Comics Journal Article about scanlations

Roadie Joined: 15 Jan 2004 Posts: 66

For those of you who haven't already read it, the comics journal is doing a shoujo manga issue, and as a result has many articles on other kinds of manga....

One of them happens to feature someone we all know... you can read it online here. Its an article about the manga scanlation scene.

In all I'd recommend people here pick up this issue its very informative and where else will you get to see american artcomix types ripping to shreads Chobits and Love Hina Razz

I dare you to guess which one they rated slightly higher....

Street Musician Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 530

Oh wow, pretentious art-comic writers sneering at mass-produced commercial crap. Sounds like a must-see.

As for the article itself I totally agree (being the asshole I am) with the part about how everyone totally shits on one another in a battle for e-cock supremacy (what's up with this 'net-ego' bullshit).
And regarding the "old guards" mentioned, Omanga seems on-par with TW in terms of inactivity, and SnoopyCool isn't really known for doing edgy out-there projects (plus they've been taken over by Shoreline Pool Builders).

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:15 am

Okay, who's the dipshit that masqueraded as stephen. stephen would never plug an evil group like Kotonoha, no he wouldn't.

Roadie Joined: 15 Jan 2004 Posts: 66

Quote:

As for the article itself I totally agree (being the asshole I am) with the part about how everyone totally shits on one another in a battle for e-cock supremacy (what's up with this 'net-ego' bullshit).

I agree, I've never understood the whole fansub/scanlation, "we have to compete with each other" mentality... why don't more of the groups cooperate, its not like they are all out to make money off of this endevor...

A whole lot more stuff would get translated/subbed if not for it, but oh well.

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 9:37 am

Quote:

I agree, I've never understood the whole fansub/scanlation, "we have to compete with each other" mentality... why don't more of the groups cooperate, its not like they are all out to make money off of this endevor...

Because they are ran by PEOPLE. And half of them are idiots, and other half hates everything. Rest of them, like our pure Summer, just loves manga <3

Street Musician Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 530

For the record when I said

Quote:

what's up with this 'net-ego' bullshit

I was ridiculing the word choice the writer used since I found "net-ego" to be rather stupid-sounding.
I honestly couldn't care less about how much you people bickered amongst each other. It's sort of amusing in a sad way.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:41 am

petr wrote:

Because they are ran by PEOPLE. And half of them are idiots, and other half hates everything. Rest of them, like our pure Summer, just loves manga <3

Actually, I'd put myself in the "hates everything" category.

Groupie Joined: 03 Apr 2004 Posts: 118

Neuroretardant wrote:

Oh wow, pretentious art-comic writers sneering at mass-produced commercial crap. Sounds like a must-see.

As for the article itself I totally agree (being the asshole I am) with the part about how everyone totally shits on one another in a battle for e-cock supremacy (what's up with this 'net-ego' bullshit).
And regarding the "old guards" mentioned, Omanga seems on-par with TW in terms of inactivity, and SnoopyCool isn't really known for doing edgy out-there projects (plus they've been taken over by Shoreline Pool Builders).

I totally agree with that assessment. What the hell is up with Shoreline Pool Builders? *grumbles*

Interesting article, though it always weirds me out when I see a print medium writing about scanlations or fansubs. I certainly feel that my horizons have been broadened by the output of certain scan groups. I just had no idea that kind of manga, let alone creativity, existed. The volume of manga that Japan creates is really overwhelming and impossible for me to hope to follow, so I am grateful to certain scan groups for bringing these titles some attention.

But anyway, wow a Love Hina versus Chobits bash fest...and one comes out slightly better? Having given up on both series early on after having fits of stopping myself from ripping out pages, I'd hazard a guess and say...Love Hina? Because it doesn't delude itself into thinking that it is more than male fantasy fulfillment, and strives honestly for that shallow goal? Sort of an Ebert analysis right there....And the person who wrote the article is probably also a guy...But then Chobits is erm prettier to look at since its CLAMP...and (so I'm told) can be "deep"...I found Chobits *slightly* more funny, because at least I could laugh at the geek computer jokes. But I dunno, that's a tough one....

