You may have noticed that we’re branching out here at Manga Bookshelf, including new columns about East Asian television dramas and (as of yesterday) film!
First, a belated introduction to Bringing the Drama, a new, ongoing roundtable featuring bloggers Anna Neatrour and Emily Snodgrass, super-librarian/writer Eva Volin, and manga editor Nancy Thistlethwaite. They started off strong last week, with a discussion of Korean drama You’re Beautiful (one of my personal faves). Though I expect Korean drama will dominate the roundtable overall, discussion is open to Japanese and Taiwanese dramas legally available in English as well. They’ve already got their next topic lined up, and I can’t wait to see what they have to say!
And yesterday evening saw the debut of our new East Asian film column, Subtitles & Sensibility from my favorite film blogger, Jaci Dahlvang. When I asked Jaci if she’d be interested in writing for Manga Bookshelf, I did not believe she’d actually say “yes,” and I’m so thrilled to be able to introduce her to all of you. Her first column, Three with Ken’ichi Matsuyama should please film buffs and manga fans alike. Jaci blogs regularly at My Sock Are On Fire, and she can be found on Twitter as letterboxed.
Please take a moment to check out our new columns, and join me in welcoming all these brilliant ladies to the Manga Bookshelf family!
Sara K. says
February 23, 2012 at 9:45 pmCheers to new columnists!
May I suggest that the drama people also consider Chinese and Hong Kong dramas? I know that there are examples of both available legally with English subtitles. I would like to see a little coverage of Chinese dramas because there is a common trope that all good and worthy Chinese-language pop culture comes from Hong Kong and Taiwan (and maybe, if the speaker is slightly more broad-minded, Singapore), but that pop culture from China is shallow, trite, and utterly worthless. I’d like to see more people shooting down that notion. And I’d also like them to consider Hong Kong dramas because … well, if you were going to make me watch a random drama from Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, and I could not know in advance which drama would be picked, I would not hesitate to go for the random Hong Kong drama.
As for Subtitles and Sensibility … I highly recommend making a post about the revival Taiwanese cinema. Taiwanese cinema has been making a comeback – a few years ago, only artsy types in Taiwan watched local cinema, but now some local movies do as well at the box office as Hollywood blockbusters. I even know which three movies I would pick for such a post – Cape No. 7 (the movie which is credited with starting the revival of Taiwanese cinema as a medium with mass appeal), Monga (which ran in theaters at about the same time as James Cameron’s Avatar – at did better at the Taiwanese box office) and Night Market Hero (a recent hit). I know for sure that Cape No. 7 and Monga are available with English subtitles (though one might have to them on region 3 DVDs), and I’m pretty sure that Night Market Hero is also available on DVD with English subtitles.
Melinda Beasi says
February 24, 2012 at 7:33 amSara, I will pass on your suggestions!