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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.369 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 <> Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu rec.arts.manga:1554 news.answers:3992 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!wupost!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dziuxsolim.rutgers.edu!gandalf.rutgers.edu!pearl From: pearl@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Starbuck) Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga,news.answers Subject: rec.arts.manga: Manga Guide Part 1/2 Keywords: monthly informative posting Message-ID: <Nov.12.10.58.59.1992.16638@gandalf.rutgers.edu> Date: 12 Nov 92 15:58:59 GMT Reply-To: axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au Followup-To: rec.arts.manga Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division Lines: 1346 Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Archive-name: manga/guide/part1 The rec.arts.manga Guide Part 1/2: A-M Version 4.1 (October 1992) New in this version: - New contributors: Michael Edwards, Enrique Conty, C. Ma. - New entries for Hoshisato Mochiru, Umezu Kazuo, Shibata Masahiro, Kusunoki Kei, Nekobe Neko, Itsuki Natsumi. - Expanded entries for Fujita Kazuhiro, Houjou Tsukasa, Kakinouchi Narumi, Kouga Yun, Miyazaki Hayao, Takahashi Rumiko, Tetsuya Saruwatari. About the rec.arts.manga Guide: - This Guide is a list of manga artists and their works. It is intended to answer questions about "what has this artist done", "which magazine has this title", "how many volumes are there", "is it finished", "is it animated". Please consult this Guide before posting to rec.arts.manga. The Guide is also intended to recommend and review manga. If you're new to manga, don't be daunted by its size, just browse it at your leisure, maybe searching the text for keywords or artists that interest you. - It is predominantly the work of various rec.arts.manga contributors, who are credited where possible. If you use the Guide as a reference for published work, please cite the Guide as your source (and the contributor, if credited). - You can order manga through most Japanese bookstores (which are listed in the rec.arts.manga Resources). You will usually need to know the title, author, price, and the publisher. Each title listed in the Guide has a line of information about its current status. For example: (1987-1991, v35F, Y450, SJ, TV series+movies) "1987-1991": Commenced publication in 1987, ceased in 1991. "v35F": 35 volumes have been published. 'F'=the series is finished. 'U'=finished in magazine, but the final volume remains unpublished. "Y450": Each volume costs 390 Yen. (Y390 is the "default" price.) "SJ": Magazine that carried the title. Abbreviations are used for popular magazines (SJ=Shonen Jump); refer to the list of magazines and publishers at the end. If the magazine is unknown, the publisher is listed instead. '*'=the title appears in the magazine irregularly. "TV series+movies": Related works, eg. anime TV series and anime movie. - This Guide contains JIS (encoded Japanese) for each author, and in other places. This is to help you with browsing, ordering manga, etc. At the moment, you will have to replace the '^[' with a true '^[' escape character to view the JIS. (eg. :%s/\^\[/^[/g in ex) - Every month, the Guide is updated with new material and information about new releases. However, there are many entries which are incomplete or inaccurate. Corrections, contributions and feedback are always greatly appreciated. If you have any new authors to add, please describe either their art/ storytelling style OR at least one of their works. Two or three sentences are sufficient to give a good idea of most manga titles. If you don't see your favorite artist here, write an entry! You might like to post your contributions to rec.arts.manga to stimulate discussion; otherwise, they should be mailed to the current maintainer of the Guide, Iain Sinclair (axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au). Manga Authors and Titles ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Adachi Mitsuru ^[$@$"$@$A^[(J ^[$@=<^[(J ---- Rise, Setting Sun! Yuu Hi yo Nobore (album, Y680, Flower Comics, story by Yamasaki Juuzou) Characters are typical of Adachi, since characters in all his works are the same. All the characters here are just a bit less polished compared to later works. As is typical with shoujo manga, Adachi concentrated on characters and less on background, so as to create a "dreamy" atmosphere. [CPK] Hiatari Ryoukou ^[$@M[$"$?