INTERVIEW, SPECIAL

MANGA WORLD REPORT : JORDAN BY DEE JUUSAN

Manga World Report continues to Jordan! Courtesy of dee juusan, who of course won The Winner Runner-Up award in the first year with “a Pure Love”, a silent manga about her pet rabbit. She writes from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan…

Hello~
I’m Diana, mostly known as dee, from Jordan. I’m 27 years old with an Architecture degree graduating in 2009.

I’ve been working as a manga artist since 2010 with some freelance work as a character designer and illustrator on the side.
I have several one shots and an ongoing published series; Grey is…
I’ve been blessed enough to be one of the Winner Runner in the first Silent Manga Audition and it’s the kind of “pat in the back” I needed after working for 3 years in this fresh and unknown medium to some in Jordan.

Jordan is a small country in the Middle East that’s constantly developing and changing at a very fast pace, given that it’s one of those countries with high population of young aged and spirited people. It’s most known for Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world and the Dead Sea; Earth’s lowest Elevation on land.

As I mentioned, Manga/Comics is a fresh medium here. It has its audience and readership but it’s still mostly unknown for many people, and when known, many consider it a medium aimed at children. But things have been changed for the past 3-5 years and the Comics community is getting bigger and bigger.
Anime/Cartoons/Movies are still much known and watched than Manga/Comics but we’re getting there.

A lot of people used to buy Manga online, and an international store; Virgin Mega Store was the only place to provide some Manga titles. A store opened in 2010; 16:9 WIDE:SCREEN, and it gives a wide selection of Manga and Comics titles, and it provides a service that you can order any Manga through them and get it at the retail price without shipping charges. Also, the owner, Sami Al Nazer, is really supportive and loves to help us local talents in displaying out works and self-published books in the store.This pushed the medium greatly for the past 2 years.

The Manga/Comic community is mostly young adults of 20-30 years old, although a most people, if not everyone, watched Arabic dubbed anime, growing up without knowing the terms; Manga and Anime. Main stream shounen titles are most known, like Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, Full Metal Alchemist, Slam Dunk, but at the same time there is a wide appreciation with the gems like Mushishi, VegaBond and others

Internet is a great thing! It allowed us to connect and learn a lot of faster and more conveniently that it was before. For the past 2 years, The Middle East Comic Con in Dubai, was a big help for us indie manga/comic creators to get together and share experiences and dreams.

And thanks for people like you in the Silent Manga Audition Committee, it’s been easier to get our works out there for the whole world to see.
I think this is one of the best contests/ideas and I see a big future for it because it’s purely universal with strong humane sweet themes.

Thank you so much for reading~

Peace be upon you all!

As the media central of Arabic speaking world, Jordan produces 75% of all Arabic content on the internet. Through dee’s article I can feel how vibrant the country must be. Thanks dee!

We will be asking more people around the world, to send in reports… Stay tuned 

source: http://www.manga-audition.com/manga-world-report-jordan-by-dee-juusan/#more-198

Doraemon 3D CG movie trailer

Anime Robot Cat Doraemon Enters 3rd Dimension in 1st 3D CG Film

Anime Robot Cat Doraemon Enters 3rd Dimension in 1st 3D CG Film

Returner/Yamato's Takashi Yamazaki, Moyashimon's Ryûichi Yagi co-direct Summer 2014 film

The iconic anime robot cat Doraemon will gain another dimension in Stand By Me Doraemon, his first 3D feature film ever, next summer. The film will celebrate what would have been the 80th birthday of late co-creator Fujiko F. Fujio (Hiroshi Fujimoto). The film will combine computer graphics with stereoscopic 3D projection.

The manga creator duo Fujiko Fujio (Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko) created Doraemon in 1969. In the story, the robotic cat was sent by a boy in the future to the present day to help the boy's hapless grandfather, Nobita. Doraemon, Nobita, and other children deal with everyday childhood issues, solve (and cause) problems with the gadgets in Doraemon's fourth-dimensional pocket, and embark on escapades through time and space.

