[43] Shoujo Manga: Guide to Life

console

< Piro >

"a guide to life"

Monday - November 20, 2000

Ah, yes, the wisdom of shoujo manga... For those who are perhaps unfamiliar with the genre, here's a little lesson about Japanese Comics:

Manga, the Japanese term for 'comics' are divided into many subcategories and target audiences. There are two main categories: Shounen and Shoujo manga. Shounen manga, or Boy's Comics, are targeted at young boys and men - and generally involve a lot of fighting, cute girls, bizarre sexually charged relationships, and other end of the world scenarios. There are some great shounen manga titles, but for the most part they tend to be a little weak on story. Shoujo manga, or 'Girl's Manga' is targeted at young girls and women - the stories tend to revolve around relationships and interpersonal problems. Typically, shoujo manga has much deeper and more complex storylines.

Of course, these are generalizations, but for the most part they hold true. The most unusual thing about shoujo manga is it's silent popularity with male readers. Here in the US, we don't make any qualms about reading girl's manga - guys like me are even proud of it. In Japan, most guys wouldn't be caught dead in the Shoujo Manga section of the local bookstore. :)

A lot of young people really do look towards Shoujo manga for answers about life. While it's true most of what happens in shoujo manga will probably never happen to 99.95% of the people who read it, there always seems to be *something* there that does help. "See? it's OK if things are a little screwed up - things can get better, things can get worse, it's OK." Shoujo manga usually has a more 'day to day real life' feel to it. In fact, stories like Mizuiro Jidai (that's Yuuko in the screenshot) is so down to earth realistic that you could almost call it boring. It really is just the day to day life of a average (tho cute) young school girl. The manga-ka (manga artist) Yabuichi Yuu has even said that Mizuiro Jidai is really about her own experiences. :)

Oh, er, Mizuiro Jidai can get a little -too- honest and frank about some of the problems facing a young schoolgirl... (ahem) yes, moving on...

Speaking of privacy, I should apologize for last week's screenshot of Kimiko. It's not a sketch that I really planned on posting, but there was something very sad about her epression. One of the things I always believe in is respecting the privacy of my characters. The wrong drawings at the wrong time can change your perception of a character - and i don't want that. There's no reason for you to see her in her shift quite yet. Heck, you don't really know much about her. :)

I was going to write a rant regarding Friday's 'Meth for Dummies' comic - but it seems that everyone's reading of it was right in line with what I had hoped. Largo doesn't really know what meth is - he just thinks its a good way to make a quick buck. My first reaction to a explosion related to cooking meth was that it wasn't funny at all. I've seen what hard drug use can do to people, to some of my friends. It's not a source for humor as far as I am concerned. Don't fuck with that shit, people. The only drug i abuse is caffeine. You can't draw if your mind is fucked up, you can't play games worth a shit if your mind is fucked up. It's none of my business what people do in their spare time, but if you're into that shit... for crissakes people, use your heads.

There. I've said my peace on the subject. :)

oooohkiiie... what else. Oh yea, schedule. Once again, both largo and I missed rants last week. We've both been a *little* disorganized recently - largo is in the middle of a move, I've been trying to get my winter comike submission done. Also, largo and I have been working some of the background stuff for megatokyo - we don't want to goof something in the future by messing up the current episodes, so it's important work. The website needs work, I'm behind on my fredart sketches, i have a whole Japanese version of MT to put together, and three new t-shirt designs to finish... it's nuts. I need a vacation. Perhaps I should just drop the whole mess and run off and live in a cave somewhere...

Having said that, I basically have a four day weekend to crank on all of this - with any luck, MT will be running smoother next week. Largo needs to travel for family reasons, so if MT falls apart this week, it's my fault. :) Thanks for being patient with us. :)

and I REALLY gotta visit the forums... and do email... ugh. 854 messages to go thru... uguuuuu~~

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< Largo >

"moving tips"

Monday - November 20, 2000

[Largo] - 22:41:00 - [link here]

Where were we?

I spent the weekend playing two new games I picked up, one of which would be known as Sacrifice. After playing it for a few hours I was going to say that it wasn't that great, then I went back to play it again to make sure I was being fair - twelve hours later I went to bed.

The game is obviously a sweet looking 3D RTS(real time strategy), that uses the concept of capturing souls rather then basic mine & produce. The games unit production system works a lot like the undead race is supposed to in Warcraft III for you Blizzard fiends in the audience. This is to say that you begin with a certain number of units and souls. New units cost souls, and the only way to get more souls is to kill your enemies units and steal their souls.

After playing sacrifice all weekend I had decided to give it a rank of four out of five gin bottles. However, since the unit production is a very unwholesome concept (stealing souls), I'm giving it an additional bottle of gin for not being afraid to take chances and piss off some uptight consumers - this brings its score up to a full 5/5 gin bottles, which should be like a good score - or something.

The other game I picked up was Shenmue. So far I haven't managed to get very far into the story, so I've just been bumming around at the arcade in the game and getting really good at Space Harrier. I think the game has a lot of great features, it's certainly unique and different - but then again so are some of the bands that Piro listens to and I can't stand that noise. I know everyone seems to be blown away by this game's dynamic of being able to interact with everything, but am I the only one just not satisfied with it? Sure I can pickup a book or my clothes, but what if I want to do the laundry or start my own garage band? Hell man, in the game I don't even have a garage, so why can't I build one? I'm not going to say I dislike the game - I'm still hooked on it, I'm just finding both my progression and the wait time between loading screens to be slow.

In other non-game related type news, I recently checked out yet another online comic that is candy for the mind, called Ice Cream for Breakfast, personally I prefer for beer for breakfast or these cool new smirnoffs ice malt liquor things, but I digress. Also up is Merlin's Crew, a cool comic by a cool guy, or something. Moving along on my list of stuff that I like to read is Tang's Weekly Comic. Last but not least is a comic that seems to be making a lot of noise, called Angst Technology. I've heard a lot of good things about this comic before I ever got around to reading it, so it is said, so shall it be linked.

As my partner mentioned on the left side of your screen, I've been busy with moving. As I look around my home I realize that I'm still only about halfway finished with the process with no end in sight and a deadline of this weekend. This isn't to say nothing good has come from it, over the last three years I've moved four times and so I've learned some things that may help those of you who will also need to move in the near future.

Tips for Moving:

1. Call all your friends over for a big BBQ before you move, that way you'll have plenty of help to move your stuff. Afterall what are friends for, besides being able to provide back breaking free labor?

2. When you turn off the power to your former residence, remember to get all the food, specifically steaks and other assorted meats out of the freezer before leaving for a week. Man I have nightmares about that smell to this day.

3. Do not pack your pets in a box without air holes, they hate that.

4. Do not pack your girlfriend in a box, ever.

5. Always remember, never have more stuff then you can quickly fit into a black van. This especially comes in handy when you need to get out of the state or country in a hurry.

If you notice to my left, my partner has once again ranted on, and on, forcing me to continue writing today's update so it will match his updates length. I'm going to have throw a brick at him or something to make him write shorter rants.

In fact, if you have suggestions for how to make Piro type less, - email them to me. Remember, the more brutal - the better.