From: doi@jrd.dec.com (Hitoshi Doi =?ISO-2022-JP?B?GyRCRVowZj9OO1YbKEI=?= )
Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga
Subject: [Curtis Hoffmann] manga listings
Date: 13 Sep 92 22:31:30 GMT
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   This is an attempt to kind of catalog the weekly and monthly manga
serials, and identify which stories are in the manga that *I* at least
think are worth reading.  Most of the stories are real crap, and I
believe them to be ignorable.  Since most of the titles are in kanji
(and I can't read them without a dictionary) I will only list the titles
that I consider worthwhile, or noteworthy (and CAN read.)

   A couple of things to mention:

   Boxing Promoter Don King is a common target in some of the manga
featuring boxers.  In one, he is known as "Bob King."  He's usually
portrayed as either a bad guy, or the promoter for the evil opponent.
(Iain, I don't know the actual titles to the manga where this occurs,
because they're not the type of story I'm interested in.  Maybe the
next time I find an example, I'll translate the title if it's not in
kanji I can't already recognize.)

   There is a class of stories exemplified by Be-Bop-Highschool (and
Rokudenashi Blues,) that is essentially about disaffected high school
boys.  The heroes can not last more than 2 pages without flying into
major rages, and then getting into fist fights.  The characters can all
be identified by their over-glued hair styles, sneers, and apathy over
anything other than rumbling and sneering (even sex is pretty much a
waste of energy.)
   The main reason for mentioning this class of stories is that there
are a large number of students in Sapporo that look like they have just
stepped out of this kind of manga.  They have a serious attitude
problem, and are the most difficult type of person for a gaijin to deal
with, since gaijin are also considered contemptable.  However, I'm told
that this phase is no longer considered fashionable in Tokyo, where it
seems to have died out.  (But these stories are still very popular, and
there is at least one anime movie based on them -- it was playing at
theaters this last June.)

   Manga can not really be given a good, simple description for trying
to categorize it.  In the book shops, it is often in the section titled
"KOMIKKU" (or "Comics").  The art style can be very detailed, realistic,
or ugly.  The stories can be simple gags based on toilet humor, or very
sophisticated plot lines that encompass murder mysteries, or soap
operas.  The main characters can be sushi chefs, food critics, soccer
stars, bored little girls, sluts, punks, gorillas, monkeys, wizards,
swordsmen, or monsters.  The feel of the artwork can be decidedly
Western, East Indian, or pure Japanese.
   But there are certain elements that do show up more often than
others.  Sitcoms generally involve families, high school punk stories
have lots of gang fights and one-on-one brawls, any story containing
magic will either be a martial arts chop suey western, or low fantasy
(ala Dungeon and Dragons.)  If the main characters play a sport, they
will be the underdog, and constantly at odds with someone from another
team.  The sports include basketball (very popular), golf, baseball
(extremely popular), Judo, Sumo, and soccer (tennis also appears, but
not much.)
   Any gag strip will be dependent on the dialog, or will be purely
visual humor where humiliating sex, or shit, plays an important role.
Most of the gag strips are pretty bad, as are the "adult" strips.  The
adult manga usually have a minimal story line, and are as likely to
feature lesbian encounters between high school girls, as there are violent
attacks by the male hero on some available woman (who of course will
enjoy the encounter by the end.)  The adult stories are usually clumped
together in adult manga, and do not show up often in non-porno manga.
(There may be a few breast shots, and some implied sex, but the really
graphic stuff is reserved more for the adult mags, of which there are
many.)

   In my opinion, most manga can be safely ignored without the
possibility of missing anything interesting.  If you have lots of spare
time and cash, feel free to actively seek this stuff out yourself.
   But, this is where I may call something a "shrug manga" -- I shrug it
off as containing nothing much.

   However, I have admittedly excluded nearly everything that would be
considered "girl's manga."  This is partly because I don't have the
interest, or the money.  But really, it's because I don't have the time.
I leave it to someone else to fill in the gaps they uncover.

   The numbers that show up in parathensis are simply the issues that I
was able to get my hands on.  More for my own reference than anything else.
But, all of these issues came from "gomi hunting" (I got them after they'd
been thrown away.)  If nothing else, this may be an indication as to
which publications are more popular than others (the more issues I find,
the more popular the manga may be.)


