there it is, plain as daylight.

Manga. Sort of. Which I am able to make all about me.

melinda — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:55:12 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about what draws me to manga over western comics, partly because I’ve started reading Captain America, which I’m enjoying, but wow it is hard for me to get used to reading comics in color. I feel like I should like it *more*, but I mostly find it overwhelming (which is, I think, the main reason I haven’t made it through all of Sandman, despite my deep love for Neil Gaiman). For some reason it is a lot easier for me to follow comics that are in black and white, and there’s no getting around it. I’m also really accustomed to the number of panels found on a page of manga, rather than on a page of a western comic book, and I find manga easier to look at because of that as well. What I’m really getting around to here, though, is why I tend to consider my graphic novel in-progress to be an OEL manga rather than an American comic book, and these things (as well as others) influence that. In the next couple of months I’m going to be searching for an artist to collaborate with me on the project, and I think I need to be clear with myself about what I’m looking for, before I get all tangled up in that.

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Fullmetal Alchemist Read-a-Long

melinda — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:12:38 +0000

I’ve started re-reading Fullmetal Alchemist from the beginning, mainly to pass the time until the next volume is released by Viz, and I’ve been posting my thoughts about it as kind of a read-a-long with others in a non-public place. I thought I’d try adding these posts here as well, to be publicly accessible. If anyone else wants to join me in re-reading, that’s great, or if you might start the series for the first time and read along, I’d be completely thrilled!

One note before I begin, I’m using clips from scanlations in my discussions, because I don’t have a scanner available to scan the pages from the books myself, but I *am* reading the Viz editions, and I encourage you all to do the same!

And so, on to discussion of Fullmetal Alchemist, Volumes 1 & 2! (note: restored after editing snafu!)

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Random Saturday morning

melinda — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:23:06 +0000

This post is kind of a catch-all, I suppose. There’s been so much going on. I mentioned the car crash, didn’t I? Well, I won’t go into detail about that here, but suffice it to say that I’ve seen both the best and the worst of human nature throughout the experience, and that I finally have a car again. Some of that is good. The rest, I won’t talk about right now.

In the world of media, I have to say I’m perplexed at some of the harsh criticism I’ve seen of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Basically, this is a geek video made by a geek and his friends in their spare time, just like all the geek videos I ever saw during my high school and college years, the main difference being that this geek and his friends have enough talent and cash on hand to make something that is actually watchable for people outside their A.V. club or local cable access channel. (more…)

The moment you thought that thought… the future changed forever.”

melinda — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:53:59 +0000

I’ve been waiting anxiously for the official release of xxxHolic volume 12, and though it’s been quite an ordeal getting to finally read it (late shipments, car crashes, etc.) it was such a treat to finally really sit down with it. I read it once last night while I was still pretty screwed up in the head (that would be the car crash factor), and then again tonight, slightly less screwed up. Both reads were pretty intense. Volume 12 is very special to me, and I’ll talk a bit about why.

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manga, manga, manga

melinda — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:37:10 +0000

I haven’t come here to talk about manga for a while, and I’ve really read quite a bit of it in the meantime, though much of it has been a single series. Work on my own graphic novel has been going slowly, but right now, I feel like talking about other people’s universes.

I think I mentioned that I finally got the last 11 volumes of Banana Fish (thank you to a generous birthday gift from my folks), and I gobbled them up in very little time.

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Lame catch-up post

melinda — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:50:40 +0000

Life is a pretty weird thing, and it’s rendered me largely unproductive in the past couple of months, even here on the internet, where I am usually able to ramble on without rest. In April, I took a tour of the midwest for the latest round of FP auditions, which was a pretty nice trip. Not only did we see a lot of very talented folks, but I also got to meet up with a friend in Indianapolis the evening before my flight home, which was a wonderful bonus! May brought me to auditions in New York, where I also visited with a friend during her last week in Manhattan, and had dinner bought for me by another friend in honor of my birthday, which was the next day.

Speaking of birthdays, mine was filled with manga (glorious manga!), including the elusive Maison Ikkoku volume 3, which for some reason is impossible to get, and Banana Fish, volumes 8-19, which makes my collection complete! (more…)

Anime Boston 2008

melinda — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:33:23 +0000

I’ve been MIA, I know. Lots going on lately. But I did have some time to write up reports from my experience at Anime Boston this past weekend. (more…)

Lunchtime ramble: there is no coincidence, only hitsuzen

melinda — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:46:45 +0000

Work has been insane for me this week, as I prepare information for our company’s tax accountant, and it becomes impossible for me to leave work at work at these times of year, so I haven’t had a lot of time to think about anything, you know, fun. Fortunately, last night after visiting our own tax accountant (and by “our own tax accountant” of course I mean “the random accountant we were assigned to this year by H&R Block”), Paul and I had a nice, relaxing dinner, followed by a stroll to the local comic shop, and as a result, I came home with two shiny, new volumes of xxxHolic. I haven’t discussed xxxHolic much here, or anywhere else, leading some friends to believe that it is about porn (um, no), so since I did let myself read the first of my new volumes (volume seven) last night before bed, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about it.

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History of a daydreamer

melinda — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:24:27 +0000

In my last post, I talked about how I tend to experience fiction by total immersion. Then for two days after, I proceeded to immerse myself once more by reading all 21 volumes of Please Save My Earth. This is a manga I have been meaning to get to for a while, and though I resorted to scanlations due to lack of funds, I will definitely be buying it when I can, because, really, it was like a nostalgic visit to my very own young teen brain, and that’s something pretty incredible. Four volumes in, I said to friends, “It’s like they removed my teenaged brain and stuck it on paper for all of Japan to read.” This only became more true as I continued through the series.

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Total immersion

melinda — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:51:13 +0000

As you may have noticed, when it comes to fiction, I most often opt for total immersion. There’s really nothing I love more than completely losing myself in a fictional world (mine or otherwise). And, actually, I think “losing myself” is the wrong term to use, because this process is *such* a personal, intimate experience for me, and when I am immersed in a world this way, I feel entirely *present* in a way I often do not feel in “real life.” I think I am, in many ways, more myself in these moments, when I am able to interact with someone else’s inner life through my own.

All that is really just a complicated lead-up to the fact that I have spent the last few days pretty much immersed in the Black Cat universe, and what will probably turn out to be a long-winded description of just how much I enjoyed that. The weekend was spent with the Black Cat anime, followed by a day or two of rapturous flailing, followed by rapid consumption of the manga, which took another two days, and which pretty much blew my obsession with the anime right out of the water. Not all of it is blown, mind you. I’m still haunted by the music and glorious imagery of the anime, especially in the first six or seven episodes, and there are elements of the anime that I probably love more than the manga, though I love the manga much more overall.

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