Takashi Yamazaki (Returner, Always: Sunset on Third Street, Ballad, Space Battleship Yamato) and Ryûichi Yagi (Pénélope tête en l'air line director, Moyashimon 3D CG director) are helming Stand By Me Doraemon after collaborating on Japan's first feature-length 3D CG anime film, Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki.

Planning on Stand By Me Doraemon began three years ago. After completing Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki, the two directors considered making a new project together with the same team. Yamazaki said that the film lets you experience in 3D what it would be like to get your hands on Doraemon's gadgets and do whatever you like. Yagi added that the flying scenes with Doraemon's signature Take-Copter (Bamboo-Copters headpieces) are a must-see.

Character modelling took over a year, and the staff strived for realism in movement and expressions. After the dialogue was recorded, the staff produced the CG animation to match the voices — the opposite of the usual anime film process in Japan, which records dialogue after most of the animation is completed. The film employed techniques that used miniatures and filmed real objects for the backgrounds.

The manga series was compiled into 45 collected volumes before it ended in 1996. The manga inspired three television anime series that have collectively lasted four decades, dozens of television specials, and a string of annual anime films. Fujiko F. Fujio Productions, Japanese multimedia producer Voyager Japan, and translation company AltJapan are releasing the Doraemon manga in English and in full color digitally.

The next 2D film, Eiga Doraemon Shin Nobita no Daimakyo ~Peko to 5-nin no Tankentai~ (Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita's Great Demon ~Peko and the Exploration Party of Five~), is still slated for March 8:


French film star Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional, Mission: Impossible, The Da Vinci Code) stars as Doraemon himself in a series of live-action television commercials for Toyota. The ad have boasted an all-star cast of Satoshi Tsumabuki (Dororo, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Smuggler) as Nobita, actress Asami Mizukawa, former NEWS band member Tomohisa Yamashita, mixed martial artist Naoya Ogawa, former AKB48 idol Atsuko Maeda, and Olympic gymnast Kōhei Uchimura.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-11-13/anime-robot-cat-doraemon-enters-3rd-dimension-in-1st-3d-cg-film

Non-Japanese artists recognized in 7th International Manga Award

POP CULTURE DIPLOMACY | Non-Japanese artists recognized in 7th International Manga Award

Filipino manga award winner Elmer Damaso created Ravenskull. PHOTO FROM THE JAPANESE EMBASSY-MANILA

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - Out of 256 entries from 53 countries, 15 manga creations were recognized in the 7th International Manga Award at the Iikura House of the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on 14 February 2014, the Japanese embassy here said in a news release.

The work “Bokbig” of Prema Jatukanyaprateep of Thailand received the Gold Award while the works “Paris” by George Alexopoulus of USA, “Carrier” by Navar of China, and “The Foiles Bergère” by Francis Porcel of Spain and Zidrou of Belgium received the Silver Award.

Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobuo Kishi and President of the Jury Machiko Satonaka presented the commendation certificates and trophies to the winners. As part of their prize, the artists will enjoy their stay in Japan, meet with Japanese manga artists, and visit publishing companies and other manga-related establishments.

Filipino manga artists also had the honor of receiving recognition from the International Manga Award. For their works Ravenskull and Mr. Grieves, Elmer Damaso and Jhomar Soriano were in the top 19 manga artists in the 1st International Manga Award in 2007. In the following Award in 2008, Kriss Sison was ranked among the top 12 artists for his work Ninja Girl Ko and received a bronze award.

The International Manga Award was founded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 2007 as part of the active use of pop culture in public diplomacy. It is through this cultural exchange that will deepen the understanding of Japanese culture and manga among artists of different nations.

source: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/81569/pop-culture-diplomacy--non-japanese-artists-recognized-in-7th-international-manga-award

Silent Manga Audition 2014 : One Month Till the Deadline

Feb 28th 2014

The truly global Manga / Comic award, by established Manga Masters at Comic-Zenon, is accepting entries for the second year round.

