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Archive-name: manga/faq

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

This FAQ, as well as many other FAQ's appearing on the net, is posted
to news.answers.  You can ftp FAQ's mentioned in this document from
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet.  If you do not have ftp, send a message to
"[e-mail]" with the word "help" in the body.  The
server will send you instructions on retrieving the files via email.

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: [e-mail]       or     Steve Pearl
CI$: >internet: [e-mail]        359 Lloyd Rd
GEnie:  S.PEARL6                Aberdeen, NJ 07747-1826

Changes to this posting since August, 1993:
Added:
o WHAT IS "H"?
Expanded:
Otaku Definition

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 HOW DO I LEARN JAPANESE?
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 WHY WAS VIDEO GIRL AI MANGA VOLUMES 3 & 5 CENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT?
o WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CENSORED AND NON-CENSORED VERSIONS OF
  VIDEO GIRL AI 3&5
o IS MASAMUNE SHIROW A PSEUDONYM?  WHY DOES HE KEEP HIS TRUE IDENTITY A SECRET?
o WHAT IS "H"?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 [e-mail].
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
    PO Box 7119,
    Marietta GA 30065
    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.

    Another thing to consider is that there are Newtype calendars that,
    have Silent Mobius images that say (in big bold letters) Mitchitaka
    Kikuchi, and then in little tiny letter Copyright 1991(?)  Kia
    Asamiya.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 34 compilations, and its wide version is only 15
    compiliations or Outlanders, originally released in 8 compilations,
    its wide version is only 2 compilation.

    Consider wide version... compiliation of compiliation...

                From a post by [e-mail]
                           (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

One other suggestion:  Don't call _anyone_ else an otaku unless you know how
they feel about the term.  Not all anime fans like being called an otaku.
I'm one of those who doesn't care to have the word applied to me, though I
have no problems with other fans calling themselves otaku.
                    --Christina Callahan

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 WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CENSORED AND NON-CENSORED VERSIONS OF
  VIDEO GIRL AI 3&5?

   Volume 3

   published date

    1990-11-15    1st printing (original edition)
    1990-11-15    2nd printing (original edition)
    1990-12-15    3rd printing (original edition)
    1991-01-25    4th printing (original edition)
    ????-??-??    5th printing (???)
    1992-12-25    6th printing (retouched edition)
    ????-??-??    7th printing (retouched edition)

   retouched points

    page#    frame#    difference
    ------- ------    ----------
     9    5    panties (*1)
    11    1    panties
    25    3    panties
    28    1,2    panties
    29    5    panties
    30    2    panties
    33    6,7    panties
    37    4    panties
    43    1,2,3    panties
    44    1    panties
    45    1    panties
    46    2,3,4    panties
    47    1    panties
    49    1    panties
    50    1,3    panties
    54    1,2    machine (*2)
    56    3    machine
    ------- ------
    total   25

  (*1) In the original edition Ai wears no panties.

   (*2) In the original edition, a couple of large parts that are
   concealing Ai's thighs and hips cannot be seen.

   Volume 5

   published date

    1991-03-15    1st printing (original edition)
    ????-??-??    2nd printing (???)
    1993-03-15    3rd printing (retouched edition)

   retouched points

    page#    frame#    difference
    ------- ------    -------------
    19,20    all    deleted (*3)
    33    3,5    panties (*4)
    34    4    panties
    35    3    panties
    36    2,5    panties
    37    1,2,3    panties
    38    1    panties
    47    3    panties
    48    5    panties
    49    3    panties
    88    1    replaced (*5)
    97    1,4    panties
    98    2    panties
    99    6    panties
    100    3    panties
    101    2    panties
    180    1    water level (*6)
    ------- ------
    total    22

   (*3) In these pages Matsui touches Mai's thigh and buttocks, hugs her,
   and comes to give himself up to her. In the retouched edition the
   pages are deleted and a blank (black) leaf is inserted as pp.5-6
   instead. Therefore the page numbers are different between both
   editions till p.20.

   (*4) In the original edition Mai wears no panties.

   (*5) In the original edition, the view of Ai's buttocks seen from the
   rear (the viewpoint of Youta), but in the retouched edition, a
   magnification of the 2nd frame.

   (*6) In the retouched edition the water level of the spring becomes a
   little higher to completely conceal Ai's crotch.


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


o WHAT IS "H"?

The 8th letter of the alphabet?  Seriously, "H" (echi/ecchi)
is a Japanese slang term for "perverted." It derives from the letter
H, which is the first roman letter in the American spelling of
"hentai," which is the Japanese word for "perverted." (more or less)


<>
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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