From: pearl@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu (Starbuck)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga,news.answers
Subject: rec.arts.manga: Welcome to rec.arts.manga
Keywords: monthly informative posting
Date: 12 Jan 93 17:13:17 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.manga
Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division


Archive-name: manga/welcome

		      WELCOME TO REC.ARTS.MANGA
		      =========================

  			      Edited by
			     Steve Pearl
			    January, 1993

This is a monthly posting to familiarize new readers with the
rec.arts.manga newsgroup.  If you have any questions, additions or
corrections, please send them to:

Internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu   	or 	Steve Pearl
CI$: >internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu		359 Lloyd Rd
GEnie:  S.PEARL6				Aberdeen, NJ 07747-1826

Changes to this posting since December, 1992: 
- Minor editing and spelling corrections

DISCLAIMER 1: To the best of our knowledge, the editor is not
associated with ANY of the companies or organizations mentioned below.

DISCLAIMER 2: The opinions expressed on this post do not necessarily
represent the opinions held either by the editor or any organization
he's affiliated with.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

o WHAT IS REC.ARTS.MANGA?
o HOW TO USE REC.ARTS.MANGA (For NEW UseNet users)
o DEFINITIONS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
o WHAT IS REC.ARTS.MANGA?

A newsgroup for the discussion of manga and related subjects.

DESCRIPTION:

        Discussion about manga, a term used to denote the popular
        art and its artstyle that is derived originally and
        primarily from Japanese graphic novels, and any comics or
        art (from any country) with strong manga influence.
        (most notably manga from Taiwan and Hongkong, which is
        known as ManHwa in Chinese)
        
CHARTER:

        This newsgroup will provide a forum for discussion
        related to manga, the Japanese storytelling art form,
        plus comics and other arts with strong manga influences.

        The topics that are to appear in this newsgroup may include:
         - information on how and where to get manga material
         - reviews of manga
         - discussion about the artstyle, stories, and history of
           manga
         - fan translation of manga stories
         - discussion of manga-related products
         - reporting and discussion of any news about manga.
         - discussion about how to do manga
         - social/philosophical implications and impact of manga
         - manga art in society : commercial packaging, advertisements, etc
         - the influence of manga to other art forms

Although in it's broadest definition (under which this newsgroup was
created) manga includes most forms of animation and comics, we
recommend that people interested in American or Asian animation check
out the newsgroups rec.arts.animation and rec.arts.anime and likewise,
people interested in non-asian comics check out the rec.arts.comics
hierarchy.  I'm sure that the readers of rec.arts.comics would be
dismayed to realize that their hierarchy should be moved under
rec.arts.manga and we in no way mean to impose on any other
newsgroup.


o HOW TO USE REC.ARTS.MANGA (For NEW UseNet users)

If you're a new NetNews reader and don't know the correct protocol and
etiquette for posting messages, the following files accessible in the
news.announce.newusers newsgroup are recommended reading:

	- "A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet"
	- "Rules for posting to Usenet"
	- "Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions"

Some basic tips to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio:

- If you don't see postings about a subject you're interested in (and which is
  related to this newsgroup), don't gripe, POST AN ARTICLE ABOUT THAT SUBJECT!
  If you receive no reply in a week, TRY AGAIN!  Fires don't always start with
  the first spark.

- If you feel the need to insult someone, do it by electronic mail, or better
  yet, write a scathing message and then throw it away.  Please don't do it
  here.  It's irritating to the bystanders, and harmful to your public image.

- Before you submit a follow-up to a message, read the rest of the messages in
  the newsgroup to see whether someone has already said what you want to say.
  If someone has, don't repeat it.  If you're answering a question, mail your
  answer to the person and suggest that they summarize to the network.  This
  way the net will only see a single copy of the answers, no matter how many
  people answer the question.

- If you post a question, please remind people to send you the answers by
  mail and at least offer to summarize them to the network.

o DEFINITIONS

The following are short descriptions of terms and abbreviations common in this
newsgroup.

.Z:	
Suffix for compressed text files.  See Compressed Text.

3x3:
Sazan Eyes (three eyes), a popular monster/magic/myth manga by Yuzo Takada. 

AMG:
Ah My Goddess, a popular romance fantasy manga, by Kozuke Fujisima. 

Anime:	
Japanese word for animation, pronounced "ah-nee-may" 

Anonymous FTP:  
A method to log into a remote machine without needing an account, and extracting
software from it.  A list of machines with manga resources available through 
anonymous FTP is given later on.  If you want to use anonymous FTP but don't 
know how, ask your local System Administrator.

