Before we start, just a couple quick notes:
This film discusses and shows graphic––in a both senses of the word–-breasts. Naked ones. And sexual/erotic themes in comic books and culture (think of it and next week’s presentation Svengali World as warm ups for Valentine’s Day/Lupercalia)

If discussion of sexual mores, fantasy behavior and so forth bugs you, please consider participating another night, or finding another section of FDL to discuss things more up your alley. Also, um, you better be over 18 or you’re gonna get grounded. You know who you are….
That being said, let’s try not to get too smutty either. That’s what Facebook private IMS are for. But not with me, kthnx.
Please refresh your browser ever minute or so to see new comments, questions and answers. To reply to specific comment, hit the reply button underneath it and then type away. Always after a comment or question hit “send comment.”
Please stay on topic–in this case mangas, anime, comic books, Japanese and American pop culture, comic book fan boys/girls, etc.
If you want to jump in about health care or anything else not about please find a post elsewhere on FDL to do so. Thank you.
Please–and I can’t believe I still have to say this, but–no ad hominen remarks. And please be respectful of our guests and of each other. And yeah, I tpye badly…

Hi ray! Thanks for joining us from New Zealand!

Hi Lisa…thanks for your interest in Manga Mad and a deeper look into Japanese pop culture.

This is your second film about Japanese youth culture…what attarcted ot the weird and wonderful world of manga and anime?

I have been living in Tokyo on n off since ’87 and was fascinated by the sophistication of graphic fantasy and cute chic pop culture there.

I remember growing up and watching Gigantor and Kimba..Japanese animatin has such a specific look…Speed Racer OMG!

and it has just gottne more sophisticated as fans became artists themeselves and both technology and technique developed

Especially the connection with American anime/cartoons and those programs u mention.

The HUGE eyes….

Its also to do with the Japanese skill with drawing, and as my film reveals, the rich history of graphics, plus their kanji character language, which are like cartoon characters, or pictograms, telling a vernacular story…

I think your movie was a unfair. You fixated on the most lurid aspects without exploring the depth and breadth of it. Not every fan of manga/anime is fixated on sexualized little girls. I would LOVE to see some of the uncut interviews. I suspect that a lot of stuff that didn’t fit your thesis got tossed out.

You hint at how broad and deep anime/manga culture is without actually showing it.

Really, it is an insult to the fandom, particularly to females who are in the fandom.

The huge eyes perhaps is theatrical, but could hint at Japanese hang up about now having wider caucasian eyes…also u will notice the manga characters always have a small nose…check out ‘hello kity’ she has no nose…

One thing you really delver the the modern split in the Japanese psyche that absorbs mangas wiht thei rimages–fantasy, sex, other worlds–and then functions in a very locked down mode.. could you go in to that a bit…and was that soemting you noticed before you started the film and planned to go into or did it develop organically?

I think that look emphasizes the childlike quality..all babies seem to ave look HUGR eyes and wee noses.

I love Hello Kitty, but then what girl doesn’t?

I don’t agree my film is unfair. There are other docos about the main stream Manga. I specifically zoomed in on the otaku, male fantasy culture. Also in the film you will see there are illustrations of womens’ sexual fantasy manga and interviews with female creators. Fascinatingly, lots of Japanese women like erotic stories about gay men.

The big eyes (no I am not talking about breasts) actually can be traced to the love of Tezuka Osamu for the Fleischer Bros. and Disney animation of the ’30s. Betty Boop in particular is very instructive. The stereotypical “chibi” character and Grim Natwick’s Betty Boop character designs show similar facial features and similar character design theories. No, the big eyes are NOT about caucasian envy. They are about making emotions READ on a manga page or in an animation.

Haven’t watched the vid yet (still at work). Just wanted to put in a quick comment, though. One of the more interesting anime I’ve seen has been “Welcome to the NHK”. Among the themes in there is the main supporting character (and the main character, to some extent) who has an obsession with manga/anime/etc. Specifically, one in the “magical girl” genre. But, to the point, it actually shows some of the otaku culture. From an American perspective it just looks….really odd. The openness of the fantasies and sexualization, juxtaposed with the stereotype of the straight-laced Japanese culture.

In terms of a question, though. How do you see that as having changed over the years? In America, clearly, we have gotten more open. Explicit, if you will. The changes from the old “Ozzie and Harriet” to, for example, the openness from “Friends” are stark. Is there similar change in Japan?

I know about that, it’s also referred to as Yaoi.

