Horimiya

Horimiya:

Out of the series of 25 various types of Romance Manga given to us, I decided to explore Horimiya by HERO. After researching, I found out Horimiya is an ongoing manga that has an extensive number of volumes. For blog purposes, I decided to dive in to a few of the volumes to get a good look at the world of Horimiya.

Horimiya is under the category titled "shōnen", which aims towards a young teen male demographic. Originally titled "Hori-san to Miyamura-kun", the manga tells the tale of Kyoto Hori, your average pretty popular girl, who is enticed by Izumi Miuamura, the shy nerdy boy from Kyoto's class. Although, like any Romance story, there is a secret that both Kyoto and Izumi both hold. Behind Kyoto's school identity, she is a housemaid who takes care of her little brother. With Izumi, he has a secret personality, and hides his secret punk personality. When both secrets are revealed to each other,  they find they have a deeper connection then ever before. This love story has many twists and turns, but the love that is formed between Kyoto and Izumi is showcased throughout the series. I really enjoyed reading the few volumes that I did, and I will definitely continue reading the series.

 

UPDATE: An apology for the tiny text

I apologize for the last post...  I can't change the text to be larger....

Reading of the Day: I SAW IT

Week 3: "I Saw It: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima" BY Keiji Nakazawa

Cover of "I Saw It". This expression of anger, shock, and fear is the perfect representation of Keiji.

In "I Saw It" by Keiji Nakazawa, we go over the true story of Keiji and his life living in Hiroshima and the events that lead towards the fatal atomic bomb and eventually the result. We begin with being introduced to Keiji's family, and how life was lived between his parents and siblings. Keiji recalls his life being one of struggle and fear. His family would hide in an air raid shelter and they would live off of rice and beans that could barely fill their stomachs. When the bomb hits, Keiji is protected from the blast radius only due to being behind a concrete wall. Keiji ends up running around the demolished city of Hiroshima and discovers his brother, sister, and father dead. His mother was the only one who survived along her newly born child and his oldest brother, who was out to war.  Later in Keiji's life, Keiji learns to become a cartoonist, and becomes fueled to write about the bombing of Hiroshima after the death of his mother. The comic ends with Keiji continuing to live in Tokyo and continue his career path as a cartoonist.This story was quite astonishing to read, and I was quite shocked to see how graphic the content got. I feel any text referring to Hiroshima (Especially a manga that's translated for english speaking viewers) is usually sanitized. Americans, in specific, doesn't like to reflect over their traumatic actions  and this text helps place the reader in his shoes. I really wish that this text was pushed more towards American audiences so they could sympathize with the victims left from this tragedy. If there was 3 discussion questions I would have to ask it would be:- Should there be more detail added to the original content? -Does the message get conveyed within the page limit the comic currently has?-Was Keiji inspired by another writer/comic/artist that possibly talked about the same topic?

WEEK 3: Cigarette Girl

The Cover and A Sample from Masahiko Matsumoto's book: Cigarette Girl.

Cigarette Girl

For Week 3, We explore the interesting text of Cigarette Girl by Masahiko Matsumoto.
Matsumoto is one of the leading artists of the Japanese alternative comic movement known as "Gekiga". "Gekiga" is the Japanese term that translates to "dramatic pictures" It is known for these comics to include mature themes with a cinematic style that was aimed for adult audiences.

In relation to Cigarette Girl, we go through a series of eleven short stories that tell the tale of locals going through various situations that end up changing the way the individual sees their own world. For Example, in the short story "Naruko Tsurumaki's Love" She returns from the market back to her home to inform her unemployed husband of the job that she found. At this moment, he reveals that he found a dog that he got attached to and named "Peace". Naruko eventually is swayed and enjoys liking the dog, but she expects that her mother may have kicked out Peace for how hyper he is. It's to her surprise when she comes back that not only did she keep the dog but she also gave the pup a box to stay in.

I personally really liked reading Cigarette Girl. If there was one thing that I took particular interest while reading was the fun cartoon-esque style that was consistent in all eleven stories. I have read various mangas and I can say specifically that I have never encountered a style quite like this and I found it refreshing. It really helped me open my eyes to a whole different genre and style that manga as a whole can offer.

Make-Your-Own Manga

15 minute Manga:

Towards the beginning of class after watching a manga and a presentation we were asked to create our own manga following a four panel structure. This structure is the Intro (Ki) that talks about the characters, era, and setting, the Development (Sho) which builds up the story, the Twist (Ten) that switches up the whole story, and the Conclusion (Ketsu) that wraps up the story. Within my Manga (although a rough drawing in nature) starts off with a young girl that wakes up and realizes that she forgot she had school. She then gets ready and runs out of the house in a rush. When she arrives she realizes.. hold up.. she got there early! The ending reveals that the dog changed the time so he could get the whole bed to himself. 

(Here is my very rough Manga) Enjoy! 

Hello! This is a test post to see how this looks on my blog!