Sequart Organization » manga

Formless and Void: On BLAME!, NaissanceE, and Liminal Spaces

Roque Briones — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 13:19:38 +0000

“What’s it about?” When I recommend BLAME! – the admittedly a tad obscure manga by Tsutomu Nihei – to someone, I tend to get that dreaded question asked to me. I hate having to answer… [more]

Grand Slam Romance #1 Review

Tom Shapira — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 01:39:11 +0000

Grand Slam Romance #1 Review" title="Grand Slam Romance #1 Review" style="float:left;" />Written by Olivia Hicks Drawn by Emma Oostherhous In the afterword for the first issue of Grand Slam Romance, both of the creators involved admit they do ‘not know much about softball.’ It is exactly… [more]

Smorgasbord #54: World War Jude

Tom Shapira — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 14:00:27 +0000

Shawn and Tom dive headfirst into news with the very amusing Bleeding Cool Civil War (not to be confused with the thoroughly unamusing Civil War II or the actual political landscape), Marvel’s latest attempt to… [more]

Science Fiction Doesn’t Have to be Dystopian

Ian Dawe — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 21:00:13 +0000

Have to be Dystopian" title="Science Fiction Doesn’t Have to be Dystopian" style="float:left;" />I love Science Fiction, whether it be in literature or film/TV, but as a fan, I’m frustrated at the moment. In the past years there was been quite a lot of product in this area,… [more]

Japan’s “New” Anti-Piracy Campaign for Anime and Manga

J. Holder Bennett — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 11:00:50 +0000

There has been much discussion of a newly enforced law in Japan regarding online piracy. A-Kon, for which I run various programs, and most other anime conventions do not permit bootlegging at events and internet… [more]

Knights of Sidonia (Shidonia no Kishi): Mecha Anime and Primordial Evil

J. Holder Bennett — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:00:51 +0000

Knights of Sidonia (Shidonia no Kishi): Mecha Anime and Primordial Evil" title="Knights of Sidonia (Shidonia no Kishi): Mecha Anime and Primordial Evil" style="float:left;" />The Netflix Original Series Knights of Sidonia is a triumphal tour of the mecha genre and a major coup for Netflix as their first anime series. While it’s not a true original, as it aired… [more]

Sturm und Drang: Germanic Influence on Shingeki no Kyojin

Emmet O'Cuana — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 11:00:15 +0000

Shingeki no Kyojin" title="Sturm und Drang: Germanic Influence on Shingeki no Kyojin" style="float:left;" />Seid ihr das Essen? Nein wir sind die Jäger Spoilers to follow: The bestselling manga Shingeki no Kyojin by Hajime Isayama has been adapted to television, inspired several video games, and a commercially successful English… [more]

Indian Culture in Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)

J. Holder Bennett — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:00:15 +0000

Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)" title="Indian Culture in Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)" style="float:left;" />I will warn you now: this article has spoilers. What I have in mind would be impossible without them. So, that said, allons-y! In the anime series Black Butler, episodes 13 – 15 introduce us… [more]

Optimus Prime, Pedophile

Julian Darius — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:00:43 +0000

Did you know that the beloved leader of the Autobots had a fetish for underage girls? Or that a Megatron look-alike not only shared the same fetish, but repeatedly tried to rape those girls? Or that… [more]

Manga Make-Up Hits U.S.

Julian Darius — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 14:00:01 +0000

It’s sadly rare that we have an occasion to talk about make-up on Sequart. But then, it’s rare that a brand as big as l’Oréal Paris has a line named after comics. The new line… [more]

Sequart Releases When Manga Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl

Mike Phillips — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 14:00:56 +0000

When Manga Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl" title="Sequart Releases When Manga Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl" style="float:left;" />Sequart Organization is proud to announce the release of When Manga Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl, by Julian Darius. The first manga widely available in English, Mai, the Psychic Girl — written… [more]

East of West #1-5: A Genre Mashup that Doesn’t Quite Work

Ian Dawe — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 17:00:35 +0000

East of West #1-5: A Genre Mashup that Doesn’t Quite Work" title="East of West #1-5: A Genre Mashup that Doesn’t Quite Work" style="float:left;" />The great thing about Westerns, as I often explain to those who don’t understand the genre, is that you can really “go there”. It’s a genre that contains within it the whole spectrum of that… [more]

An Interview with Kumar Sivasubramanian

Matt Emery — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:00:39 +0000

Kumar Sivasubramanian is an Indian-born Canadian currently living in Melbourne, Australia. He has written for Dark Horse Presents and translated over eighty volumes of manga from Japanese to English, including such series as Blade of… [more]

Powerpuff Girls: Too Hot for Comics?

