Who
ate the Flying Chair?, tiddles, my
ratings, me, Graffiti,
Manga, Computer Games,
deep stuff,
word of the week, other stuff,
downloads, links.
(I continued with these subtitles in honour of Heartbroken Angels.)
//Prologue:
Although this archive isn't brilliant just now, please remember that it's early days yet. (The site was only started on 16-02-02 for anyone who cares. ) But basically, I need you to submit your own reviews. Just write them in MSWord or whatever and e-mail them to me.
You see, I really need a few different opinions going. So, if you disagree with something I say, or if you want to elaborate on something, or think I've not done something justice, or just want to write a review for the hell of it, then write that review.
And then e-mail me it.
So, to sum up, most of this stuff is shit. If you want an idea of how it should look, look at these reviews:
Lone
Wolf and Cub
Maison Ikkoku
Ranma ½
Usagi Yojimbo
But, to make this better, SEND IN YOUR OWN REVIEWS! Got the idea?
//End of prologue.
What is 'manga'?
Okay, there's one thing I want to get straight right from the start. Manga does NOT mean Japanese animation. Manga means Japanese comics. Japanese animation is called animé.
Manga is also the short-hand name of a distributor of animé, and since it was at one point the most successful in the West, many people started to call animé manga. It's kind of like calling computer games 'Nintendos'. Just don't do it.
(If you already knew this, I apologise for wasting 2 paragraphs. But hey, now everybody else knows too.)
Apparently, manga can be literally translated as 'irresponsible' or 'involuntary pictures'. Whilst a select few like to call manga 'motionless picture entertainment', most people refer to manga as 'Japanese comics'.
No, no, don't worry. You don't have to be able to read the language (although if you can, more titles are available to you). If a manga is popular in Japan (or if it is deemed 'suitable' for the West), it is normally bought by a potential publisher before the manga is translated and adapted into English. The translator writes a word-for-word translation, then the adapter (or whatever the name of the person who does the adaptation is) adapts the text (of course) so that the language flows, the jokes are funny and the atmosphere is maintained.
If you've read this far, you're probably interested in manga, and it might be a good idea to think about buying some. Anyway, click on a link, either above or below.
What am I going to do about it?
I intend this section of the site to basically become an archive of manga titles and my appraisals. Hopefully there will be enough people who trust my opinion to make this worthwhile.
However, if anyone takes the time to write an appraisal of a particular title, whether I've written on that title before or not, it's practically guaranteed that I'll pop your review up here, and give you full credit. Just make sure that the manga in question is available to buy in the west (in English). Unfortunately, I'm not accepting anime reviews just now. However, there may well be an anime section sometime in the future. (And, yes I know that anime should have an accent on the e... I'm just technically challenged.)
3x3 Eyes
Animerica Extra
Banana Fish
Baoh
buying manga
Cartoon Network
Dark Horse
Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Inu-Yasha
Kia Asamiya
Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub Glossary (unready)
Maison Ikkoku
Pulp
Ranma ½
Rumiko Takahashi
Super Manga Blast
Usagi Yojimbo
Viz
What's Michael?
And if you think that my reviews are shit (perhaps because they are) and want to have a go yourself, just write a review up in Microsoft Word and e-mail it to me. It should be up on the site within a week.