#434 Nao Yazawa

Nao Yazawa/Wedding Peach

Is there “work for hire” in Japanese comics? Yes and no. Nao Yazawa was hired as the artist for Wedding Peach, a manga published in Shogakukan’s Ciao magazine from 1994 to 1996. However, as is typical in Japan, she and writer Sukehiro Tomita co-own the copyright.

In this episode, she explains the details of this arrangement to Tim, along with much more on the development and business of the strip, sexy costumes, why manga creators are left out of the management of the anime adaptation, teaching at a manga school, and more.

Nao’s Web comic Go Go Nao-P!

Nao’s 2002 Wedding Peach site

See more photos after the jump…

Continue reading #434 Nao Yazawa

#427 International Comics Fest 2014, pt 2

Sunset
Sunset after the festival
This week we wrap up Tim’s set of interviews from the floor of the International Manga Festival (Kaigai Manga Festa), held November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight. Highlights include familiar faces, a past DCP interview guest, sexy anime girls from France, poop from space, and more!

See photos and links below the jump…

Continue reading #427 International Comics Fest 2014, pt 2

#258 The Tokyo Censorship Law

CensorshipThe Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly recently passed a law that further limits minors’ access to “Any manga, animation, or pictures (but not including real life pictures or footage) that features either sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life, or sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal, where such depictions and / or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity.” Perhaps understandable, but without clear guidelines for determining what is OK and what is not, there are fears of a slippery slope. Could this become defacto, outright censorship? Tim, Kumar, and Mulele discuss the new law, and how this situation compares to the events in the U.S. that led up to the creation of the comics code.

Dan Kanemitsu’s Paper Trail — many good blog postings on the topic

Editors’ defiant comments

Publishers boycott anime convention

“My publisher has banned school uniforms” — (visuals on this site are NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

Child sex in manga: Art or Obscenity? — The Japan Times

JL Roberson touts Deconstructing Comics

Kumar’s Link Regurg-a-thon #2!

I like the art of Adam Hughes very much, but this statue is bad:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/03/24/batgirl-statue-adam-hughes/

Not comics, but this seems to be the season for Leiji Matsumoto movies:

CG Captain Harlock — http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-24/captain-harlock-new-cg-pilot-images-staff-revealed

Live Action Uchu Senkan Yamato (a.k.a. Star Blazers in the US) — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jExoH_JjMZg

Galaxy Express 999 is one of my all-time favorite manga. Some day we are going to cover it on the podcast, I swear.

When you are not listening to Deconstructing Comics, I highly recommend you check out Gary Groth’s interview with Todd McFarlane from the early days of Image. Hilariously and  predictably, within months of this interview McFarlane began engaging in various business practices which contradicted much of what he states here. He did, however, stand firm by his word that there was no point in him trying to improve as an artist:

http://www.tcj.com/multimedia

Finally, Fantagraphics has a preview up of their new CAPATIN EASY book, one of my all-time favorite newspaper strips:

http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Captain-Easy-Soldier-of-Fortune-Vol.-1-by-Roy-Crane—Previews-Pre-Order.html&Itemid=113

KS

#216 Comics on the move: a discussion of animation

Animation has always drawn on comics as a source of material. But what is involved in adapting a comic to animation? Our resident animation expert Patrik W joins Tim to talk about the special considerations of animation character design, as well as storyboarding and more.

Preston Blair’s classic “Advanced Animation”

Blog of Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi

#180 “Ghost in the Shell”: What in the hell?!

5/18/09 “Ghost in the Shell”: What in the hell?!

Ghost in the ShellMasamune Shirow’s future tale “Ghost in the Shell” reads like someone’s private comic that wasn’t meant for public consumption. Tim, Mulele, and Kumar find that they can’t so much consume the story as gag on it uncomprehendingly… although the pictures are nice.

#170 “Japanamerica”

3/9/09 Japanamerica

JapanamericaTim in Tokyo is joined by Lunar Boy creator Jarrett Williams in Savannah, Georgia, to review Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.!