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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

music

Discovering Manga: Podcasts Redux

October 25, 2013 by Ash Brown

Over the last few years I have been looking for manga podcasts to listen to. Sadly, podcasts that exclusively focus on manga seem to be rather difficult to find. However, I have written a couple of posts in the past about the podcasts that I’ve discovered that at least feature manga somewhat regularly. Considering how popular those particular posts continue to be, I don’t think I’m the only person out there looking for manga podcasts. So, here are some brief updates on the podcasts that I’ve written about before. (For more information and my thoughts about the individual podcasts, please refer to the Discovering Manga posts linked to below.)

Discovering Manga: Podcasts
Anime 3000
20 Questions: On hiatus
A3K Radio: Updating weekly
Manga Corner: Updating irregularly
Anime Today: No longer updating; archives available
Manga Out Loud: No longer updating; archives available

Bonus! Japanator Radio: No longer updating; no archives, but track lists still available (I would consider Nihongaku Radio to be its direct successor if you’re looking for some great Japanese music!)

Discovering Manga: Podcasts, Part 2
ANNCast: Updating weekly
Manga Pulse: Updating weekly
The Speakeasy: Updating monthly

Over the next few months I’m planning on listening to and posting about other podcasts I’ve come across that feature manga. Here is the list that I’ll be working from:
Friendship! Effort! Victory!
Fujojocast
Manga^3
Manga Dome Podcast
Otaku in Review Podcast
Weekly Shonen Jump Podcast

Do you know of a great manga podcast (either ongoing or archived) that I’ve missed? Please let me know in the comments, because I’d love to give it a listen!

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: anime, manga, music

Why Manga?

June 5, 2009 by MJ 19 Comments

When I was struggling earlier today to begin a post, something that kept coming to me was how much my feelings for music seemed related–or at least similar–to my feelings for manga, both in depth and breadth. This led me to think about why I love both, and then to why I love manga. But to start, I think the question I must begin with is:

Why Fiction?

Something I’ve always had difficulty relating to is the concept of “real life” as being something different than a person’s online life. I mean, I get it kind of, but it’s not like I become imaginary when I sit down at my computer, and every person I deal with online is just as real as I am regardless of whether or not they are being honest about who they are. Just as in “real life,” my words and actions have the power to affect other people, for good or ill. So how is this not a part of my real life? Similarly, I’ve always been at odds with the idea that imagining, writing, reading, or interacting with fiction is somehow less a part of what’s real in this world (and in our lives) than anything else. Fiction is our greatest tool for sharing ideas with each other as a species, in a way that touches and inspires not just our logical minds, but our hearts and even that intangible thing we like to call our “souls.”

Nearly everything important I have learned about life, people, and the world around me has come from one of two places: my own personal experience or fiction; and I have a feeling that if it was possible to sit down and write out every one of those things, fiction would come out on top. After all, the potential human experience available to one forty-year-old woman is miniscule compared to the volume of fictional works written since the dawn of man, or even just since the dawn of modern language.

Fiction is the the place of dreams, yes, but also the foundation of reality–how we perceive it and how we express that to others. Even the most escapist works tell us something about ourselves, both as individuals and as a society, and I can personally vouch for the fact that even these works are capable of inspiring deep thinking and emotion, whether their authors ever intended that or not. Each person’s experience with a fictional work is wholly unique to that person, and yet it is a connection between one person’s ideas and another’s that gives it its power. This, to me, is the most awesome thing in all the world.

My personal devotion to the products of human imagination–for me, fiction and music in particular–has always been what makes me feel most connected to other human beings, and the only thing capable of successfully bridging my very rich inner life with my more troublesome outer life. As such, I feel these things are inextricable from my life and who I am, and I’m very comfortable with that.

Why Comics?

The one particular product of human imagination it took me until recent years to truly connect with and appreciate is visual art. Outside of a childhood obsession with attempting (unsuccessfully) to draw all the characters out of my own imagined fiction and one year at college during which I would repeatedly visit a particular Pierre Bonnard painting at the Carnegie Museum of Art–earnestly seeking the answer as to why it affected me in a strong, emotional way that other art generally did not–I was never a person who connected deeply with visual representations of life.

The simple explanation for this may actually be that, unlike music, prose fiction, or theater, visual art was not something I could successfully experience as a creator (or at least a participant)–something that those who know me well can recognize as an important part of how I interact with art. How it happened to be comics that finally achieved this is somewhat of a mystery to me, though perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the art is acting as part of a narrative, which is something I can personally connect to more easily than an isolated image.

Yet it was not western comics that actually pulled me in, but manga. Which brings me to…

Why Manga?