The Boy Love aspect was very interesting… a way of deflecting sexuality yet exploring it

Unlike the west, Asian culture, a particulary Japanese culture is very group orientated. There is alot of mask wearing, and societal role play. You don’t have people swearing and violent, uncouth in public like the west. But as the manga reveals there is a seething shadowy fantasy world in their comic art…more outrageous than any violent or porno I have seen from the USA.

I don’t get it.

What is interesting about this kind of thing?

I am obviously missing something.

I find subcultures very compelling..also, there is a beleif among manga fans that if everyone read manga they would come ot understand themselves and each other better..and maybe there would be peace in the world.

Yeah, it is interesting. It’s also all about focusing on the beauty of the guys without female characters that bring one back into the whole concept of comparing yourself, as a woman, to other women.

Comics are a huge business in the US, thogh not as larg as in Japan..ComiCon is San Diego is INSANE..and i know so many 20 somethings obsessed iwht manga, while older ones are into Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman

The key point of my film is the role that fantasy serves, in very high density, socially controlled society like Japan. Typically in the west, people regard comics and animation as only for children. There adult otaku fans psychologically are still very child like. And with the sexual fantasy manga, they product alot of sentimental eroticised emotion on to these super heroine characters. In actual fact, they are frightened of ‘real women’ and don’t date them.

How far is Electric Land from Harajuku, and how do those cos-play cultures differ–it at all?

Actually one of the most interesting anime to come to these shores in recent years is the comedy series “Ouran High School Host Club.” It pokes fun at BL cliches without getting explicit, and centers around a romance between one of the hosts and a girl who’s posing as a guy and also working as a host to pay off a debt to the club she incurred when she crashed into an expensive vase. It’s a very popular series with both genders in American anime/manga fandom.

As you show at the end of the film wiht the inflatable “moe” dolls….

I wonder if otaku actually ever meet “real girls” at Comicket or online and pursue that..if they grow up..? But I guess time wil tell..

There is a cross pollination between USA/Jap with comics/animation…how both have influenced each other. But with moe for instance this is very Japanese. The lolita lust etc…cute fetish. Generally speaking Japanese love, cute…just look at their techno gadgets and the way women are idolised for being cute. That is the greatest compliment you can give a woman in Japan. The psychology behind all this, and how it plays out with characters and chute aesthetic in the manga fantasy world was the driving fascination for me.

Ray – my son (he’s 23) has been involved in anime and manga probably ever since he saw Princess Mononoke when it first was released in the US. One of aspects that I find fascinating is the educational information that is many times put into series. My best example is Yakitate! Japan, where the whole series revolves around a baking school. There is all sorts of actually very useful information about baking breads, which is not a traditional part of the Japanese diet.

Ray points out that there are mangas for everyone–baseball fans and slug lovers too!

Another thing I’m aware of, but why did you not explore that aspect fully? Also, there is a sociopolitical reason for all this, centered in the collapse of the Bubble Economy of the late Showa Era. (Think ’70s-’80s) Actually Japan went through a similar collapse to what we went through in 2008 in 1990. And the economy has STILL not recovered to any great extent. Young men see that their prospects are few in the current economy and retreat into dreams about impossibly cute girls. Just like young women who can’t see themselves giving up the freedom of being unmarried and making your own money for marriage and children becoming “parasite singles.” I suspect BL/Yaoi’s popularity among female Otaku (Sometimes called Otome) might also fit into all this somehow.

The cosplay is psychodramatic cathartic within the context of rigid role play, mask wearing, never showing your true emotions, as in Japanese society. Typically fans want to act out their favorite character. This kind of empowers them. There’s lots of layers and projections with role play. Also the fashion scene of Harajuku, Shibuya. The girls dress up with extreme fairy tail style lurid fashions, immaculate make up…going out in the streets of Tokyo is like role play…it serves a very emotionally, self expressive function.

The Japanese are also crazy about food…remember the Iron Chef TV series? Somehow the mix between cooking show, competition and Puroresu (pro wrestling) storylines got lost in translation in the two American attempts to “do” the show. Not as fun, sadly. There’s a great live-action comedy movie called Tampopo that’s all about how food-mad the Japanese are.

That’s actually quite insightful…yeah, it’s a way of cutting loose in a very structured society.

