Know your manga (and anime)

Don’t try asking exactly how many mangas Japan have put out so far because it may be nearly impossible to get any answer. Even the history of manga dates far back to the 18th century when the word “manga” was first used to mean “whimsical pictures”.

Fortunately, mangas have been categorized to save new generation otakus from the fatigue of browsing through thousands of titles. These categories may be divided into three: demographic, theme and genre.

Demographic

In simple words, this refers to whom the manga is geared towards. The most identifiable in this list are Shonen and Shojo mangas, which holds the most number of readers. Needless to say, most of us know shonen and shojo thanks to Dragonball Z, Bleach, Naruto and Sailormoon and Card Captor Sakura.

But while there are titles that stick to one demographic, there are others that seem to break the wall between shojo and shonen, and which seems predominant in shojo titles. The likes of Magic Knight Rayearth and DNAngel puts the character in shonen-type battles.

And then there are mangas that cater to more matured readers. This is where Seinen and Josei come in, both catering to the older population. Mangas in this demographic has stories that may not be intense for young readers. xxxHOLiC is one good example of today’s josei manga titles.

Kodomo means “child” in Japanese and clearly enough mangas in this demographic are geared towards the youngest readers, some of which may only be starting to learn to read.

Theme

Any story has a theme and mangas provide otakus with a whole world of themes that sometimes work together to make an anime worth the otaku thumbs up.

Bishojo and Bishonen literally mean beautiful girls and pretty boys (sometimes girlish-looking boys, even) and of course any otaku should expect a bevy of beauties in these types of manga. A lot, if not almost all anime has bishojo and bishonen themes thrown in it.

The Sentai theme was first introduced in this country through live-action series such as Bioman and Maskman, with characters transforming into peace-defenders in suits. Perhaps not as predominant compared to live-action series, manga also has a number of sentai-themed stories.

The mere mention of Gundam is enough to bring out the word Mecha, which is also another theme in manga. Is there a need to expound on this theme?

Post-Apocalyptic manga put the world on the brink of destruction. X1999 and Neon Genesis Evangelion are good examples on mangas with this theme.

The next theme is perhaps one of the most popular since it started in the 60’s. The Maho Shojo theme puts a female character with extraordinary powers into a world of adventure and self-discovery. Its counterpart is Maho Shonen although not as popular and usually only part of the Maho Shojo theme as in the case of Tuxedo Mask of Sailormoon.

Lately there has been a growth in the number of manga and anime dealing with sports and cooking. These belong to the Expertise theme where characters battle it out to become the number one.

Moe themes have characters that are perky, naïve, cute and sometimes weak. Lolicon gives an underaged female character a sort of sexual flair while Shotacon does the same thing with an underaged male character.

Then there is Harem, a theme most predominant in manga and anime. Now any typical male would of course want to be surrounded by women as in the case of Tenchi Masaki or Keitaro Urashima; Reverse Harem on the other hand can be seen in titles such as Ouran High School Host Club.

The Magical Girlfriend theme has a male character with an inhuman girlfriend. Urusei Yatsura and Chobits have this theme.

And lastly, the ones that are not very suitable to minors: Ecchi or Hentai that deals with sexual perversion and can be further classified into Yuri and Yaoi which is more particular with its target gender market. Shojo-ai and Shonen-ai are its censored counterparts.

Genre

Finally, manga and anime can be classified into genres. There’s Action/Adventure where most shonen title fall into; Drama, most predominant in Shojo titles; Game Based, where titles such as pokemon and Yugi-Oh fall into; Horror – titles with dark and supernatural themes; Comedy; and Sci-Fi.

*****JHAJR*****

Go Crazy for Baccano!

Aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, a great story of several unrelated events happened; a nearly unheared fuss turned into a commotion of immense proportion; a smooth ride led to a trainwreck; and a on-of-a-kind anime was born.

Baccano is an anime like no other. Created by Ryohgo Narita, the story is a collection of events in 1931 that happened to the passengers of the train named Flying Pussyfoot. The story won an award in the Dengeki Novel Prize.

Literally translated, “baccano” is Italian for “ruckus” but Narita came to translate it to “stupid commotion”. And indeed there is no other way to describe Baccano.

