Paradise Kiss 04

Wildly-popular artist Ai Yazawa’s beloved fashion-centric manga, Paradise Kiss, is back in a glamorous omnibus edition to celebrate 20 years since the manga began serialization. Follow Yukari’s through-the-looking-glass journey as she is drawn into the world of fashion by a group of passionate, young aesthetes who are determined to make their couture label a success, with Yukari as their muse...

Ivan Isaacs, a former priest turned undead avenger, walks a bloody path of revenge. But even as he closes in on Achmode, the beast- angel, Ivan too is being hunted. Coburn, a tough-as-rawhide Federal Marshal, seeks answers about the mysterious plague that has been ravishing the frontier, and Ivan is the only one who knows the truth. Two men bound by fate, driven by necessity-at long last their paths will cross.

The Rough Guide to Manga is the ultimate handbook offering a comprehensive overview of one of the most fashionable genre's in today's popular culture. The guide features the manga story: from manga's twelfth-century roots to the rise of English-language manga with profiles of influential creators like Leiji Matsumoto and CLAMP as well as publishers to look out for. You'll find an overview of manga's unique styles, techniques and genres decoded as well as a canon of fifty must-read manga, including the iconic Astro Boy, global hits Fruits Basket and Battle Royale, plus less well-known works like Please Save My Earth. The Rough Guide to Manga demystifies unfamiliar terms and genres for newcomers whilst offering manga fans plenty of new recommendations including listings for manga magazines and websites along with a glossary of terms. Crammed with illustrations, and including a section on the anime connection, this is must-have Manga for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

Teens love it. Parents hate it. Librarians are confused by it; and patrons are demanding it. Libraries have begun purchasing both manga and anime, particularly for their teen collections. But the sheer number of titles available can be overwhelming, not to mention the diversity and quirky cultural conventions. In order to build a collection, it is important to understand the media and its cultural nuances. Many librarians have been left adrift, struggling to understand this unique medium while trying to meet patron demands as well as protests. This book gives the novice background information necessary to feel confident in selecting, working with, and advocating for manga and anime collections; and it offers more experienced librarians some fresh insights and ideas for programming and collections. Teens love it. Parents hate it. Librarians are confused by it; and patrons are demanding it. Libraries have begun purchasing both manga and anime, particularly for their teen collections. But the sheer number of titles available can be overwhelming, not to mention the diversity and quirky cultural conventions. In order to build a collection, it is important to understand the media and its cultural nuances. Many librarians have been left adrift, struggling to understand this unique medium while trying to meet patron demands as well as protests. This book gives the novice background information necessary to feel confident in selecting, working with, and advocating for manga and anime collections; and it offers more experienced librarians some fresh insights and ideas for programming and collections. In 2003 the manga (Japanese comics) market was the fastest growing area of pop culture, with 75-100% growth to an estimated market size of $100 million retail. The growth has continued with a 40-50% sales increase in bookstores in recent years. Teens especially love this highly visual, emotionally charged and action-packed media imported from Japan, and its sister media, anime (Japanese animation); and libraries have begun purchasing both. Chock full of checklists and sidebars highlighting key points, this book includes: a brief history of anime and manga in Japan and in the West; a guide to visual styles and cues; a discussion of common themes and genres unique to manga and anime; their intended audiences; cultural differences in format and content; multicultural trends that manga and anime readers embrace and represent; and programming and event ideas. It also includes genre breakdowns and annotated lists of recommended titles, with a focus on the best titles in print and readily available, particularly those appropriate to preteen and teen readers. Classic and benchmark titles are also mentioned as appropriate. A glossary and a list of frequently asked questions complete the volume.

Based on a four-year study, Manga High explores the convergence of literacy, creativity, social development, and personal identity in one of New York City’s largest high schools. Since 2004, students at Martin Luther King, Jr., High School in Manhattan have been creating manga—Japanese comic books. They write the stories, design the characters, and publish their works in print and on the Internet. These students—African-American and Latino teenagers—are more than interested in the art and medium of manga. They have become completely engrossed in Japanese language, culture, and society. Manga High is highlighted by reproductions and content analysis of students’ original art and writing. An appendix includes guidelines for educators on starting a comic book club.

Dramatic advances in genetics, cloning, robotics, and nanotechnology have given rise to both hopes and fears about how technology might transform humanity. As the possibility of a posthuman future becomes increasingly likely, debates about how to interpret or shape this future abound. In Japan, anime and manga artists have for decades been imagining the contours of posthumanity, creating dazzling and sometimes disturbing works of art that envision a variety of human/nonhuman hybrids: biological/mechanical, human/animal, and human/monster. Anime and manga offer a constellation of posthuman prototypes whose hybrid natures require a shift in our perception of what it means to be human. Limits of the Human—the third volume in the Mechademia series—maps the terrain of posthumanity using manga and anime as guides and signposts to understand how to think about humanity’s new potentialities and limits. Through a wide range of texts—the folklore-inspired monsters that populate Mizuki Shigeru’s manga; Japan’s Gothic Lolita subculture; Tezuka Osamu’s original cyborg hero, Atom, and his manga version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (along with Ôtomo Katsuhiro’s 2001 anime film adaptation); the robot anime, Gundam; and the notion of the uncanny in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, among others—the essays in this volume reject simple human/nonhuman dichotomies and instead encourage a provocative rethinking of the definitions of humanity along entirely unexpected frontiers. Contributors: William L. Benzon, Lawrence Bird, Christopher Bolton, Steven T. Brown, Joshua Paul Dale, Michael Dylan Foster, Crispin Freeman, Marc Hairston, Paul Jackson, Thomas LaMarre, Antonia Levi, Margherita Long, Laura Miller, Hajime Nakatani, Susan Napier, Natsume Fusanosuke, Sharalyn Orbaugh, Ôtsuka Eiji, Adèle-Elise Prévost and MUSEbasement; Teri Silvio, Takayuki Tatsumi, Mark C. Taylor, Theresa Winge, Cary Wolfe, Wendy Siuyi Wong, and Yomota Inuhiko.