Cosplay-the female aspect-strikes me a way as a modern version of the geisha dressh,–geishas create a character and dress/do hair and make up fo rthat character who has a name different from her own…

Yes manga is everywhere, and is used for education purposes, in Japan. When u visit Japan it is so ubiquitous and visually persuasive. My first comments to myself when I arrived in Japan was that this was like an other world disneyland. I can see why Michael Jackson loved Japan/Tokyo so much..the childlike atmos in the fairy tale cultural nuance there. Manga is in the air. Every product/ad/shop window/movie on the train has manga/anime…

Where do otaku get the money for all their toys and collectibles and so on? Do the majority work, or are they still at home?

and BTW, kudos to Mandrake for being the first comic store to sell pre owned manga..save a tree!

Geisha is very similar to the extreme fashion and role play. A misconception in the west is that people think of Geisha as prostitutes cum coutesans…in actual fact they are very artistic ladies skilled at entertaining men. Also the idol scene in Akihara is related to this. Cute pop singer gals who otaku go and watch perform. They project some much fantasy and worship onto these stylised, manufacted character pop personalities. Same as the characters in anime/manga series. Which is driven by big corp biz. Very humungous $ involved….$ billion in manga related products annually spent by otaku.

Many otaku live at home with their parents. Most a socially inept, can only feel comfortable in the virtual reality of games, anime, on line chatting.

Total geek boys, uber nerds…do they work?

And I thought it was so sweet the otaku in hte movie who goes and falls in love with his “moe” and then meets people he can talk to at the comic conventions…

Actually one person you should have interviewed is Shokotan…she’s the daughter of a Seiyuu (voice actor) and is a current Idoru-star. She’s a major Otaku herself, she does cosplay on stage as part of her performances, and she has a promising career after her star fades as a manga-ka. She visited Anime Expo in LA about 3 years ago, and absolutely OWNED the con.

Cowboy Bebop! Sailor Moon! My older son introduced me to this. I realized that a cartoon I loved as a child, Astro Boy, was an early anime.

Mandarake is a huge chain selling collectable manga/anime/cosplay costumes/dolls/figures…huge biz…immensely popular. Anyone going to Tokyo, I recommend you go to Nakano, near Shinjuku. It is like a mini otaku paradise. You will find lots of dinky collector shops and manga fanatics. Unfortunately now in Akihabara, big corp biz is moving in and killing off the small street atmos. It was an interesting mix of weirdo otaku, niche electronics, eccentric shops..but that exotic sub culture is being overwhelmed by building development…

A lot of them see themselves as not having any prospects of starting families of their own because the economy is so bad. So they retreat. The most extreme of these become shut-ins… Welcome to the NHK was a PhilDickian manga and anime series about an Otaku shut-in and his hallucinations about the outside world he is holed up hiding from. I really do think there is a socioeconomic thing going on here that is the key to this.

Moe is like unrequited love…they don’t want to ruin their fantasy love affair by the emotional, heart breaking suffering that real human romance with a real person brings.

big chains see an opportunity to exploit street culture…

In Tokyo virtual reality rules…technologically and as depicted in their pop culture and theme parks. It will be shocking for you Americans, but the Japanese do Disneyland better than California Disneyland.

I’ve been told Osaka has a few Akiba-like areas that haven’t gotten as commercialized yet. Also Akiba is more locked down now because of the incident with the guy going berserk a couple of years ago. That sort of became a “death of innocence” for the whole Akihabara phenom…it was never the same after that.

I wa sin Tokyo decades ago and was thrilled ot see old ladies wiht gree and purple hair..maide no sense. It is Land of Cute for sure

The shut ins are called ‘hikikomori’ they cant deal with the outside world. But most have plenty of $, and havent left home, staying with parents. Typically, these otaku have lots of disposable cash to spend on fantasy products. There is an excellent Jap TV series–’Densha Otaku’ which is quite comical but very revealing of otaku passions/anxieties. If u can see a sub titled version of this, it is well worth it. NOt the movie version, but tV series version.

What s your next project Ray..and you actually do something else aside fomr filmmaking…wanna discuss?

Yeah, the movie version kind of sucked, and the TV version has YET to be licensed! But I have it…oh the glories of fansubbing. Lemme check IMDB a sec…no news, alas…I have heard it’s been optioned over here. Although how they are going to make it work set here with American protagonists is beyond me.

The knife attack in Akiba was reflective of pent up otaku psychosis. But it is rare, this kind of public violence compared to what goes on in the west. As the lady manga fan says in my film, ‘you can go walking around Tokyo in the middle of the night’ and feel secure. Of course there are extreme explicit images/stores in manga/anima but that doesn’t incite people to act out in society. Violent and sexual crime in Japan is one of the lowest per capita in the world. In addition it is a Buddhist culture, they dont have all sexual prudent hang ups that Christian and Moslem cultures have.