The fact that comics are part of mainstream popular fiction and therefore serve a much broader audience in Japan than they do here is, I’m sure, largely responsible for many of the elements that draw me most to manga–epic (but finite), single-creator stories in a huge variety of genres and styles, offering me the same variety and breadth of human experience and emotion as I’d find in prose fiction, movies, or television in this country. Whether this is connected to the sudden and profound realization that I could glean something new about the human experience from hand-drawn black lines on white paper, I am not certain, but I do know that my first encounter with manga was life-changing. It’s as though I was experiencing sight for the first time. For years, my imagination had subsisted (and very heartily) on written, and oral (including musical) language, either brought to life entirely by my imagination (as with print) or by other live humans (theater, television, film)–the closest thing to a visual element I was really in touch with. I can say honestly that up to the point I first read a manga, I really had no concept of how powerful and real a drawing could be or how strongly I could connect with such a thing.

It’s possible that a great deal of why I easily connect with manga in this way after failing to do so with western comics, is the tendency of manga to let the art take the lead in telling the story, which I think is less often the case in comics here. Odd that this would be the key, considering my previous attachment to prose; or perhaps not odd at all, since one of my problems with reading western comics had been that I kept feeling that the pictures were in the way as I tried to read the story. This is not a judgement on western comics, but really a suggestion that until I read manga, I was actually kind of impaired, and it took manga to fix that.

I think what is special about manga and why I have immersed myself so deeply in it in such a short time (aside from the fact that this is just how I do things) is that it offers a unique opportunity for the reader’s imagination. Something I used to talk about regarding art song, which was my favorite form of music to work on as a classical voice student, was that it offered an experience for interpretation that was different than anything else. Unlike opera, in which the music and libretto were working together to tell a single story, art song usually began as a poem–a form that invites greater personal interpretation than narrative fiction –to which the composer would add his/her personal interpretation through music–another form that invites great personal interpretation. The singer is then in the position to draw upon both these potentially disparate elements to create a third interpretation–one that is likely to be unique to each singer (ditto with the pianist, lest this be forgotten). By the time the art song reaches the listener–the final collaborator–the possibilities for interpretation are so richly layered that each person will take away with them something not only unique in itself, but uniquely guided by all who touched the piece before it reached them.

Now you’re saying, “Whoooa, crazy music lady, the manga is more like opera,” (unless you’re just saying, “Whoa, crazy lady you lost me three paragraphs back”) and you’d be right. Except not exactly. Plays, movies, and television are like the opera. Manga is something in between. Though the pictures and the words are working together to tell the same story, the fact that it is black-and-white drawn, still images providing the more specific interpretation of the text actually leaves much more for the reader’s imagination to fill in, which to me is closer to the art song, though perhaps close enough to the opera too to provide the best of both worlds. While the skilled mangaka has the power to inject true, specific human emotion into something as small as a single line on a character’s face, it is still up to the reader’s imagination to actually translate that into the face of a real human–a face that will inevitably be a little different one for each person who imagines it. Aside from the element of color, this is true of western comics as well, but it is the combination of all these things at once–the epic, finite works; variety of genres; visual storytelling style; and the crazy music lady stuff–that makes manga special, or at least makes it special for me.

~o~

If you’ve made it this far, you probably deserve a drink. Since I can’t offer that across cyberspace (is this proof of the whole “real life” business??) I will instead thank you for reading and ask for your thoughts. :)

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: fiction, manga, music, navel-gazing

Snowy Monday

March 2, 2009 by MJ 6 Comments

The snow today has forced me to take a day off, which ends up being a replacement for the day I planned to take (but did not) on Friday. Still, I’d like to have a day off that did not involve shoveling snow. *sigh*

I have one review out today, at Manga Recon’s Manga Minis for volume 26 of Bleach. I still enjoy Bleach more than some of my MR cohorts do, so this was fun for me to review.

I’ve been working on a full series review of Tokyo Babylon, but I’m having a lot of trouble finding a way to address its most compelling themes without giving away major plot points. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Also, I’ve been watching the discussion on the demise of Scans Daily at LiveJournal, and a lot of the arguments I’ve seen flying around have been perplexing (if not surprising). I can go along with objections to scanlations and the sharing of full scans of comics, but objections to the posting of partial scans with analysis/discussion baffles me. For some very sane words on the topic, check out Brigid Alverson at Digital Strips and Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading.

