I briefly mentioned the fact that I recently attended an academic conference (symposium, to be exact) in a previous post as an excuse for not blogging for a while, but I figured since my topic and the theme of the symposium are relevant to this blog, why not blog about it? It’s okay for me take a moment to gloat about my very first name tag (shown above) and the fact that I got to attend the World of Girls’ Manga art exhibit from Kyoto International Manga Museum at the same event, right? (that’s a rhetorical question – this is my blog and I’m going to do it anyway!)
Don’t worry, just because I presented in an academic setting, I certainly haven’t let it go to my head. In fact, it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. For the curious, my paper was titled “From Shōjo to Boys’ Love (BL) and Back Again: Yoshinaga Fumi and the Diversification of Male-Male Romance in Japanese Manga.” I won’t go into the details of the paper because 1) it will probably bore many of you and 2) I’m planning on presenting a modified version in January which will then go on to be published in a journal somewhere down the track and I don’t want anyone stealing my ideas (hah), but I do have something else I’m very keen to discuss…
Namely, the gorgeous full-color World of Girls’ Comics book that each and every one of the presenters at the 2-day symposium received, including myself! It’s chock-full of gorgeous illustrations and information on early shojo manga artists. I couldn’t have asked for a better memento of my first academic presentation.
A lot of these early artists are people I’m only vaguely familiar with, if that, so this book has really opened my eyes to a lot of stunning work that I wouldn’t have known otherwise!
This is by the same artist as the image above, Katsuji Matsumoto. Her eyes are kind of derpy looking and I’m not sure what she’s doing with her hands, but there’s something really appealing about this piece to me.
Many early shojo manga artists, particularly those in the 60s and early 70s, were actually men. I don’t think many western fans realize that the popular artist behind the above illustrations, Macoto Takahashi, was actually a man! I love his attention to detail.
Another male artist, Satoo Tomoe, wasn’t afraid of drawing war-related illustrations. For better or for worse, any anime/manga-style work involving children will inevitably remind me of Grave of the Fireflies.
There was another piece from the series shown above, Shiroi toroika (White Troika) at the exhibit I attended that really grabbed me, to the point that I think I want to track the original manga down and read it someday. It was drawn by Hideko Mizuno.
Not all of the works included are color illustrations – there are also a number of original manga pages, which I find utterly fascinating. See if you can make out the the differently-colored text portions. I assume these were edits of some kind. This page is from Anasutashia no suteki na otonari (Anastasia’s Wonderful Neighbor) by Yukiko Kai.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a book about early shojo manga without some crazy shojo window eyes. I’m not particularly fond of the above illustration, but you’ve gotta admit it’s something else! This one’s from Aiba Enzeru (My Horse Angel) by Kimiko Uehara.
Last but not least, one of my personal favorite manga artists from this period, Keiko Takemiya. She’s actually a teacher at Kyoto Seika University in their manga studies program, and she was the supervising editor behind this collection. I find her dedication to restoring and preserving works from her early years as a manga artist and teaching others really inspiring.
Well, there you have it! Memories to last a lifetime. If you’re interested in reading more about the symposium and exhibit, you can do so at the official page here.
Very much looking forward to the Yoshinaga post–I’m a huge fan of 大奥 and きのう、何食べた？ Gorgeous book, too.
When I saw the picture of Satoo Tomoe’s artwork I thought about “Grave of the Fireflies” too. Do you like Utena or works of Kunihiku Ikuhara in general?
Oh, I wasn’t actually planning on posting about Yoshinaga, but now that you mention it maybe I will! I’m busy catching up on all her works (planning on watching the 大奥 film tomorrow actually!), so maybe I’ll whip something up in the near future 🙂
Yes, I love Utena! I haven’t read the manga though, unfortunately.
Anne, what an interesting post on the “World of Girls’Comics book” that you received at the symposium! Lots of amazing illustrations in there and to think you got a copy for free! Jealous much! Works from this era definately have a distinguished look to them though each one is so unique. Compared to modern manga, these works have quite a primitive style but that’s what makes them so gorgeous! The restorations to these oldies are incredible, it all looks so colourful!
Satoo Tomoe’s works definately remind me of Grave of the fireflies also; I wonder if Hayao Miyazaki was influenced by war manga pieces such as the one you showed?
