Category: 2023

Some Of The Most Notable English Language Manga Publishers

Published April 20, 2023

I’ve spoken quite a bit about the state of manga in the West such as how to read manga online legally and even what my favourite editions from English language manga publishers have been but I recently realised that I haven’t actually devoted an article to some of the most notable English language manga publishers. Therefore, I thought I’d rectify this and take a look at them while discussing a little of their history.

In my personal opinion, the most notable amongst all the English language manga publishers would be Viz Media. Within my own manga collection, Viz Media releases make up about half of all the manga that I own which I attribute to their numerous imprints such as Weekly Shonen Jump, Weekly Shonen Sunday, Shojo Beat, Viz Signature which cover a wide range of demographics and genres. Viz Media was originally founded as Viz Communications in 1986 in order to distribute manga in America and, since then, they’ve ended up becoming one of the largest, if not the largest, distributors of graphic novels in North America.

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What Exactly Is The Subgenre Of Mecha Called Super Robot?

Published April 17, 2023

When it comes to genres within the medium of anime, easily one of the most famous has to be “Mecha” where characters go into battle in giant mechanical suits. However, it’s interesting to note that this genre is, itself, typically divided into two subgenres, “Real Robot” and “Super Robot”. While Real Robot is probably the best-known at this point, due in part to the massively successful Gundam franchise, Super Robot actually has a longer history and so I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what exactly this subgenre of mecha is.

We should first start off by explaining the difference between Real Robot and Super Robot. Real Robot refers to a subgenre of mecha where the mechanical suits are treated in a comparatively realistic manner such as having these suits be mass-produced, requiring maintenance and repair, running out of ammo and fuel etc. In contrast, Super Robot tends to have the mechs be produced uniquely, perhaps being a prototype developed by a military or a being developed by an ancient civilisation, that are operated simply and are able to move in a manner that almost feels life-like.

Tetsujin-28, also known as Gigantor, was the first mecha anime.

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A Harmless Bit Of Self-Promotion

Published April 13, 2023

I started this blog near the end of 2019 and have been consistently releasing two blog posts per week ever since. I recently surpassed 365 blog posts which means that, if you felt so, you could read a post a day for over a year at this point (give it a shot with the newly added Random Post button that is in the widget)! While I’ve been promoting my other work via the blog in subtle ways over the years, I’ve never written a full article dedicated to it. Therefore, I thought that I’ve earned the right to do a harmless bit of self-promotion and taking a look at some of the other places you can find me.

I’ve mentioned my main YouTube channel in the past and think it logical to start there. The channel itself is called “Immortallium” which I’ve since adopted as my online persona and it eventually became a channel dedicated to the mediums of anime and manga with discussions about specific topics, reviews, recommendations etc. I’ve also been laying the ground to begin looking at and discussing tokusatsu which has become a recent interest of mine. If you’re interested in anime, manga or tokusatsu then I would fully encourage you to give my channel a shot and see if you enjoy the content.

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The Fascinating Impact Of The Moon Rabbit

Published April 10, 2023

I’m currently watching Ultraman Taro, as part of my recent fascination with tokusatsu, and there was a particular episode where they mentioned the rabbit on the Moon. As you can imagine, the people I was watching the show with were quite confused so I ended up having to explain what the Moon rabbit was to them. However, it brought to mind that I had actually come across the Moon rabbit in a variety of media and that it might be worth discussing. Therefore, I thought that I’d take a look at the fascinating impact of the Moon rabbit on media.

Let’s start with what the Moon rabbit is. When looking at the Moon from Earth, you will only see the near side of the Moon which is covered in lunar maria. Different cultures have interpreted these lunar maria differently with some believing it resembles a man’s face or a lady but the cultures of East Asia and the Native Americans interpreted the lunar maria as resembling a rabbit with the East Asian cultures also seeing a mortar that’s being used to make the elixir of life, mochi, medicine etc.

An outline showing a trace of the Moon rabbit and its mortar.

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Japan Studio: Sony’s Most Creative, Now Gone, Video Game Studio

Published April 6, 2023

Even as someone who’s been playing on PC ever since the end of the seventh generation of consoles, I was quite saddened to hear that Sony’s Japanese game development studio, Japan Studio, was shutting down in early 2021. With this loss, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s long lineup of developers now only include two studios based in Japan, Polyphony Digital who develop the Gran Turismo games and Team Asobi who develop the games featuring Astro Bot. Given Sony’s newfound interest in both releasing games on PC, which I approve of, and creating high-budget story based games, which I’m not as fond of for many reasons, I thought I’d take a look at the history and legacy of Sony’s most creative but now gone video game studio, Japan Studio.

Japan Studio was established in 1993 by Sony in order to develop first-party games for their then upcoming console the PlayStation. One of the unique aspects of this studio initially was that the producers would seek out talent and then encourage and assist them in making a game that fit with their creative vision. This certainly explains some of the more unusual games that they ended up producing initially such as Jumping Flash!, PaRappa the Rapper, Fluid etc. while also producing some more typical games such as Wild Arms and Rapid Reload.

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How Ken Akamatsu, A Mangaka, Became A Politician

Published April 3, 2023

If you had asked me who the first mangaka to become a politician would be, Ken Akamatsu wouldn’t have been my first choice. Not to say that Ken Akamatsu isn’t capable of working in politics but I would have guessed mangaka that dealt more with politics in their works such as Naoki Urasawa. Nonetheless, the reasons are quite fascinating for why Ken Akamatsu transitioned into politics so I thought I’d give a quick background on who Ken Akamatsu is, some of his works, his involvement in politics and how he ended up becoming Japan’s first mangaka turned politician.

