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Magazine: artBLOCK
By Esther Choi
Mr. Radar. G Block. Writing.
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ABOUT THE EDITOR
Esther Choi was born in Korea, 1993, and
lived in Australia for all of her middle school and some
of her primary school years. She enjoyed reading and
writing since middle school, but has liked drawing for
even longer, and keeps it as her favorite hobby and job.
She likes sunny weather best, and sometimes takes off
with a book or with pencil and paper for a warm walk on
days with nice weather. She has majored in IB art, and
studied industrial design and also painting in college.
She worked as a freelance artist and journalist after
graduation for some years with the nickname
‘evergreen’ and right now, she has settled as an editor
of the ‘artBLOCK’ magazine since last year. She still
draws much in her free time.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Good day!
Yet another issue of ‘artBLOCK’!
This issue has been a particularly hard one, with due dates to meet, and laziness taking over.
But everyone has tried hard, and I conclude the product is yet again a satisfying and hopefully
an enjoyable one.
I hope you all enjoy reading ‘artBLOCK’ 12th issue, and also hope the information in it helps
you in your hobby or work as you draw. This magazine’s purpose is to inform eager teenage
artists more about the world of creating artworks. There is information on different tools,
useful skills, and the trade, also including recent and important news of what is happening
around us, with famous artists.
ABOUT THE EDITOR-just a few words regarding the topic of the
new issue…
HETALIA HETARE
KOREA?
-what’s happened to Korea? What’s Japan done?
SHOUNENWHAT?
-all you ever wanted to know about types of
manga. Shounen, shoujo, kodomo...what
more?
KAZE
STUDENT…
AND AN ANIMATION
NOVELLIST
-a few words from student novelist KAZE
X-1999
miss it?
-reasons behind the sudden stop in
CLAMP’s series X.
SCANS I NEED
ILLEGAL SCANS
-illegal scan manga isn’t always
BAD.
This issue finally focuses on the subject we have been hinting on for the past few months,
manga! Manga appears a lot in our magazine, so I just decided to make a whole issue on it.
The illustrations, history, what people think about it, issues, and more.
Thank you for reading ‘artBLOCK’ and we magazine wish a good day to all readers!
Picture: a pile of manga books and
characters of the manga Hetalia.
from
2D to
Korea: the cute, funny little boy…
manga makes joke with history.
Axis Powers Hetalia
,a series of manga which tells stories of World War II
with anthropomorphic characters, makes the Korean
and few other characters a mockery of the whole nation. Koreans are strongly against including the Korean
character in the upcoming anime and Kids Station, where
the anime was supposed to be broadcasted, have denied
the fact that the Korean character exists.
The portal site Daum has raised the online petition
against the making of the anime Hetalia. Many Koreans
were extremely shocked by the comic strip, the characteristics of ‘Korea’ that go against the nature of Koreans,
and the fact that the nation is portrayed in such mocking
manner by the Japanese, who have already took control
over Korea only a few decades ago and killed, tortured and
raped thousands in the process. Currently, more than
17,000 people have signed the petition.
A fanart of „YoungSoo‟(the words on the picture).
Kids Station stated they were not aware of such
The image in the animation where Korea touches Japan‟s breasts
discomfort towards this manga in Korea, and said
the Korean character did not exist in the anime
from the start. However, the official website of
Kids Station already had a character plan of Korea
which they got rid of, and Korea appears in the
start and ending songs as well. The anime was
cancelled, but it is streamed over the internet the
anime, now without the character Korea. The
manga series had gained many fans, and now the
fans, who know nothing about Korean history, are
speaking out against Korea for such sensitive reactions.
Koreans still feel very uncomfortable that the nation is being por-
Some of the characters of the manga „Hetalia‟.