As short as this anime may come, it will still definitely leave a mark among otakus – and for a number of good reasons. Such is the reason for this article – for an anime as good as Baccano should not be left out during cool (or coolest) anime discussions.

Thus are five good reasons why Baccano is crazy enough for Pinoy TV:

5. It’s a circus.

Baccano is 13-episodes of complete craziness. Other than Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, it’s probably the only anime shown completely in random. However, Baccano is a crazier by a mile. Each show is packed with scenes shown in complete random and these “jumps” could go back as far as centuries. Therefore, the only way to fully appreciate the story is see it in its entirety.

4. It has fantastic music.

Baccano’s opening theme is enough to make one want to see this series. In fact, a number of anime had been shown to parody Baccano’s opening video. And then there’s the ending theme which give a glimpse of any drama in the entire show. These two perfectly opens the closes each episode.

3. It’s worthwhile for the eyes.

The animations for Baccano is topnotch compared to other anime. The fight scenes are good. And one thing worth noticing is how POV is carefully considered. This is most evident in the train scenes involving Jacuzzi’s gang, with scenes drawn on different angles to show different POV.

2. It’s more than just a Mob anime…

Indeed. Baccano is not just a story of people getting into the Flying Pussyfoot and getting into different sort of troubles. There is a bigger background story which goes back for centuries – and it has nothing to do with mobs. None at all.

1. It has too many characters – to love.

Baccano may be the only anime to have so many characters but not one as the lead. Every character in Baccano is as important as the other. And all of them work to make a bigger, more interesting story.

Baccano may have some bloody and violent scenes but it’s definitely an anime worth watching. Pinoy otakus would definitely enjoy this outrageous anime.

*****JHAJR*****

Who doesn’t remember the Spirit World Detectives?

It all started out when Yusuke Urameshi, a rather raunchy teenager, tried to save a child from a road accident. Who would’ve known that his death would trigger a new life for him as a spirit detective for the ReiKai? Since then, Yusuke gained friends and enemies on an adventure that led him to a discovery of something far more about himself.

Yu Yu Hakusho was then known locally as Ghostfighter and featured four guys who kept the human world as well as the demon world in check. Aired initially on IBC 13, the show had quickly gathered a fanbase for no other shonen anime aired to compete with it.

Yusuke and the rest of the Urameshi Team were driven to fight in various matches and came out victorious. Yusuke, with his Rei gan, blasted his way to win against his enemies; Kuwabara Kazuma was able to summon a sword through his own energy; Kurama, a once-demon-fox in the MaKai used an assortment of plants, one of the most famous though is the rose whip; and Hiei, an outcast demon from MaKai used his agility and sword skills – or at least until he really needed to use his secret weapon.

Joining them in their adventures are friends from the Spirit World, the Human World and the Demon World. Battling battle tournaments after another, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei formed one of the most popular team-ups in anime.

And just like most of the anime shown in IBC at the time, Yu Yu Hakusho was bound to end its air in a very unpleasant manner. Imagine the show discontinuing with only a few episodes remaining. The show went on a loop – going back and forth over a few episodes until finally getting pulled out.

However, the disappoinment was not to last long when GMA 7 took the show and aired it everyday in its entirety. Yu Yu Hakusho became the station’s flag bearer as the Anime Revolution in the Philippines began.

__________

Dubbers’ booboos for Yu Yu Hakusho

There was in one episode of Yu Yu Hakusho where an error in voice dubbing caused a major change in the character of Kurama. It was during the Four Demon God chapter that Kurama had a major change in voice and character that have probably confused fans who of course at the time didn’t know better.

Kurama was made to be a woman in the human world and a man in the demon world.

During the latter episodes however, this was proven as a major error because Kurama had become a man even in the human world. The same thing happened with Genkai’s character that was at first, thought to be a man.

How did this happen?

Actually, the same case has happened with a sentai series that aired early in the 90’s – Maskman, where a character was dubbed a woman when it was supposed to be a man. Probably because of the Japanese voice acting (especially in the case of Kurama’s effeminate voice) that the dubbers became a little confused. This time around though, with the internet and further knowledge on anime, these booboos might never happen again. Might.

*****JHAJR*****

Anime to satisfy some scare cravings

It is that time of the year again when we find ourselves wanting to scare the heck out of ourselves over some scary (or simply bloody) movies. Bring in some popcorn and get ready to scream.