Action Weekly (#30, 31, 33)
-------------
Crayon Shin-Chan           Kiddies badly drawn manga.


Big Comic (Comic for Men) (#13 -- 17)
-------------------------
Medusa                     Not sure of the story, by Silent Service artist
Hotel                      As featured in Mangajin
Golgol 13


Big Comic Original (#14, 15, 18)
------------------
Master Keaton              Detective-style story, art by Yawara! artist


Big Comic Superior (#15, 17)
-------------------
Sanctuary
5 x 4P                     Short stories by Touch artist


Big Comic Spirits Weekly (#25 -- 27, 31, 32, 34 -- 38, 40)
------------------------
Yawara!
Futanabe                   Surreal Salaryman story with Moebius Influence
Oishinbo                   The Gourmet Critic story covered by Mangajin
                           NOTE: BCS seems to be shuffling its manga
                                 around.  There are several new stories
                                 in the latest issue, and some of the older
                                 stories are gone.

Business Jump  (#17, 18)
-------------
Mildly interesting, but nothing really outstanding

> Iain comments:
> ! ! ! Besides Gunnm and Natsuki Crisis.  And my personal preference,
> Bounty Hunter THE HARD!!  The Hard is another T.Saruwatari monstrosity,
> probably the most violent thing I've seen in manga.  I could write
> reams about it, but I'll post a translation first and then see what
> other people think.
>
> There's also Amai Seikatsu, which I find notable because I don't
> normally read H stuff, much less enjoy it.
>
> BJ manga seem to be even more extreme and explicit than YJ manga.


Cosopu (or Conpu) Comic
-----------------------
Silent Mobius


Getsu Shonen Magazine (September)
---------------------
Nothing


Golgo 13 (#86)
--------
Magazine dedicated to Golgo 13 stories.


(Something) Gorawa (#1312)
------------------
Nothing


Grand Champion (#1)
--------------
Nothing Much


Manga Time (#143)
----------
Children's magazine, with lots of bathroom and sex humor.  No graphic sex,
though


Midori (#10)
------
Young women's magazine.  Lots of stories concerning pretty men, and
graphic sex.  Nowhere near the same amount of violence as in the men's
sex manga.


Mikosuri (plus some kanji) ($14)
--------------------------
Lots of gag strips about sex.  (No real continuing stories)


Mister Magazine (Mr.) (#16)
---------------------
Nothing


Morning (#33, 37, 40)
-----------------------
Silent Service             Very good political comment/military soap
Cooking Papa               TV series, about a big guy that cooks w/ recipes
OL                         Office Lady, examples appear in Mangajin
Ah, Harima-nada            Sumo wrestling, also a TV anime series
GON                        IS> The original dialogue-free manga.  GON is
                           IS> not a gag strip.  It's about a very bizarre,
                           IS> intense dinosaur who involves himself with
                           IS> other animal communities.
                           CH> I've seen ads for it, but have yet to see
                           CH> the manga itself.


Nandemeari (#10)
----------
Lots of gag strips about sex and ninjas.  No real stories.


Nora
----
Nervous Breakdown          By artist of Grey and Horobi


Pachinker (#7)
---------
Magazine "for Panchinker."
Nothing really interesting.


Pachinko Club (#9)
-------------
Another pachinko manga.  Some of the stories are sillier than those in
the other pachinko magazines.


Pachinko 777  (#43)
------------
Still nothing worth paying much attention to.


Pachislow Comic (#9)
---------------
Magazine dedicated to Pachinko manga.  Ignorable, unless you really like
Pachinko.  Some graphic sex.


Post
----
An adult variety magazine with some manga: Ignorable.


Purei (Play) Comic (#17)
------------------
Another men's manga.  Largely ignorable.


Pureto Booto  (In Katakana)
------------
An adult variety magazine with some manga: mostly ignorable.


Reed Comic (Men's Magazine) (#554)
----------
Midori                     Rip-off of Yawara!, with golf-playing girl.
                           The artwork is wildly variable, but the story
                           is more-or-less ok.
Silent World               Cheap SF, looks like Gogol 13 artwork


Shonen Champion (#36, 37, 41)
---------------
                           There are one or two stories in here of mild
                           interest.  I just noticed _34 Rounojijou_ in
                           issue 41, and it's a silly high school story
                           with some influences from _Dragon Half._
                           Don't buy this manga, if you can simply read it
                           at the store instead.
Oshioki Girl Goota-man     This is kind of a high school girl super hero
                           series, with artwork designed to appeal to
                           the hentai among you.  No sex so far, but the
                           pictures are pretty good.


