I say Manga, you say Anime!

The world of Japanese manga and anime can be a difficult one to navigate. Manga are comics -- usually black and white, in a digest format -- that sell like hotcakes in Japan to everyone from schoolgirls to salarymen. In the U.S., the format has become popular mostly with the schoolgirls and boys under 17. But there is a wealth of material out there, almost none of it in the superhero genre. Just the opposite of the vast majority of domestic comics. Anime on the other hand is the collective name for Japanese animation movies that are often based on manga or sprout manga after success in theaters. While anime has been available in the U.S. for a couple of decades now (the oldest hit and most popular being Akira, more recent examples being Myazaki'sPrincess Mononoke or Howl's Moving Castle), but the real popularity boost to anime came from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim slot.

And, with that, the point of this post . . .

Click the title above for a link to a great article on a manga/anime that I really enjoy: GTO or Great Teacher Onizuka. This is a fantastic manga (there about 27 250-page volumes that sell at most major book retailers for about 10 bucks a volume) and, while I haven't seen it, a superior episodic anime show. This is one that Cartoon Network should be adding to their programming schedule.

In the meantime, we will have to be happy with 67 episodes of uncut Dragonball Z!!

Ah-so, indeed.