From: pearl@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu (Starbuck)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga,news.answers
Subject: rec.arts.manga: Frequently Asked Questions
Keywords: monthly informative posting
Date: 12 Jan 93 17:13:23 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.manga
Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division


Archive-name: manga/faq

	  THE REC.ARTS.MANGA FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS LIST
	  ==================================================
			      Edited by
			     Steve Pearl
			    January, 1993

This is a monthly list of questions that have been frequently asked in this
newsgroup.  If you have any questions, additions or corrections, 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:

Added:
o IS MASAMUNE SHIROW A PSEUDONYM?  WHY DOES HE KEEP HIS TRUE IDENTITY A SECRET?

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

o ARE THERE ENGLISH BOOKS OR MAGAZINES ON THE SUBJECT OF MANGA?
o CAN YOU RECOMMAND SOME GOOD MANGA?
o WHERE CAN I GET MANGA?
o WHERE CAN I GET SCRIPTS OR SYNOPSIS TO SOME OF THE MANGA?
o ARE THERE ENGLISH BOOKS OR MAGAZINES ON THE SUBJECT OF MANGA?
o WHAT IS JAPONISME?
o IS MICHITAKA KIKUCHI & KIA ASAMIYA THE SAME PERSON?
o WHAT IS WIDEBAN OR "WIDE VERSION" MANGA?
o WHAT ARE JAPANESE PHONE CARDS AND PHONE BOOKS ARE AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO 
  DO WITH ANIME/MANGA?  
o OTAKU, WHAT'S AN OTAKU?  (EXPANDED DEFINITION)
o TRANSLATED MANGA AVAILABLE IN THE USA
o WHY WAS VIDEO GIRL AI MANGA VOLUMES 3 & 5 CENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT?
o IS MASAMUNE SHIROW A PSEUDONYM?  WHY DOES HE KEEP HIS TRUE IDENTITY A SECRET?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

o ARE THERE ENGLISH BOOKS OR MAGAZINES ON THE SUBJECT OF MANGA?

Yes, There is a book called "Manga! Manga!" by Frederik L. Schodt,
which examines in detail the history, background, content, etc of
manga in the popular culture.  There is also a magazine called
"Mangajin", which aids in the learning of the Japanese language
through the use of manga.  (Check the "How do I learn Japanese"
section for more detail.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o CAN YOU RECOMMAND SOME GOOD MANGA?

Check the Rec.Arts.Manga Guide.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o WHERE CAN I GET MANGA?

Check the Rec.Arts.Manga Resource Guide.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o WHERE CAN I GET SCRIPTS OR SYNOPSIS TO SOME OF THE MANGA?

Check the FTP Script List, a list of all the scripts available through anonymous FTP, and then some.  Maintained by Kenneth Arromdee at arromdee@cs.jhu.edu.  
Also posted monthly on rec.arts.manga
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o HOW  DO I LEARN JAPANESE?

Edited from the rec.arts.anime faql:

As is to be expected, all manga is in Japanese.  Synopses & scripts
all help to understand what's going on, but they can only cover a
fraction of all the manga being released at a certain time.  A common
question in rec.arts.manga and sci.lang.japan is "What books would you
folks recommend for someone who wants to learn colloquial Japanese?"

The following books have been recommended by persons in this newsgroup as good
sources for learning Japanese.  Of course, they can't replace a live teacher
in a Japanese course at your local university, or practicing with a
Japanese-speaking friend (a GOOD friend, in case you unwittingly commit a
faux-pas :-).

NOTE: If you wish to translate manga yourself and aren't too familiar with
the Chinese characters called Kanji, then you should look for manga
that contains furigana alongside the kanji.  Furigana is small
phonetic writing that gives you the pronunciation and reading of the
complex Chinese characters in Kana.

Basic Japanese textbooks:

	BASIC STRUCTURES IN JAPANESE
	by Aoki, Hirose, Keller, Sakuma
	Taishukan Publishing Company
	A beginner's Japanese textbook.