Yeah, I agree, the TV show is better, but it hasn’t been licensed yet and is only available fansubbed.

the comment in Manga Madnes about how the culture is Buddhist so it made sense t th otaku to have lots of anime figures was striking

My current doco film is also set in japan. Its called Moon Shadow, and is about eclipse fanatics that travel the world to experience solar eclipses. I filmed the July eclipse on Amami Island. The film features insight into Japanese shamanism and their animistic spirit god belief system about the cosmos and dance music ritual. As well as the rave culture which has evolved globally around eclipse worshipper gatherings http://www.facebook.com/MOONSHADOWMOVIE

I guess I don’t see how this rises to the level of subculture. Unless it is the subculture of pornography. Japanese style. It seems to me pornography. I have nothing against porno, proper age and use etc. But isn’t relatively common to employ cartoon and other graphic style figures to present it?

I don’t know how much they do now but it hasn’t been that unusual to find “comic books” with popular heroes doing sex. Batman and Robin, Superman and Lois Lane etc. I imagine even Betty Boop in her day did dirty things. Also art of the great masters style etc.

I honor other opinions, but see this as pop art in its own right. But as I said, I am sure I am missing something.

What I find more curious is the Japanese infatuation with robots and androids.

I did interview Atom Boy creator–Tesuka’s daughter for the film. But could not use the material in the end. The lawyers are controlling his name so strictly and even her. Tesuka is like Disney in Japan. I am an independent film maker. I made this film from my own $. Got no funding. The Jap Govt film grant would not support this film. Its too embarrassing for them to see the real story of their very infamous culture depicted as it truly is.

Robots and androids..Ray? Genkidesu?

I have a an astronomer/astrologist frind who travels all over to see eclipse..this sounds great!

It’s very deep in the culture…before robots and androids the obsession was dolls and mechanical toys, and the doll thing goes all the way back to prehistory.

There is actually a new Otaku thing for Anime-related dolls now. It’s popped up in the last couple of years. I’m not talking love dolls, I’m not talking figures, I’m talking about Resin Ball Joint Dolls and Vinyl dolls along the lines of Volks Dollfie Dream. Volks and the Dollfie Dream line in particular is very geared towards Otaku…so much so that American Asian Doll fandom has been clamoring for a male Dollfie Dream and Volks is pretty much not listening because the exclusively female line has so much of an appeal to male Otaku. Here among American fans of Japanese pop culture this is very much a girl thing.

If you go to Danny Choo’s website you can find out a lot about this new branch of Otakudom. He blogs about his Dollfie Dream “daughters”…a lot.

Cyborg, virtual reality, fantasy entertainment, technodelic…the Japanese thrive on it. In terms of eroticism versus pornography, Japan is the most extreme, as well as violence, as I mentioned earlier. It’s part of human nature to be aroused and potentially disgusted by the more extremes of it. It disturbs me, particularly from big Hollywood productions, the gratuitous sensationalising of violence. Perhaps its reflective of American culture with the romanticism of guns. In Japan it is illegal for anyone to own a gun. Also pleasures of the flesh are celebrated…some sushi is like human genitalia…Japan is a raw flesh culture…tako (squid) is seen has highly erotic and stylised in its art culture…eg Hoksai famous Japanese artis.

Maybe the robots and androis came from the idea of having control…

My other job is psychologist/astrologer…www.raycastle.com

The film also explore the doll phenomenon akin to fetish objects, items of idol spiritual worship with supernatural powers.

One f the big fears of certain evangelic Christian sects is having idols in your house–like china frogs for goodness sakes!

Ray when will your eclipse film be out?

The pantheon of Gods in Japan is vast…the film also alludes to mythology and archetypal motifs related Japanese cultural history that are embedded in narratives and totem idol/doll/fetish projections.

Thank you so much for joining us and for making Manga Mad…and thanks readers too!

I am in post production now on Moon Shadow, it’s a longer film. 2 hours…it will be released in Japan, I hope by May. It’s a culturally rich story, plus, like Manga Mad, I wrote the music.

Next week have Svengali World from John Roecker and Rancid’s Tim Armstrong!

keep us posted ..would love to have you back!

Great chatting. Do enjoy the insights that Manga Mad elucidates on life behind the mask and fantasy world of Japan.

On the slim chance you return for questions, Ray–can you tell me how you would characterize the art of Murakami, what is Japan’s impression of his work, and do they think he has gone too commercial with his US contracts; specifically his business relationship with Mark Jacobs?

My daughter is an American manga artist

http://www.mangapunksai.com