by Shunju Aono (Viz)
In Clothes Called Fat by Moyoco Anno (Vertical) [Review from Otaku Champloo]
My Love Story!! by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko (Viz)
Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution by Yuuki Fujinari (Yen Press)
This month, online manga and comic magazine, Inkblazers, shut down for good. I was a big fan of the series, “Only Human”, but just because the magazine is gone doesn’t mean these awesome comics have to disappear as well.
Only Human Volume 1 Cover by sinlaire
For those of you looking for digital manga and comics, try out these former Inkblazers to their own websites.
Carciphona, by Shilin Huang
Era, by Wave
FaLLEN, by Ogawa Burukku
http://ogawaburukku.com/fallen/eng/main.html
Hell Kitchen, by DED
Licensed Heroes, by Tiny Blue Dragon Studio, TriaElf9
Morning to Moon, by Lintwhite, Runcible
http://pink-noise.net/morning/mailing.html
MYth, by Zelda Wang
http://www.zeldacw.com/port/mailing.html
Neon Glow, by AlkseeyaKC
Neverend, by VanRah
http://tapastic.com/series/NeverenD
No End, by noend
http://no-end.smackjeeves.com/
Not Quite There, by Jax Nguyen
OPHIR:Reload, by Aubrey Dagal and Aestus Gonzalo
https://www.facebook.com/ophir.manga
Polterguys, by Laurbits
https://tinyletter.com/laurbits
RPR – Rock’n’Punch Riders, by Daniele Rudoni
Rumplestiltskin, by h0lyhandgrenade
http://rumplestiltskin.smackjeeves.com/
Semi, by Aka-Nezumi
http://tapastic.com/series/SEMI
Shamrock, by Ashikai
Slash, by wadevesecha
http://tapastic.com/series/SLASH
Stray Dog, by VanRah
http://tapastic.com/series/Stray-Dog
Fabled Kingdom, by Queenie Chan
http://queeniechan.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a555b97e3c417f87a80403f87&id=73ebfda9c8
The Wastelands, by Petitecreme
http://tapastic.com/series/wastelands
Todd Allison and the Petunia Violet, by Nozmo
Vampire Fetish, by LOOM
Love sales!
Love manga sales!
“How do I get to Japan?”
Aside from stowing away in a friend’s suitcase for Tokyo, getting to Japan is easy. It depends on your desire. Do you want to work, play, study, or tour?
If you’re looking to play in Japan or tour the sights, you could do it the old-fashioned way and buy a plane ticket. You’ll be shelling out around $1,000 for a round-trip ticket–a definite hole in some shallow pockets. The other way to get to Japan is by joining your city’s sister cities program. “My city has a sister city?” Most cities, even the small ones, have a sister city in a different country. I came to Japan for nearly half the cost because the City of Chula Vista did a summer sister city exchange program in Odawara. If you go this route, you’ll be a representative, which means you’ll have some obligations to fulfill before seeing sights. As a representative, you’ll get to see places and things that you wouldn’t see if you were just a tourist.
Bottom line: Try to go to Japan on someone else’s bill.
If you want to study in Japan, there are various programs to try. The first one to try is your own school. Many high schools and universities have a short-stay (two weeks to three months) exchange program or a long-stay (eight months to one year) exchange program. In universities with strong international programs, you could arrange to study for a year in a coordinating Japanese university paying the same tuition for your regular university. Aside from the universities, some places in Japan offer a chance for foreigners to come to Japan simply for studying manga techniques or the Japanese language. These programs, however, are usually limited space and short-stay programs, but they still give you a glimpse into Japanese culture. There are a few programs in schools intended for job placement in Japan, such as Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. You can also check out my post on manga classes offered to foreigners.
Bottom line: Use the easiest route first and learn some Japanese.
If you want to work in Japan, you’ll have to do one of two things: come to Japan and find work within three months or apply through a program in your home country and get the job before coming to Japan. The latter is easier to do because programs like the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (J.E.T. Programme) and the Interact Network provide some assistance in getting your visa and plane tickets and helping you settle into your new home in Japan. Coming directly to Japan and looking for work on a visitor’s permit is more stressful because of the time restrictions. If you arrive after April, you miss the hiring season, lowering the chances of finding a job. If you arrive between January and April, the chances of finding a job is higher since most work contracts end in April.