Although, theses days it seems to hard to scare people. We’ve been so used to the idea of having people die one by one in a party or camping; or see decapitated body parts all over. Not even the the most bloodthirsty killer can make us jump off of the seats nowadays.

Yet there have been some exceptions of course. There came a time not too long ago when Asian horror came to scare the heck out of us. And it did. Who knew it could still happen? Thanks to Japanese horror, we were able to see a different take on scary movies.

Yet anime, a product of Japan (like we don’t know that now) also have had its share of scary movies even before Sadako came to haunt us. The likes of Vampire Princess Miyu, Hellsing and Vampire Hunter D are among titles that have become anime classics fit for the Halloween.

But since a lot of sites have been dedicated to a whole lot of these “newer” titles, we thought of bringing something different – something to add to the collection of anime horror titles.

The following titles (or most of them) came at a time when anime haven’t yet reached its peak in popularity – at least not from outside Japan. These are some of the older horror titles that came before everything else. Some of them may pale in comparison to the new titles we have now but hey, isn’t it always a good thing to look back?

Dark Myth (Ankoku Shinwa)
1990

In ancient times, Susano-oh conquered Orochi with the Kusanagi sword and was named the God of Darkness. In the present, signs of Susano-oh’s manifestation on Earth are beginning to take place, including the shattering of a stone Flayed Colt. Caught in the middle is Takeshi, a young man who is forced to receive stigmata-like marks on his body from the ancient gods; an impending sign that he will soon be reincarnated as Brahman’s alter ego, Atman. Meanwhile, the Kikuchi clan is after Takeshi and has a strange interest in the events taking place. The fate of all mankind is at stake; will demons or humans be the victor?

*****

Curse of Kazuo (Umezu Kazuo no Noroi)
1990

Beware the world of the supernatural, for their tricks and secrets will terrify and potentially even kill you. Two groups of girls experience the horror of the unknown in two very different ways: Masami has begun to have terrible nightmares after the arrival of a new transfer student, and a separate group decides to enter a haunted mansion alone at night. Their lives will be inexplicably changed forever once they discover the truth behind these strange events…

*****

Judge (Yami no Shihosha Judge)
1991

Thinking of committing fraud? Embezzlement? Murder? Think again. Though crimes often slip through the cracks of the laws of man, the laws of the spirit world are not as forgiving. In the underworld, even the dead can request vengeance against those who have wronged them, at the hands of the Judge, the keeper of justice. Hot on the trails of a corrupt executive, the Judge realizes that the chain-of-command might be guilty as well, causing an investigation of deadly proportions…

*****

Kimera
1996

One fateful evening, three capsules containing vampiric beings plummeted to Earth from outer space. Jay and Osamu are two salesmen who, by chance, run across one of these beings known as Kimera. Part man and part woman, Kimera is being transported as a specimen in the name of science – but when Osamu and Kimura lock eyes, it’s love at first sight, and Osamu vows to help set her free. Unfortunately for Osamu there are others who have their own plans for Kimera, including the two inhabitants of the other capsules…

*****

Monster of Frankenstein (Kyoufu Densetsu – Kaiki! Frankenstein)
1981

One dark and stormy night, Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his assistant completed their finest achievement: a monster constructed of spare body parts and given life. However, when the creature breaks free Dr. Frankenstein flees, leaving his assistant to be marred by their creation. Now at home with his family, Dr. Frankenstein tries in vain to forget his failed experiment but is haunted by visions and memories. And when freak accidents and deaths begin to occur, he realizes that the Monster of Frankenstein may very well still be alive…

*****
Lily C.A.T.
1987

In the distant future, employees of the Syncam Corporation board a spaceship bound for a newly-discovered planet; while the voyage will take twenty years, deep sleep capsules ensure that the occupants age only a single year. Now, that time has passed and the crew awakens, only to discover a frightening partial transmission from headquarters: two of them are not employees – they are criminals. One by one, members of the group soon begin to die for unknown reasons; and what’s worse, the bodies begin to disappear. Now, these men and women must race against the clock to discover the fakes in their midst, find out the reason behind the deaths, and most importantly, stay alive at all costs!

