The Book of Friends or Natsume Yuujinchou

In the country-side of small-town Japan, Takashi Natsume is running from something. Out of breath and slightly panicked, he crashes through bushes to the main road and stops in front of two high-school boys. Out of breath, he asks casually if there's a holy place round. After confirming his route with the baffled boys, Takashi takes off again as if there's a bakemono (monster) after him.

There is.

This anime is a delight of the yokai (spirits), kami (gods), and monsters (bakemono) of Japan. With every moment, I had the feeling of a world filled with magic and wonder. The water colours of this anime put me in that lazy, summer-time mood were the sun is shinning, and anything is possible.

The premise of the story is that Takashi, who has been shuttled from family member to family member since he was orphaned, comes to settle in the country-side. In the country-side, the spirits of the land take an unusual interest in him, mistaking him for his grandmother, Reiko. Takashi discovers that his grandmother had been bully the spirits in the area, and collecting their in the Book of Friends, after defeating them in battle. Once their names were written in this Book, anyone who read their names had power over them. The spirits are not happy and want their names back.

The spirits have various ways of hounding Takashi to return their names: politely, in anger, or by generally being a nuisance. Since Takashi is kind heartened, he returns their names without reservation. This causes Madara, his appointed Lucky Cat guardian, to berate him with disgust and contempt as Madara wants to use the Book of Friends to control all the spirits whose names are written within.

This anime is a perfect blend of humor and heartache. The story theme of loneliness is woven through every encounter with the sprits of the land. The story of the forgotten god in his shrine, once so powerful and tall when he was filled with the prayers of his believers, and who slowly faded away when his last worshipper finally died was incredibly sad. The loneliness of Takashi is also prevalent through out each story, as he brings his understanding of himself - a strange boy with who talked to imaginary friends and who was shunned – into play when interacting with the spirits.

The anime ended too soon and I have every intention of reading the manga version by Midorikawa Yuki. I’m also happy to find that a third season called Natsume Yuujinchou San has been announced for later in 2011.

Conventions in Vancouver

Vancouver has a large anime and manga related convention called Anime Evolution that I've attended as a convention goer and an artist ever since its inception at SFU. It is a grand place to see the talented artists we have in Vancouver in the Artist's Alley and of course to gorge on fine, imported Japanese popular culture.


Two of my favorite artists Nina Matsumoto and Camilla d’Errico whose careers I've had the pleasure of seeing explode into book deals and online and offline fame will be attending the convention this year.

Nina Matsumoto has a manga out from DelRey called Yokaiden in which the mythological creatures of Japan are heavily featured.

Camilla d'Errico whose works hang in the Ayden Gallery in Tinseltown has combined manga style art with surrealism.








Other conventions going on in Vancouver this year:

Anime Evolution
http://www.animeevolution.com
Aug 13-1 5

Vancouver Comic Con
http://www.vancouvercomiccon.com/
Aug 29 (happens once per month)

Vancouver's Convention of Science Fiction and Fantasy
http://www.vcon.ca/
Oct 1-3


Surrey International Writer's Conference
http://www.siwc.ca/
Oct 22-24

The Tale of the Gallant Jiriaya and its influence on Naruto

Like the story of Kagua Hime or the Adventures of Monkey which respectively influenced Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball, the old Japanese folktale of Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya) has influenced several stories and characters in anime and manga.

Remember the three legendary Ninjas of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsusande in Naruto? Their names and their powers of toad, snake, and snail magic are pulled from this story. In this folktale, Tsusande and Jiraiya were married when they were attacked by their one time friend Orochimaru. Orochimaru had fallen under the influence of snake magic.


Kishimoto wove this folk-tale into Naruto brilliantly. Like Kagua Hime or the Adventures of Monkey, he's given this Japanese folk-tale of Jiraiya new life and has shared it with millions of people across the world.

 

As a side note, Orochimaru in Naruto has another power of pulling a sword out of this mouth. In Japanese Myth, this sword is called the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Grasscutter Sword).

The Japanese god Susanoo found this sword in the body of the eight-tailed and head serpent called Yamata no Orochi he slew to protect a Shinto God's daughter. If the name Susanoo sounds familiar, it's the third ability Sasuke uses with the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Switching Gender Roles in Manga: Men as Women and Women as Men

The reversal of the traditional female and male role in a story is interesting to me because it exposes the conventions of a story. In terms of character archetypes, story genres, and the hero's journey, there are reasons why these conventions exists; they work.

They work on a level that is universal in that most people around the world despite cultural and traditional differences can recognize and identify with a story imported from another culture (as with the case with anime and manga).

However, with the understanding of a convention, it's interesting what happens when the writer makes a slight change. For example what happens when women play what is typically the male 'prince/hero/rescuer' lead in an story? and men play what is typically the female 'princess/heroine/damsel in distress' lead in a story?