The manga series Hetalia is by Himaruya Hidekazu, and is
originally a web comic. It portrays the events of World
War II in an easy-to understand and funny way for teenagers and children. However, the comic is seriously biased. One strip of the manga, which portrays Korea
forcefully touching Japan’s breasts and then runs away
shouting ‘U-Ri-Na-Ra-Man-Se’, which translates to ‘hooray
my country’, a phrase used by Koreans during rebellion
when under Japanese control, was spread around Korea
through the internet. Many Koreans were infuriated by
this manga and demanded the upcoming anime of Hetalia
cancelled or the Korean character (Im Young Soo) taken
A strip of the original „Hetalia‟ where Korea molests Japan‟s breasts and runs
away shouting “Horay my country!”
out.
trayed in such a negative way. few traits that are disturbing are that Korea
is younger than the Japan, and always ‘claims to be’ the oldest. Korea also
always claims ownership of Japanese inventions and steals into Japan’s
house, saying it is his property. He wears the Japanese flag around him, and
forcefully touches Japan’s breasts. The ‘Korean spirit’ is a little ‘tick’ of hair
sticking out of the side of his head with a face on it, presenting the whole
nation and its nationalism as a joke. Overall, Korea is a selfish, disagreeable,
and perverted character.
Some are concerned that the manga Hetalia is going to give children
and teenagers a wrong idea of history, as in the manga, some nations are
‘beautified’. Nations such as Japan, America, and Germany are portrayed as
strong, mature, and clever men when other nations such as Italy, Korea, and
China are portrayed with funny, stupid, and weak characteristics. The actual
of the original „Hetalia‟ where Korea wears
title comes from the combination of the two words hetare (useless) and Athestrip
Japanese flag.
Itaria (Italy). Citations: Selene, As t er. " In Y ong S oo." Hetalia . Wi ki a, 2010. W eb. 17 May 2010. < htt p: // hetali a.w ik ia.com /w ik i/Im_ Y ong_S oo> .
"H et al i a: A xi s P ow ers ." W ikipedia . Wi ki pedi a, 2010. W eb. 17 May 2010. < htt p: // en.w iki pedi a.org/wi ki /H etali a_A xis _P ow ers >.
" A ni m at i o n H e t a l i a A x i s P o w e r s O f f i c i al S i t e. " w or ld s e rie s へた りあ . へ た り あ , 2 1 0 5 20 1 0. W eb . 17 Ma y 2 01 0. < ht t p:/ /
he t al i a. c o m / t op . ht m> .
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Re: Illegal scan manga is choking the whole manga industry.
Yes, scan manga is bad, it’s for lazy people who can’t bother to buy or borrow
their own books. But what happens to people (like me) that can’t get any other
access to books that I am dying to read?
Some people may be living in a place they can get manga books ten minutes
down the road, but some people just don’t have access to manga so easily. What
do they do? They are also fans of the manga and I believe have a right to have
access to and enjoy the manga. It seems biased to state all “scanners and
readers of scan manga are lazy and without morals” even though I do know
most of them are. However, you should know some turn to them as a last resort,
and I would still buy the same manga that I’ve read if I can get to them at a
reasonable price.
I must say, in my case, scan manga grants access to manga for a wider
range of readers, and therefore increases fans of manga and the artists. I
think scan manga increases the chances of manga books being bought, because it always happens that I get to know a manga online, then go off and
search it off and buy it. Scan
manga should be controlled, but
should not be completely stopped.
Manga isn’t so easily accessible for everyone to see, and publishers of manga
should regard fans that cannot have such good access to them when making
their move to ban scan manga.
Eva Rew
The writer lives far from Asia.
Pages of scanned
manga.
This month’s INTERVIEW:
Animation novellist
There are many novels written on animations
around the world, light novels, NT novels,
which are a type of light novel, fan fiction, etc.
and many people enjoy reading them. They
range from thick books in series to short, tenpage stories. The actual writers of these novels
only take up a small proportion of the whole
population of manga fans.
KAZE 風
A boysh looking girl with dark brown hair and a wing drawn on her face. The
bookshelf of her room was filled with animation novels written by various fellow
writers and also herself. Kaze was unsure about the interview at first, so I had expected no great welcome. However, she met me with a shy smile, and was very
excited to tell me about her job as a student animation novel writer.
How did you come to know animation novels?
At first, I just thought, there must be someone
that composes all those stories (of animations).
I just said, then I’ll become a person who
composes animation stories. And as time went
by, I just came to know more about writing
animation novels. I watched animations since I
was young, I mean, I couldn’t draw, and I liked
to write stories, so I started writing, and that
was how I started writing.
How old were you when you started writing
novels?
When I really started…that was fifth grade? But
back then, it was just half fun, half to just
waste time, so I started to write seriously when
I was in eighth grade.