	JAPANESE:  THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE
	by Eleanor Jordan
	The standard text for college level Japanese.
	Yale university Press, 1988.
	ISBN 0-300-04188-8

	ESSENTIAL JAPANESE
	by Samuel. E.  Martin.

        JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE (volumes I and II)
        by Association for Japanese-Language Teaching (AJALT)
        Kodansha International Publishers (Tokyo and NY)
	Another beginner's Japanese textbook.  Recommended.

Books on colloquial Japanese:

	JAPANESE IN ACTION
	by Jack Seward

	MAKING OUT IN JAPANESE
	by Todd & Erika Geers
	Yenbooks (Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company)
	A book on colloquial Japanese.

	MORE MAKING OUT IN JAPANESE
	The sequel to "Making Out in Japanese"

	MANGAJIN
	P.O. Box 49543
	Atlanta, GA 30359
	This is a magazine with detailed panel-by-panel manga translations,
	along with articles on the Japanese culture.  Regular features
	include: "Galaxy Express 999", "What's Michael", "Tanaka-kun", etc.
	Great for learning colloquial Japanese.

Books on Japanese Grammar:

	AN INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE GRAMMAR AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
	by Senko K. Maynard
	The Japan Times
	A book on Japanese Grammar
	
Reference works:

	KENKYUSHA'S JAPANESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

	NELSON'S CHINESE CHARACTER DICTIONARY

Other suggestions:

	Get a feel of basic Japanese before figuring out the slangs and
	contractions.

	Keep in mind that even the simplest manga assume about 7 years of
	constant Japanese usage.

	Get Japanese copies of children's classics such as Winne-the-Pooh,
	A Christmas Carol, etc., which are aimed for elementary/grammar school
	children.  Read them and compare with the original English.

	Jordan's book has plain style Japanese starting with chapter 9.

	Most minor Japanese sentences are in the so-called "direct" style.

	Live in Japan for a while.  [A bit drastic, isn't it? -- Editor]

	Read manga and watch T.V., preferably watch some show with subtitles.

	LOTS OF PATIENCE!!  Learning a new language is never easy.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o WHAT IS JAPONISME?

Japonisme is a term to describe the influence of Japanese art and
style (including manga) on Western art and culture.  Rutgers
University hosts the International Center on Japonisme at the Zimmerli
Art Museum in New Brunswick, NJ. [Further information to be added as they 
send it to me...]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o IS MICHITAKA KIKUCHI & KIA ASAMIYA THE SAME PERSON?

	At Anime Expo '92, Mikimoto Haruhiko stated to the effect that
	although they're not friends, but he does know him (Kia) and that
	Kikuchi and Asamiya are the same person.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o WHAT IS WIDEBAN OR "WIDE VERSION" MANGA?

	Wide version refers to reissue of compiliation, typically twice to
	three times the page count of your ordinary compiliation; Urusei
	Yatsura was issued in 30 (somebody correct me if I'm wrong here)
	compiliations, and its wide version is only 15 compiliations (again,
	correct me if I'm wrong) or Outlanders, originally released in 8
	compiliations, its wide version is only 2 compiliation.
	
	Consider wide version... compiliation of compiliation...


				From a post by chu@ucsee.berkeley.edu
					       (real name unknown)	

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o WHAT ARE JAPANESE PHONE CARDS AND PHONE BOOKS ARE AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO 
  WITH ANIME/MANGA?  

These are actually two different things.

