Category: August

Manpu: The Visual Language Of Anime And Manga

Published August 29, 2022

As someone who is a fan of both anime and manga, it’s easy to forget that there are numerous aspects to them that can be confusing to people unfamiliar with them. One particularly interesting aspect that is terribly easy to forget is the visual language of anime and manga itself, referred to as “Manpu”. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the topic, a possible reason for its development and a few examples of manpu.

The word manpu is written in Japanese as 漫符 which can be translated as “Manga Symbols”. As for why they developed in the first place, the only definitive reason that I’ve come across was when I was reading “The Osamu Tezuka Story” and, while Osamu Tezuka was developing the first Astro Boy TV series, he incorporated many techniques in an effort to keep costs down. One of these techniques, of which there were many, was to simplify animating character emotions by adding a visual sign rather than trying to animate the face. Of course, manpu may very well predate this but this is the earliest example that I’m aware of.

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How My Interest In Disturbing Films Waxed And Waned

Published August 25, 2022

I think it’s fair to say that, whenever you begin exploring a new genre or medium, that you are going to start with the surface level works that are popular and more mainstream friendly. I very much recall that being the case when I first discovered anime and manga and it also very much applied to when I first discovered horror. However, as you continue to work through a genre or medium, you eventually find yourself looking for something else. Whether that be works that are more intellectually stimulating or are simply more graphic or challenging in the content that they depict, I think this is a common occurrence for fans of creative media. Having experienced something similar to this recently, I wanted to share the story of how I developed an interest in disturbing films that first waxed but later waned and how this helped illuminate what I was truly searching for.

To begin, I should first describe how I developed this interest in the first place. Having recently rediscovered my love for horror films, I quickly ended up searching for newer horror films that had been released while also looking for horror classics that I had missed. Part of this search led me to discover the films of the New French Extremity, French films that are deliberately transgressive and, while I have not enjoyed all of them, some of these films have been a truly incredible experience for me. Similarly, I discovered Cannibal Holocaust, a film that I had heard plenty about but had never seen until relatively recently. While not everything in that film is great, I was blown away by how the second half of the film changes your perception of the first half and how forward thinking the underlying message was. Having seen these films that some would consider “Extreme”, I was very curious to see more.

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An Overview Of The Various Mega Man Subseries Part 2

Published August 22, 2022

Here is my continuation of “An Overview Of The Various Mega Man Subseries Part 1“.

Mega Man ZX

The two Mega Man ZX games were originally released for the Nintendo DS between 2006 and 2007 and takes place a few hundred years after Mega Man Zero where, after living peacefully for a long time, reploids are going Maverick. Interestingly, you’re given the option between playing a male or female protagonist who can use abilities by transforming into heroes from the Megaman X and Zero series. Mega Man ZX also introduces an explorable world similar to a metroidvania.

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An Overview Of The Various Mega Man Subseries Part 1

Published August 18, 2022

The first time that I encountered the Mega Man franchise was the Battle Network series that were released for the Gameboy Advance which appealed to me due to its RPG mechanics. Only recognising Mega Man as Battle Network, I saw Mega Man X7 in a store one day and immediately wanted it. Upon getting it, you can imagine my surprise when I began playing and it turned out to be an action platformer game. When I eventually developed a renewed interest in the Mega Man franchise in 2017 with the release of the second Legacy Collection for the classic Mega Man series, that’s when I began to learn that the Mega Man franchise was much larger than I thought. Having played through Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 and 2, Mega Man 11, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2 and currently playing the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection while also looking forward to the upcoming Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, I thought it would be interesting to provide an overview of the various subseries that make up the Mega Man franchise.

Mega Man (Classic)

The cover of the Megaman Legacy Collection.

The original Mega Man series, sometimes referred to as Classic Mega Man, was the first incarnation of the franchise. Beginning with the original game, released in 1987 for the NES, this series is set in 20XX and sees Dr. Light develop robots with free thought. However, another scientist called Dr. Wily reprograms many of these robots to go on a destructive rampage, causing Mega Man to spring into action in order to defeat Dr. Wily. This series has spanned 11 games with several spin-offs but the basic gameplay has remained the same. An action platformer where you select levels to go to in a non-linear manner, the defeat of each Robot Master grants Mega Man a new weapon which also serves as the weakness of another Robot Master. Once you’ve defeated each Robot Master, you go to Dr. Wily’s lair where you must face several bosses, a boss rush of the Robot Masters and, ultimately, Dr. Wily himself. As the series went on, new mechanics were added to shake up the gameplay but these games remain the foundation of the franchise.

