Customer Reviews

Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society (Consumasian Book Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Disingenuously claiming to be "the first detailed analysis of the post-war pop-cultural phenomenon of Japanese adult manga in English", (presumably Anne Allison and Frederik Schodt weren't detailed enough, and Groensteen's L'Univers des Mangas was too French) Sharon Kinsella's Adult Manga throws nuggets of interesting information across sweeping fields of missed opportunities. For a study of the relationship between author and editor, it is an ironically incoherent subbing job, with repeated text, entertainingly random italics and idiotic use of English titles (Tezuka's well-known "Atom Boy", as well as an anime called "Megalopolis" and another one called "Doomed"...). Kinsella also seems to only translate titles on a haphazard basis; some are in Japanese with English translations, and some are not. The Japanese bits, especially about life inside the giant publisher Kodansha, are informative, but she makes so many mistakes talking about the English industry that one can only hope she's not cocking up elsewhere. The best bits are the few sections that consist of "What I did during my paid holiday at Kodansha's offices", although she does not seem to have marshalled the information she amasses. She notes that artists have many assistants, for example, and notes the educational value of photo-real draughtsmanship, but doesn't seem to have realised that one is related to the other, and that using the real world as a baseline is a good way of matching disparate art styles in a busy studio. Bottom line is her book will give you the chance to get gossip and quotes from several interesting Japanese sources, which you otherwise wouldn't have seen. But considering the two-year delay from its original intended publication, I would have hoped for something a little more up to date; some of Kinsella's conclusions were already dated in 1995, and are showing their age now.

Kinsella's book presents her view of the Japanese manga industry, as colored by her experiences inside it for a few months on a research grant from Kodansha (Japan's largest publisher). While there is much of value here, she is simply misled, mistaken, or wrong in so many other areas it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. For example, contrary to her assertations, very few manga are group efforts written by committee. And while it's true some editors provide plotting assistance to the creators and some are even uncredited co-writers, many are reduced to banging on the door of the artist's apartment hoping some pages will be poked out of the mail slot when the deadline comes around. Her analysis of the international manga translation industry seems to have been written without the benefit of any real research into same. Bottom line--if you know the biz well enough to separate fecal matter from boot polish, some great tidbits here. If not...don't believe everything you read.

I read this book for two reasons. First is due to my love for anime and manga and the desire to further my knowledge for this cultural phenomenon. The second is because I'm planning on minoring in East Asian Studies, and I thought this book would give me insight as to the comparative politics concerning manga in both hemispheres of the world.

This book has done so, and more. "Adult Manga..." explains, in a well organized and detailed manner, the history of manga, from it's downfall in the 60's to its revival in the 80's. Other aspects about this book that I found very interesting were the attitudes expressed in both the western and eastern cultures. Ms. Kinsella goes on to discuss how manga has made it's place in the status-quo of the Asian region in the world, while at the same time, is struggling to makes itself known in mainstream pop-culture in America.

After I finished this book, I was enthralled by how much I was able to learn, while at the same time, I was also upset about how ignorant I was to ignore some of the most important aspects about manga concerning Japanese society. To paraphrase, manga is, more or less, a direct correllation to the social and cultural trends in Japan. How much of that statement can encompass is left to the reader.

If you think manga was just about big-breasted women, sophisticated mecha-warriors and cute furry animals, think again.

I thought this book was a good read. I have been a fann of manga for a few years now, and read them in both english and japanese. This book was most interesting dealing with the day to day creation of manga. However, i do have to disagree with a few things. One: As it is stated above most artists are the main creative agents in their work, and two i really disagree with the categorization that Ms. Kinsella places Ah! Megami-sama and gunsmith cats into, lolicom. The female characters in both these series, except for Skuld, are young women not little girls. Maybe it is the cute style they are drawn in, but if that is the case wouldn't every series with cute characters be considered lolicom? i mean Akazukin Cha Cha and Kodomo no Omocha both have adorably cute charaters, but are definately not lolicom. . .

Lots of big words in this one... a bit too much for me to take. But I think it was a good book. I just probably wasn't good enough to read it.

I don't know man, this book is like pop out the dream in my mind, it's great, I mean not just great graph, also great story, and characters... When I read it, I feel like I am one of them, and get in it so deeply!