Shonen Jump (#23, 25 -- 27, 29 -- 32, 34 -- 40)
-----------
Dragon Ball Z
Rokudenashi Blues          Punk High Schoolers
Dragon Quest: New Series
Magical Tarurouto-kun
Video Girl Len             (Story ended with #30 or so)
Shojo no Kisetsu:          Translates to _Girl's Season_, created by the
         Summer Dream      author of City Hunter and Cat's Eye.  Seems
                           to be an intact story about the dreams of a
                           woman in a coma.  Beautiful artwork.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure   Strange story, kind of growing on me.

NOTE: As of issue 40, Shonen Jump is introducing some new serials.  I'm
      not interested in any of the stories being dropped, or added, so
      can't say anything on the matter either way.  But, I'm not impressed,
      either.


Shonen Magazine Weekly (#33 -- 40)
----------------------
Nothing


Shonen Sunday (#21 -- 24, 26, 30 -- 34, 37, 40)
-------------
Ranma 1/2
Ushio and Tora             A boy, his spear, and his pet killer beast
Twinkle Twinkle Idol Star  A boy and girl as two female Idol singers
Patlabor                   Giant robot police force
H2                         New series about baseball and soccer, from the
                           creator of Slow Step and Touch.  (July 29, 92)


Super Jump (#12)
----------
Nothing major


Young Afternoon (I have yet to see a copy of this.)
---------------
No comments


Young Champion (17)
--------------
Nothing


Young Jump Weekly (24, 26, 29 -- 31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43, 46, 48)
------------------ Iain Sinclair's favorite -- The comments are his.
Kujaku-Oh TS       < Both these mangas are pretty violent and full of
Oss!! Karatebu     < obscure cultural references, but highly rewarding.
Damned             Fairly newish title which gets better with every episode.
B.B.Fish
                   I notice that YJ seems to have either scrapped or moved
                   most of its more repugnant stuff (Mazin Saga, Aoki Honoo)
                   and replaced it with different repugnant stuff.   In any
                   case, YJ contains violence, violence, sex, and more
                   violence, so if that doesn't appeal to you, stay clear
                   (but you'll be missing out on some good titles).

Shonen Ashibe      Simply-drawn kiddie manga.  Is a TV series.

                   (Curtis comments: After reading Iain's comments, I
                   grabbed a few issues (#36, 38 & 39).  Kujaku-Oh TS
                   was missing.  Damned and Oss!! Karatebu have been done
                   before, and they do nothing for me.  But B.B.Fish looks
                   to be an ok girl's manga-style story.  Cherry's Debut
                   looked more promising (reminiscent of Video Girl Ai, but
                   not drawn quite as well (story started in #39.)  This is
                   still a "shrug" magazine to me.  None of the artwork is
                   all that outstanding, and the stories feel too derivative.
                   I recommend Shonen Sunday and Shonen Jump, instead.


Young King (#10, 17)
----------
Nothing much


Young Magazine Weekly (#21 -- 23, 26, 27, 30 -- 32, 34, 36 -- 38)
---------------------
Be-Bop-Highschool
3x3 Eyes                   (Missing from #38)
Shirow's Hyper World       #26, 27.  A couple Ghost in the Shell Installments


Young Sunday (Biweekly) (#11, 14)
-----------------------
Nothing

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Specialty magazines.
   There are a number of magazines that cater to specific interests, but
whose titles are all in kanji (therefore, I can't read them easily.)  I
mention the Pachinko manga above.  Here, I'll briefly describe the
others.

   Horse racing.  So far, I have only found one magazine dedicated to
horse racing, featuring mainly stats on horses, jockies, and race
results.  It contains one manga story about office ladies that bet at
the tracks.

