Up until the late ’60s, Japanese girls’ comics were mainly done by men, and could often be formulaic and sappy. But then several female creators broke into the field and revolutionized the genre. One of them was Moto Hagio, whose stories (even when they had science fiction aspects to them) dwelt on not fitting in, losing what you love, and other themes that could be depressing, but were usually expressed in innovative and compelling ways. Little of her work is available in English, but Fantagraphics released an overview of her work, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, two years ago. Tim and Kumar review.
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As regular listeners well know by now, our own Mulele’s graphic novel “Elbis” came out earlier this year (buy it 
Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk is easily mistaken for a serious sports manga. Pick it up, though, and you’ll find instead a hilarious ensemble comedy that just happens to involve basketball. Still, the series is credited with basketball’s 90s popularity in Japan, and led Inoue to create several other basketball-related series. But is oeuvre isn’t all hoops; he’s also the creator behind Vagabond, a sometimes-violent but intriguing take on the life of 17th-century historical figure Miyamoto Musashi. Tim and Kumar dig into both series.
The @#$%ing Death Metal showdown that had to happen! It’s Kiminori Wakasugi’s Detroit Metal City versus Metalocalypse Dethklok created by Brendan Small, in our most explicit episode ever! How is is possible for TWO Death Metal comedy franchises to suddenly appear at the same time?! Thanks to the flimsy pretext of a Dethklok licenced comic finally being published, Kumar and newcomer-to-the-show Dana discuss Metal, the @#$% joke filled DMC manga, Metal, the @#$% joke-free DMC live-action movie, and Metal; compared with the Dethklok TV show and comic (including Dethklok vs The Goon, written and drawn by Eric Powell), and Metal. Plus: how censoring yourself is totally @#$%ing UN-Metal!! @#$% on!!
Dan Kanemitsu talks with Tim about how he and others in the manga industry have responded to the new Tokyo censorship law. The conversation also covers the differences, and interactions, between American and Japanese comics, the creative freedom enjoyed by women in Japanese comics, and much more.