Which anime/manga were your first stories
written on?
Fan fiction…a manga called Negima, I really
liked the characters that appear in that manga,
so I started writing my stories based on them.
What genre do you enjoy writing in the most?
It doesn’t matter for me, I write what I feel like. Mostly, I write fantasies with
complicated hints of love lines.
What do you enjoy about it?
When I’m writing…I don’t know…it’s just what I write, I’m imagining in my head as
I write, and that’s what’s so enjoyable.
When I can’t think up of any good ideas, I feel like going crazy
Did you have any difficulties as a writer?
When I can’t think up of any good ideas, I feel like going crazy. Another thing is,
the parts about expressing details is a little hard to write down on words and
things like that. And I have a school life, too, and I have too little time, so I can’t
really write very leisurely, I’m rather hurried to meeting due dates most of the
time. That’s that, and I always have to catch up with my schoolwork and write
novels at once, so that’s very hard.
How much do you sell your books for?
For one book, well, usually, a book around 200 pages would cost between
5000won to 6000 won.
Did you do everything by yourself? With friends?
Well, sometimes, I do it (publishing books) with my friends, like, they’d write
stories of similar lengths and we’d put them all together. My team is called XII,
since all our birthdays include the number 12. Sei, Kiyo, and me, Kaze, are the
writers, and Haepari is our illustrator. It’s all pen names. Well, and like this time,
I sometimes publish separately. Well, when I publish alone, it’s an animation
novel, so I need illustrations, so I do it together with Haepari. So in other words,
I write by myself but the actual book is made with the illustrator.
How much/often do you write now?
School…well, when I’m not too busy with school works, I try to put all my spare
time into writing.
How long are your usual stories?
The ones I publish as books, it’s an average of minimum
25 pages. Since I publish with my team mates, I cant
write very long ones. The maximum is 75 pages. Now
when I write long ones… the one I’m planning to publish
now, I think it’ll be over 200 pages, maybe. When I
write alone, I guess I have to write more than 200 pages
at least.
What are some characteristics of animation stories?
It’s got a different air to animations. It’s like watching
an animation. Well, like the name itself, light novels,
the whole thing, including the explanations, is all very
light. It runs focused on the story more than the descriptions. An animation novel is a novel written to be
made into manga. The descriptions of the characters or
the forms and things…there isn’t much fine details. So
if you look at the overall thing, it runs mainly focusing
on carrying on the story. Compared to just novels or
fantasy novels, it’ll have a generally light feeling. Well,
as light as it is, light novels still contain deep meanings
and all the conventions of a book.
What are some stories you are planning to write?
The one I’m thinking about writing is on a person’s…
‘life can be like this, too’ kind of thing. A life that looks
normal and average on the outside but inside, it’s all a
little…special? So events that look like it may happen to
any person but still a story that’s like a movie, a novel.
So in other words, I want to make the point that every
life may look the same, but every single individual
owns a special life.
You said you’re writing one right now, is that the
theme of that novel?
Yes. So, most people think they’re nothing special,
normal, with an average life. I want to say every single
person, every individual, really have a normal life,
similar to many others, but that life is still special.
There is only one life for everyone, and only one of that
specific life in the whole world. That’s what I want to
get across to my readers through this novel.
In the future, what are you planning to do?
Well, go to America…right now, I’m majoring art. So I
want to learn to draw anime illustrations well, so that I
can write my own stories and also draw out my own
illustrations as well, and right now, the four members
of my team VII has a dream as a team to form a publishing company in Korea to publish light novels. That
would be my overall plan for my future as a writer.
Astro Boy
Some say manga was
inspired by American comics and
Manga of different types
Shounen…shoujo…
kodomo…What is that?
Art
isn’t always boring paintings and portraits or sketches and
watercolor. Manga, a Japanese form of graphic literature, has features very
different to other traditional types of art, and are very popular among all age
groups, especially teenagers, in Japan and now around the whole world. So how
did this unique type of art and storylines come by, and how are they developing
today?
The very first manga didn’t look
like modern day manga, with big,
shiny eyes and lean bodies. They
were more like picture-book style
like the manga ‘Sazae-san’.