   Mahjongg.  Again, I have only seen one magazine dedicated to this
subject.  However, this magazine consists of only one really long manga
about an undefeatable mahjongg player -- Shoichi.  In the first chapter,
he plays his father who, after being defeated, dies of a heart attack.
Shoichi then howls in agony for a few pages.  The artwork is very good,
although there's way too much specialized dialog for me to follow the
story.  But, the author teaches a lot of game strategy, and even goes so
far as to instruct readers on how to hold the tiles in different ways to
make them snap when played on the board.  The stories in this issue
revolve mainly around gambling for high stakes in expensive hotel rooms.
   If someone else can add more info concerning this magazine/manga,
please do so.  Personally, I think someone else should tackle the job of
translating a chapter or two, to let fans know what this story is like.

========================================================================

   If you go into a manga store, one of the bigger ones, that places
different titles by the same artist together on the shelves, you get to
see more or less what all that artist has created (there will still be
gaps in the bibliography, unfortunately.)  The following list is not
intended to be definitive, just different.  And possibly illuminating.
I think it's interesting to see just how many styles one artist can
master.


Rumiko Takahashi:  Meson Ikkoku; Ranma 1/2; Urusei Yatsura; Rumic World
   (Firetripper, Super Gal, Mermaid's Forest, Laughing Target);
   One Pound Gospel

Tagami Yoshihisa: Karuizawa Syndrome (Super Visual Comics, 5 vol.) (Hard
   to tell what it's about); Nervous Breakdown (also hard to tell what
   it's about, up to volume 3); Horobi; Grey; Pepper (a U.S. Western:
   ISBN4-253-10232-8 C0079 P1800E); Fighter (A boxing story; Jet comics,
   up to volume 5)

Adachi Mitsuru: Touch; Slow Step; Rough; Miyuki (Hard to tell what it's
   about); H2 (2 Heroes/2 Heroines) (About baseball and soccer);
   Nine (Another baseball story, Shonen Sunday, up to vol. 5);
   Niji-iro Tohgarashi (boy-girl ninja-style swordsmen story, Shonen
   Sunday, up to volume 11)

Naoki Urasawa: Yawara; Pineapple Army (Artwork only); Master Keaton
   (Strange kind of detective story concerning an Archeologist/Insurance
   Investigator; Artwork only, story by Hokusei Katsushika);
   Nippon Amateur Space Association (NASA) (comedy);
   Dancing Policeman (comedy)

Tsukasa Houjou: City Hunter; Cat's Eye

Jyoji Manabe: Outlanders; Capricorn; Russian Clash (Almost like Appleseed,
   with a little influence from Outlanders.  Large volume, no volume number,
   from FFC).  Banpanera (Not exactly sure what this is about; has characters
   similar to Outlanders and Capricorn.)  Dorakuun (vol. 1 -- 3; looks just
   like Capricorn.)

Masakazu Katsura: Wingman; Video Girl Ai; Video Girl Len

Kia Asamiya: Silent Mobius; Dark Angel (serialized in Newtype magazine);
   Compiler; Vagurantsu (Vagrance ??)

Akira Toriyama: Dr. Slump; Dragon Ball; Dragon Ball Z

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other stuff:

   Interon Depot #1:  A collection of color manga works from Masamune
Shirow. (Comicborne)

   Shirow's Hyper World, which ran in Young magazine for about 4 issues,
consisted of some _Ghost in the Shell_ installments, using the character
design for Ghost that was last seen at the end of the Ghost in the Shell
book.  (Ie. -- the reincarnation.)

   There is now a series of volumes out where the characters and stories
are very similar to that of 3x3 Eyes, but the artist/writer is not the
same.  (I need to look up the title and artist name again.)  It's not as
good, though.  Plagarism lives on.

   Spriggman, the manga that has been translated as _Stryker_ by VIZ, is
usually found in the Girl's Manga sections throughout Japan.

========================================================================

NOTE: Since I can only get RAM messages via Hitoshi Doi, and I don't see
      him more than once every two or three weeks (I don't have any kind
      of access to Internet myself, and I'm currently buried in the
      heart of Tokyo,) some of my errors will be repeated 1 or 2 times
      before I can read your replies and incorporate any fixes in the
      next version of the file.  Suffice it to say that I'm happy with
      your feedback, and I owe Enrique Conty and Iain Sinclair for their
      corrections and assistance.


                               -- Curtis H. Hoffmann
                                  Sept. 12, 1992

--
Hitoshi Doi, International Open Systems Engineering        doi@jrd.dec.com
Japan Research and Development Center               decwrl!jrd.dec.com!doi
Digital Equipment Corporation Japan                     doi@decvax.dec.com