Will we (your dedicated fans) get to see a digital copy of your thesis after the January presentation? I would be quite interested to read it and see what it is you’ve been writing about.
P.S. So as you may have noticed I haven’t been so in tune with the blogging community as of late, despite my promises to release some posts for the lovely people of the Internet to take a look at (sorry about that). What have I been doing instead you may ask / what’s more important than talking to Anne chan? ;P. Well Anne, I’ve been working hard so haven’t been able to blog during my lunch breaks as I would normally, and what with Christmas approaching I’ve been buying presents for family and such. It’s gunna be a funky anime rocking Christmas for me Anne, I have asked for a boxed set collection of 18 Ghibli films (official to Malaysia I think) and lots of RPG’s! It’s gunna be great! Also, been chilling with friends as always, although I have cut down on friend time a little though due to being a responsible adult now since I turned 20 in November… Damn responsibilities! What’s more, any other spare time that I have is filled with instrument playing and watching anime! If only I had more time!
I did. But haven’t read so many Shojo-mangas yet.
-Utena
-Tokyo Mew Mew
-Skip Beat
-Peach Girl
-Wish
-Fruits Basket
-Kare Kano
-Missile Happy
Don’t even know if all of these are Shojo mangas… :/
What would you recommend to me?
Oh yes, I know all of those except for Missile Happy. They’re definitely shojo, that’s for sure! I particularly like Peach Girl!
Well, if you’re interested in classic shojo, I’d definitely recommend reading the Sailor Moon manga, which is being republished with new translations now. Also, Ouran High School Host Club is one of my favorites. It’s a bit of a harem series, though, so I’m not sure if you’d like it. It’s very funny, though!
Ah, I’ve seen the new Sailor Moon mangas with the new covers! But I have to say I just dont like the manga so much. I started reading it once but … I don’t know. About OHSHC I watched the first episode and that was defenetly not my cup of tea. 🙁
I really loooooved Skip Beat and Peach Girl. Do you know any mangas like that? 😀
Hmmm, somehow I completely missed this post until now. I’m glad I eventually discovered it, though, as it’s a great one!
Congrats on your first academic presentation, by the way. I can only imagine how thrilling — and terrifying, if you’re anything like me — that must have been for you. Did you go out for a good, stiff drink afterward?
Oh, and I loooooooooove the book you brought home with you. Personally, I think that Katsuji Matsumoto piece is pretty stellar — even with the derpy eyes 🙂 My fave, though, is the ‘White Troika’ one. When I first saw it, I couldn’t help but say, ‘Oooooooooh!’
You’ll probably think this is funny, but I wish you could dress that way in Animal Crossing if you so chose. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
And it was just plain ol’ exciting to meet you and listen to your talk and the other people’s talks, too.
Hm, well if you like Skip Beat and Peach Girl, perhaps you’d like something more along the lines of Nana? Both the anime and manga are quite good. I’m also watching Tonari no kaibutsu-kun and Kamisama Hajimemashita (also known as Kamisama Kiss) this season, and I think both of those are quite good! You may want to check out the anime and/or manga of those
Hi Billy, long time no see! I’m not sure if my paper will be available digitally, but I’d be happy to share it via email later on if you’re interested 🙂
Sounds like you’ve been keeping yourself busy! The holiday season is always madness, isn’t it? I’ve been really busy myself, but I’m going on vacation on the 15th, so I’m looking very forward to that.
I didn’t know your birthday was in November! Happy belated birthday! And that Ghibli film collection sounds amazing 😀 Do you have any video games on your Christmas list?
Oh, don’t worry, Bryan! It’s not as if it’s very old, anyway.
And thank you very much. I do believe I did have a stiff drink… much later in the day, as my presentation was first thing in the morning (9:30 am!)
I love that you like the White Torioka one too, by the way! They had another, even more beautiful, illustration from the same series in the gallery, but unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of those for copyright reasons.