Bottom line: Apply before coming Japan or arrive before April for the hiring season.
If you want to “accomplish your dreams”, remember that dreams require work. Most young people want to be a manga artist. As Jamie Lano of Jamieism.com suggested, read Bakuman. It’s not as glamorous as most people might think, but if you’re willing to shed some sweat and tears–and maybe blood–you’ll find yourself gaining wholesome experiences.
Bottom line: Look before you leap, and work for your dreams.
頑張ってください！Good luck!
2015 Resolutions from a Japan Fan
Last year, I made some typical resolutions–losing weight, saving money, reading 50 books, and completing 33 art projects–and I met some of them. I lost 15 pounds after July’s knee injury (no exercise, too) and read 55 books in 2014. I unfortunately didn’t finish 33 art projects nor save money, so I felt a little disappointed in myself. Still, I’ve battled the horse through injuries, failures, and burn-outs, and I’ve found one thing to be tried and true: I’m going to do accomplish many goals before I leave Japan this year.
Read more manga. I really want to read old manga. I feel like old manga had more meaning. If you look at my reading list for last year, I started reading older or re-released manga including Barefoot Gen, 47 Rounin, Doraemon, Sazae-san, Children of the Sea, Gundam Wing, and Evangelion. The reason why I’m looking at older manga and classics is because the newer stuff isn’t cutting it. I also read Assassination Classroom, Crimson Empire, Devils and Realist, Sankarea, Ultimo, and Zero’s Familiar Chevalier. This latter group just rubs me the wrong way. Every plot device in manga is glaringly obvious, so much so, I just dropped them off my reading lists–or ranted about them on the Anime3000 and Manga Corner podcasts. If you have any good recommendations for me with atypical plots and characters, please contact me right away.
Do more art projects. So I didn’t do 33 art projects last year, but I’m set on doing it this year. I’ve set a goal for myself on Anime3000’s Manga Corner: to do a motion comic per podcast. I can do it. I just need to buckle down…and get a Mac. (￣◇￣;)
Wean myself off the internet. Yes, yes, it’s a weird resolution, but I sit in front of a computer maybe 8 to 10 hours a day. That’s too many hours sitting down.
Post more manga artist stuff. If you’re an aspiring manga or comic book artist, I’ve got the section for you. Last year, I posted “Online Communities for Aspiring Manga Creators“, “Manga Pens for Manga Artists Outside of Japan“, “Deals and Savings for Manga Artists“, and “Manga, Comic Book, and Graphic Novel Courses for Aspiring Creators“. Got something you’re always looking for as a manga artist? Let me know in the comments section, and I’ll compile a list of resources for you and other artists.
I hope I can accomplish this stuff in a year. I’ll be leaving Japan, my second home, in July or August after 5 years, and I’ll have to adjust to American culture again. ＼(^▽^＠)ノ
Cool!
Kill la Kill will be added to the Toonami Saturday night lineup on February 7th at 11:30PM (EST/PST). The English dub cast consists of Erica Mendez (Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic), Carrie Keranen (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero), Christine Marie Cabanos (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Blue Exorcist), David Vincent (Blue Exorcist), Matt Mercer (Fate/Zero, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic), Patrick Seitz (Sword Art Online), Stephanie Sheh (Blue Exorcist, Sword Art Online), and Todd Haberkorn (Sword Art Online, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic).
For more details, please visit: www.KilllaKill.com
An art contest from Japan for print artists! If you’re not preparing for the International Manga Contest, try this one!
Updated: 3/27/2020
Manga Raiders (http://www.mangaraiders.com/): This forum-based community gives manga artists and writers a positive atmosphere to share their work “without having to face unnecessarily rude and disrespectful criticism on their work”.
Manga Workshop (http://mangaworkshop.net/): This forum website is for amateur manga writers and artists. It provides a directory of artists and collaborations.
DeviantArt (http://www.deviantart.com): If you’re not already on DeviantArt with your work, get on it! This is one of the hottest spots to share your art, get feedback from fellow artists, and find resources.
Manga Writers and Artist Creators Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/mangawriters/): Here’s another social media-based group for manga writers and artists. Join for free and try it!
Skillshare (http://www.skillshare.com): Want to see what other artists are learning? Take an online class or watch tutorial videos to perfect your art.