For an issue devoted to shoujo, the scan group Shoujomagic is noticiably absent in the list, but I doubt the writer would email everyone. I always considered SM a monolith in terms of their frickin huge output of shoujo smut (at least 1 release daily!). And I mean hey, SM broadened my horizons as to just how soap opera-ish/romance novel-ish (and standardized) shoujo can get. Its oh so bad, and yet I can't stop reading. Twisted Evil

It almost feels like a study in really twisted Japanese preteen approaches to romance/sex/womanhood after you consume the mass of titles there and it runs together in your head...And yeah I just want to read the smut.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:46 pm

Love Hina did win the bashfest, and I agree with the verdict. To put it simply, Chobits' depiction of love is completely virginal... total fantasy. Both main characters are ideal roles to people of the opposite sex. The girl-bot is childish/sweet and stimulates the desire to protect. The guy is fixated on sex (as any male reader can relate to) and yet is a total gentleman even when everything in the story points to the fact that he doesn't have to be. So he is completely harmless (from a woman's standpoint). The "love" depicted in the story is totally unrealistic and would not lead to any kind of happiness in real life.

As for Love Hina, it's more biologically and instinctively true to human nature. The basic message of LH, when you account that there are more acts of anti-Keiichiro violence than sexuality (he lists the exact number of every different act in both categories!) in the story, is that men are not to be trusted around women. In evolutionary terms, a woman is designed to pick the most capable mate to protect her and their children. She learns early not to let her guard down around young men, because they are evolutionarily programmed to spread their DNA as much as possible. One way that society makes the continued "success" of male-female relations work (and thus the propogation of the species) is the act of passage into an adulthood in which one can control instinctive urges. And a lot of the thematic progress of Love Hina is about the process of becoming an adult, which makes it, according to the article writer, a more valuable piece of work, for young men and particularly women. Of course, he also points out that it's extremely silly on most levels, but the article is really about thematic and not cosmetic criticism.

So ultimately, Chobits = retreat from adolescence, Love Hina = leap into adulthood. I don't like either manga, but the article was very well written and extremely engaging.

Fan Boy Joined: 29 Mar 2005 Posts: 23 Location: Venezuela

Ok to show off my humble beginnings and my mad shonen skillz it's keitaro not keiichiro (that's the equally weenie guy from Happy) sorry dawg even p.stevens misses from time to time.

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:13 pm

So here's the question: do I really just not know anything about Love Hina, or was that a ruse put there to make you think so?

Scoundrel Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 403

mighta read your posts if you weren't such a known clamp fanboy

Groupie Joined: 03 Apr 2004 Posts: 118

I bought the Comics Journal issue today (as well as ordered Blue and a few other Ponent Mon books) and I really enjoyed the issue. Its only the second issue I've read, and I'm about halfway through it at the moment. The Love Hina vs. Chobits article was one of the best analysis of something I hate that I have ever come across. It actually made me re-evaluate why I hate those two titles so much.

I like that Love Hina is cognizant of the fact that it is fantasy, but also grounded and aware of reality, which seems to be similar to what the article was saying. I don't get that impression from Chobits (and a few other titles come to mind). Love Hina strikes me as honest with its intentions (but unappealing), CLAMP just get on my nerves (but is prettier and Chi wears nice clothes...).

Love Hina also seems like the better manga (relativesly speaking) because it is written from a man's point of view for young men to read, while Chobits is written by a woman from what she thinks is the man's point of view for young men to read. The Chobits relationship sounds exactly how most women write shoujo romance, indicating that CLAMP failed to actually break out of their shoujo roots when writing for a male audience. (Well, inverted I suppose. The typical shoujo guy is the opposite of Hideki. He's a virile-bad boy-tough guy who's a "good guy" on the inside. Hideki's a loser who's nice on the outside and well...also nice the inside. Uh right...the common thread being that they truly love the heroine anyway.)

CLAMP also "fail" to shake off the female sensibility in shonen action manga Angelic Layer. I will never understand why they chose to write about mother-daughter turmoil in a title supposedly for young boys. Why would the target audience care?!

I have only read one chapter of Chobits (and 3 eps of the anime), and one volume of Love Hina, so yeah now that the plot of both is summed up in better prose than the original could ever hope to do for me, I don't have to finish them heh.

Some of the reviews of josei and shoujo manga titles were pretty good in the issue as well. The Hagio feature I haven't read yet, but managed to oggle the art in disbeleif.

Roadie Joined: 25 May 2004 Posts: 58

you can only truly gauge the winner by determining which one generated more ero-doujins

and then determining if that one wins or loses for having more.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:33 pm

I haven't bothered to read Love Hina, the only Clamp manga I've even looked at was some freeby I picked up at Shoujocon a few years back (oh yeah, buncha fat middle aged men at that surly event!)

The shoujo issue looks pretty cool but I haven't read that yet either, only thing stopping me is my sneering self-satisfaction at not having read the last five prior comics journal issues, which I also bought.