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Manga about Otaku Culture




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Sallymae



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:09 pm Reply with quote
Hello, I am going an essay on Otaku Culture represented in manga. I have a lot from the 21st century but seeing as it is still a history course I need to have some older series. Does anyone know any manga series that are from the 1990s and (probably pushing my luck) from the 1980s

Thanks Very Happy
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ZepysGirl



Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 470
Location: NY, NY
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:23 pm Reply with quote
The closest I've got is Otaku no Video, but that's an anime/documentary. Sorry. Confused

Wikipedia has a pretty decent listing of manga involving otaku, if you don't mind that they're all basically from the 2000s.
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 8:12 pm Reply with quote
http://animeigo.com/products/anime/otaku-no-video Picking up Otaku no Video probably would be a good idea, especially if you want an idea what anime fandom was like in the 80's.

In terms of other stuff-

http://www.digitalmanga.com/books/174/ Flower of Life from Fumi Yoshinaga shows a more casual representation of fan culture in Japan, outside the wilds of Akihabara's bizarre lifestyle. It focuses in on a class of students, with assorted life drama happening around stuff like a classmate entering her work into a Dojin fair, two of the characters getting a portfolio review from a publisher, and one reading dojinshi about an anime about Nuns while on the bus :) It's a 4 volume series, and is an interesting portrait of high school life, and growth as a cartoonist

http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/0JewFrq2xvfUto9iT5/browse/item/70918/4/0/0 The Comic Party franchise is a pretty silly entry (it's based on a dating sim themed around comic book fairs), but has interesting bits in it about how dojinshi festivals work. Tokyopop published a lengthy manga version, while CPM Manga published a more interesting entry, a 3 volume series of short stories created by actual Dojin artists with the characters.

http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/0JewFrq2xvfUto9iT5/browse/item/82155/4/0/0 Dojin Work is similar to Comic Party, but a little more comedic and free of the romance aspect.

animenewsnetwork.com/house-of-1000-manga/2010-09-23 Mania Road is apparently a more nerdier entry, that focuses even less on romance. Jason's review gives you an idea about how nerdy it is- there's chapters on RPG's :)

Will add more soonish... a lot of stuff is from the late 90's or 2000's that's out here or well known, I'm guessing mostly due to less of a focus on manga about manga.

A few others-

-Fall in Love like a Comic and Cactus Secret are both shojo manga about manga artists who also attend high school. This is also a plot element for a supporting character in Otomen [though gah, these characters must never sleep, knowing the work schedules of manga artists 0_o!] You can preview all three here- http://www.shojobeat.com/downloads/#onlinemanga?utm_source=SBsite&utm_medium=SB_staticboxmanga_text&utm_campaign=SBApril10

That's also the plot of Comic from Yen Press- http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/0JewFrq2xvfUto9iT5/browse/item/70906/4/0/0 a lengthier manwha about a teen Korean comic artist.

- I recall Jason reviewed Ippongi Bang's work animenewsnetwork.com/jason-thompson-house-of-1000-manga/ippongi-bang/2010-05-20 If you dig through assorted back issue bins, you can find lots of her stuff. Jason's article is interesting mostly because it shows a lot about domestic fandom in the early 90's, in Ippongi Bang's role and interaction within it, attending cons and promoting her translated work.
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ZepysGirl



Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Posts: 470
Location: NY, NY
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 8:48 pm Reply with quote
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Cactus's Secret has anything to do with creating manga while in high school, other than that's apparently what the manga-ka did at one point. Of course, I've only read the first volume, so maybe one of the characters gets revealed as a manga-ka later in the series...


And if we're branching out to manga about creating manga, then Bakuman should be mentioned as well.
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jmfsilenthill



Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 1863
Location: Chinese cartoons are srs biz
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 8:53 pm Reply with quote
Welcome to the N.H.K deals with certain aspects of otaku culture. The main character's best friend is a self proclaimed otaku. But the series also deals with some of the negative things associated with it, and other's perceptions and opinions of otakus.
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Sallymae



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:34 pm Reply with quote
Zepsy: Thank you very much! We watched a bit of that film in class so I will definantly be touching up on it and I will give Bakumen

Paploo: Wow, thanks, these will help me, I am quite sure! I have a lot of reading to do tonight haha. Thank you for providing the links as well, it is greatly appreciated Very Happy

jmfsilenthill: I will give that series a look as well

Thank you everyone! Smile
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 10:31 am Reply with quote
ZepysGirl wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Cactus's Secret has anything to do with creating manga while in high school, other than that's apparently what the manga-ka did at one point. Of course, I've only read the first volume, so maybe one of the characters gets revealed as a manga-ka later in the series...

And if we're branching out to manga about creating manga, then Bakuman should be mentioned as well.


Oops, guess I'm getting plotlines confused with reality Smile

And yeah, Bakuman's a good example, though it's pretty recent.

Though it did just remind me of A Drifting Life- Yoshihiro Tatsumi's autobiography that shows a fascinating look at pre-anime manga fandom in the 1950's, the manga industry's growth and roots, and the cult fandom of Tezuka of that era. That goes back even further then the 80's, and shows how an obsession with manga shaped the lives of both Tatsumi and his brother.

http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?st=art&art=a41e32e169aff2 It's an insanely good, inspring read too, for a perspective on the creative mind. D&Q also published one of the titles mentioned in it that Tatsume created in his earlier career, Black Blizzard. I think it'd give you a more broad view on manga fandom then the more current, moe-otaku stuff (there seems to be a divide between some manga/anime fans in Japan and the galgame set, though not sure if there's any manga about that particular aspect of the fandom).

http://www.jai2.com/DL.htm You may also want to read DreamLand Japan- though it covers some mature titles/genres, and a lot of underground and otherwise niche manga that is more about how broad a range manga attracts [manga for new mothers! Manga for gamblers! Manga for senior citizens!] than Otaku Culture [though Otaku Culture is covered within it]. Fred's Manga Manga! is also a pretty wellknown text, published in the 80's that is still pretty solid in terms of coverage.
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