Where manga originated from isn’t clear. Some say manga was inspired from the art of pre-Meiji
era, as ancient Japanese art was
drawn with clear lines and patterns like manga, not like colors
and shades like Western art.
An angel drawn in shoujo style.
cartoons that were brought to
Japan by soldiers in World War II,
and the style was developed by
artists trying to draw what Americans
looked like with big eyes, white skin, and
different colored hair. Manga now has developed to have
several different styles of its own and appeal to a wide range
of readers and audiences to day with storylines that can be science-fiction to serious life stories, and different styles of art that appeal to different people.
Manga can be divided into several different categories;
doujinshi, shoujo, shounen, kodomo, hentai, josei, and seinen.
Doujinshi is not an actual published manga, but
fan-art done by readers of different manga. They
are unofficial, and are self-published or just drawn by
fans. The world shounen literally means a boy, and so
shounen manga is created for young male readers or
teenage boys. They usually contain themes of sports and
science fiction such as robots and supernatural powers, and
include lots of action and humor, and there is hardly any romance.
They were the first genre of manga to develop, as boys were the
first readers of manga. American comics such as Batman and Superman and manga along that line did not gain much
popularity, but manga like ‘Astro Boy’, ‘Doraemon’,
and ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ more popular.
Top: Doraemon
Bottom: Astro Boy
Side: female characters of „Neon Genesis
Evangelion‟.
Shoujo
manga is created for
young female readers, usually girls in their
teens. The meaning of the word shoujo in
Japanese is young girl. As that name hints,
shoujo manga focuses the storyline on
school life, romance and love, told from a
teenage girl’s point of view. The history of
shoujo manga started with a group of
women manga artists called the Year 24
group or the Magnificent 24 in the 1950’s,
when most manga developed. This group of
artists were the start to women manga artists. Before them, most artists were male,
and a lot of the manga was targeted at
boys or men. The Year 24 group created
manga such as ‘The Rose of Versailles’,
‘They Were Eleven’, and many more.
The manga ‘The Rose of Versailles’ is
shoujo-ai or yuri. The word ‘ai’ means love
in Japanese, and shoujo-ai is sometimes referred to as ‘lily’ manga or GL, girl’s love.
Shoujo-ai manga deals with love or deep
friendship between women. In modern
America, the term GL is used to describe
more extreme lesbian stories, but in Japan,
where the word originates, it stays more on
the thin line of close friendship, and hardly
contains hentai (sexual) themes. The storylines deal mostly with schoolgirls, and contain ‘sweet and soft’ type of stories. Some
modern-day examples are ‘Girl Friends’,
‘Mermaid Line’, and ‘Mariasama ga miteru’. The main readers of yuri manga are
males. Another genre that is similar but
more famous is Shounen-ai or yaoi. Just like
Top right: „The Rose of Versailles‟
Top left: Kurogane and Fai from „Tsubasa‟, an example of BL manga.
Bottom left: „Mariasama ga Miteru‟, an example of GL manga.
shoujo-ai, shounen-ai is a boy’s love (BL)
story it is also referred to as ‘rose’ manga. It
is not very popular among men, but has
extreme popularity among women, especially high-school girls because the characters are mostly beautiful, thin, tall, and
strong, and has attracting personalities. The
manga is referred to as yaoi when the content contains more sexual themes, and general shounen-ai is more extreme and has
more action and drama than yuri manga.
Kodomo
is
manga
aimed at children. The word
‘kodomo’ means ‘children’ in
Japanese. These manga generally has themes that teach children, and are moralistic. The
episodes don’t run, but are
more like stand-alone episodes.
Contrastingly, hentai manga is
an adult-only, with the storyline focused on sex. Josei and
Seinen manga usually overlap
with hentai manga, but Josei
manga is for ladies, or grown women, and
seinen is manga for grown men. These manga
with vague to extreme themes that relate to
sex of various areas have developed when the
censorship in Japan that was preventing such
themes was loosened after the early 1990’s.
These manga was first created for their adult
male readers, and they developed very
quickly to become widespread. Even in modern days, manga with hentai themes are easily available even to teenagers and children,
causing problems within the Japanese society.