Kichijoji, Tokyo, JAPAN - February 28, 2014

"Silent Manga Audition" is a Manga (Comic) award organised by established masters of manga (Japanese Comics). Lead by Nobuhiko Horie ( CEO, Coamix corp. / the former chief editor of world record holding Weekly Shonen Jump ), with authors of major Manga franchises such as "Fist of the North Star", "City Hunter" and many more.

The event's aims are simple : 1. Raise awareness about Manga around the globe. 2. Find and assist great talents around the world, providing award winners necessary training and exposure, to professional publishers.

"Silent Manga" is a unique concept in which "spoken words" are not allowed. Resulting in Manga that is not only enjoyable across language barriers, but also a great trial in author's drawing abilities.

We are receiving entries at a faster pace than last year's event, a proof that the world is awakening to the unique powers of Silent Manga.

Not only there are generous award winnings, this opportunity to have your Manga reviewed by renowned professionals, including team of manga editors who are behind some of biggest manga titles, is a one-a-year chance any aspiring comic artist can't afford to miss. We eager everyone to make the best out of it.

Entries for 2014 year round of Silent Manga Audition will close 31st of March 2014. There is still one month of time to complete a work for entry!


For more information on the award entry, please visit official website www.manga-audition.com . Along with entry details, all of 2013 year round entries are available for viewing, with guest works by professional Manga artists.

source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2014-02-28/silent-manga-audition-2014/one-month-till-the-deadline

Zoom Rockman, 13 year old comic whiz from UK

History of Scanlation

History of Scanlation

Introduction

What is scanlation? Scanlation is the process of scanning, translating, and editing foreign comics to modify the work into another language. Here in the United States, scanlation typically means translating and editing Japanese manga into English.

Scanlation has always found itself in a moral gray area. While publishers and other professionals tend to see scanlation as copyright infringement and a threat to sales, fans and scanlators defend their actions by pointing out that scanlation helps raise awareness of lesser known Japanese titles that might otherwise go unnoticed. In some cases, scanlation helps build hype for a popular series before its release. Scanlators often scanlate unlicensed manga, something many fans consider completely acceptable. There are even rumors of publishers deciding which manga to license next based on the popularity of scanlated manga.

The purpose of this feature is to provide a (hopefully) comprehensive history of the world of scanlation, not to argue as to the legality of scanlation. What you will find here are facts and stories told by people who have been involved in the scanlation scene, some active and some retired. Of course, all articles dealing with scanlation inevitably find themselves containing sensitive (to some degree) information and links. The purpose of this article is to provide a history and overview of the scanlation world, nothing more.

Now, with the obligatory introduction out of the way, let's get started!

First Generation: The Classical Era

The Land Before Time

The earth did not simply split open one day to deliver scanlation to the masses of Japanese-illiterate, manga-starved fans. Scanlation arose gradually as more people gained access to the Internet and to better graphic editing and file distribution software over the years. One fact, however, cannot be denied: the birth and early growth of scanlation is closely linked to fansubbing (which is essentially the same as scanlation, but involves anime rather than manga).

Fansubbing, without going into the gory details of what it is and its origin, started in the late 1970s with VHS tapes. Fast forward to the late 1990s, when Internet access was becoming faster and more readily available, and some people began translating manga scripts. As with fansubs, people soon formed groups and began editing those translated scripts onto manga scans to enhance the reading experience. Thus, the very first scanlated manga was born.

While there is no clear-cut record of when scanlations first appeared, there have been many individuals and small groups of people producing fanscans (the term used before "scanlation" became popular) on Usenetand around the Internet since before 1999. In fact, the first scanlations weren't distributed on the Internet at all. Sometimes scanlations would be distributed via email or on CDs sent through the mail or passed around anime clubs, much like older VHS fansubs. There is a Ranma ½ translation newsgroup that dates back to as early as 1989 (that server was actually one of the first servers that stored pictures of anime series online and it provided manga translations as well as information on many series).