Bishonen: 
"beautiful male" manga, female oriented manga with a more 'soft' art
style than the standard. Males are androgynous to effeminately
rendered.

Compressed text:  
Text files compressed with the Unix compress(1) program.  This is done to long 
text files (like manga scripts) to save disk storage space.  In order to view 
such a file, you must first run uncompress(1) or an equivalent program in order 
to convert it back to its original form.  You could also use zcat(1) to view the
contents of the file without decompressing it.

FAQ:  
Frequent Asked Questions. r.a.m. offer the following FAQ lists for the 
new netters.

	1) An introduction to the newsgroup and its slang.
	   (That is the article you are reading now.) 
	2) FAQ:  Answers to common questions.
	3) Manga Guide: A 2 part guide to the best (and not so best)
	     manga available.
	4) Manga Resources:  Where to get manga.  

	Those lists are posted on rec.arts.manga once every month. 

FSS:
Five Stars Story, a popular sci-fi mecha manga, by Mamoru Nagano.

FTP:	
See Anonymous FTP.

FYI:  
For Your Information

GIF:	
GIF is a format developed at CompuServe to store color computer graphics in a 
compact, machine independent format.  To view a GIF file you need a program that
reads the GIF file and produces an image in the format used by your computer 
system.  The /gifstuff directory in the ix3.ucc.utexas.edu anonymous FTP site 
contains GIF viewers for Amiga, Apple II and IIgs, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Sun, and 
X.  If you can't find what you're looking for, you can ask in the appropriate 
newsgroup for your computer, or in alt.graphics.pixutils.

"H":
see Hentai

Hentai:
Japanese for pervert.

IMHO:  
In My Humble Opinion

JIS:
A code which allow Japanese characters (kana) to be transfer among western 
computer networks.  You would need a special program/decoder to read the 
original Japanese character on your computer.

JPEG:
A new kind of scheme for graphic compression.  You would need a decompression
program or a viewer program for viewing JPEG just as you would for a GIF file.

KOR:  
Kimagure Orange Road, a popular romance comedy manga, by Izumi Matsumoto. 

Manga: 
Pronounced "man-gah".  A type of Japanese artform which has it's roots
in Ukiyo-e wood prints and other traditional art.  In it's popular
culture form of Asian sequential art and graphic storytelling, manga
can be found in most Japanese bookstores.  The manga style of artwork
is even finding it's way into American comics

Manga CD:  
CD that is produced for the sole reason of listening while reading the 
corresponding manga title.

Mailing list:  
A method of communication between fans of a given subject without the need of a 
newsgroup.  A member of a mailing list sends e-mail to a machine called a 
"mailing list server", which in turn sends copies of the e-mail to all the 
members of the mailing list.  To subscribe to the mailing list, send e-mail to 
the mailing list server.  The first line of the e-mail should look like this:
subscribe list-name yourlogin@youraddress Firstname Lastname

Mecha:	
Roughly, Japanese for "mechanicals".  Most of the so-called "giant robot" manga 
are known as mecha manga.

Model kit:  
Scale model.  It follow The most popular varieties of these are:
	injection-molded - this is the typical polyestyrene scale model
		most people are familiar with.
	garage kits - usually done from plastic resin (for mecha) or vinyl
		(for character models).  These tend to be VERY expensive
		(They generally start at $40 and can easily reach ten times as 
		much!)

OAV:
Original Animation Video.  Made for video productions.

Otaku:
Japanese for "fanboy", a slang to describe someone who is obsessed with one 
specific hobby.  Not in common usage in Japan.

OVA:
See OAV.

R.A.A.
rec.arts.anime, a usenet newsgroup for the discussion of anime.

R.A.M.
rec.arts.manga, a usenet newsgroup for the discussion of manga. 

SASE:  
Self Addressed and Stamped Enevelope

Script:	
An English-text script for a particular manga.  Very useful for Japanese-
impaired manga fans.

Shojo:  
Young Girl, commonly use to describe manga with a particular styles that  
were targeted for young girls.	

Shonen:  
Young Boy, commonly use to describe manga with a particular styles that  
were targeted for young boys.

Synopsis:  
A text description of manga, possibly with some snippets of dialogue thrown in. 
Unlike translations, a synopsis does not require the approval of the legal owner
of the manga before it is made publicly available.

Usenet Manga Titles List:
A compiled list from the combined efforts of rec.arts..manga.  It lists all the 
Japanese manga magazines with its current running manga titles.

UY:	
Urusei Yatsura, a popular sci-fi romance comedy manga, by Rumiko Takahashi.

VGA:
Video Girl Ai, a popular fantasy romance manga, by Masakazu Katsura

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