Aristara
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- Joined: 01 07 2006
- Location: Manchester
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Official Anime / Manga Thread
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07 May 2009 22:54
• Welcome to the Anime + Manga thread •
Feel free to discuss anything related, post pictures or share interesting websites & information.  Anime is the Japanese shortened word for 'animation' and Manga is the Japanese word for 'comics'.
In Japan, 'anime' would be any animated production, from Disney to Legend of the Overfiend. Anything that is animated, be it Japanese, English or French. Outside Japan, though, 'anime' tends to refer, specifically, to Japanese animation. Or nowadays, general eastern animation as some close by countries like Korea and China do make their own similiar anime & manga, which can be confusing at times.
In Japan, anime is a rather popular form of entertainment. It comes in the form of TV shows, movies at the cinema as well as direct to video releases (OVA - Original Video Animation). Unlike in the west, anime has a huge variety of genres - it is not only for children. Nor, on the other hand, is it just sex and violence for adults! Anime is for everybody.
Most of the time, anime comes from a manga, manga is Japanese comics. Occasionally, though, you'll get an anime first, and the manga will follow... but as a general rule, anime comes from a popular manga series. The manga are sold in anthologies, either weekly or monthly, and have a huge number of readers! Even more, if you consider that these anthologies are read once, and left on the train (often by businessmen and office ladies on their way to work - manga, you see, doesn't have the same stigma as comics tend to have in the west) for someone else to read. (They are cheap throw-away items - the Japanese version of graphic novels follow, and these are more likely to be collected.) As with anime, manga comes in many genres for all age groups - manga for businessmen, women, boys, girls, romance, fashion, adult titles, sports and more. It's a huge industry in Japan, and very, very popular.
 Anime for children would include Pokemon, Minky Momo ('Gigi' in English), Dragon Ball, Card Captor Sakura and Sailor Moon. If you see the original versions, you'll probably notice there is a lot that has been edited for the western releases. From the anime I have seen, the Japanese version do not try to protect children from death - it actually happens in anime. For instance, in Sailor Moon, the senshi (scouts) die in the end of the first season. (In the American version, they were 'trapped' but got away.) This is not to say that Japanese children are happy with the concept of death - it's just that it is not a 'no-no' topic for even children's anime.
Anime for teenagers would include Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura (Lum), Marmalade Boy and Fushigi Yugi. Again, the 'no-no' subjects of the west are found in these anime. Fushigi Yugi introduces subjects like rape, and Ranma 1/2 has some nudity (though this is definitely not porn - the nudity is mostly kept to places like the bathroom, or as a laugh when the male Ranma changes into a woman and he's still acting like a male.) The different values tend to clash - if this sort of anime was to be put on television, it would probably only make it to pay tv (cable), or on a foreign language channel, sadly.
There are also a multitude of anime for young adults and adults - Tenchi Muyo, Cowboy Beebop, Dirty Pair (not what you think ), Dragon Half, Evangelion, DNA^2, Maison Ikkoku, Legend of the Overfiend, Dark City, Gundam, and Mononoke-hime to name a few. A number of these probably fit into the teenage category, as some of them tend to be fine for all ages.
These anime mentioned above are ones that are (or have been) popular in the west, not only in Japan. There are anime in all genres - romance, fantasy, science fiction, comedy, hentai (erotic anime), drama, action... just about any genre you find in the west, you'll find in anime! As you can clearly see, anime is not just for children.
An unfortunate part of the western mindset is that animation / cartoons or comic-like things is for children. Parents will sometimes go to a video shop, and pick up Overfiend (tentacled monsters raping women, for a start!) for their kids to watch. Why? Because it's animated, looks like it is for chilren. They don't look at the rating, nor read the back cover. And so there are some groups of people totally against anime for this reason. (If you are against anime / manga for reasons like this, I would kindly ask that you do not start bother in this thread as this is a general chat thread for this kind of media.)
There is also the sad fact that certain companies put out anime that is only violence and sex related. Manga Video, unfortunately, projects the image that all anime is sex and guns. True, they put out Ghost in the Shell and, in the US, anime like Maris the Chojo ('The Supergal'), Firetripper and the Laughing Target... but most of their videos are Overfiend-like, and that is how they market the anime to the population. I think it's self destructive, but they obviously make money that way.