$jNI9%^[(J! (v2?F, Y680, Shougakukan, movie [1988]) Nine ^[$@%J%$%s^[(B (v5F, SS, 3 TV movies [available on VHS]) High school baseball (plus some other sports) and romance story. Miyuki ^[$@$_$f$-^[(B (v12F/Y390, v5F wide, Shougakukan, TV series) High school brother and step sister romance story. Touch ^[$@%?%C%A^[(B (v26F, v9?F wide, Y390, SS, TV series [108 ep]+3 movies) There are three "parts" to Touch. In the first part, the main theme was the love triangle between Tatsuya, Kazuya, and Minami. Uesugi Tatsuya and Kazuya were twins, and Asakura Minami was the girl next door. The second part of Touch concentrated on Tatsuya trying to put himself into Kazuya's shoes. Tatsuya got "traded" from the boxing team to the baseball team for a picture of Lum with an autograph of Takahashi Rumiko. Tatsuya pitched the Meisei team into the second round of the regional tournament, but lost to Nishimura and Seinan High School in an extra inning game while pitching a no-hitter. Minami, who had been the baseball team manager, also became a member of the school's rhythmic gymnastics team. Minami did exceptionally well and made it to the national tournament. The third part of Touch concentrated on Tatsuya making himself good enough for Minami. Meisei got a new coach because the old coach got sick. The new coach worked the team like the devil. But it paid off as Meisei made it to the finals of the regional tournament to face Nitta and Sumi Technical High School. [HD] Rough ^[$@%i%U^[(B (v12F, Y390, SS) High school swimming and romance story. Slow Step ^[$@%9%m!<%9%F%C%W^[(B (v7F, Y390, Shougakukan, 5 OAVs) High school girl's softball and boxing and romance story. Rainbow Chilli Niji-iro Tohgarashi ^[$@Fz?'$H$&$,$i$7^[(B (1990-1992, v11U, SS) 2 Heroes & 2 Heroines H2 (1992, SS) Adachi's current work; another highschool baseball story. Other works: Ah the Youth of Koushien, Short Program ---- Araki Hirohiko ^[$B9SLZHtO$I'^[(B ---- Well known for unique art style and bizarre sound effects. However Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is beginning to show the limit of his imagination. [TK] BAOH ^[$B%P%*!<MhK,<T^[(B (v1, ?, English) Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Jojo no Kimyouna Bouken ^[$B%8%g%8%g$N4qL/$JKA81^[(J (v28, Y390, SJ) Four generations of the Jojo family seek revenge against vampires. ---- Aro Hiroshi ^[$@$"$m$R$m$7^[(J ---- An unusual artist/writer. Most of his stories have a clear, clean appearance with a surreal quality. This could also be said of his characters, tone, and attitude. He uses "hentai" with its double meaning of "metamorphosis" to describe weird backgrounds, assorted personalities, and other strangeness. His humor oriented stories usually share the same universe. [NA] Morumo 1/10 (v2F, Shonen Captain) Morumo 1/10 is a combination of super-hero, comedy, and love story. Morumo is an alien girl raised on earth. She is 16.3 meters tall at age 16 and weighs 43 tons. She looks human (with pink hair) if you are far enough away, well her proportions are human. She occasionally takes a shrinking serum that reduces her body by 1/10 in size. You and Me ^[$@M%!uL%0a^[(B (v8F, Monthly SJ) You is a boy who just moved into the equivalent of a boarding house. Everything is not as it first seems, even the boy. Living in the same room is a ghost (female) named Me. The series is a combination of love, humor, and a general parody of anime and manga. Futaba-kun, Change! ^[$@$U$?$P7/%A%'%s%8^[(B (1991, v3, SJ Monthly) Another high school hentai slapstick. Futaba changes his/her gender when he/she gets excited. But it's not only him. His family is filled with gender-changing people. Other works: Boogie-Woogie Alligator, Omisore Toraburikko, Tottemo Shounen Tankentai, Sheriff, Trickster, Unkai no Tabibito, Waka-okusama no Abunai Shumi(?) ---- Asamiya Kia ^[$@Kc5\530!