Anime Web Turnpike: Weekly Web Picks

Frederik L. Schodt is a writer, translator, and interpreter based in San Francisco. The author of several books on Japan, he is also a long-time manga fan. In 1983, he wrote Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics (Kodansha International), and in 1996 he finally brought out a sequel, Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga (Stone Bridge Press).

In addition to books, he has also translated many manga, including Riyoko Ikeda's The Rose of Versailles, Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen (vol. 2, with Dadakai), Osamu Tezuka's Crime and Punishment, Shirow Masamune's Orion and Ghost in the Shell (both with Toren Smith of Studio Proteus). He is currently working with Toren Smith on the manga version of James P. Hogan's The Two Faces of Tomorrow, which is being published by Dark Horse.

Shingo Iguchi's Homepage
http://www.so-net.or.jp/tokyotrash/studio/ROSE/
I wrote about Iguchi in my book Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga; he's one of the more intriguing manga artists in Japan. Guess what? He's got his own homepage! Frankly, it's one of the nicest designed pages I've seen in a long time, featuring designs and stories from his series, Z-chan. If you don't read Japanese, don't worry, the visuals are lots of fun!
(Japanese only)

Akira Narita's Homepage
http://www.narita-akira.com/
Narita was also featured in Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. He's an "erotic manga artist" with a humanist touch, mainly writing about his own personal experiences using Japan's notorious "telephone club" system. His web site's not for the prudish, but for those curious about where he gets his ideas, it's worth a look. Keep in mind that the women are all willing volunteers.
(Japanese only)

Studio Anime
http://www.channelA.com/a&e/studioanime/
This is on the Channel A website, and features a well-designed, growing English-language section on anime and manga. I also do a monthly Q&A there, and I've received some interesting questions so far! The Channel A site is also a great place for information on Asia in general.

Ken Lunde's Homepage
http://www.ora.com/people/authors/lunde/
Ken Lunde is the author of Understanding Japanese Information Processing (O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.), the English-language bible on using Japanese on computers, and he has a new, expanded sequel coming out very soon. Given all the problems of using computers and Asian languages with double-byte character sets, Ken deserves a standing ovation and a big prize, in my mind. Most people who have extensively used the Internet and USENET to find out about anime and manga are very indebted to Ken.

Gilles Poitras's Website
http://www.sirius.com/~cowpunk/
In particular, check out Gilles' "Japanese Cultural Details in Anime and Manga," soon to be a book. Gilles brings a professional librarian's touch to whatever he does, and he provides a valuable service to the fan community.

Finally, in the interests of shameless self-promotion, check out my own manga-cartoons on my own website http://www.jai2.com/.
Tell me what you think!

Weekly Web Picks: 9/8/97