Wednesday Reading and Other Things
Oct. 7th, 2020 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseHere it is, the day we talk about what we've been consuming and I have a somewhat awkward confession to make.
In the last couple of days, I've discovered a YouTuber named Chris Broad, who does a whole series about living in Japan called ABroad in Japan. He's funny and grumpy (in a very British way) and was born the year after I graduated from college. I try not to think about that last part too hard because I love this show. He talks about food, about Japanese TV, about language, and about other oddities as well as going on huge, long trips with friends where he shows you cool ass things in a country he clearly loves.
I've wasted an extraordinary amount of time watching that this week.
Because I was at the library, I also picked up some actual manga and read them as well. I read a very cute slice-of-life manga about a Japanese student who studies abroad in America and who ends up with a Muslim roommate from Saudi Arabia. This one is called Satoko and Nada by Yupechika. It's a bit Islam 101, but I am always heart warmed by stories where people of very different backgrounds learn about each other's culture. My favorite thing about this manga, however, is that it is assumed that the audience does not need to learn anything about Japan, so all the slice-of-life stuff from Satoko's point of view is when she runs up against things that are VERY WEIRD in America. I f*cking love that, because it's an perspective I really crave. Apparently, menus without pictures are very baffling. In Japan, at least according to Satako, they will sometimes even have plastic models of the food so you can see what it looks like. Satako is very confused by having to READ a description and then picture what food looks like in her head before ordering it.
The other thing I read was The Legend of Mother Sarah by Katuhiro Otomo/Takumi Nagayasu. Otomo, as I'm sure you knew just right off the top of your head, is the author of Akira and I sort feel like you would only really love Mother Sarah, if you were a fan of that. I... am not entirely, as there is way too much rape and graphic violence and more rape.
The reason I ended up reading most of Mother Sarah (note the usage of "most;' I did not get all the way to the end) is because when I was sorting through my comic books the other day, I came across a bunch of Dark Horse manga imports that I had bought when I was in Michigan a couple of years ago and I got curious about the rest of the story.
Image: Dark Horse's American comic book version, circa 1990-something.
Scanlators have uploaded the manga version of this story, and I will say that it is more cohesive than Akira. It still has a lot of Otomo's favorite things. In fact in this particular sub-arc, which Dark Horse has titled "City of Children," there is, in fact, a randomly psychic child who is abusing his abilities to force people into rape arenas. *shakes head* Otomo, this is how anime and manga got a reputation as only being for perverts. Thanks so much.
Which is sad? Because the story itself has some heart--Sarah is roaming the ruined earth in search of children that she was separated from during an attack on the L-5 colony they were all living in. She's hooked up with a visually racially stereotyped Black trader named Tsu, who, if he weren't so cringe-worthily drawn, would be a great character. The thing about Sarah that's truly compelling and which is very different from Akira, is that everywhere Sarah goes she does good--or at least tries to. I don't think Kaneda ever does good, except by accident. (And depends on if you think Kaneda is the main character, because Tetsuo is kind of a wash start to finish, IMHO. And, in the manga Kaneda disappears for a huge section near the end when he's been fazed out of reality.)
At any rate, that's most of what I've been reading, if you don't count all the critiquing I've been doing for my class.
In the last couple of days, I've discovered a YouTuber named Chris Broad, who does a whole series about living in Japan called ABroad in Japan. He's funny and grumpy (in a very British way) and was born the year after I graduated from college. I try not to think about that last part too hard because I love this show. He talks about food, about Japanese TV, about language, and about other oddities as well as going on huge, long trips with friends where he shows you cool ass things in a country he clearly loves.
I've wasted an extraordinary amount of time watching that this week.
Because I was at the library, I also picked up some actual manga and read them as well. I read a very cute slice-of-life manga about a Japanese student who studies abroad in America and who ends up with a Muslim roommate from Saudi Arabia. This one is called Satoko and Nada by Yupechika. It's a bit Islam 101, but I am always heart warmed by stories where people of very different backgrounds learn about each other's culture. My favorite thing about this manga, however, is that it is assumed that the audience does not need to learn anything about Japan, so all the slice-of-life stuff from Satoko's point of view is when she runs up against things that are VERY WEIRD in America. I f*cking love that, because it's an perspective I really crave. Apparently, menus without pictures are very baffling. In Japan, at least according to Satako, they will sometimes even have plastic models of the food so you can see what it looks like. Satako is very confused by having to READ a description and then picture what food looks like in her head before ordering it.
The other thing I read was The Legend of Mother Sarah by Katuhiro Otomo/Takumi Nagayasu. Otomo, as I'm sure you knew just right off the top of your head, is the author of Akira and I sort feel like you would only really love Mother Sarah, if you were a fan of that. I... am not entirely, as there is way too much rape and graphic violence and more rape.
The reason I ended up reading most of Mother Sarah (note the usage of "most;' I did not get all the way to the end) is because when I was sorting through my comic books the other day, I came across a bunch of Dark Horse manga imports that I had bought when I was in Michigan a couple of years ago and I got curious about the rest of the story.
Image: Dark Horse's American comic book version, circa 1990-something.
Scanlators have uploaded the manga version of this story, and I will say that it is more cohesive than Akira. It still has a lot of Otomo's favorite things. In fact in this particular sub-arc, which Dark Horse has titled "City of Children," there is, in fact, a randomly psychic child who is abusing his abilities to force people into rape arenas. *shakes head* Otomo, this is how anime and manga got a reputation as only being for perverts. Thanks so much.
Which is sad? Because the story itself has some heart--Sarah is roaming the ruined earth in search of children that she was separated from during an attack on the L-5 colony they were all living in. She's hooked up with a visually racially stereotyped Black trader named Tsu, who, if he weren't so cringe-worthily drawn, would be a great character. The thing about Sarah that's truly compelling and which is very different from Akira, is that everywhere Sarah goes she does good--or at least tries to. I don't think Kaneda ever does good, except by accident. (And depends on if you think Kaneda is the main character, because Tetsuo is kind of a wash start to finish, IMHO. And, in the manga Kaneda disappears for a huge section near the end when he's been fazed out of reality.)
At any rate, that's most of what I've been reading, if you don't count all the critiquing I've been doing for my class.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-08 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 02:29 am (UTC)his "journey across japan" biking videos are particularly entertaining. :-)
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 03:07 pm (UTC)Also, hello! Welcome!