^[(B ---- Asamiya Kia is the same person as the famous animator/character designer Kikuchi Michitaka. [TK] Gunhed ^[$@%,%s%X%C%I^[(B (v?, English) Vagrants ^[$@?@@15-%t%!%0%i%s%D^[(B (v2, Comptique (Kadokawa Shoten)) Silent Moebius ^[$@%5%$%l%s%H%a%S%&%9^[(B (1990, v5, Y950, Comp, novels+game books+movie+English) Compiler ^[$@%3%s%Q%$%i^[(B (1991-92, v2U, Afternoon) Dark Angel ^[$@@;=CEA@b%@!<%/%(%s%8%'%k^[(B (1991, v1, Newtype) The current storyline is about an impetuous young boy named Dark, his tiny assistant angel, and the mad spoiled lord who's on the verge of stumbling into a major war in his attempts to kill Dark. This series has some nice artwork, and good character interaction, though all of the character designs have equivalents in Compiler. [CH] Assembler 0X (1992, Afternoon) A Compiler spinoff, though it has a substantially different atmosphere. ---- Asari Yoshitoh ^[$B$"$5$j$h$7$H$*^[(J ---- Asari Yoshitoh's style tends to be simple, almost cutesy...except for the times he does exploding entrails and shotgun wounds. Whereupon his attention to detail is impressive. [JE] A Collection of Short Stories Tampenshuu ^[$BC;JT=8^[(J (1989, Y680, Tokumashoten) A collection book of some of Asari's short comics from 1980 to 1988 put out as an Animage Comics Special book, this collection shows the variety of different stories and styles that Asari is comfortable with. My personal favorite is 'The Magnificent Seven Zombies.' (A somewhat paraphrased title.) Included is a list of all Asari's published stories up to 1988, for fanatical collectors. Space Family Carlvinson Uchuu Kazoku Karubinson ^[$B1'Ch2HB2%+%k%S%s%=%s^[(J (1986-present, v8, Y380, Shonen Captain, OAV) When a motley band of travelling performers have a deep-space collision with another spacecraft, they find that the sole survivor of the other craft is a humanoid infant. They decide to raise the child as their own on the nearest planet as they wait for other members of the girl's race to come and find her. Corona-chan grows up as their daughter, and the manga details her five-year-old adventures with her fuzzball mother, her robot-soldier father, her living-central-nervous-system pet, and the other bizarre members of the local village. Nakasorachiboueigun (v1F?, Tokuma Shoten) Strange mecha story. The Girl Defending Earth, Iko-chan Chikyuu Bouei Shoujo Iko-chan ^[$@CO5eKI1R>/=w%$%3$A$c$s^[(B (1990, Y890) Tadaima Kiseichu (1990?-present, v?, Comp) Intestinal parasites turn an average girl into a superhero. Manga Science ^[$@$^$s$,%5%$%(%s%9^[(B (1991, Y780) Wahhaman ^[$B%o%C%O%^%s^[(J (1991-present, v1, Y420, Afternoon) Wahhaman is a special robot soldier built ten thousand years ago by the Atlanteans. Found and dug up in present-day Tokyo, he cannot remember any of his past, due to a nasty knock to the head he received at some point. People tend to mistake Wahhaman, who is unable to speak except for laughing when going into battle, for someone or something that they are looking for in their own lives. ---- Chen Wen ^[$@E"Ld^[(B ---- Taiwan's most accomplished manga artist. After experimenting with such things as soap and candle wax, he eventually mastered the use of the traditional Chinese calligraphy brush. Chen Wen's exotic art and stories are unmistakably unique. [bib. by CPK] Leopard Warriors (1983, v3F, Time Weekly [A Taiwanese magazine]) Heroes of the East Chu Dynasty Tou-Shuu Eiyuu-den ^[$@El<~1QM:EA^[(B (1991, v2, Morning) Chinese historical figures in the days of East Chou Dynasty. Profoundly Beautiful Asia Fukaku Utsukushiki Ajia ^[$@?