Nowadays,
these different
types of manga drawn and written by
various artists can be found in many
different countries, and are translated
to many different languages. Mostly,
they are read by teenagers, but in Japan, people of nearly all ages read
them. Manga is like novels, it’s not just
one genre of thin people and pretty
eyes and Japanese school life, but there
are many different types of art involved, and as much stories as novels
can have. The history of manga is only
around 60 years, but they are already
favored by many around the world.
Citations:"Types of manga." wikia . wikia, 2009. Web. 14 May 2010.
<http://manga.wikia.com/wiki/Types_of_manga>.
"Manga." Wikipedia 2010: n. pag. Web. 15 May 2010. <http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga>.
Top: „Kodomo no Jikan‟ (Children‟s time), an example of Kodomo manga Williams, Jillian. "Types of manga." Japanese culture site . BellaOnline,
n.d. Web. 15 May 2010. <http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/
Middle: „Amatsuki‟, an example of Shoujo manga.
Bottom: „Soredakekai‟ (An object of desire), an example of Josei manga.
art20006.asp>.
In the manga, earthquakes
were a sign of the end of the
world, and so people were greatly
disturbed at the Great Hanshin
Earthquake, which occurred in 1995,
very near the year 1999. People that
knew of the manga ‘X-1999’ feared
the manga would come true. The
Sakikabara murders are murders
done by a 14 year old boy, the victims
being a 11 year old boy and a 10 year
old girl. The boy killed the two children with gruesome details, and
claimed to have enjoyed the killing
extremely. The public’s opinion was
manga like ‘X-1999’ that contained
such violent scenes that a lot of audiences cannot stand that affected
and aided the boy in his inhumane
murders. These events added to the
already existing worries and dislikes
towards the manga, and it was put on
hold several times, to never resume
until today on the third time.
EDITORIAL
Cover page of „X‟ volume 1.
X/ 1999 BANNED
Kamui, the main character of „X‟
CLAMP,
the all-famous group of
female manga artists, has put
on hiatus the continuation of
the series “X-1999” since
March of 2003. The manga had
and still has, after years of being put on hiatus, a great
number of fans even though
criticized and stopped more
than once for its gruesome
storyline and drawings. After it
stopped for the third time,
CLAMP showed no sign of going
back to working on the manga,
leaving their fans hopelessly
waiting for the 19th volume.
“X-1999”
has a storyline based on the end of the world, with the story
centered in Tokyo, Japan. The manga contains gruesome details with extreme
amounts of blood, fights, and severed body parts with the story being focused
on the world ending on the year 2000. Because of the unsafe story and
drawings, the manga was put on hiatus twice despite its numerous fans, and
serialization was permanently put on hold on March 2003 after events such as
the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Sakakibara murders, as the
manga was thought to negatively affect people’s mentality. Some other rumors state CLAMP are not allowed to continue the story, and contradicting
opinions say CLAMP has no clear ending in mind, and has given up the continuation of the series.
Many fans
of the manga are
still waiting for the manga to resume its serialization again, although the amount of years since it
has stopped stands strongly on the
side that it will not. Most of the information going around on the issue of the continuation and the hold
of the series are rumors, with contradicting opinions. The general
thought is that CLAMP does not
wish to continue the series, and
several reasons have been given.
Kamui, the main character of „X‟
The first is that the year
1999 has passed already now a
Opposing opinions say CLAMP is not allowed to continue the
work anymore, and cannot find any publishers willing to publish any more
of the manga. The last the fans saw of ‘X-1999’ was in the magazine
‘Newtype’, a special edition titled ‘CLAMP Newtype Platinum’ where it dealt
only with works by CLAMP. The chapter 18.5 of ‘X-1999’ was published there
which contained five chapters which were not published before.
whole decade ago, and the manga
would not have the same effect or
reason to continue anymore. Another more negative opinion is that
CLAMP did not have a clear ending
in mind as they made the story, and
now does not wish to make up an
ending, as the endings in the movie
or the animation were unsatisfactory to many fans.
„X-1999‟ was a hard series to draw for CLAMP, with as
much opposition as the fans.
However, despite the gap of almost
7 years,
The biggest factor is that with „X-1999‟ as the last
one,CLAMP changed their drawing style dramatically.
Their original style in which all their
manga previous to ‘X-1999’ and the actual manga itself was drawn in has sharp
lines, with an almost overuse of screen
tone and ink, making all artwork look
dark to the extremity. To match all the
storylines they had up until then, the
drawings were unhappy and painful.