Note: I'm not talking about these characters trying to be the opposite sex...just that they are playing roles traditionally reserved for the opposite different gender -- if that makes sense.


Utena (Utena) and Bakuretsu Tenshi (Jo) 

1. Have personalities that are bold, brave, unconquerable
2. Strides boldly into adventure
3. They are stronger and more skilled than everyone else
4. They have a princess they are trying to save

To the right is an image of the hero Utena with her princess, Anthy. As you can see, even the cover image shows immediately that Utena is the protector. She's standing in front of Anthy, aggressively looking into the camera, her stature is strong and upright, and she seems to be saying, I'll take you on.







 Gankutsuo (Viscount Albert de Morcerf)

1. Has a softer, empathic personality
2. Attracted to the man that whisks him away on an adventure
3. No physical battle prowess
4. Saves the hero with a kiss

Gankutsuo is a trippy anime that pushes the boundaries of animation and turns the convention of the heroine role on its head. In contrast to Utena's stance above, Albert, in the heroine role is in a pose traditionally reserved for a woman, which is caught, helpless and submissive. The story of Gankutsuo reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, with Albert playing the role of Belle.





Conventions work because they are tried and tested through the ages, however it's trippy to see what happens when there's a slight change, as in the role reversals above.

Osamu Tezuka and the Man with no Limbs - Dororo

Osamu Tezuka is a great name in manga and anime and is said to be the Walt Disney of Japan. He was greatly influenced by Walt Disney and was apparently the instigator for the large manga eyes we all know and love.

This Disney connection is interesting to me because my animation teacher (and most other people in the traditional animation industry when I went to school) seemed to dismiss manga and anime techniques as unworthy of attention or study. Every so often, I'd run across his works in book stores and flip quickly through. The art inside reminded of old school Disney cartoons of Popeye and Mickey Mouse. After a brief glance, his books went right back on the shelf as the traditional animation techniques and style of Disney what I studied and was familiar with and I liked manga and anime because of it was so different.

As the years went by, I never bothered read or watched any of his works until I saw the live action Dororo last year. If you've never seen Dororo, it's one of those movies you watch with a sense of wtf? I was startled by it. I watched it and thought, 'I have no idea what I saw, and I don't know if I want to know'.

When I was in Kyoto last year, at JR Kyoto station, there was an exhibit of Tezuka's works. Statues of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion led me to the Osamu Tezuka World exhibit. I paid to see a clip of one of his animated TV shows (don't know the name) and found it a psychedelic experience. It had bright colours, cute characters, and a mish-mash of myths from different cultures thrown in.  I remember sphinxes, time travel, a city in the future, a devil, and I swear there was a unicorn in there somewhere. I left the theater once again scratching my head and going wtf?

Now, I had to know what this is all about.

From my brief glances at Tezuka's works in manga form, they were nothing like I'd seen expressed in anime or live action form. I finally picked up Dororo Vol 1-3 from my local library last week. When read this book, I realized that I've doing what I always got so annoyed at people around me for doing; dismissing a manga because of appearances.

The theme of Dororo is that 'no one is born whole' and the story really express that theme. The premise of Dororo is that a father, in return for power, gives up his unborn child as payment to 48 demons. The child is born without any sort of limbs except a body and head.  When he grows up, to get back his limbs, he journeys to kill the 48 demons. The crazy part is that since his whole body was fashioned for him, his prosthetic arms detach to reveal swords, and that's how he fights.

The art-style is cute but the subject matter is pretty gruesome; you see children get shot full of arrows, people starving to death, and lives of full of misery in a backdrop of war. Yet there's a humor, hope and perseverance through it all.

I am now on a quest to read all of Tezuka's works. I found the end of Dororo very unsatisfying, but I hope to startled again by his other works. Onward to Buddha! :)

Character Generation in Manga: How to make characters interesting

My previous post Character Generation in Manga: Characters on a theme showed how to effortlessly generate manga characters within seconds. So now you have the characters, what are you going to do with them?


This post will show you how to develop the featureless characters you have generated. This is different from my post on Anime Archetypes which gives you a broad over view of the generic personalities in manga and anime.




When a character is introduced, their current personalities a result of their back story. But since we don't know much about them, they are usually an archetype that is instantly recognizable, overblown, and familiar. It's very rare that an audience will immediately care about a character in the beginning of a story because caring and identification requires time to build up.


How the character develops a personality happens within a story arc. A story arc requires a character to change from one end of the spectrum to another. If they don't they become a tragic character.


I will take one of the Zodiacs and map his introduction into the story and his transformation from a one dimensional character to someone that I care about. 

