Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kei.com!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!igor.rutgers.edu!remus.rutgers.edu!pearl From: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu (Starbuck) Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga,news.answers,rec.answers,rec.arts.anime.info Subject: rec.arts.manga: Frequently Asked Questions Keywords: monthly informative posting Message-ID: Date: 21 Mar 94 18:09:46 GMT Followup-To: rec.arts.manga Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division Lines: 418 Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu rec.arts.manga:6463 news.answers:16708 rec.answers:4559 rec.arts.anime.info:421 Archive-name: manga/faq THE REC.ARTS.MANGA FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS LIST ================================================== Edited by Steve Pearl November, 1993 This FAQ, as well as many other FAQ's appearing on the net, is posted to news.answers. You can ftp FAQ's mentioned in this document from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet. If you do not have ftp, send a message to "mail-server@rftm.mit.edu" with the word "help" in the body. The server will send you instructions on retrieving the files via email. This is a monthly list of questions that have been frequently asked in this newsgroup. If you have any questions, additions or corrections, send them to: Internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu or Steve Pearl CI$: >internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu 359 Lloyd Rd GEnie: S.PEARL6 Aberdeen, NJ 07747-1826 Changes to this posting since August, 1993: Added: o WHAT IS "H"? Expanded: Otaku Definition -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS: o ARE THERE ENGLISH BOOKS OR MAGAZINES ON THE SUBJECT OF MANGA? o CAN YOU RECOMMAND SOME GOOD MANGA? o WHERE CAN I GET MANGA? o WHERE CAN I GET SCRIPTS OR SYNOPSIS TO SOME OF THE MANGA? o HOW DO I LEARN JAPANESE? o WHAT IS JAPONISME? o IS MICHITAKA KIKUCHI & KIA ASAMIYA THE SAME PERSON? o WHAT IS WIDEBAN OR "WIDE VERSION" MANGA? o WHAT ARE JAPANESE PHONE CARDS AND PHONE BOOKS ARE AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO WITH ANIME/MANGA? o OTAKU, WHAT'S AN OTAKU? (EXPANDED DEFINITION) o WHY WAS VIDEO GIRL AI MANGA VOLUMES 3 & 5 CENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT? o WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CENSORED AND NON-CENSORED VERSIONS OF VIDEO GIRL AI 3&5 o IS MASAMUNE SHIROW A PSEUDONYM? WHY DOES HE KEEP HIS TRUE IDENTITY A SECRET? o WHAT IS "H"? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o ARE THERE ENGLISH BOOKS OR MAGAZINES ON THE SUBJECT OF MANGA? Yes, There is a book called "Manga! Manga!" by Frederik L. Schodt, which examines in detail the history, background, content, etc of manga in the popular culture. There is also a magazine called "Mangajin", which aids in the learning of the Japanese language through the use of manga. (Check the "How do I learn Japanese" section for more detail.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o CAN YOU RECOMMAND SOME GOOD MANGA? Check the Rec.Arts.Manga Guide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o WHERE CAN I GET MANGA? Check the Rec.Arts.Manga Resource Guide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o WHERE CAN I GET SCRIPTS OR SYNOPSIS TO SOME OF THE MANGA? Check the FTP Script List, a list of all the scripts available through anonymous FTP, and then some. Maintained by Kenneth Arromdee at arromdee@cs.jhu.edu. Also posted monthly on rec.arts.manga ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o HOW DO I LEARN JAPANESE? Edited from the rec.arts.anime faql: As is to be expected, all manga is in Japanese. Synopses & scripts all help to understand what's going on, but they can only cover a fraction of all the manga being released at a certain time. A common question in rec.arts.manga and sci.lang.japan is "What books would you folks recommend for someone who wants to learn colloquial Japanese?" The following books have been recommended by persons in this newsgroup as good sources for learning Japanese. Of course, they can't replace a live teacher in a Japanese course at your local university, or practicing with a Japanese-speaking friend (a GOOD friend, in case you unwittingly commit a faux-pas :-). NOTE: If you wish to translate manga yourself and aren't too familiar with the Chinese characters called Kanji, then you should look for manga that contains furigana alongside the kanji. Furigana is small phonetic writing that gives you the pronunciation and reading of the complex Chinese characters in Kana. Basic Japanese textbooks: BASIC STRUCTURES IN JAPANESE by Aoki, Hirose, Keller, Sakuma Taishukan Publishing Company A beginner's Japanese textbook. JAPANESE: THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE by Eleanor Jordan The standard text for college level Japanese. Yale university Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-04188-8 ESSENTIAL JAPANESE by Samuel. E. Martin. JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE (volumes I and II) by Association for Japanese-Language Teaching (AJALT) Kodansha International Publishers (Tokyo and NY) Another beginner's Japanese