Ian Dawe — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 18:00:44 +0000

A small furor erupted recently when a variant cover for the IDW tie-in to the Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls was withdrawn from circulation after criticism that it was too sexualized. Michigan comic book… [more]

20th Century Boys Volume Four

Harry Edmundson-Cornell — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 12:00:43 +0000

20th Century Boys Volume Four" title="20th Century Boys Volume Four" style="float:left;" />This is an exciting volume. A lot of it focuses on Shogun being generally badass. Shogun acts rather like a vigilante in this volume. He’s continually saving abused women from Thai gangsters. At first this… [more]

20th Century Boys Volume Three

Harry Edmundson-Cornell — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 12:00:01 +0000

20th Century Boys Volume Three" title="20th Century Boys Volume Three" style="float:left;" />This is definitely the best volume of the series so far. Now that’s almost a false statement in a series like this, because this volume’s quality is utterly dependent on the two prior. Without their… [more]

20th Century Boys Volume Two

Harry Edmundson-Cornell — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 12:00:42 +0000

20th Century Boys Volume Two" title="20th Century Boys Volume Two" style="float:left;" />Wow. Naoki Urasawa really gets this series going early. It’s hard to talk about the volume over all without sounding repetitive and it’s hard to resist summarizing the plot. Given that the whole reason behind… [more]

My Big Brother’s Secret Japanese Cartoons: How Anime Addicted Me to Serial Narratives

Victor Giannini — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 18:00:12 +0000

I’m ten years old, and you’re already dead. Your head explodes, and leather cringes while boots crush bone and dust swirls around a strange haired man in the desert. Buildings lay like corpses, luxury liners… [more]

Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Final Act

Julian Darius — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Final Act" title="Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Final Act" style="float:left;" />Continued from our introduction to Mai, the Psychic Girl and parts one and two of our discussion of how super-powers are depicted in the series. In the story’s truncated third and final act, Mai’s life has… [more]

Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Second Act

Julian Darius — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 12:00:51 +0000

Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Second Act" title="Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl’s Second Act" style="float:left;" />Continued from our introduction to Mai, the Psychic Girl and part one of our discussion of how super-powers are depicted in the series. As the narrative shifts into its second half, in which the Wisdom… [more]

Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl

Julian Darius — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 12:00:52 +0000

Mai, the Psychic Girl" title="Super-Powers in Mai, the Psychic Girl" style="float:left;" />Continued from our introduction of Mai, the Psychic Girl. Ryoichi Ikegami is one of manga’s most talented artists, and he’s certainly one of my own favorites. His cityscapes and vehicles are bafflingly realistic. And while… [more]

20th Century Boys Volume One

Harry Edmundson-Cornell — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:00:51 +0000

20th Century Boys Volume One" title="20th Century Boys Volume One" style="float:left;" />The last volume of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys I read was volume 22. The series only lasts two more volumes – 21st Century Boys Volume One and Two. These articles cover my attempted reread… [more]

On Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys: Friends

Colin Smith — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 12:00:48 +0000

20th Century Boys: Friends" title="On Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys: Friends" style="float:left;" />When I first read Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys: Friends, I stopped after the initial six pages and put the book away. For they were so perfect in themselves, so wonderfully concise and clever and moving,… [more]

The Grandmasters

Harry Edmundson-Cornell — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:00:28 +0000

I’ve been planning a series of articles about the all-time greats of the medium for a while. I was planning to focus on living greats, but with Sequart doing this Manga Week it seemed like… [more]

On Mai, the Psychic Girl

Julian Darius — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 12:00:49 +0000

Mai, the Psychic Girl" title="On Mai, the Psychic Girl" style="float:left;" />In early 1987, Eclipse introduced American comics readers to manga with three translated series. The first, debuting one week before the other two, was Mai, the Psychic Girl. The following week, Eclipse debuted The Legend… [more]

It’s Manga Week on Sequart!