Once again, the characters of Fruits Baskets pulls from the mythology of the Chinese Zodiac. When we first meet the Sohma family of the twelve zodiacs, they are under a curse. They are trapped for eternity in an endless cycle of secrets and abuse. Nothing changes, and everyone has given up and simply living their lives as it is.

*Warning of spoilers*

 

Sohma, Hatori - The Dragon


When we meet Hatori, all we know about him is that he's the doctor of the Sohma family. He takes care of Akito and erases peoples memories when they find out about the Sohma family curse. His personality is serious, no-nonsense, and efficient.


Akemi: So far he's not that interesting, except at a potential threat to Honda Tohru, our heroine.






As the story continues, he invites Tohru over to the Sohma family house to talk. When she arrives, Hatori warns Tohru to leave because the family curse of turning into animals is not as harmless as she thinks it is.


Akemi: At this point I still know nothing of Hatori, and personality to me become heavy-handed, threatening, and mildly scary because I don't know his motives.




When Honda arrives at the family house, Hatori's back-story is revealed. He was once in love with a woman name Kana, his assistant. Kana knew that Hatori changed into a Zodia animal and eventually, they wanted to get married. Sohma Akito got angry at their request and blinded the Hatori in one eye.  Kana felt such sorrow and guilt that Hatori lost his eye that she became clinically depressed. As a result, Hatori had to erase Kana's memories of their time together. Kana no longer knows him even though Hatori still loves her.


Akemi: With this backstory, I now understand Hatori's motives in his warning Honda away. Because of of the hurt, pain, and loss that he experienced when a normal human being tried to become part of the family.

(read the page above from right to left)

WIth this information, Hatori's character has now become a human being to me. He's gone from one of the 12 zodiacs to simply Hatori. I remember him, I'm sad for him, I want him to be happy again. And I'm really hoping that he doesn't turn out to be a villain an erase Honda's memory.

When your audience begins thinking, feeling and asking questions about your character, you have been successful in creating a unique individual.

So let's map Hatori's Story Arc:

Introduction. The family doctor for the Sohma family, he erases peoples memories when they find out about the family curse. 

External Personality. He is very cool and serious. Not very interesting but mildly threatening.

Back Story. He lost his fiance when he erased her memories, because she got caught in the middle of the family curse and her mind couldn't handle it.

Internal Personality. He truly believes he's doing his job as a doctor and a healer when he erases peoples memories because they could get hurt. He has experienced great pain and loss in his life.

Story Arc question. Now that Hatori has transformed from a one-dimensional character, to a human being, is he going to remain the tragic character that always follows orders and erases people's memories? or is he going to break out of the cycle of the curse?

Character generation in manga: Characters on a theme

One of the functions of being a published writer is the ability to meet deadlines. Deadlines mean that you don’t have the luxury of running dry or writing when ‘inspired’. You will have to be aware of your writing process and conceptualize your idea with an eye to generating an endless series of plots and characters.


It’s interesting that the best way for endless character generation involves not thinking out of the box, but tying your creativity into box...a creative limit. Think of poetry; the Japanese Haiku or a Sonnet both involve creating beautiful works of art within strict boundaries. Yet the endless variety of poetry that has evolved from within these boundaries are breath-taking. You can say the same about a human being; there are certain features that a human being comes with: two arms and legs; a head, two eyes and one mouth. Yet you can’t say that there’s one human being that is alike.

So it is with creating endless characters. Give your characters in your story a theme to draw from and you’ll suddenly have endless character variations on a theme. I’ll look at Fruits Baskets to illustrate the point.

Fruits Basket's characters are based on the Chinese Zodiac and the 12 animals that represent the Zodiac. The premise of Fruits Baskets is this: Tohru Honda is an orphaned student who comes to live as a housekeeper in the family of one of the boys in her highschool. She finds out that the family is under a curse which changes them into a animal of the Zodiac when hugged by the opposite sex. As time goes on and the tragedy of this situation unfolds, she becomes determined to free the family of the curse.

In the set up above, the number of characters that the author Natsuki Takaya can introduce which are relevant to the storyline is finite. However, those 12 Zodiac characters translated to 23 volumes of manga. If you're lucky to have a series that runs that long, that's more than enough. Each character would have their own story arcs woven into larger story.

1. The Cat
2. The Mouse
3. The Dog
4. The Ox
5. The Pig
6. The Rabbit
7. The Snake
8. The Tiger
9. The Dragon
10. The Monkey
11. The Horse
12. The Rooster





Other examples in creating characters on a theme are:

1. Full Metal Alchemist's Seven Deadly Sins
2. Utena has different colour roses for the Student Council
3. Sailor Moon's sailor scouts are named after the planets in our galaxy and the villains named after precious stones