However, their work after ‘X-1999’ is
drawn and made in a completely different
style. Although the storylines still contain
many of the mythical and magical themes
with much blood and physical and mental
pain, happy endings were made. The
drawings themselves became much
softer and brighter, with much less use of
screen tone, none being used in the
manga „CLOVER‟.
Top: Kamui
Bottom: Kamui
fans are still hoping
CLAMP would continue with the
manga despite these barriers. Although before the year 2000, the
manga was dealt with harshly, and
the theme of the end of the world
and gruesome pictures were a big
problem, modern day would handle the issue better than to just ban
the manga.
Citations:
"[(X)CLAMP]."
enhawiki
mirror n. pag. Web. 14 May
2010. <http://mirror.enha.kr/
wiki/X(CLAMP)#s-1>.
"X
(manga)." Wikipedia (2010):
n. pag. Web. 14 May 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/X_(manga)>.
Top: Fuma( the boy), Kamui‟s best friend and Kotori (the girl), Kamui‟s love
Bottom: Kamui
"X/1999(manga)."
anime
news network n. pag. Web. 14
May
2010.
<http://
www.animenewsnetwork.co
m/encyclopedia/manga.php?
id=1540>.
Pages of manga
Otaku is a Japanese term for someone who is obsessed with
something to the point of the obsession being abnormal. This term
had come to represent people who are obsessed with Japanese
graphic novels, manga. Now, anyone found liking this type of literature is stuck with this unpleasant tag.
Otaku...Otaku...OTAKU?
Unlock the bars of prejudice.
A common factor in fantasy
manga is magic, or supernatural
powers, or both. They fly, shoot
fireballs, change suits in pink light
in between ribbons, and have inhumane martial arts abilities or
some special talent. Sometimes,
they take place in a completely different world, the real world, or the
mix of two. In sports manga, dragons and lightning appear every
time someone makes a jump, or
makes a hit. The thing is, a lot of
the times, they’re normal teenage
students at the start, and develop
these specialties as the manga
goes on, or have a mostly normal
lifestyle occupy some parts of their
day, usually school.
Top: stereotyped otaku
Bottom: stereotyped otaku
The manga is targeted at people
in similar situations. They play
basketball, or tennis, or is a
student that attends or has
attended school. The reader
Almost all manga, especially popular among modern day teenagers,
have one thing in common. They’re not likely to happen. Ever. It’s what
the ones that don’t know manga see as well. Childish stories and
people obsessed with them. Then what’s really in the childish stories that make so many fans of them? A lot of the times, it’s the fact that
it cannot happen. It’s what students wish would happen in their lives.
can connect themselves to the
story easily, and enjoy imagining
themselves in their situations.
They wish they could fly, or use
magic, or could change into a super beautiful magical girl character, or that dragons would fly up
with their shots.
Everyone
wishes they could do some of these things, as the
popularity of fantasy movies like and books like ‘Harry Potter’ and
‘Narnia’ shows. School life in manga is always better than the real life,
the school is first-class, everyone is handsome and beautiful, and interesting things happen, but it’s still school. This is the attraction of manga.
The readers can’t help but see themselves in the main character’s positions as they read on.
Stereotyped otaku: fat, ugly, glasses, and in love with anime girls.
have a SAY★
‘Kobato’ is a manga/anime drawn by CLAMP about a
girl called Kobato who comes to the human world with a trainer in the
shape of a blue rag doll, Ioryogi. She has a wish she wishes to fulfill, and
to get the wish, she must fill her assigned bottle with ‘confetti’, which she
gets for every broken heart she heals. If she doesn’t fill the bottle before
her time is up, she will disappear. Where will her last confetti come from?
The anime and manga
‘Kobato’
It’s not that readers of manga or watchers of anime
are childish, immature people, still wishing for some supernatural
magical powers. Manga is their way of escaping their boring daily routine. Some people read books, some sleep. Some travel, watch movies,
play a short game, and some go for a jog down the street. That’s exactly
what manga is with people that enjoy it for the fantasy. It’s a half-hour
rest, a hobby, a trip down the road of imagination. It’s no hard thinking,
but rather an easy read- and- enjoy time for the bored.