textbook. Recommended. Books on colloquial Japanese: JAPANESE IN ACTION by Jack Seward MAKING OUT IN JAPANESE by Todd & Erika Geers Yenbooks (Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company) A book on colloquial Japanese. MORE MAKING OUT IN JAPANESE The sequel to "Making Out in Japanese" MANGAJIN PO Box 7119, Marietta GA 30065 This is a magazine with detailed panel-by-panel manga translations, along with articles on the Japanese culture. Regular features include: "Galaxy Express 999", "What's Michael", "Tanaka-kun", etc. Great for learning colloquial Japanese. Books on Japanese Grammar: AN INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE GRAMMAR AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES by Senko K. Maynard The Japan Times A book on Japanese Grammar Reference works: KENKYUSHA'S JAPANESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY NELSON'S CHINESE CHARACTER DICTIONARY Other suggestions: Get a feel of basic Japanese before figuring out the slangs and contractions. Keep in mind that even the simplest manga assume about 7 years of constant Japanese usage. Get Japanese copies of children's classics such as Winne-the-Pooh, A Christmas Carol, etc., which are aimed for elementary/grammar school children. Read them and compare with the original English. Jordan's book has plain style Japanese starting with chapter 9. Most minor Japanese sentences are in the so-called "direct" style. Live in Japan for a while. [A bit drastic, isn't it? -- Editor] Read manga and watch T.V., preferably watch some show with subtitles. LOTS OF PATIENCE!! Learning a new language is never easy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o WHAT IS JAPONISME? Japonisme is a term to describe the influence of Japanese art and style (including manga) on Western art and culture. Rutgers University hosts the International Center on Japonisme at the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick, NJ. [Further information to be added as they send it to me...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o IS MICHITAKA KIKUCHI & KIA ASAMIYA THE SAME PERSON? At Anime Expo '92, Mikimoto Haruhiko stated to the effect that although they're not friends, but he does know him (Kia) and that Kikuchi and Asamiya are the same person. Another thing to consider is that there are Newtype calendars that, have Silent Mobius images that say (in big bold letters) Mitchitaka Kikuchi, and then in little tiny letter Copyright 1991(?) Kia Asamiya. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o WHAT IS WIDEBAN OR "WIDE VERSION" MANGA? Wide version refers to reissue of compiliation, typically twice to three times the page count of your ordinary compiliation; Urusei Yatsura was issued in 34 compilations, and its wide version is only 15 compiliations or Outlanders, originally released in 8 compilations, its wide version is only 2 compilation. Consider wide version... compiliation of compiliation... From a post by chu@ucsee.berkeley.edu (real name unknown) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o WHAT ARE JAPANESE PHONE CARDS AND PHONE BOOKS ARE AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO WITH ANIME/MANGA? These are actually two different things. -Phone Cards: Ma Bell in Japan is still a national monopoly / government bureacracy. Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) charges 10 yen per time unit for local calls. 10 yen coins are an annoyance to carry around. Sort of like a pocket full of nickles. But if you stuff a larger denomination coin into a phone, you don't get change for time/money not used. Enter the telephone card. It is a cheap piece of plastic the size of a credit card with a magnetic widget inside. You buy them from a vending machine or a kiosk (in denominations ranging from 500 to 5000 yen). The green phones are (mostly) wired to accept phone cards (yes, there are different color phones depending on the type of call). Stuff a telephone card into the slot and you don't have to worry about carrying around a pocket full of nickles and the magnetic widget counts off each time unit as you use it. There cards are particularly useful for international calls. Each time unit costs 100 yen and they count off very quickly. With all these little plastic cards running around, somebody in Japan got the idea of putting pretty pictures on them. Like mountains, or rivers, or forests, or movie stars, or whatever. Certain types of fans like to collect these cards (sort of like a cross between expensive postage stamps and baseball cards). For these fans, companies print up limited runs of cards with desireable pictures on them and then sell them for double the face value (spend 1000 yen to get a 500 yen card). The fans value these cards as long as they are not used at all. So they are another anime/manga collectable. - from a post by Eric Kouba - Phone Books This is a term used to describe the various manga magazines. These periodicals are typically printed on newsprint, and contain several ongoing manga stories (which, if popular, are usually collected into collections). These magazines are VERY thick and often resemble phonebooks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o OTAKU? WHAT'S AN OTAKU? (Expanded