Hating on the Likable Female Character
Despite advances both here and abroad, there are objects in life that still keep women overly objectified.

I’m not talking about the J-list flog pillow in your closet or the piles of porn underneath our bed. Instead, our precious anime and manga reinforces the idea that likable female characters have little more use than the hole in your body pillow.

Just by appearance, the female characters of anime and manga tend to be cast from the same mold. Not just physically: They’re not just big-breasted, panty-wearing, 20-inch waist Caucasian-looking Asian Barbie dolls. These women are overly emotional, rash, impulsive, subservient, and male-centered, in various combinations. Even when their gravity-defying chests can’t hold them back physically, these ladies are usually found chasing after guys, ghouls, or garnishes.

Written by: Jd Banks

My former art teacher once told me, “When you teach a class how to draw fish your way you get a hundred fish drawn the same way.” My teacher’s words echo through my head as I delve into the pages of any “How-To” book I read on drawing.

Artists aren’t born from how many how-to books they read, yet many aspiring artists tend to fall for this myth. After all, if every person just went by a how-to book on drawing, there would be hundreds more of the same-looking manga in circulation.

Anime and Manga to Real Life
Volume 1: ASIMO, Robots, and Humanity
An anime fan’s thoughts
Editorial by: Jd Banks

Astroboy was an anime that sparked an interest in machines becoming human-like. Though little flying robots are far from a reality, advances in science have bridged a tremendous gap between anime and reality.

In the last ten years alone, robots and robotic departments have cropped up from all over the world. One of the most popular, a Honda-made robot known as ASIMO, has become a hit at various locations around the world through its live demonstrations. The all-white robot can walk, run, dance, and serve in a life-like fashion.

 
If the world could dream up robots, why couldn’t we make them more humanoid before?

One of the problems with designing anything to mimic human limbs is the degrees of freedom problem. Proposed by Russian physiologist, Nicoli Bernstein, in the 1930’s through the 1960’s, the degrees of freedom problem is an issue that lies in any complex system that needs to produce a specific result, such as picking up a grape between the index finger and the thumb. In the human body, the degrees of freedom problem is solved by the nervous system’s control. If it weren’t for the nervous system, touching your nose with your index finger might turn into a painful session, seeing that the subtle control of one finger would radically turn into a stab from two or more fingers.

Battlefield of Manga
Japanese manga vs. OEL manga
Editorial by: Jd Banks

They’re easy to spot on the shelves of any retailer of anime and manga. They sit amongst their comrades, camouflaged in the same bindings with similar wide-eyed characters ornamenting its’ covers. But they are laughable imposters, for when you—an avid manga reader—approach their forms, their disguises are mere traps.

The artist and writer of the item has the last name, Lorenzo, Sison, or, dare I say, Smith.

The battle begins. If it’s not from Japan, would manga still be considered manga? If Watanabe, Bisco, or Hattori adorned the artist and writer by-lines, would a question exist? After all, manga is a term defined as “a Japanese graphic novel" that is typically intended for adults and characterized by highly stylized art. Although this type of definition is up for debate, manga is correlated with Japan and it has certain artistic characteristics infusing multiple styles.

The origin of Japanese manga may help indecisive draftees decipher the differences between Japanese manga and OEL, or Original English Language, manga. Manga is believed to have evolved from caricatures of people, animals and other figures as early as 607 CE. Though under speculation, better known ancestors to manga is ukiyoe, translated as “the pictures of the floating world”.