Anime and Manga pt1

Anime is really just a shortened term of "animation" but it is mainly used to describe "animation from Japan". So for those who can't remember or understand the shortened term, it can also be referred to as "japanese animation". I have had to say "Do you have any japanese animation videos?" quite often because some people aren't familiar with "anime". So it's good to keep that in mind when shopping.

Anime has become quite popular in America with shows such as Dragon Ball Z, Zatch Bell, YuGiOh, and Naruto. But as showcased on adult swim and different channels besides Cartoon Network, anime ranges in different kinds of fields, different kinds of genres, and different kinds of ages.

In my opinion, what makes anime stand out the most is its variety. While american cartoons has its determined ages of pre-k, 10+, teen-specific, and adult. There is a constant fad of it being either comedy or action. It's usually always one or the other. And the majority of the series never has a real ending. It's either continuous or cancelled. It's hard to get an idea of a story being told like when you read novels. Anime, on the otherhand, fulfills these roles as well as many other expectations people may have when trying to gain interest in a series.

Anime's genres rely in sci-fi, action, martial arts, sports, comedy, romance, mystery, and whatever other genre there is that you can think of. And new ones are constantly being made. And believe it or not, a good amount of them actually have endings.

What else can I say about anime? well usually, anime starts off as manga.

Manga is a more literary form of anime. To be more specific, it's a comic book. If you go to a bookstore or library and ask for "comic books" or "graphic novels", they should point you to a "usually large" supply of manga.

If a manga series becomes popular or shows great potential, during its run, an anime is usually made along with it. There have been times when a manga is based on an anime or continues where an anime series left off after its completion. However, the amount of times I've seen this situation is very few. So I think it's a bit safe to say that the majority is mangas 1st, anime later.

In explaining the age level for both anime and manga... I can tell you that it's important to look at the age rating in the back of the book, video, or dvd. VERY important. Because while some anime/manga are for all ages. A good majority of them found in bookstores and dvd/video sellers are for older teens or at least 10+ or 13+. Usually, the basis around this would be violence. Mostly violence such as punching, kickind, murder intent, and lots of blood. Believe it or not, almost all the anime (if not all) have had to have many scenes reformatted or completely removed in order for it to be aired on tv. Some people buy the uncut dvds dubbed (translated) or in its original japanese format with subtitles. Seeing both, you will see how ridiculous it is. One of them being the main focus now is Sonic X on 4Kids TV. 4Kids TV happens to be pretty famous among anime fans for its horrible habit of transforming an anime that would be 13+ to something so despicable that would cause a 10 yr old to call it lame. This causes upset to many anime fans because bad dubbing means bad publicity for anime. And if anime loses high demand with the younger generation taking place in America today. Shipments of anime/manga/and so on might become scarce.

Here is a you tube video someone made to showcase the way many people happen to view 4kids' horrible dubbing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk_DdjrtO60

Don't get me wrong though, it's not that many of these people hate shows that are edited to be for kids. It's just that 4Kids does a reallyyy bad job at it. Fox Kids succeeded very well! So has wb11 before its take over and removal of some of its anime series such as Mega Man. Cartoon Network's Toonami is what caused most popularity of anime in America in general amongst the young of age on Cartoon Network before it was cancelled.

Here is a fandub (dubbed by a fan) of the transformation scene for the anime counter-part of the Power Puff Girls -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwttW20RxdM If you take note of the comment of the person who made the video, she is practically "begging" 4Kids Tv not to give a show she likes a bad reputation amongst viewers.

Another common theme is suggestive scenes. Where as, they might refer to breasts, sex/sexual situations, etc. These scenes are usually dubbed or edited out better than the violence. I like to laugh at Zatch Bell though. If you've seen Zatch Bell on Cartoon Network, this scene that was aired on cartoon network should be familiar.\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlCO9mP4zg <- this is exactly how it was aired. dubbing and all.

What's funny about this is the song, "Hey hey let's dance all day. Boing-Boing." is that he's actually talking about women's breasts. Often in the series he is often seen with big chested women but I never got the idea until I took a look at the original format and a reference from a buddy of mine.

Along with this, there's language. Which is usually edited out without too much problem.

There are actually anime shows available on tv that is for 14+ or 16+ or 18+ <- at most. I could name the popular ones of today such as

Bleach

as seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim (still airing)
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Code Geass (airing 2nd season on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim)




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Next is Death Note.