<$/H~$7$-%"%8%"^[(B (1992, v1, Y1000, Afternoon) The story of psychics, beast-people, powerful demigods and ordinary citizens in a totalitarian society ruled by the Ideal Leader. Other works: Leopard Warriors II, The God of War, Story of the Assassins, The Armor General ---- CLAMP ---- CLAMP is composed of 6 talented ladies and each member has her own specialty. Core member of CLAMP is Mokona Apapa (main artist) and Ohkawa Nanase (writer) who are DIRECTLY responsible for such manga as RG-VEDA, X and Tokyo Babylon. Without doubt, CLAMP is the hottest shojo-manga artist in Japan now. [TK] 20 Mensou Onegai 20^[$@LLAj$K$*4j$$^[(J! (v1, Comic Genki) White Princess Extracts(?) Shirahime Shou ^[$@GrI1>6^[(B (Y500, Comic Val) This book consists of 3 romance short stories about the topic "snow". There is a legend that whenever it snows, it is the tears of white princess. Artwork may not appeal to many, because to create the sentimental snow environment, the background is always dark. But the stories are quite good and romantic. [CM] Seiden (RG Veda) ^[$@@;EA^[(J (^[$@%j%0!&%t%'!<%@^[(J) (v6, Y490, ?(Shinshokan), 2 OAVs) Although CLAMP borrowed ideas and names from Hindu/Buddhist mythology, RG-VEDA has very little to do with them in terms of story. This manga is CLAMP's first major work and its story and art are getting better and better with each volume. IMO, RG-VEDA defines the current "state of the art" of Shojo-manga. HIGHLY recommended. Campus Police Dukylon Gakuen Tokkei Deukarion ^[$@3X1`FC7Y%G%e%+%j%*%s^[(B (v1, Newtype 100% Comics) CLAMP did this manga as a joke. CLAMP Campus Detective Service CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan ^[$B#C#L#A#M#P3X1`C5De^[(B (v1, Y520, Asuka Comics Deluxe) A light comedy featuring three whiz kids in Clamp Elementary School. Takes place in the same campus as Deukarion. [TK] The detective team aims to help female students on campus to find clues to their lost stuff. Nokoru is very popular among female students, and he's quite glad to help them. He is sort of the "leader" of the team, and he is extremely smart. [CM] Tokyo Babylon ^[$@El5~#B#A#B#Y#L#O#N^[(B (v4, Y580, OAV, Shinshokan) Demon hunt story heavily influenced by Kujaku-Oh. However, it concentrates more on the social background and inner feelings of characters rather than violence and action. [TK] Cluster (v2, Y880, story by ?yama Tamayo) X (v2, Y390, Asuka) Occult battle manga taking place in the near future. Features great artwork, intriguing characters and complex plots. It takes place in the same Universe as TB. ---- Egawa Tatsuya ^[$@9>@nC#Li^[(J ---- A former disciple of Motomiya Hiroshi. Be Free! (1986-?, v12, Morning) The turbulent life of a maths teacher surrounded by sleazy characters. Increasingly weird towards the end. Magical Taruruuto-kun ^[$@$^$8$+$k!y%?%k$k!<%H$/$s^[(J (1989-1992, v19U, SJ, TV [87 ep]+3 movies) 5th grader Edojou Honmaru is one of the weakest in his class, until he meets the little magician Taruruuto. Taru's magic helps him to deal with girls, triumph over bullies and meet other challenges. Lots of fun, protracted battles and slapstick, a real "feelgood" title. While the manga is aimed at children, it appeals to people of all ages. [IS] Magical Taruruuto-kun Magic Items ^[$@$^$8$+$k!y%?%k$k!<%H$/$sKbK!%"%$%F%`^[(B (1991, art book?, Y480) Golden Boy (1992, Super Jump*) About a genius dropout from Tokyo University, who likes to tutor and study. Has the usual Egawa sleazy women, it's more like Be Free! with considerably improved art. ---- Fujishima Kosuke ^[$@F#Eg9/2p^[(B ---- Fujishima is a keen fan of motorcyles and engine mechanics stuff. So expect to see a lot of things about them in his manga. [PY] As you can see in AMG!, Fujishima also has a great talent for designing custumes and has done costume designs for KO Seiki Beast Sanjuushi. [TK] I'll Arrest you! (aka. You're Under Arrest) Taiho Shichau zo ^[$BBaJa$7$A$!$&$>^[(B (v7F, Y420, Comic Morning Party Extra (Koudansha), OAV) The manga which made Fujishima famous. As commonly found in debut manga, the art style changes quite a lot from the first volume. The story is about the life of two policewomen, Miyuki (mechanical genius, expert vehicle driver, the brain of the pair, more introverted), and Natsumi (enormous strength, expert motorcyle driver, more action-minded). Both feel embarassed when faced with romantic situations. There are many interesting supporting roles. [PY] Ah! My Goddess! Aa! Megamisama! ^[$B$"$"$C=w?