For many students, manga is like a little sweet flavoring on
top of hard, dry bread. It adds a difference, imagination, wish, fantasy. I
do admit too much sweets is bad, and some people, the ‘otaku’ mentioned above, take way too much on theirs, so much it overrides the
bread and manga becomes their life, and they think too much about it
it’s all they do. The prejudices against manga and animations we have
now were created based on those people. The others that enjoy the
components of it are shoved into the
same cell with those
people that cannot control their own
life, and are barred
behind prejudices and names. Now it’s
past the
time to unlock those bars and forget the
childish prejudices.
Top: stereotyped otaku
Bottom: wings that symbolize freedom.
is full-on CLAMP
style, especially highlighted by
the ending, which had high
quality in completion and a
good storyline. The ending of
this animation was, interestingly, divided into two episodes
(the 23rd and 24th episodes
were shown one after the other
at once).
As much as the double time
the ending took to be completed, its impact was great. The
ending connected to the storyline of the whole animation perfectly and gave the watchers
satisfaction and moved their
hearts with the warmth. Even
though the endings, especially
episode 23, was very much hurried, almost as if the animation
is proceeding faster than it ever
did, the fast progress did not
make the ending seem sudden
or unrelated to the story.
Kobato (girl) and Ioryogi (blue doll)
Some things that this ani-
This is because the support from
other parts of the anime was strong.
Until now, this animation had a little
too much gag and had exaggerated
expressions considering it was a
‘healing’ story meaning a soft, warm
story. However, that was what helped
mation failed at was that considering
it was a CLAMP work, it only had little
above average drawings, when much
more was expected, especially from
CLAMP. Also, the overall colors of the
animation was too soft and pasteltone, and lacking in powerful colors.
the animation stand firm in the
sudden speed of episodes 23 and 24.
Because of this sudden speed and
impactful ending, the story of Ioryogi
was quite hidden, but the main character is Kobato, so that shouldn’t matter! The best part of this ending was
that even though the ending
was very obvious, the story
was so great even the perfectly
obvious ending could not be
detected, and the quality of episode
23 is nearly as good as the quality of
episode 19, chosen as the Best Episode.
The
The story would be labeled as predictable. However, the
two
events
violence’
with
‘CLAMP-style
has great importance in
lowering the predictability. The first is
the demolishment of Omogi Kindergarten, where Kobato had volunteered
to work and had formed close relationships with the children there. It
was thought this demolishment would
be cancelled within the ending, but
the building ends up being taken
down, and the kindergarten closing.
The other one is the situation of Kobato’s contract. The situation ends
up being Kobato’s wish being changed
in the end. Her original wish was to
go back to the person she loved,
who lives in the past, but now her
wish is to stay alive and exist in the
present, next to Kiyokaze who she
Top: Omogi kindergarten and the children attending it.
Bottom: Kiyokaze.
loves now. Even if she gets her original wish, that is not what she wants,
and if she does not get the wish, she
will still not be able to stay in the present.
was the
ending of this animation
best
there was in a long
time even thought the overall animation lacked a couple characteristics.
The full completion of the ending lifted
the quality of the whole animation.
Kobato is a much-loved, soft and still
CLAMP-style heartbreaking animation
with a no-let down ending.
Top: Kobato‟s confetti bottle.
Bottom: Kobato arriving on earth.
[Manga girl]
submit your drawing, drawn on the theme of next month’s issue, and the seven winners
will be printed in the issue, and prizes will be sent to the top threewinners.
1st
place: ‘Setsuna’
By Haepari
2nd place: ‘Fate’
By Hapchang
1:
2:
3:
4:
‘Mikoto’ by Ji Hee
‘FEcachu’ by
‘girl’ by Esther
‘Bridsmaid’ by Evergreen
To submit artwork:
1. check the theme for next
month’s issue
2. Create an artwork (one
artwork per individual)
that relates to the theme of
the magazine.
3. Scan/ take a picture of
your artwork and make a
digital copy of it.
4. Send your artwork to:
[email protected]
Or upload it onto:
www.artBLOCK201.com.kr
3rd place: ‘C.C.’
By Ruas
PRIZES:
1st place: Copic marker 42
color set
2nd place: Wacom Bamboo
tablet
3rd place: ‘Tokyopop’ $50 gift
card