One thing that always amazes me about Japanese manga and anime culture is how they can take a hobby and build a story around it, getting really deep into details about that specific field of interest. One such example is Hikaru no Go which focuses on the complex board game Go, and another is basketball-themed manga Slam… Read More »
When I first saw this Manga in Book Off in New York I was a little hesitant to check it out. Not only was the cover drawn in an unappealing color scheme, but the story seemed to revolve around Buddha and Jesus – and it was clear this wasn’t a particularly serious work. But I had… Read More »
I recently had the opportunity to read through a few issues of the classic Manga series “Patalliro!”, created by Mineo Maya (魔夜峰央) and published by Hakusensha (白泉社). The experience was both delightful and challenging. One single book contains a few mini-episodes which cross over into many genres including science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, and spy, with frequent comedic… Read More »
“Arakawa Under the Bridge” is a manga series created by Hikaru Nakamura (中村 光) in 2004, which was eventually turned into an anime, TV drama, and movie. I’ve only seen the drama and movie so will be focusing on those in this post, though I imagine the story is much the same. This story starts out… Read More »
As I confirmed with my poll the other day, one of the major reasons people are studying Japanese language is because of their attraction to modern Japanese culture, in particular Manga and Anime. In keeping with that, this time I would like to talk about one of the best comic shops in Florida, Tate’s Comics… Read More »
When reading fiction in Japanese, I usually stick to novels over manga (comic books) for several reasons. One is that manga is typically very expensive, with a single episode typically costing 10 dollars or more. Depending on the difficulty level, I can read through one of those in a few hours to a few days.… Read More »
I’ve been keeping an eye on this manga in Japanese book stores for a few years now, whose mysterious cover and title piqued my interest. During a recent business trip to New York, I finally decided on picking up the first issue at Book Off. (I have a review of this Japanese bookstore here.) From… Read More »
Manga, along with Anime, is one of the biggest forms of Japanese imports to America for entertainment. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many people who started learning Japanese after they became interested in manga. (My situation is a little different, but I’ll discuss that in another post.) As I’m sure all of you… Read More »
We are fortunate to leave in an age where nearly unlimited resources, in nearly any language, are available online. This is a boon especially for those studying a foreign language. Blogs, news, message boards, and even videos are available with a simple search, in a matter of a seconds. But the quality and variety of… Read More »