@$5$^$C^[(B (v7, Y450, Afternoon, OAV+CDs) Character designs change quite a bit from Vol.1 to most recent stories. I think the designs keep on improving. Character designs look perfect to me (I mean the most recent designs), both in terms of the artwork and character/personality. I admit that the story isn't any substantial stuff, but then the whole thing is just a collection of individual light-hearted enjoyable stories. [PY] ---- Fujita Kazuhiro ^[$@F#EDOBF|O:^[(J ---- Riding a Merry-go-Round (short story) Something about a little girl wanting to go for merry-go-round ride, but obstacles appeared. Not very shounen, I think. [CM] Ushio to Tora ^[$@$&$7$*$H$H$i^[(B (1989, v12, SS, 6 OAVs+Super Famicom game) Aotsuki Ushio was a normal junior highschool boy until he accidentally pulled the "Spear of the Beast" out of a powerful monster, imprisoned in the basement of his house. The monster tried to eat Ushio but the spear, which has strong magical powers, enabled Ushio to overwhelm the monster. Ushio named the monster "Tora", which means TIGER in Japanese. Together they engage in various monster hunts. Although Tora insist that he's helping Ushio because he don't want other monster/demons to rob him of his "food", they develop a strange friendship. [TK] Yarof's Attraction-shop Yarof no atoraku-ya (1992, v1) ---- GONTA ---- GONTA draws people with confidence and flair. His stories are full of drama, weirdos and sex. They are sophisticated, but reasonably easy to follow. [IS] Heaven (v3F, Afternoon) Housing Inferno Jigoku no Ie ^[$BCO9v$N2H^[(B (1992, v1, Afternoon) A famous soap opera actor (Harou) and his son (Kyouichi) and their highly screwed-up relationships. ---- Hagiwara Kazushi ^[$@Gk860l;j^[(J ---- Bastard!! (1987-1993, v12, Y390, SJ Season Special, OAV) A virgin's kiss turns bimbo boy Luche into the ancient sorcerer, Dark Schneider, just in time to save a kingdom from Osborne and his minions... if D.S feels like it. Bastard!! is RPG manga fantasy at its wildest, bursting with bimbos, violence, in-jokes, and spectacular art (there is some particularly incredible tone work in later volumes). Made Genius (doujinshi, with Studio Loud in School) Bakuen Campus (1992, Virtual Jump) ---- Hirano Toshihiro ---- The Golden Warrior (v1) Prequel to Iczer-1. The Iczer Legend Iczer Densetsu (v1, Comic Genki, based on OAVs) Iczer Densetsu is only very loosely based on OAVS. It's Hirano's attempt to recreate the Iczer Universe. [TK] Dangaioh Legend DOLL (v1, NORA Comics Deluxe) Like Iczer Densetsu, it's very loosely based on OAVs. Other than the name of characteres and their looks, not much similarity (no mecha). [TK] ---- Hiwatari Saki ^[$@F|EO^[(J ^[$@Aa5*^[(J ---- Please Save My Earth Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte ^[$@KM$NCO5e$r<i$C$F^[(B (v14, Hana to Yume) A high school girl named Alice (yep, they found kanji for it) moves to Tokyo, where she finds that two boys in her class have been sharing the same dreams for several years. The dreams form a continuing story. She eventually finds herself having the same dreams. It turns out that these dreams are actually remembrances of their past lives, which happened to be as alien researchers stationed on the Earth's moon. Also, as the story progresses the other members of the moon research team are found reincarnated as well. The seven of them try to solve the mystery of what their past lives were, and why they are remembering it. Adding a bit of excitement to the story is the fact that (1) the reincarnated people have some special powers that remained from their past lives, and (2) certain of them harbor great enmity toward others, and are acting rather irrational. I think it is a good suspense story. It is definitely not merely one of those "love stories for junior high school girls". ^_^ A bit of advice though: It is very hard to keep the relationships between the characters straight, as you have to deal with rather complicated love tangles in both the present day Japan setting and the "moon story" setting. It doesn't help that the publisher for some reason decided not to put the usual "toujyoujinbutu syoukai" in the front of the issues until issue #6. I would strongly suggest that when you buy #1, buy #6 at the same time. You can refer to the character chart in the front of #6. [MC]