Many of these projects started off simply as translated scripts of popular Japanese manga. The earliest recorded translation was probably a fan translation of Tezuka's Phoenix by the four-man team "Dadakai" in 1977. One of the four members of Dadakai was Frederick Schodt, who would later go on to become a well-respected manga scholar in the U.S. The group's translation was later incorporated into Viz's official release of Phoenix. By 1992, many individual translation projects could be found on Usenet on newsgroups likerec.arts.manga and alt.manga as well as on various FTP servers. Popular series included Kimagure Orange Road and Ranma ½.

Some projects were started for the purpose of obtaining manga otherwise unavailable outside of Japan. When Viz first began releasing Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ in the U.S. in 1993, each chapter was released very slowly. In response, Jason Satoru Doyama started a translation project calledThe Ranma ½ Project on June 3, 1996 and hosted translated scripts of Ranma ½ that would have otherwise taken many years to reach U.S. shores; the project later went down but was succeeded by The New Ranma Project. Jason Doyama, together with Smurfbon (who operated the websites), ran two other projects between 1996 and 1997: The Dragon Ball Project and The KOR Project. The Dragon Ball Project and The Kimagure Orange Road Project were probably some of the earliest scanlation projects and were little more than translated texts laid on top of images using MS Paint. Both projects were latershut down after receiving warnings from Viz. Another Ranma ½ translation project, this time by Studio Robb, also began in 1996. Studio Robb later went on to translate and scanlate other series as well and operated until 2004, when Robb went to work in the manga industry.

Many Dragon Ball translations and fanscan projects also existed. Aside from Doyama's Dragon Ball Project, there were Joseph Teed and Peter Michaud's Translated DBZ Manga page, CDC's Dragonball Archive, and The Daily Dragon Ball Chapters project (DDBC). DDBC was a very popular Dragon Ball translation site founded in 1997 by Eric Phan; the site later became a large source and repository of scanned and translated Dragon Ballmanga. Of course at the time, no one called what they were doing scanlation. Some called it "fanscanning." A few even called it "fan-lettering." The term "scanlation" was not coined until sometime around 2000.

Other projects that have existed since 1996 included translations of CLAMP manga like X and Magic Knight Rayearth from the CLAMP Mailing List (CML) Manga Translation Team. Translations of shoujo manga likeFushigi Yuugi were available on sites like Tasuki no Miko's Fushigi Yuugi page since 1999. Other popular series like Sailor Moon, Slayers, and Yu Yu Hakusho also had their own dedicated translations online. Guyver - Scanned Chapters was a project that started sometime before 1998 and stayed around until 2001. There was also the The Nameless Manga Translation Site by Space Coyote.

A notable translation website called Wot-Club's Inuyasha - Sengoku o-Togi Zoushi - provided weekly translations of Inuyasha since it started in 1997; the site went on to operate for almost ten years. Another notable project was Spamdini's Tales of the Swirly-Eyed Samurai. Tales of the Swirly-Eyed Samurai was originally hosted on GeoCities and was one of the few sites online in 2000 to serve scanlated chapters of the popular samurai epic Rurouni Kenshin. Around 1999, there was also a site called The Ultimate Manga Download Archive that hosted over 75MB of manga (which was a lot at the time).

Some of these translators translated manga to practice their Japanese, while others translated simply for their love of manga. As years went by, some translators joined scanlation groups, but most disappeared as they moved on to other things. Links to many translation sites can be found here, though most of the sites are no longer available.

Between the period of 1999 and 2001, individual fanscan efforts became more organized and structured, and many people worked together to form groups dedicated to scanning, translating, and editing Japanese manga. This was the first generation of scanlation groups; they are the early pioneers, and experimented with new scanlation practices that are still used today.

source: http://www.insidescanlation.com/history/history-1-1.html