Ken Akamatsu was born in Nagoya, Japan on July 5th, 1968 and became interested in manga after encountering Sailor Moon. He ended up submitting a manga to the Shonen Magazine Newcomer Award while he was in college and ended up winning, kick-starting his career as a mangaka. Over the course of his career, some of the most notable manga that he’s created have been “A.I. Love You”, “Love Hina”, “Negima! Magister Negi Magi” and “UQ Holder!”. I most heavily associate him with Love Hina and Negima and something that is particularly notable about those series is the high level of fan service that is used.

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The Strange Fusion Of Anime And Manga That Is Ga-nime

Published March 30, 2023

I remember doing some research recently on Yoshitaka Amano and spotted a term that I was unfamiliar with, “Ga-nime”. You can imagine my curiosity and, upon digging into it, I soon realised that Ga-nime was a strange fusion of anime and manga. Having learned about this, I thought it might be interesting to explain what Ga-nime is, how it’s unique and several other interesting details that I’ve found.

Something that’s important to note is that Ga-nime isn’t necessarily a style in and of itself and is actually a product line from the collaboration between Toei Animation, an anime company, and Gentosha, a publishing company. The name itself,画ニメ, is a fusion of the character 画, the second half of the word manga, and ニメ, the last two characters of the word anime. As the name implies, Ga-nime is a strange fusion of anime and manga which is a short work, distributed as an OVA, that features voice acting and music but very minimal animation, mostly being still images that are occasionally supplemented by limited animation, computer animation etc.

Anyone familiar with Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork will immediately recognise his involvement in this Ga-nime.

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Signs Of Trouble For The Epic Games Store?

Published March 27, 2023

I usually like to take a look at the results of the Epic Games Store early in the year but, for some reason, the Epic Games Store 2022 Year in Review was delayed this year from the usual release in January to an unusual release in March. Nonetheless, it has now been released and presents some interesting information although one particular aspect has made some wonder if there are some signs of trouble for the Epic Games Store. However, it’s not an outright bleak view and, having spoken about the store several times in the past, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the figures they provided as well as the current state of the store.

As you might’ve expected, we should start by taking a look at the brand new year in review that Epic has released. Let’s start with everything besides the one glaring sign of trouble so we can delve a bit deeper into that specifically. First up, the total PC users of the Epic Games Store has grown from about 194 million in 2021 to 230 million in 2022 but, more importantly, the monthly active users has also increased from 62 million to 68 million. Their social media has also seen some mild growth with their Instagram increasing from 5.8 million to 5.9 million followers while their Twitter has grown from 4.4 million followers to 4.8 million. Their Facebook page has been stagnant at 1.3 million followers but they’ve also set up a TikTok account that has gained 300,000 followers. Interestingly, Epic seem to be taking a page from Valve’s book by categorising the top games by player spending and engagement into abstract tiers of Mythic, Legendary and Epic.

The 2021 Epic Games Store Year in Review.

The four year in review charts that Epic has provided.

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Why Do I Love Revenge Stories So Much?

Published March 23, 2023

If I had to guess, I believe the first time I ever came across the concept of revenge was when I originally played Final Fantasy IV. As a child of about six, you can imagine that I didn’t come across the concept of revenge that often, I might not even have been aware of what revenge was, but the subplot of Tellah seeking vengeance against Golbez for the death of his daughter, just like so many other aspects of the game, left quite a deep impression on me. As I began to explore not just video games but media such as film, TV, books etc., I found myself often being drawn to stories dealing with revenge. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to examine why I love revenge stories so much.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always felt very strongly about being wronged and the desire to correct these wrongs. Of course, I would never advocate for vengeance outside of storytelling but I do confess that there is something cathartic about seeing a character put everything they have into carrying out their revenge. It also helps that we can often relate to the reasons why the character seeks vengeance such as the death of a loved one, discrimination, abuse etc.

A drawing of Tellah by character designer Yoshitaka Amano.

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I Want Sega Saturn And Dreamcast Classics Collections!

Published March 20, 2023

I’ve been playing some games from the SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics collection recently on my Steam Deck after I saw that it had been given a Steam Deck Verified rating. I had previously played several games from the collection on PC but being able to play them portably and to suspend during gameplay has really renewed my enthusiasm for these games. However, what it has also made me wonder and long for are some collections for many of the classics from the Sega Saturn and the Dreamcast.

Before I talk about what I want from these collections, I think it’s worth briefly touching on Sega’s history as a console developer as well as the history of the SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics collection. Sega first began developing consoles in 1983 with the release of the SG-1000 and, over the course of the next couple of decades, would release other consoles such as the Master System, the Sega Mega Drive, the Sega Saturn and the Dreamcast. However, the failure of the Dreamcast led to Sega stopping production on hardware and becoming a third-party video game publisher. Sega, beyond the games they continue to make after their exit from hardware, has a large back catalogue of wonderful games and Sega has continually made use of that in various compilations. The SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics collection was originally divided into several volumes released for PC before releasing a consolidated collection later. In 2016, Sega updated the collection with the hub, an update that featured both a virtual room to play the games in and mod support. Soon afterwards, it was announced that the release of the hub had resulted in a surge of sales and, in 2018, they released the collection for consoles, Mac and Linux while introducing even more updates such as online multiplayer, achievements, the ability to fast forward or rewind in game etc. It has truly become an outstanding collection and something I’ve got to admire about it was Sega’s continual work on improving it over the years.

An image of the Sega Saturn. — The Sega Saturn.

An image of the Sega Dreamcast, a video game console. — The Dreamcast.

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