Someone Call CPS! Bad Parenting in Anime and Manga

Gendo Ikari, Father of the Year

  The relationship between parent and child can be one of the most varied, complicated, and interesting dynamics in media. So why is it that anime seems to have this weird habit of consistently presenting Exhibits A, B, and C for Worst Parenting Ever? It struck me today as I was glancing through my anime collection that every single one of them had parents that would keep most people in therapy for the rest of their lives. And sometimes, the parents that look the best of all are actually … [Read more...]

5 Worst “Leave You Hanging” Moments in Anime and Manga History

filler arcs

A series should never waste the fan's time, and yet, they do it constantly. We can all think of examples: the comic story arc that just goes on and on and on for too long, the series finale that doesn't provide any closure, the video game that has at least twenty hours worth of padding which makes no impact to the plot. And it's always frustrating as a fan to be left hanging, either waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen, or wondering, "Wait, that's IT???" Anime and manga are both … [Read more...]

Romeo and Juliet: The Manga Edition – A Review by M

Cover of Romeo and Juliet: The Manga Edition

(Trigger warning: discussion of suicide in relation to the plot of Romeo and Juliet) Time for a bit of manga-style Romeo and Juliet! No, no, not THAT version of Romeo and Juliet… I’m pretty sure that has about as much relationship to the original text as I have to Marilyn Monroe. Today’s dabbling in the crossroads of bishoujo and the Bard comes from an American produced manga by Adam Sexton and Yali Lin, published by everyone’s favorite “WTF Shakespeare?” publisher, Cliffs’ … [Read more...]

How to tell and be told that a fandom is problematic

sucker punch

Late breaking news: TV shows, movies, manga, anime, video games and other geeky media are problematic. They feature sequences, scenes, characters or entire storylines which can be sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, sizeist, classist, and any other unpleasant –ist you care to name. Some people never notice, while others notice but don’t care. And some decide to do something about it… they confront it head on. Chances are that, in the course of your geek career, you have … [Read more...]

Paint, Pixels and Porn: Why the Freakout over Sex in Anime, Manga and Video Games?

chapter34credits

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person in possession of a good sex drive must be in want of some porn. However little known the feelings and urges of such a person may be on his/her/hir first entering the Internet, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding Google ads, YouTube providers and email spammers that his/her/zhe’s pants (and contents thereof) are considered the rightful property of some one or other of their “SEE HOT LESBIANS” requests. In … [Read more...]

5 Strangest Anime Inspirations (And a Contest Reminder!)

OS-Tan

    First thing’s first: shame on you all! Here I am, running a contest to give out beta keys for a game to the best comments on my previous article, and then no one commented. So sad! As such, rather than declaring the winner, I will instead extend the contest deadline by another two weeks. I’ll post the results in the next article. Remember: leave a comment in the PAX MegaRoundup for a chance to win beta keys for Colour Bind.   Anime and manga are weird: news … [Read more...]

Anime vs. Manga: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaa Vol. 1-650

As many of you know, a lot of popular anime series (and not-so-popular ones as well) are based on a manga that came before it (and, more rarely, vice versa). While in some cases this can result in a very close adaptation, almost frame-by-frame, panel-by-panel, it’s not uncommon for one to differ from another. In turn, sometimes those differences are as simple as a few throwaway “filler” arcs (usually used when the anime has to waste time while waiting for the manga to “catch up” as it … [Read more...]

An Open Letter to Shoujo Manga (And You Too, Twilight!)

akuma_na_eros_volume_1

To Shoujo Manga and its sisters, Yaoi Manga and Josei Manga, Please stop it. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You know what you did, what you continue to do. It drove me nuts as a teenager and it’s driving me nuts now, particularly now that I work in the manga industry and have to edit manga that pull the same crap again… and again… and again… And what crap would that be? Well, to be fair, I’m sure you could dig up all sorts of “crap” when it … [Read more...]

Fair Terms and a Villain’s Mind: Review of Manga Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

Merchant of Venice

If there’s one thing I geek out about more than anime, manga and video games, it’s Shakespeare. I’ve loved his work since I was five years old. Strangely enough, however, I owe my love for his plays to a great version of Romeo and Juliet; specifically, a comic book version with beautiful high-quality art and the full text of the entire play. Even though I couldn’t understand the complicated language, I could understand the plot and, over time, grew to appreciate the artistry in … [Read more...]

When It’s Hard to Be a Geek

nintendowallet

So this week, the internet is abuzz with the latest round of Can a Geek Girl Be Hot? The issue has probably been rehashed to death, so this week you're not going to hear any tales of woe from me about growing up a geek girl.  The truth is, I didn't get all that much grief; maybe the boys just all had crushes on me (as has been insinuated) but I prefer to think that they were just glad they knew anyone else who was willing to discuss Star Wars or The X-Files.  Geek populations were small, … [Read more...]