And I don’t think that’s funny at all! I totally love that kind of clothing, which is probably why I like Japanese lolita fashion so much. Speaking of which, I think there’s actually some of that kind of clothing in Style Savvy. Did you notice any of it? (really frilly, poofy dresses, that sort of thing) It would be great if you could wear clothing like that in Animal Crossing… But actually there are a lot of people using the edit tool to make some really ornate things! I don’t know how you’d get a hat like that, though 😛
I totally forgot about NANA!!! I own book 1-15 and I love it! I also really like Gokinjo Monogatari and I really want to start Paradise Kiss soon. But “Kamisama Kiss” is a manga I don’t know. Thanks! I’ll try it! 🙂
Thanks Anne! If you could send it to me via email that’d be awesome :D.
Yeah, so much madness Anne, but that’s my life in a nutshell anyhow!
Where are you going on your travels Anne, somewhere warm and sunny I hope (that crosses England of the list then XD)?
Thanks muchly for the belated Happy Birthday, I still can’t believe that I’m 20! It scares me sometimes yano, I have moments that remind me just how much things have changed since childhood.
I do have some games on my list, all are RPG’s:
Folk Lore, Eternal Sonta, Rune Factory, Tales of Graces F etc.
See I don’t really play RPG’s, but due to the recent influences of certain anime’s (.Hack//Sign and Sword Art Online, which by the way are both brilliant) I have been inclined to play some RPG’s myself!
I’m headed back to my home state (Vermont) in the US, so no, not very warm or sunny! It will be nice to see family over the holidays, though 😀
Oh, you’ve got a great list of RPGs there! Folklore is one of my favorite games of this generation, actually! It has such a unique style. I really like the Celtic lore and music… So good! As for Eternal Sonata, I actually have a copy but have yet to play it because I actually watched my sister-in-law play almost all of it, haha. It’s not that it doesn’t look like a good game, but I don’t feel compelled to play it now that I’ve seen so much of it!
And which Rune Factory game are you after? I’m sure you know how obsessed with that series I’ve been recently (even though I’ve never played one!). I’m looking to get Rune Factory Frontier for the Wii.
Ahh, stupid browser crashed out on me again in the midst of writing an
essay lengthed reply. I work in IT Anne, this can’t happen to me! …
But it does because computers hate me, so much!
1. Vermont looks so lovely Anne, I’d much rather be there than in England right now!
2. It’s the best list! Only the best RPG’s for me ;P.
3. Folklore, my boss has played, and from what I hear it sounds like you gain an ability or an item that a monster uses in battle when you defeat it. In which case, it should be pretty awesome!
4. Yeah you should definately get around to playing Eternal Sonata, I see so many people saying how great it is.
5. I own a PS3 so it’s Rune Factory Oceans for me deary! Rune Factory Frontier’s graphics actually look pretty good despite it being a Wii game (no offence intended to any Wii lovers out there). And that’s crazy, I just assumed that you had played Rune Factory because you rave about it so much!
6. Anne, the most amazing news! The playable demo for Ni No Kuni has been available for about a week now, this one has a gameplay length of 25 minutes unlike the one I played at Eurogamer which had a length of only 10 minutes! But, the 10 minute demo at Eurogamer allowed me to play in the main city, “Ding Dong Dell”. In the comercially released demo, you can choose two modes (I also had both of these at Eurogamer). A down side to the comercially released demo, Anne, you don’t get to see any Ghibli made cut scenes, but trust me, it’s well worth the wait!
P.S. Anne, I sent you an email yesterday asking if you could send me some Japanese learning materials if it’s not too much of an inconvenience to you. Thanks!
Oh no, I hate it when that happens! 🙁
3. Yeah, Folklore has a neat system where you “capture” fairy spirits and can use them in battle. It’s really interesting and fun to use!
5. Ah, Oceans! I would’ve gone with one of the portable Rune Factory games, actually, just because I’m really into portable games these days, but they seem to be a lot more expensive/harder to find!
6. Yeah, I actually have played the first part of the Ni no Kuni demo! It was a lot of fun! I didn’t realize there was a world map, but that was probably the most exciting part of the demo for me! The attention to detail is so wonderful. Can’t wait to play the full game next year!
And yes, I did get your email! Sorry but I’m very busy at the moment and it will probably take me another day or so to round up some links for you. Sorry for the wait!
Thanks Anne, though I did say if it isn’t too much of an inconvenience so don’t worry so much :).
Glad you thought so 😀 I really enjoyed meeting you, too!