  -Phone Cards: 

	Ma Bell in Japan is still a national monopoly / government bureacracy.
	Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) charges 10 yen per time unit for
	local calls.  10 yen coins are an annoyance to carry around.  Sort of
	like a pocket full of nickles.  But if you stuff a larger denomination
	coin into a phone, you don't get change for time/money not used.
	Enter the telephone card.  It is a cheap piece of plastic the size of
	a credit card with a magnetic widget inside.  You buy them from a
	vending machine or a kiosk (in denominations ranging from 500 to 5000
	yen).  The green phones are (mostly) wired to accept phone cards (yes,
	there are different color phones depending on the type of call).
	Stuff a telephone card into the slot and you don't have to worry about
	carrying around a pocket full of nickles and the magnetic widget
	counts off each time unit as you use it.  There cards are particularly
	useful for international calls.  Each time unit costs 100 yen and they
	count off very quickly.

	With all these little plastic cards running around, somebody in
	Japan got the idea of putting pretty pictures on them.  Like
	mountains, or rivers, or forests, or movie stars, or whatever.
	Certain types of fans like to collect these cards (sort of like
	a cross between expensive postage stamps and baseball cards).
	For these fans, companies print up limited runs of cards with
	desireable pictures on them and then sell them for double the
	face value (spend 1000 yen to get a 500 yen card).  The fans
	value these cards as long as they are not used at all.  So
	they are another anime/manga collectable.
					- from a post by Eric Kouba


- Phone Books

	This is a term used to describe the various manga magazines.  These
	periodicals are typically printed on newsprint, and contain several
	ongoing manga stories (which, if popular, are usually collected into
	collections).  These magazines are VERY thick and often resemble
	phonebooks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
o OTAKU? WHAT'S AN OTAKU? (Expanded Definition)

OTAKU
(1) Original meaning: Your house (company, organiztion, etc), used as 
a polite form of the second person => you

(2) Meaning in early-late 1980's: An extreme fan of anime/manga/sf who
lacks communications with other people and usually untidy => nerd,
fanboy [Otakus used "otaku" for "you" instead of more common "anata"
"anta" and that' what gave them the title of Otaku-Zoku (otaku-race)]

(3) Current Usage: Anyone obssesd or overly interested with any subject
<ex.> Car otaku, Gun Otaku, etc... => mania, freak

(2) has VERY negative meanging and (3) still carries negative meaning, unless 
used between otakus, of course. :-) So use "otaku" to only other anime fans.

On the net, Otaku is usually refered to a big fan of anime and/or
manga. For example, I'm an Otaku. :-)

				--From a posting by Tonghyun "Vajra" Kim

o WHY WAS VIDEO GIRL AI MANGA VOLUMES 3 & 5 CENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT?

This case doesn't have anything to do with government censorship in
Japan.  Parental (and other) groups pressured Shuueisha to withdraw it
from sale, because some content was seen as unsuitable for its boys +
girls audience.  (An assessment I agree with, but that's just MHO.
The reaction is, I imagine, rather like what would happen in the US if
"Liquid Sky" was shown in the "Tiny Toons" timeslot.)

It seems that this sort of "voluntary censorship" is on the increase in
Japan.  (Actually, "censorship" is too strong a word - it's just voluntary
compliance with public pressure.)  Mainly the H-and-violence stuff is
being targeted.  VGA fits into this category (though it's a pretty tame
example).  It reminds me of toned-down Ujin, visually... and Ujin's stuff
is not for a general audience, to say the least.

As for "why now", maybe they've had it too good too long.  I wouldn't
link it to one individual incident like the Miyazaki murders, but who
can tell?  I don't live in Japan.  Who knows.
				-- From a posting by Iain Sinclair

o IS MASAMUNE SHIROW A PSEUDONYM?  WHY DOES HE KEEP HIS TRUE IDENTITY A SECRET?

What I remember:  "Masamune Shirow" is a pen name, he does manga-ing
in his spare time (hence the long delays!), and the reason he doesn't
use his real name is that his employer would frown upon his "moonlighting"
as a mangaka.  Whether this means he'd be fired or just reprimanded or
something, I don't know, but he deliberately doesn't use his real name.
				-- From a posting by Bill Barnes

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