You know, one of the points I’ve seen argued in favor of Scans Daily is that, unlike many comics forums, it was a place where non-typical fans, particularly women, could feel comfortable talking about comics without feeling like they were intruding in someone’s clubhouse, and honestly, I can really understand that. I think some guys in the comics world don’t realize that they exist in an atmosphere that actually discourages new readers to a great extent. I’ve had a hard time getting into western comics, despite the best efforts of some of my friends. I was not a reader of Scans Daily, but I’m considering checking out their new home to see if it might help steer me towards some western comics I could love.

On a completely different topic, those who follow me on Twitter, either through Twitter itself, its RSS feed, the sidebar of this blog, or Facebook (where it feeds my status updates), will know that Paul and I were unexpectedly gifted with free tickets to the Fountains of Wayne acoustic show last night at the Iron Horse in Northampton. I may try to write up a review of some kind later on (the show was fantastic), but for now, here’s a review Paul tracked down at the Hartford Courant. FoW draws a nice crowd in this area (which is Chris Collingwood’s home), and it was great to be there with so many people, most of whom were our age or older.

That’s all for now. Wish me luck on the shoveling. Later!

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: bleach, fountains of wayne, manga, music, scans daily, tokyo babylon

Links: manga, music, and nostalgia

January 26, 2009 by MJ 15 Comments

Oh Monday. How I wish you were Friday. I have one review in today’s Manga Minis at Manga Recon, for volumes 2 & 3 of Go!Comi’s Ultimate Venus. It is a silly, silly series that I enjoyed quite a bit more than expected. This initially led to a rambling post musing on the futility of assigning grades in reviews, but it sort of pushed itself into a corner so I’ve given it up for now. Instead, here are a few random links to things I’ve enjoyed recently:

…

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Filed Under: DAILY CHATTER, FEATURES Tagged With: manga, music

Hitohira, and a little holiday joy!

December 17, 2008 by MJ Leave a Comment

Before I forget to say anything about it, I have a new full-length review up at Manga Recon, for volume 1 of Idumi Kirihara’s Hitohira. I had mixed feelings about this manga, though I admit I’m considering buying the second volume, just to see if it gets any stronger. I’m hoping it does. Also, I think my reviews are getting more solid as I go, which makes me happy.

Life is a little crazy leading into the holidays, especially at work, so I’m trying to take time to enjoy the nice things as they come. This morning on my way to work, our local NPR station played Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves, which my college orchestra played at our holiday concert my senior year. It really brought me back to that time, and I spent much of the day feeling nostalgic about that concert.

It also made me feel like sharing, so here’s a piece from the beginning of that concert, an arrangement (I’m embarrassed to say I don’t remember whose) of the Christmas Hymn, performed by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and Choirs, conducted by Dr. Robert Page, December 1990. It’s a bit chaotic, I suppose. The holiday concert is traditionally performed in the foyer of the College of Fine Arts, which is a big, echo-y, marble place, and for this, the choirs were split up and placed on all sides (including up on the mezzanines), with the conductor in the middle. In a place like that, we really couldn’t trust our ears, so we had to go just by sight. I chose this song, because I figure it’s the one people are most likely to know out of all the pieces we sang on that program. Hope you’ll enjoy. :)

Now I must tackle the work I brought home with me. Goodnight!

Filed Under: DAILY CHATTER, FEATURES Tagged With: christmas, hitohira, manga, music

I’m still trying to stop your heart

October 26, 2008 by MJ Leave a Comment

Um. Apparently this has temporarily become a music blog. Back to the usual manga-talk and self-important essays soon, but first:

Last night, one of my very favorite bands, Northampton’s own Winterpills had a cd release party for their third album, Central Chambers at the Iron Horse Music Hall. It’s always great to see Winterpills at the Iron Horse, because they are able to bring up all their musical pals and create a really rich and exciting show. Last night was no exception.

…

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Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: kaisercartel, music, winterpills

Tales of Awesome

October 24, 2008 by MJ 2 Comments

Yesterday began on a pretty depressing note. Groggy and cranky after a night of poor sleep, I noticed, just as I was about to leave for work, a kitchen full of inky footprints (which led to inky footprints in the living room, where a very inky dog sat chewing on an ink pen). Long story short, I arrived at work very late with ink-covered hands, and the day went downhill from there. Everything changed, however, at the end of the day, and I spent the evening being reminded of two very important truths:

1. People are awesome. Waiting for me when I returned home from work was an unexpected package from the very wonderful Deanna Gauthier, who sent me her entire collection of Fruits Basket manga, and the anime series as well! Now, this is a person I’ve only interacted with online, and the only reason we know each other at all is because she went to graduate school with a mutual friend. She lives way out west, we’ve never met, and yet here she’s sent me this big box of manga that I otherwise would not have the opportunity to read anytime soon. Deanna, you are incredibly generous, and seriously awesome. Thank you so much.

