Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The5toryofthe5ecret5tar5ystem




Daft Punk's visual realization of Discovery, by Leigi Matsumoto. 
Interesting because of the French touch it has to it. As we have seen before, the male characters are often portrayed as massive brutal creatures. In this anime, it is quite the opposite. The boys look just like the girls. This is also something we have seen in manga before, the boys don't really know if they are boys or girls, the sex seems to disappear.
5555





Friday, October 12, 2007

GirlsBravo



Girls Bravo features a young male student named Yukinari Sasaki who was teased and bullied by girls to the point that he developed an allergic reaction, breaking out in hives whenever he comes into contact with a female. One day, when he comes back from school, he falls into his bathtub and is transported to "Seiren", a mysterious world with a mostly female population.
This anime is highly sexual, all the female characters are portrayed as extremely young sexual objects. They are often naked, have kiddy bodies with over sized breasts and always act innocent, although they chase this boy with insistance. This is very typical of manga in general.



Tuesday, October 9, 2007

FashionImpact




Manga Face Gemma Ward
Anime art has wide impact on today's fashion world. Who can look at this top model face and say it doesn't remind us of Macoto's girls? The very essence of this young blonde, big blue eyed girl comes from the manga world, where innocence and sexyness are closely entwined.
Feel the match








Monday, October 8, 2007

More&MoreEyes



As I explained before, the eye is the most important part of a manga, it is what differentiates its authors.
Which is your favorite?




Sunday, October 7, 2007

MangaStoresGoSuperHero



Another phenomene in manga art seems to be the other fantasy expressed by the authors: male perfection, strength, super powers... etc. Here is a small compilation of super hero covers.
Notice how all the girls are set to be innocent and childish, and all the boys extremely powerful and heroic. This tells us a lot about Japanese society as a whole.
Feel the power



Friday, October 5, 2007

MangaStoresGoWild



Today I spent some time in a manga store in Shibuya. It was pretty impressive, many references, many otakus, etc... but a lot of erotic covers! It nearly gave the impression of being in a porn shop. This only confirms the thesis of a sexual fantasy in the authors heroin.
I also came across this Nazi manga, i'm not quite sure what it was really about, but it definitely had a Swastika cross on the cover. I beleive the ultra nationalist movement is getting stronger and stronger because of the North Korean threat. Walking around in tokyo, we can see cars with speakers on top, driving around very slowly and young men inside, speaking ultra nationalist messages through the mega phones. Japan is currently facing a crisis in parliament. Since the end of WWII, Japan is not allowed to have an army to attack. This is being rejected by most Japanese, and the constitution could soon be changed in favor of a powerful army, in order to be able to face North Korea in an eventual atomic war (North Korea possesses the atomic weapon).
Check it out







Wednesday, October 3, 2007

BabyOren-Ishii



These are pictures from the animation found in Kill Bill Volume 1 to tell the story of Oren-Ishii.Ishii is an American of Chinese and Japanese heritage. She was born on an American military base in Tokyo.
At the age of nine, she witnessed her parents being brutally murdered by a Yakuza crime lord, Boss Matsumoto, while she hid in terror under her parents' bed. After this, he burned down the house, and little Ishii barely escaped, swearing revenge against Matsumoto.
Ishii then spent the rest of her childhood training herself to be a ruthless killing machine, expecting extact justice. She finally obtained it at the age of 11, by posing as a child prostitute and stabbing Boss Matsumoto to death. As she plunged the blade of Matsumoto's katana through his stomach, she asked him if she reminded him of someone he had killed. After he died, she pulled the katana out of his body and stole his gun, slaughtering Matsumoto's men in the process.
Oren then worked herself up to become the boss of all Tokyo Yakuza bosses...
Never forget the kid



Monday, October 1, 2007

BloodSuckingSaya



Saya is the heroin of Blood the Last Vampire.
I chose to bring her up for two reasons.
She isn't blond.
She doesn't have blue eyes.
Proof that some fantasies amongst the Japanese anime artists are a little more tortured than lust for innocence, shown in the big round blue eyed, longed haired blondies.
The story is set in the American Yokota Air Base located in post-WWII Japan, a few months before the beginning of the Vietnam War. Saya hunts vampiric demons, the "Chiropteras" using a katana. She works for a secret organization known as Red Shield.
Watch ur back



Futhermore, she is the main inspiration for Kill Bill's Oren-Ishii's youth manga character in Volume 1.