We Make Manga (http://www.wemakemanga.com/home): Take manga classes offered through University of Southern California and add in the internet and a group of artists, and you’ve got yourself a community of manga creators! Read useful and relevant articles and interviews, and look at the original art by students.
I had fun doing this cover for the Ryukyu Star. I used the knowledge I gained from the last cover and quickly finished this one. The hardest part about this project was deciding the colors. It’s a good thing I let the colors speak for themselves.
I penciled, inked, and scanned the base image.
I made several layers in Photoshop and colored the image. I usually start with a base color–in this case, warm colors–and work my way from the body to the rest of the image.
After I apply a base color, I put in dark layers, light layers, darker layers, and finally, the lightest highlights if needed.
The final image has warm colors (autumn) and cool colors (winter) to show how one season goes into another.
This isn’t about manga or anime, but it’s really good to recognize success and inspiring people in Japan.
Wow, my hometown is getting into anime cards! I used to make these kind of cards, but they weren’t cut-outs. I drew anime versions of people and made mini-manga about them leaving their jobs. Maybe I should get back into that…
Give back and get a raffle ticket for anime!
A week and a half ago, we started a charitable campaign drive to raise funds for orphans, children with disabilities, and women in vulnerable situations. I’m happy to update that with about two weeks to go, we’re over 75% of the way to our goal of $600! Thank you to those of you who have donated and to the many who have helped spread the word about our campaign.
But we still need more help. If you haven’t already donated, please consider giving. This holiday season, through the Samaritan’s Purse organization, your money can help so many who are less fortunate. And in doing so, you also have an opportunity win DVDs!
For every $10 donated, you get one entry into our raffle, which is full of great anime collections and items (generously given to us by Sentai Filmworks and NIS America):
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After I got married, I gained 36 pounds. All my co-workers, even the ones with kids, were skinny. It made me wonder how Japanese people stayed thin without any effort. I’ve turned to anime and manga (and my Kinesiology background) to find the answers.
| Anime/Manga Advice | True or False? |
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· Eat brown rice instead of white rice. · Cook at home. · Avoid eating out. · Eat small portions. · Take 45-minute baths before going to sleep. |
·Brown rice has more dietary fiber and fewer calories than white rice.
·Cooking at home will mean you won’t overeat or buy unnecessary food. ·Your body operates on an input-output cycle. Smaller portions mean smaller fat deposits. ·Steam may exfoliate the skin, but 45-minute baths do not cause weight loss. They only cause you to lose water weight, or weight that can easily be regained by drinking water. Sure, your heart rate goes up, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing—some people have heart problems or palpitations. Hot baths also dry out your skin. I would stick with a 20-minute bath for relaxation. |
 Real Clothes (Unlicensed) Exercise and Heartbreak·· Go running in the morning.
· Get dumped by your lover and pine away by refusing meals. |
·If you exercise in the morning, your metabolism will get a wake-up call greater than your cup of coffee. Plus, you get better sleep than people who exercise in the evening.
·Some people experience heartbreak–and quickly ditch their meals to dwell on the shards left by their lovers. I’m not an advocate for skipping meals because it’s counterproductive: you might actually gain more weight when you get your mojo and regular eating habits back. Results may vary. |
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· Go running in winter gear. |
· Heat will help you lose weight, but it is only temporary. You’re just sweating water weight, which will return once you drink water. |
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· Play a sport. |
·Tired of running past the same scenery? Devote yourself to a sport like basketball, boxing, soccer, or in Nobara’s case, volleyball. |
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· Don’t eat sweets. · Use a treadmill or home exercise program. · Do a diet program. |
· Ditch the processed sweets and pick up fruits, nuts, veggies, and yogurt.· If you don’t have a treadmill or gym membership, I would suggest a home exercise program like FitnessBlender Youtube videos or Jilian Michaels’s DVDs.