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Why You Should Know About Manga Magazine Reader Surveys

Published August 15, 2022

The publication of manga chapters in magazines that are released on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis is a fascinating aspect of the manga industry and something that I think manga fans need to be aware of. I’ve spoken before about manga magazines but there were several aspects that I deliberately left out due to a combination of a lack of information as well as the fact that I believed that they deserved an article of their own. Having gained a little more confidence on the subject matter since then, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at manga magazine reader surveys and why you should know about them.

Let’s start with the easiest question that one can ask about the topic “What is a manga magazine reader survey?”. Simply put, it’s a survey that is included in a magazine to determine the popularity of series. Readers are expected to fill out the survey and send it to the publisher after they’ve filled out the information. While the use of these surveys are commonplace in the manga industry, the example I’ll be looking at predominantly is the survey from Weekly Shonen Jump since it’s the example that I have and the one I could get the most information about.

A reader survey from Weekly Shonen Jump.

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What Does Omake Mean In Anime And Manga?

Published August 11, 2022

As you are perusing some manga, watching some anime or perhaps reading some behind the scenes information about the anime/manga industry, you’ll probably come across a term called “Omake”. While it may seem initially confusing, it isn’t as complicated as it first appears.

Written as お負け in Japanese although it’s also often written simply as おまけ, the term itself simply means “extra”. This can refer to things as simple as DVD extras such as behind the scenes, commentaries, deleted scenes etc. Of course, this doesn’t seem much different to the Western meaning of extras but further examination reveals some very interesting examples of omake that differ quite a bit to our usual interpretation.

A shot from Gundam Seed Character Theater, an omake produced for Gundam Seed.

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The Complicated Question Of What’s A Roguelike Video Game

Published August 8, 2022

Steam recently held a gaming sale called “Going Rogue: A Festival Of Persistence” with the idea being to highlight roguelike video games alongside several other subgenres such as souls-likes and metroidvanias. Amusingly, Steam themselves acknowledged how complicated the question of what a roguelike video game is by releasing a blog post called “Going Rogue: A crash course in a confusing (sub) genre“. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at this topic, share some examples that I’ve played and clarify some details.

Starting with a little bit of a history lesson, the term “Roguelike” comes from a video game called “Rogue”. Originally released in 1980, Rogue laid down the foundations of what a roguelike was such as permadeath and procedurally generated dungeons. Roguelikes were historically turn-based RPGs but the genre has developed to the point now where the gameplay covers a wide variety of playstyles such as shooters, platformers, strategy etc.

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J-Horror Films And What Do I Think About Them?

Published August 4, 2022

I’ve spoken at great length about my love for horror films on this blog but, considering my adoration for Japanese media, I partially surprised myself recently when I realised that I hadn’t spoken about Japanese Horror, also known as J-Horror, films. There are several reasons for this but I thought now is a good time to discuss what they are, a bit of their history and, ultimately, what I think about them.

As with the production of media in any country, J-Horror draws a lot of its influences from within their own culture and history. Yokai, given their prevalence in Japanese mythology as well as their variety, play quite an important role while the use of nuclear weaponry during World War II has also played a factor in the development of body horror and kaiju films. While J-Horror has a long history within Japanese cinema, the Western world only began to take note of this genre around the 1990s with the release of such films as Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Ring and Audition.

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The Never-Ending Debate Of Video Game Difficulty

Published August 1, 2022

It was expected but disappointing to see the never-ending debate of video game difficulty rear its ugly head with the release of Elden Ring. To give some brief context to my thoughts on Elden Ring, for a more comprehensive look at my opinion you can check the review I did for the game on UK Anime Network, I did really enjoy the game and, barring some issues I have with open-world games, I think it’s an easy contender for game of the year. However, despite having spoken about it before, I feel the need to discuss video game difficulty once more.

The most common argument that I see as to why all video games should include multiple difficulty levels is that it would allow the game to be played by more people. I understand this argument and, as someone who used to pick the easiest difficulty settings as a child, I can see why people would believe that. However, I also think that this ignores several good reasons why a game may not have a difficulty setting in the first place.

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