Manga and the Japanese Culture

Recently, I've noticed this happening to me, how reading a lot of manga over the summer really does help me learn more about the Japanese culture than from reading something like textbooks.
I mean, just reading translated manga won't do a whole lot, but reading it helps me learn more. Which is really cool. I've always wanted to visit Tokyo. Or Japan. But first I gotta know more about the country and culture. (I wish I took the Japanese class in my school...)

One big example: the honorifics! I'm still confused about this so correct me, please, if I'm getting this wrong. I'm still confused what honorific goes where, but here's some. All learned from translated manga...
Knowing these will help you, because sometimes, there will be jokes made based on these (like in Angelic Layer) and you won't get it unless you know these. First, they might seem awkward but then as you read more manga, it becomes natural.

1. -chan : used for younger girls than the speaker, or girls who are familiar to the speaker, like friends or family. Or also used to boys who are close to the speaker. For example, see Angelic Layer. Tamayo calls Kotaro Kotaro-chan, whereas he wants her to call him Kotaro-kun. And Tamayo would be called Tamayo-chan.
   
2. -kun: used for boys. Boys who are lower in the social ladder than the speaker is, or are friends with. For example, in Tsubasa Chronicles (by CLAMP), Syaoran, one of the four main protagonists, is called Syaoran-kun, by those around him.
   
3. -san: used for adults, and sometimes people who might be younger than the speaker but is higher in the social ladder. For example, see Fruits Basket. Even when Akito was a child, older people around him called him Akito-san.

Of course, there are more honorifics out there. Seems to me there're too many to memorize...T.T But I'll figure it out! (Sometime)

Another smaller example: tea! It seems, especially in Fruits Basket, there's a lot about drinking tea. Maybe it's a natural thing. Have tea with guests, maybe as an enjoyed drink. Honestly, tea isn't really my favorite drink but maybe something'll change if I go to Japan. Maybe. Oh, and this isn't only in Fruits Basket. Check out this cute anime (also manga, but a little confusing regarding order) CCC. Card Captor Sakura, also by CLAMP. It's cute. My new contributor (will introduce in next blog post) told me innocent and anime don't go together, but oh well. :) But it's not that I disagree....

Right now, that's all I can think of and this post is getting long. Better go off into intros!

How to Read Manga-General and Panels

Hi, I'm back. This time with a short rant about how you're supposed to read manga...Although I'm not sure if it's necessary or not. There are a lot of people reading manga out there after all. But I wanted to update this more often and I thought, whatever!

Okay.

Japanese manga is read from right to left. Everybody's heard that before, right? But unlike American graphic novels, the panels in manga and their styles vary between artists/groups. For example, something by Clamp and something by Natsuki Takaya (author of Fruits Basket!) might be told differently, even if they were telling the same thing. Panels are the same. Different artists spread out their panels differently, so the readers just have to go along with that.

Panels are really interesting, especially with me since I kinda draw manga. I've been trying to take it piece by piece and figure it out. For example, take hair, and draw thousands (not literally) of different girl hair styles. (I can't draw guy hair T.T)

Anyway, back to the panel thing. To me, it's amazing how artists tell their stories in panels, since they can take any shape or size, zoom in or out, be open or closed, or even just take up the whole page. And did I mention how any part of anything could be portrayed in a single panel, or how something can overlap between panels, or the tone and the shading over some of them...

Overall, I think any artist that can use panels are amazing. Even just unknown ones, just practicing at home, to professionals.

Okay. Now I'm going to go back and rant about how you're supposed to read manga.
I was just reading Fruits Basket, (a post about it coming soon!) and obviously, as mentioned above, it's a Japanese manga. So, you read it from the right side of the book to the left. The panels of the pages are read that way too. From the right side of the page to the left, starting with the top right panel to the bottom left panel.

First it was confusing, but now it's a natural thing. So...try opening one next time you're in the library! (Oh, my. I sound ridiculous saying that...)

Manga, Anime, What Are They Anyway??

Okay, so I've decided to start out with some definitions...Although I really think this isn't TOO necessary as lots of people know what they are as they got more popular, worldwide.

Something I think people get confused with is the difference between manga and anime. So. What is the difference?

Manga: Manga is the term referring to printed/online graphic novels, a similar concept as western comics, only in Japanese style. When one takes a western graphic novel in one hand and a manga book in another, there is a lot of difference. Usually, a manga novel is black and white rather than in full color, like western books. Artists draw characters, background, objects differently. Characters have a major difference. Also, the size of the book itself might be different as a manga novel is usually much smaller than a western novel. Manga novels are usually in paperback, where western novels might be in hardcover and vary in size.
Take, for example, the western style graphic novel, Rapunzel's Revenge. If you're not familiar with that, then try something like Wonder Woman or Superman. These kind of graphic novels are considered western, I think. (I'm an amateur too, so don't think I'm a total expert in this.) Compare that to any manga in your library. See the difference? In manga, the panels might be distributed differently, in various shapes and sizes. There might be Japanese characters, indicating sound. Usually there is an age level marker on the back cover. And, a major difference here, manga is read from right to left!!
Okay, so I think people pretty much get the idea of what manga is.

Anime: Anime is, in a blunt way, animated manga. Everything, I think (not completely sure) is hand-drawn by hundreds of animators, so basically it's a movie, only drawn. I think most people has seen these before. (This is going to be short as I'm tired from writing all about manga.) Some examples are: Hayao Miyazaki's animations, such as Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, The Castle in the Sky, Ponyo, etc, are animations. Literally. However there are other types of anime, in different forms. For example, anime can be in TV show forms, and to name a few: Card Captor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicles (by Clamp), Fruits Basket, etc. (All pretty cute ones, except for Tsubasa Chronicles where the final two parts get messed up, confusing. So Tsubasa Chronicles is an example of a shonen (not bothering with accents here) manga/anime.

Yes, on that note, a story can be in both manga and anime. All the animes mentioned after Hayao Miyazaki's animations are both. Which is nice, really. It's too bad that sometimes, in anime, they cut out good scenes from the manga. But then again, you can't really blame them as I can't imagine drawing thousands of scenes just for one episode...
Yeah.
I'll just end here before I sound overly obsessed with this...