Definition) OTAKU (1) Original meaning: Your house (company, organiztion, etc), used as a polite form of the second person => you (2) Meaning in early-late 1980's: An extreme fan of anime/manga/sf who lacks communications with other people and usually untidy => nerd, fanboy [Otakus used "otaku" for "you" instead of more common "anata" "anta" and that' what gave them the title of Otaku-Zoku (otaku-race)] (3) Current Usage: Anyone obssesd or overly interested with any subject Car otaku, Gun Otaku, etc... => mania, freak (2) has VERY negative meanging and (3) still carries negative meaning, unless used between otakus, of course. :-) So use "otaku" to only other anime fans. On the net, Otaku is usually refered to a big fan of anime and/or manga. For example, I'm an Otaku. :-) --From a posting by Tonghyun "Vajra" Kim One other suggestion: Don't call _anyone_ else an otaku unless you know how they feel about the term. Not all anime fans like being called an otaku. I'm one of those who doesn't care to have the word applied to me, though I have no problems with other fans calling themselves otaku. --Christina Callahan o WHY WAS VIDEO GIRL AI MANGA VOLUMES 3 & 5 CENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT? This case doesn't have anything to do with government censorship in Japan. Parental (and other) groups pressured Shuueisha to withdraw it from sale, because some content was seen as unsuitable for its boys + girls audience. (An assessment I agree with, but that's just MHO. The reaction is, I imagine, rather like what would happen in the US if "Liquid Sky" was shown in the "Tiny Toons" timeslot.) It seems that this sort of "voluntary censorship" is on the increase in Japan. (Actually, "censorship" is too strong a word - it's just voluntary compliance with public pressure.) Mainly the H-and-violence stuff is being targeted. VGA fits into this category (though it's a pretty tame example). It reminds me of toned-down Ujin, visually... and Ujin's stuff is not for a general audience, to say the least. As for "why now", maybe they've had it too good too long. I wouldn't link it to one individual incident like the Miyazaki murders, but who can tell? I don't live in Japan. Who knows. -- From a posting by Iain Sinclair o WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CENSORED AND NON-CENSORED VERSIONS OF VIDEO GIRL AI 3&5? Volume 3 published date 1990-11-15 1st printing (original edition) 1990-11-15 2nd printing (original edition) 1990-12-15 3rd printing (original edition) 1991-01-25 4th printing (original edition) ????-??-?? 5th printing (???) 1992-12-25 6th printing (retouched edition) ????-??-?? 7th printing (retouched edition) retouched points page# frame# difference ------- ------ ---------- 9 5 panties (*1) 11 1 panties 25 3 panties 28 1,2 panties 29 5 panties 30 2 panties 33 6,7 panties 37 4 panties 43 1,2,3 panties 44 1 panties 45 1 panties 46 2,3,4 panties 47 1 panties 49 1 panties 50 1,3 panties 54 1,2 machine (*2) 56 3 machine ------- ------ total 25 (*1) In the original edition Ai wears no panties. (*2) In the original edition, a couple of large parts that are concealing Ai's thighs and hips cannot be seen. Volume 5 published date 1991-03-15 1st printing (original edition) ????-??-?? 2nd printing (???) 1993-03-15 3rd printing (retouched edition) retouched points page# frame# difference ------- ------ ------------- 19,20 all deleted (*3) 33 3,5 panties (*4) 34 4 panties 35 3 panties 36 2,5 panties 37 1,2,3 panties 38 1 panties 47 3 panties 48 5 panties 49 3 panties 88 1 replaced (*5) 97 1,4 panties 98 2 panties 99 6 panties 100 3 panties 101 2 panties 180 1 water level (*6) ------- ------ total 22 (*3) In these pages Matsui touches Mai's thigh and buttocks, hugs her, and comes to give himself up to her. In the retouched edition the pages are deleted and a blank (black) leaf is inserted as pp.5-6 instead. Therefore the page numbers are different between both editions till p.20. (*4) In the original edition Mai wears no panties. (*5) In the original edition, the view of Ai's buttocks seen from the rear (the viewpoint of Youta), but in the retouched edition, a magnification of the 2nd frame. (*6) In the retouched edition the water level of the spring becomes a little higher to completely conceal Ai's crotch. o IS MASAMUNE SHIROW A PSEUDONYM? WHY DOES HE KEEP HIS TRUE IDENTITY A SECRET? What I remember: "Masamune Shirow" is a pen name, he does manga-ing in his spare time (hence the long delays!), and the reason he doesn't use his real name is that his employer would frown upon his "moonlighting" as a mangaka. Whether this means he'd be fired or just reprimanded or something, I don't know, but he deliberately doesn't use his real name. -- From a posting by Bill Barnes o WHAT IS "H"? The 8th letter of the alphabet? Seriously, "H" (echi/ecchi) is a Japanese slang term for "perverted." It derives from the letter H, which is the first roman letter in the American spelling of "hentai," which is the Japanese word for "perverted." (more or less) <> -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Steve Pearl- Moderator, rec.arts.anime.info Email submissions to anime-info@remus.rutgers.edu and questions about the newsgroup to anime-info-request@remus.rutgers.edu