Manga rides the rails

Following in the footsteps of Shaenon Garrity, Matt Thorn unearths another manga treasure from the past, Kisha Ryokô (A Train Journey), by Noboru Ôshiro, published in 1941. Ôshiro’s clear-lined art reminds me a bit of Tintin, and it makes me wonder whether there would be a market for this sort of work in translation. I love the style of that era. Thorn scanned in about half of the book and added some notes, and he adds a bit of context, noting that it was published at a time when most media were churning out “pro-war, ultra-nationalistic propaganda”—yet there is none of that in this book. Anyway, go, enjoy the visuals, even if you can’t read the words.

The Yaoi Review takes a quick look at some September releases.

Katherine Farmar looks at some of her favorite manga authors’ notes at Whereof One Can Speak.

Yamila Abraham had a great time at OtakuMex, and she makes an interesting observation: “It’s now a fact that most female and gay anime fans are also fans of yaoi.” And yet, she says, con organizers are often hostile to yaoi.

News from Japan: ANN reports that Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo creator Yoshio Sawai will start a new manga series, Chagecha, in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Reviews: Andrew Wheeler reviews another mixed trio of manga at ComicMix: vol. 3 of Dororo, vol. 1 of Afro Samurai, and vol. 1 of E’s. Oyceter’s reviews are always worth reading, for those who don’t mind spoilers; new at Sakura of DOOM are vols. 1-3 of Sand Chronicles, vols. 2 and 4 of One Thousand and One Nights, and Nabi: The Prototype. Michelle Smith is not too impressed with the antics in vol. 1 of S.S. Astro at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. Connie gives her take on vol. 13 of Skip Beat, vol. 29 of Oh My Goddess, vol. 2 of Fairy Cube, and vol. 5 of Oyayubihime Infinity at Slightly Biased Manga. Lissa Pattillo checks out the short-story collection Sugarmilk at Manga Jouhou and Fumi Yoshinaga’s Garden Dreams at Kuri-ousity. Julie finds vol. 1 of Afro Samurai difficult to read at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Erica Friedman reviews chapters 8 and 9 of Gunjou at Okazu. Dave Ferraro finds Red-Colored Elegy worth reading if somwhat dark at Comics-and-More. Michelle Smith reviews vols. 6, 7, and 8 of Kare Kano at Soliloquy in Blue. Holly Ellingwood checks out Today’s Ulterior Motives and Scott Campbell reads vol. 5 of MPD-Psycho and vol. 3 of Switch at Active Anime. Sesho has a podcast review up of vol. 1 of Zombie Powder. Jason Van Horn reviews vol. 30 of Naruto at The Hachiko. Sabrina checks out vol. 1 of Knights of the Zodiac at Comics Village.

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Comments

  1. Ed Sizemore says

    Brigid,

    I completely agree. Ôshiro’s work also reminds me of Herge’s art. Tintin goes to Japan.

  2. Thanks for the link, Brigid! Just one correction, though. I only scanned a bit less than half of Ôshiro’s book, which is 121 pages long. I responded to Ed’s comparison to Tintin at some length in the comments section.

  3. I think convention organizers have the same difficulty with yaoi that they have with, say, furries or lolicon— all three tend to be sexual at their core, even though many of their iterations don’t involve any graphic sex.

    I think it’s difficult for organizers to be able to define the line of what’s permissible and what’s not in a lot of these cases— not necessarily because they have anything against any of those particular fetishes, but because part of their job is to keep the convention and the con space out of legal trouble.

    …Not that there probably aren’t con organizers who are hostile to it as well. But I think it can also just be frustrating for them to try and find the balance of catering ALL con-goers, from the adult fans who are interested in adult materials to the younger attendees and their parents.