A Manga Haven Disappears

Recently, the Borders bookstore nearest to me (not to mention - the ones that were next nearest to me) closed down.

Many people have written about the Borders bankruptcy and what it signifies for the publishing industry. Many have offered numerous reasons for why Borders failed.

Maybe the huge spaces they leased were too costly. Here's another angle of the one near to me that closed:



Yes, it was a huge store, with a lot of unused spaces within it. But it was close to a major university and it seemed reasonably busy each time I was there.




Whatever else might be said about the "big box" bookstores, they were havens for those searching for new manga to peruse and perhaps purchase. Yes, you had to weave your way around the teenagers who hung out on the floor in front of the manga aisle, but still, it was a friendly place to discover manga that maybe you'd never noticed before, and give it a chance.

I've written before about why I supported Borders as a manga fan. I still maintain that both Borders and Barnes & Noble have done a lot for the manga industry in North America. The big bookstores provided a place where new fans could easily look at the whole range of what was available, as opposed to shopping for manga online, where you can only look at a single book at a time on a computer screen. I discovered a lot of manga at Borders. I will miss the ease of being able to just look at a number of different series in a single trip to the bookstore. And I can't be the only manga lover who feels this way.

And yes - the cafes in these bookstores enabled people to hang out (maybe - too much) and relax a while, as part of the book shopping experience. I'll miss being able to sit in the cafes at Borders.

I bought hundreds of dollars' worth of books at Borders each year. Now, with the closest Borders being miles and miles away, I won't be able to support the chain as easily.

It's sad when it gets down to the fixtures:





And then, truly the end:





You can pick any number of reasons for this: the troubled economy, poor business decisions on the part of Borders, Amazon's dominance, the rise of ebooks.

As to ebooks: I'm now a published author, and my novel sells both as a trade paperback and in various ebook formats. As someone who grew up with hardcovers and paperbacks being the only things you called "books," I am still getting used to ebooks and how they are changing the publishing industry - an industry I also work in, as an editor and English adaptation writer. I haven't come to any conclusions yet, but I am disturbed by the disappearance of bookstores.

Am I the only one?

The Monster Under the Bed

The still-unfolding situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant has raised the specter of something that has lurked in the Japanese subconscious since 1945.

How many times have you, as an anime fan, been watching an anime when mushroom cloud imagery suddenly appears out of nowhere? I can think of at least a few examples off the top of my head, and I know I've forgotten many others.




The truth is - the Japanese people can absorb something as horrible as a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, even with the loss of numerous lives, and recover as a people and as a nation. But the threat of nuclear radiation is different. This opens a psychic wound, one that is always present in the back of the Japanese mind whether it's talked about or not. This lurking monster haunts everyone in the modern era, but it haunts Japan the most.



Regardless of how the Fukushima nuclear plant situation resolves, the psychological effects may be long term. I don't think the Japanese can be judged for their fears. The monster under the bed came out twice in their country already and left an emotional gouge in their souls that is not easy for others to understand. If you pray at all, please pray for them now.

Paintings credit: http://japanfocus.org/-David-McNeill/1836

Anime and Manga Bloggers for Japan

A website seeking anime and manga bloggers' donations for two specific charities in the Japan relief effort has been established. Here is the link:

http://www.bloggers4japan.com/

The featured charities are Doctors Without Borders and Shelterbox. More information on both organizations can be found at the website.

Japan - Earthquake and Tsunami

As everyone knows by now, a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami have devastated areas of Northeast Japan, and elsewhere in the country. (Good to know that fellow anime blogger 2DTeleidoscope is alive and well over there.) Many in Japan could use our prayers right now. Please consider donating to relief efforts or simply sparing a moment to wish the people who create anime and manga, the entertainment we love, our best and highest thoughts in these difficult times.

A Look at Hourou Musuko - Wandering Son

Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son) is a school/slice of life anime series with a twist: each of its two protagonists longs to be the opposite sex.



That's the boy Shuichi Nitori on the left, cross-dressing as a girl, with the girl Yoshino Takatsuki in boy's clothes on the right.

The manga story begins with Nitori and Takatsuki in grade school. They already felt the urge to cross-dress back then and became friends. Nitori was attracted to Takatsuki, but Takatsuki couldn't return his romantic feelings. The anime begins with the pair in junior high, where they are now surrounded by friends and classmates with their own issues, problems and strengths.

Nitori's friend Mako also sometimes cross-dresses as a girl; Chiba is a perpetually angry girl who is attracted to Nitori and jealous of his attraction to Takatsuki; Sarashina, a tall and outgoing girl, accepts everyone as they are.

There's not much external action in Hourou Musuko; it's more about the protagonists coming to terms with themselves and experiencing new realizations. As life in middle school progresses, underneath lies a poignancy: soon their bodies will be changing, something neither Nitori nor Takatsuki can do anything about. At one point Nitori and Mako dress up as girls and record their voices - their unbroken boys' voices - for posterity, as one day their boy child voices will be lost forever. Similarly, Takatsuki is angered when the school coach tells her to start wearing a bra; she tells Nitori that she envies his flat chest. But she soon gives in and starts wearing one.

Nitori and Takatsuki are both young enough - pre-puberty age - that it's conceivable that their desires aren't permanent, that this is a stage they will grow out of. It may be a stage born out of unconsciously wanting to avoid the responsibilities that are usually associated with being a certain sex - not wanting the baggage that comes with being male or being female. (They're too young to understand that both genders have their baggage and expectations - you can't escape it by simply wanting to be the other gender.) But it's equally conceivable that these desires are real and each will be faced with tough decisions in their teen years and beyond. When Chiba asks Nitori if he would have a sex change operation, Nitori says that he doesn't know.

Takatsuki looks better able to handle these complications. She has her transsexual friend Yuki (born a male, who transitioned to being female) to look to as a mentor, and she's more capable of dealing with strong emotions and feelings. Nitori seems genuinely fragile. One fears for him: pain seems unavoidable for him in the future.

But then, pain is a part of everyone's life, and some of that pain is related to being your true self in the face of opposition. Part of Hourou Musuko's message may be that what Nitori and Takatsuki face is on some level what all of us face: being ourselves no matter what others think. In that case, we can only wish Nitori and Takatsuki ganbare and hope they stay true to who they really are - whoever that may turn out to be.