Manga
One of the readings that caught my eye was Cinderella Boy. The first thing that I notices as I was reading is how it was unapologetically for a female audience! It had a female protagonist and was full of teen bot idols. I could totally see 6th grade Lainey wistfully wishing she was Riku as she read it in the manga section of barns and noble. To be honest I tired of it pretty quickly, but it was a fast read so I stayed til the end. I'm sure it was meant for younger audiences so the story had to be simple. In class you informed us it was called shojo manga.
It says a lot about the culture of comics in Japan that there are specific words for every possible subsection of the genre.
I had heard of Astro Boy in the context of the American remake and knew it was a cultural symbol in Japan, so I thought it would be important to read. The simple cartoony style made me think it was for children, but I was surprised by how dark it got. It shows the death of the real boy almost immediately and then child abuse of Astro Boy. Violet capers ensued and children got yelled at and beaten. Japan has a wider idea of what can be considered stories for children. This also might show the differences between Japanese and American culture. Japan's culture is (traditionally) very strict and focused on study, work, and sacrifice. American's cradle childhood, or the perceived innocence and purity of what kids should read.
We talked in class about the production of Tezuku's work. I noticed that a lot of his characters looked really similar to one another. The character designs were simple and could easily be draw over and over again.
It says a lot about the culture of comics in Japan that there are specific words for every possible subsection of the genre.
I had heard of Astro Boy in the context of the American remake and knew it was a cultural symbol in Japan, so I thought it would be important to read. The simple cartoony style made me think it was for children, but I was surprised by how dark it got. It shows the death of the real boy almost immediately and then child abuse of Astro Boy. Violet capers ensued and children got yelled at and beaten. Japan has a wider idea of what can be considered stories for children. This also might show the differences between Japanese and American culture. Japan's culture is (traditionally) very strict and focused on study, work, and sacrifice. American's cradle childhood, or the perceived innocence and purity of what kids should read.
We talked in class about the production of Tezuku's work. I noticed that a lot of his characters looked really similar to one another. The character designs were simple and could easily be draw over and over again.
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