· Diet programs may help you lose weight, but if you don’t make it your lifestyle, you’ll balloon into a state worse than your previous weight. Certain diet programs were created for specific types of bodies (ex. Atkins’ No-Carb Diet was made for obese people). My advice: re-create your eating habits and stick to it. |
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· Drink water as soon as you wake up. |
·Nothing metabolizes fat better than water. Drink lots of it instead of sugary alternatives. Soda, energy drinks, and sports beverages all have exuberant amounts of sugar that’ll send your energy downhill when it hits 3 o’clock. If you don’t like plain water, squeeze a lemon into it. Also try green tea or black coffee for your energy fixes. |
Anime and manga say that this idea of effortless thinness is not so effortless. On a daily basis, Japanese people are mindful of their eating habits, portions, and exercise regiments—something that the rest of us can do in a quest towards weight loss.
Jade’s Rant
I’ve tried all of these suggestions, and the one that has worked for me the most is my diet. Without exercise, I lost 15 pounds by revising my eating habits and sticking with it. I stopped eating meat and processed foods—chips, ketchup, soda—and replaced them with vegetables, fruits, and wheat. Our lunches are measured every day, and they usually include beans, rice, salad, vegetable soup, tofu, and pasta. This lifestyle of cooking most of our meals is a little tough, but we plan ahead.
Exercise won’t account for most of your weight loss. In some cases, exercisers will see increased weight. What exercise does is build muscle, and that muscle will help burn some fat but not all of it. Your waist might get smaller and your arms might get leaner, but the real fix for your fat is your diet. If you’re about to make an excuse for not losing weight—“It’s too hard”, “I don’t have time”, “I don’t have money”—I’m sure collapsed lungs (around $20,000), heart failure ($20,000-$93,000), diabetes ($7,000-$13,000 per year), and death ($3,000-$6,600 average cost) can convince you to re-think those excuses.
How to get started for free?
Change 1 meal out of your day. That meal can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Make sure that meal has lots of veggies, fiber, and lean protein such as grilled chicken or fish. When you’re ready to change another meal, do it! You’ll start to see changes in your body after 30 days.
Eat less processed food. They aren’t good for you. Did you know soda is used by police officers to wash blood off the streets? Did you know mechanics use soda to take the corrosion off car batteries? Imagine what it can do your stomach. Did you know most processed food is made up of sugars and salt? Next time, look at the label and find the nutritional value.
Cook at home. A restaurant isn’t going to understand your taste buds or weight struggles. Make your food at home and check out Youtube and websites for awesome and delicious recipes. My favorite is AllRecipes.com!
Try FitnessBlender’s (or any other Youtube channel’s) chair or low-impact cardio programs. They take 10 to 30 minutes, and they’re great for anyone who has leg or knee injuries (like myself).
Go walking with a friend or loved one. When my friend was learning English, we used to take walks twice a week around our neighborhood. If you want to burn more calories, add a 1-minute jogging interval to your walk, and you’ll burn triple the calories of walking.
Laugh those pounds away! Depending on the intensity of the laughter, you can trim 10 to 40 calories off with comedy. If you’re a comedy head like me, watch George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Steve Colbert, Kevin Hart, Patrice O’Neal, Sheryl Underwood, Sommore, and Loni Love.
Squat it out while watching TV or listening to a podcast. Every time I tune into my favorite shows, I do squats, pushups, and tricep dips. It’s better than being a couch potato…and later becoming a potato.
It’s hard getting cheap supplies for making your art. Besides the “Manga Pens” article I posted, some artists can check back here to find some deals I’ve found on the internet. (If you find any deals, let me know in the comments section or tweet me at [ at ] jeridel on Twitter.)
Pens
Supplies
Screentones
Deleter has screentones for only $4.95 each.
Check out my other post about where to find screentones!
Manga and Anime
Other Stuff
I entered a giveaway on one of my favorite blogs, Tokyo5, and won two specialty origami paper sets from Tuttle!
I’m so happy to have these! I studied both Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige in college, and I fell in love with ukiyo-e, or woodblock prints. Who are Hokusai and Hiroshige? They are ukiyo-e artists who changed both the techniques and styles of ukiyo-e into what we know it today. Hokusai created unique compositions in 36 Views of Mount Fuji (find the repetition of three in The Great Wave off Kanagawa), and Hiroshige developed color gradients in ukiyo-e like Plum Tree at Kameido.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai (1820s) Image Credit
Plum Tree at Kameido (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige Image Credit
In my Japanese Art History class, I had to copy a master’s art piece, and I chose Hiroshige’s Plum Tree at Kameido. See my try!
Jade's Escape 