 Cosplay or costume play is a form of art in which people dress up as characters or ideas. Cosplaying can take the form of performance art, with the cosplayer inhabiting the identity of the character and acting, or it may be viewed more generally as a form of artistic expression without a performance aspect. Cosplaying is not the same as dressing up for events like Halloween or masquerade balls, although cosplayers may don their outfits and personas for such events, and it is accompanied by a very distinctive and unique subculture.
People have been wearing costumes for centuries, but the tradition of cosplay really started to arise in 1980s Japan, when people began dressing up as characters from their favorite anime and manga series. In addition to outfitting themselves like noted characters or concepts, people also engaged in play where they took on distinct personas, taking their costumes to a new level. Over time, the trend spread to other regions of the world, and cosplayers today inhabit characters from a wide variety of fandoms, from the Harry Potter novels to Princess Mononoke.
A cosplayer can spend a substantial amount of time and money on a costume. There is a heavy focus on very precise detail, with the costume matching known information as much as possible. For example, a cosplayer would take the time to dye fabric if he or she could not find a perfect color match, and amulets, snaps, and unique ornaments might be hand fabricated if replicas could not be purchased. Cosplayers also work very hard to step into the personas of the characters they are dressing as so that they behave and speak as their characters would.
The Harajuku district of Tokyo is a famous site for cosplaying, and for radical youth fashions in general. Cosplay can also be seen on display at major conventions, parties, and events thrown specifically for cosplayers, including contests in which people are judged on the basis of their costumes, knowledge of the characters, and acting abilities.
People sometimes confuse cosplay with fetishism or role playing games, especially since many cosplayers indulge in crossplay, in which they dress up as characters of the opposite sex. In fact, cosplay is distinct from these subcultures, although some cosplayers do like to engage in role playing games, and others may be involved in fetish communities. The goal behind cosplaying is to dress up, have fun, and bring a fictional or historical character to life, and to experience interactions with the community as that character. Cosplayers can also animate concepts, or anthropomorphize things which are not alive, such as famous railway trains.
• Online Anime + Manga Communities • http://www.animeforum.com/
http://www.gaiaonline.com
http://www.tokyopop.com/
These are pretty countless as there are so many, but here are a few popular ones.
These sites are just generally good for getting information on this type of media and meeting other people interested in it.
• Listing websites • http://www.myanimelist.net
This is a site where you can store all of your information about what you have watched, what you are going to watch and what to watch, it's a very informative site and I suggest you make a myanimelist profile.
• Art websites • http://www.animepaper.net/
http://www.deviantart.com/ - See Anime + Manga section.
http://www.minitokyo.net/
http://www.animeartists.org/
http://www.mangatutorials.com/
http://www.howtodrawmanga.com
These sites are if you're interested in the art, some links for viewing or tutorials. - There are many more sites out there with tutorials on, this is just a few.
• M.M.O.R.P.G's • Flyff; Fly For Fun :
http://flyff.gpotato.com/ - First flying anime MMORPG.
Luna Online :
http://luna.gpotato.com/ - New out.
Mabinogi :
http://mabinogi.nexon.net/Preview/intro.htm
Fiesta Online : http://fiesta-online.gamigo.com/
Tales of Pirates : http://top.igg.com/main.php
zOMG :
http://www.gaiaonline.com/games/zomg/
Hello Kitty Online BETA :
http://www.hellokittyonline.com/us/
This is if you're well into cute games or the style of anime / manga art, etc. These types of M.M.O.R.P.G's are booming nowadays with millions of players worldwide. A lot of people interested in Anime + Manga play these sort of games.
Tip : For getting started with M.M.O.R.P.G games, play Free Realms, it's very tutorial-like, easy, children friendly and gives some experience for other games :http://www.freerealms.com For more M.M.O.R.P.G listing please see : http://www.mmorpg.com
If anything is wrong or you want to add to the thread PM me. ^_^
<message edited by Blixium on 15 December 2011 04:31>
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