2. Music is awesome. The planned awesomeness for the evening, and the reason why I have not yet dipped into that marvelous box of manga, was a trip to Boston to see British singer-songwriter Tom McRae at Berklee College of Music’s Cafe 939. I’ve been a fan for a while, but this was my first time hearing Tom play live (Paul had seen him once before). The evening was even better than I’d imagined.

Tom McRae is somewhat known back at home, I believe, but horribly under-appreciated over here, and though the cafe has a nice sound system, and is very well-run, I was depressed to see that he’s playing such small venues in this area, and that even this place was not full. When my husband found out I’d be blogging about this concert today, he said, “Beg. Please beg.” And so I will. Tom McCrae does not have nearly enough fans in this part of the world, so please, follow the jump and allow me to beg your attention.

…

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Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: fruits basket, manga, music, tom mcrae

Plastic Tree – Utsusemi

September 30, 2008 by MJ Leave a Comment

I mentioned last week or so that Plastic Tree’s new album was due out while I was at NYAF, and now that I’m home I’ve finally got a chance to listen to it. This does not resemble a coherent review or anything, but I do have some quick reactions on the new tracks that I can share. These are pretty much stream-of-consciousness, which may give you a clear idea of why I do not usually allow myself to write that way. Also, keep in mind that these impressions are based on music only, as I haven’t read any translations yet. And so…

Notes on Utsusemi: …

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: music, plastic tree

J-rock interlude

September 20, 2008 by MJ Leave a Comment

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it here, but I’m a big fan of the band Plastic Tree (PuraTuri, if you prefer). They are one of my very favorite bands, and and unlike a lot of their fans, I love both their raw, older sounds and the newer, more pop-influenced sounds. I mean, okay, if you put individual songs head-to-head, I’m not going to say I like “Alone Again, Wonderful World” as much as, say, “Rocket” or “Nukegara” or “Irogoto” or “Petshop,” but I’d say that about “Andro Metamorphose” or “Mujineki” or even “Replay” on the right day. There’s a place in my life and heart for every phase of this band’s long history, and a moment that is the perfect moment for each song, somewhere along the way.

I’m not sure I could tell you exactly why I love this particular band so much, though I can say that I could listen to Ryuutarou Arimura sing all day, and often do, but somehow in their mish-mash of sounds and influences, they have captured me completely. I’ve spent long, exhaustive posts on this topic in other spaces, and in the end perhaps it is just simplest to say that this band speaks to me, so I listen.

What this is all getting around to, is that Pura has a new album, Utsusemi, coming out next week (available for pre-order at Yes Asia), which I’ve been anxiously waiting for, and I just found out, though this is probably old news to all other fans, that you can stream clips of all the songs over here at Universal Japan. A couple of the songs have been available already as singles (“Alone Again, Wonderful World” and “Replay“) but the rest are all brand new, and there are a few I already know will be favorites for me (the title track, for instance).

Just passing it on. :)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: music, plastic tree, pura

End of an era

August 5, 2008 by MJ 4 Comments

I’m actually going to talk about something other than manga today. Hopefully this does not mean the end is near.

So, I got an e-mail this morning, letting me know that Derek Sivers is selling CD Baby. I knew it had to happen someday. Derek never really intended it to become what it did, and the site was never going to be his life-long passion. He’s selling to Discmakers, and while I’m not exactly sure what to think of that, they are at least a company that depends on independent artists for their business, so they should understand who they’re working with. After all the drama with Livejournal selling to SixApart a few years back, I suppose I should be much more jaded over all this “they’ll do a better job” type of talk, but I can hardly think of any person I’ve known in any business with more integrity and real sincerity than Derek Sivers, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here. Yes, I’m sure that there will be changes at CD Baby, and probably some of them I’ll like, and some I won’t, but that might have happened even with Derek. Now I admit, I don’t have as much at stake as many other artists on the site. My cd is out of print, I’m not marketing it (as if I ever did, heh), and I’m only collecting digital sales from CD Baby at this point anyway. But I really believe in and care about what CD Baby stands for, so I do have some stake in preserving that. I hope Tony Van Veen at Discmakers feels the same way. Also of interest, the birth of CD Baby comes in at #1 on CMJ’s “Ten Moments in Ten Years : a celebration of independent music.”

On a more personal note (because that’s what I do, I personalize everything, and hey, I’m managing to bring in manga after all), Derek also posted today Abraham Maslow’s 8 Ways to Self-Actualize, which really struck a chord with me this morning. …

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Filed Under: DAILY CHATTER Tagged With: graphic novel, manga, music, navel-gazing

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