(also airing now on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. don't mind the black page about people writing someone's name and then the person dies. it's actually what the show is about and that's supposed to be page written in the book the main character uses which is called a "Death Note")
Death Note


Past ones that many have seen would be "Cowboy Bebop", "Trigun", and "InuYasha".
All of them were aired on Cartoon Network.

Anime is bheing given on other channels now as well. The ones I know of however is Cartoon Network, and mondays on the Sci-Fi channel starting at 11pm. Last time I
checked, they were giving Gurren Lagann. They completed the 1st season of Gundam-00 which was the best! X3 *favs*

I'll take the time to talk about my favorite ones some.. other time >.>;

As for manga, I'd like to introduce some variety and samples of how one is like. But I'll use another post for that as well.

Let's see, I can't say much more now, but anime ranges from pre-k/all ages to adult to even porn (believe it or not). So please be picky and weary about ratings and content. There are many great series out there. Some with suggestive content. Some without or has had it removed. I wouldn't say to stick to series only pointed at 18+. That would be a huge mistake. You don't necessarily have to go for pre-k shows, that's not what I'm saying. But like I said before, in terms of maturity and seriousness, american cartoons (except the marvel ones which can be plenty serious) are quite different from anime. So be open-minded. Just keep away from the reallyyy adult-themed. Though, whoever's reading this, I can't tell you what to do. @_@; But for those not interested in the very very very suggestive *coughporncough* ones, please keep an eye out. They won't really hide it from you. Ratings are aleays on the BACK of the material (anime tape, dvd, manga). And you can always do research on the title at wikipedia and myanimelist.com (referred to as MAL). There are a few sites that you can pick out anime from a list based on "genre". But I am not sure where that is. I often keep up to date with the titles and art. And if it catches my interest, I do research on it from there.

To start off, you should try watching the ones available on television. Not all of them are interesting, some are boring. But even if it's midway into the series, if you are curious about what anime is
-- then try catching some anime on Sci-Fi Channel on Mondays at 11pm - around 1 or 2 am OR (my 1st choice) Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. They've been giving anime for years. Most of them are really good and popular as well. They sometimes push the anime to a much later time for one of these reasons ::: 1) Kids are staying up to watch it because they think it's something like YuGiOh and parents are complaining. OR 2) People are paying too much attention to the anime shows and not enough to american ones like King of the Hill, the Boondocks, etc. So they bring up the ones that need the most attention and push back the popular anime ones because most likely, people will stay up to watch it or record it anyway.

I can't give you a detailed fact of that, but based on what I've seen over the years, those 2 or the most likely cause for the shifting in times. Another reason could be reruns. There's a high chance that people watch the 1st run of an anime series and not a 2nd or 3rd run. Also, it takes time to convert the video's language from japanese to english (referred to as "dubbing"). And until the dubbed gets done, they give reruns and follow up or fast-forward to the episode where they left off.
But still, the only ones aware of the exact reason would be Cartoon Network/Adult Swim themselves.

If you end up really liking anime, you can rent some videos at a video stor or library (they usually have them. ESPECIALLY blockbuster and net flix [i think it was called..]). You can buy them at China Town in manhattan. Many stores there selling all kinds of anime goods and supplies such as "how to draw" books, magazines, dvds, tapes, and video games (most are untranslated though. srry.). Borders also sells dvd's and videos. And if they don't have a certain one, you can place an order for the dvd of the anime you want in specific and they will order it and hold it for you. They also have a high supply of manga. Barnes & Nobles has a large supply as well. But I don't think they carry movies.

And if you want a channel, there's The Anime Network on Demand. Now available in most cable providers. If you call and ask for the channel, you can have it for around 5 to 6 bucks a month. Another channel that I heard "rumors" of would be the funimation channel which happens to own many of the world's most popular titles such as Fruits Basket (Furuba), Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, and many others. Both channels supply series of various genres for various ages. (no porn) thankfully. However, like I said before, they have certain adult series with highly suggewstive comment, blood and gore, etc. So be picky! Be open-minded but be picky! Not being a certain level of "picky" when choosing what to watch is a mistake many people make. Like food, there's a show that suits the tastes for everyone. While you should be open-minded in genre and age specifications, if you're watching something and you see something you really don't like, don't be afraid to drop it and move onto another series similar to it or something completely different. However, that's for adults or at least 16+. For younger teens 16 and under, I suggest you be specific in content. Well I can;t tell you what to do, but. If you're showing a certain series to someone of a really young age, underneath 18, you have to play "judge" and see what's in the content first if you don't want to rely on age rating.

Now that I have the scary part concerning ages done, next time I'll explain its genres in more detail. Plz look 4ward to it :3