*****

Mermaid Forest (Ningyo no Mori)
1992

It is believed that to consume the flesh of a mermaid, means that you will never show signs of age, and live forever. However, many cannot handle its taste and become demons for eternity. Towa is a woman whose thirst for this flesh consumes her, as she was made only partially immortal by drinking the blood of a mermaid years ago. Unable to cast her demons aside, she destroys everything in her path on a search for this legend.

*****

Pet Shop of Horrors
1999

At Count D’s pet shop, you can acquire any form of animal, from an ordinary canary, to more.. “exotic” creatures. Made to sign a contract before purchase, Count D claims no “responsibility for actions incurred” if the purchaser does not follow its instructions completely, as results can be fatal. Patrons of this shop are able to get the rarest of creatures, but often, their purchases are coupled with demons from their past that won’t go away easily.

*****

Roots Search
1986

Deep in the recesses of space, onboard a space station, a young woman named Moira is having terrifying dreams of her crewmates’ bloody future. As if to prove the premonition, a lone spacecraft later descends upon the station casting a SOS distress call, though only one member of its crew was left alive. The visions begin to come true when Moira and her friends uncover a mysterious alien who can somehow manifest itself into their fears and regrets. With the crew being picked off on by one, and tensions rising, can any of them last long enough to escape?

*****

Violence Jack 2: Evil Town
1988

Six months ago, a massive earthquake sunk a massive Japanese city into the ground, burying it from the outside world. The survivors split themselves into three groups: A, with normal salarymen; B, with criminals and lunatics led by the towering Mad Saurus; and C, an all-female group. However, once food supplies began to dwindle the once-kind men of the A group brutally gang-raped the women of the C group, causing the ladies to seal themselves up deep within the ruins. Now, the A group is working towards digging their way to the surface when they unearth Violence Jack, a massive giant. Though the A group wants Jack to help defend them against the B group, he ultimately chooses to protect the C group against all of the others. A bloody civil war approaches – will anyone escape alive?

*****

Mermaid’s Scar (Ningyo no Kizu)
1993

Following in the footsteps of Mermaid Forest (another OVA by Rumiko Takahashi), Yuta and Mana are back, and have travelled to a new city for work and rest. By chance, they meet Masato: a young boy whose mother is known to have come back from the dead. The pair discover that Masato’s household contains dark secrets, which may end up costing them their lives!

Thank you for the info and images: Anime Planet. Visit their website. More interesting stuff there.

!!!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

*****JHAJR*****

Out of their way: Anime’s Intimidating Bunch

The mere mention of their name may strike an air of animosity towards those who may not know them very well. These are but a few of those anime characters whose looks alone screams “don’t bother me” coupled with a personality that would make people steer clear of their way.

Anime provides fans with a number of stereotype characters in every series and animeHOLIC shall try to serve the first set of those characters: those that we love to hate – or simply don’t rub on us too quickly because we, the audience, feel something indifferent about them.

Here is animeHOLIC first dish out of Anime Stereotype Character:

The Intimidating Ones

:Asuka Langley Souryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

She may look cute but this lass from Germany sure made her appearance nothing short of irritating. Overflowing with confidence, Asuka sees herself as the best in everything. Loud and opinionated, obnoxious, a brat, and egocentric, Asuka perfectly starts this list.

:Neji Hyuga (Naruto)

Is it his eyes? Probably not because if that’s the case then Hinata would be intimidating too. Yet, perhaps it is his eyes that make Neji a ninja one wouldn’t probably want to cross paths with even down the street. He is strong but it may not even come close to the level of his arrogance. A little something about his history proves though that he is just misunderstood.

:Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi Suzumiya)

Now, Haruhi would probably not mind having the word “misunderstood” taped on her back. She probably wouldn’t care at all. This girl has set her eyes on anything but human. She’s disgusted with humans.

:Tieria Erde (Gundam 00)

The looks alone would easily tell that he can be quite intimidating. His high regard for his mission makes him come off as emotionless and cold and therefore misunderstood. But he’s just a quiet soldier who also comes off as the enigmatic one in the team.

:Kyouya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club)

He’s quiet. And on rare occasions that he does speak, he makes a lot of sense and there’s no way one would dare not listen. He’s rich. And so when he snaps out his folder and tells one of his debt for breaking a fine décor and decides how the payment should be done, it’s easy to tell that he’s not kidding. At all.

:Yuki Eiri (Gravitation)

There’s something about quiet guys who can easily kick loser butts for being so successful in life. Yuki, a master love story writer won’t care the least if he sees something ugly – like a song lyric from an amateur. And he’s not dumb enough to let ugliness pass. He would easily make the most honest (and brutal remark).

:Meiling (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Meiling went to Japan to help her fiancee in collecting the Clow Cards and she’s not letting some dumb but sweet little girl get in her way. She would talk and fight her way out to make her fiancee’s mission easier. At least until she realizes she had lost the fight that she thought she never had to battle through.

:Hiei (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Isn’t it easy to tell that Hiei wouldn’t want anyone crossing his way? He may be small, but his arrogance is just about as gigantic as his Black Dragon. Better not say anything more about this three-eyed demon from MaKai…

:Vegeta (Dragonball Saga)

What is it with short men and spiked hair? Vegeta is an alien who came to Earth to destroy it. But as fate would have it, he sided with the good guys eventually. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that he’s changed his obnoxious ways. Still loud and outspoken as ever.

:Killua Zaoldyeck (Hunter X Hunter)

Killua is one of those characters that is not easy to like at first because, like Hiei, holds a certain glare in his eyes. He gives out a dangerous feeling towards others. And sure enough there is something to be scared about this young lad. Add to that, he’s actually filthy rich.

*****JHAJR*****

It ain’t Anime w/o these trademarks

We all know by now exactly what makes anime, well….anime. It has come to have its own characteristics completely distinct from other styles in animation.

And yet anime was simply a reflection of what Disney had made back in the days. What the Japanese creators wanted was to create a character that would have very expressive eyes and the way to do that was to make them bigger than ordinary ala Disney.

Today, anime is known as anime for a number of reasons.

One: the eyes. From the eyelashes to the light playing and reflected in the iris, anime has created a completely original way of drawing character eyes.

Two: the hair. You know its anime when you see the hair. They’ve experimented on hair to the point of insanity (^^). Yet, they worked and now fans adore them and even try to copy the styles. Even colors have fast become a trend and the weirder the color, the better.

Three: the uniform. It has become such a big sign in anime. Yes, because it’s Japanese but lately even some non-anime shows have started to draw characters in uniforms.

Four: Mecha. Anime has helped revolutionize robotic design and has since then become unstoppable, creating more original design than the previous. Just take Gundams for instance.

Five: the attacks. It has become a common thing in anime to insert character power attack scenes to lessen the work of creating more animated panels, especially in the Mahou Shojo genre.

This day and age, furthermore, it seems the Japanese still have some more anime-only styles to inject into their work as evidenced by the  following trends that would clearly announce: “Yeah, it is anime!”

01: Hair Antennae.

In a Love Hina episode, it was hinted that an antennae in a female character is kinda adorable. There are two kinds of antennae poking out of a female anime character head: the single and the double antennae.

Ahoge or the single antenna sometimes connotes that a character is stupid. It is also called “stupid hair”. Although of course there are character exceptions to this, so it may not be entirely true.

For whatever the purpose of the antennae in the hair is, no anime fan seem to be complaining.

02: Peculiar Eyes.

There’s been a new trend in anime eyes that may have started with Seishiro Sakurazuka and Kenshin Himura: eyes that look different or changes with emotion.

Kurapika has both eyes turning into red, while Lelouch possesses a Geass symbol. Even Syaoran has the same eyes as Seishiro.

03: Loli-goth.

Probably the most recent trend in anime is the gothic-lolita look, where cute characters dress in black gothic style clothing, making them look confusingly wicked and cuter at the same time.

And then there is…

04: Western religion.

Leave it to anime to tackle themes inspired by Western religion. Leave it to anime to give it a slight twist—or a completely different turn.

A number of anime have used Western religious influences in their plot to make more interesting stories. Some anime tend to use parts while others such as Chrono Crusade holds the entire religious philosophies but with a nun showing off some skin—that’s the twist right there.

And then there’s Evangelion which is probably the one anime to mix different religious influences to make a very interesting story.

*****JHAJR*****