Julian Darius — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 12:00:35 +0000

In celebration of this week’s release of Spike Lee’s Oldboy, a remake of the 2003 South Korean film, in turn based on the Japanese manga, we’re running manga-related posts all this week on Sequart. Manga’s… [more]

Wrestling Robots and Philosophical Musings: Examining Pluto

Harry Edmundson-Cornell — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:30 +0000

Pluto" title="Wrestling Robots and Philosophical Musings: Examining Pluto" style="float:left;" />Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto is a damn good comic. If there’s only one thing you get from this article, it should be a burning desire to purchase and read Pluto. Naoki Urasawa is one of the… [more]

My Introduction to Manga, Part 2: A Mechanical Emerson for the Future in Urasawa’s Pluto

Forrest Helvie — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:00:12 +0000

Pluto" title="My Introduction to Manga, Part 2: A Mechanical Emerson for the Future in Urasawa’s Pluto" style="float:left;" />In 1942, Isaac Asimov introduced the world to the three laws of robotics and, in doing so, set the stage that later science fiction writers interested in writing about robots would have to cross. Ten… [more]

My Introduction to Manga, Part 1: Suppli Takes on Batman and Loses. By a Landslide.

Forrest Helvie — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:00:38 +0000

Suppli Takes on Batman and Loses. By a Landslide." title="My Introduction to Manga, Part 1: Suppli Takes on Batman and Loses. By a Landslide." style="float:left;" />Like many Western comic fans of a certain age (which will go unmentioned), I have had little exposure to manga and anime. In fact, my only experience with anything related to the subject would have… [more]

Canada Hates Comics

Julian Darius — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:00:11 +0000

Canadian customs officials have charged a U.S. citizen with possession of child pornography based on his possession of manga comics on a digital device. If found guilty, he faces a minimum of one year in prison…… [more]

Tanpenshu #1

Jeff Chon — Mon, 28 May 2007 15:30:54 +0000

Tanpenshu #1" title="Tanpenshu #1" style="float:left;" />A collection of three short stories, Hiroki Endo’s TANPENSHU Volume One is a hyper-dramatic punch in the gut. The sheer brutality of these stories sucks you into one of the morbid world of gangsters, melancholy… [more]

The Pushman and Other Stories

Jeff Chon — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:40:07 +0000

The Pushman and Other Stories" title="The Pushman and Other Stories" style="float:left;" />Just as his friend Osamu Tezuka is the undisputed godfather of manga, Yoshihiro Tatsumi is the godfather of gekiga, it’s “alternative” cousin. Tatsumi coined the phrase gekiga, meaning “drama pictures,” to set it apart from… [more]

Introducing Genshiken

Aniceto Pereira — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:23:26 +0000

Genshiken" title="Introducing Genshiken" style="float:left;" />Otaku[1] is the Japanese equivalent of “fanboy.” My run-ins with the subject of fanboys in American comics have been limited to short pieces in Evan Dorkin’s Dork, Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier’s perennially funny mini–series Fanboy,… [more]

Why Comics Matter

Julian Darius — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:00:03 +0000

The following video consists of a lecture I delivered on 5 January 2006 at Glen Carbon Centennial Library in Glen Carbon, Illinois. The total runtime is 46 minutes. Because of its length, it has been… [more]

Bandes Dessinées in a Material World

Nicolas Labarre — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:20:44 +0000

Bandes Dessinées in a Material World" title="Bandes Dessinées in a Material World" style="float:left;" />My name is Nicolas Labarre. I am French, and while completing my Ph.D., including a dissertation on “Theories of Mass Culture in the United States,” I write comics. Or more precisely, bandes dessinées. This reminds… [more]

Encyclomania: A Look at Some Comics Encyclopedias

Robert A. Emmons, Jr. — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 02:30:32 +0000

Looking at the etymology of the word encyclopedia one reads “[Med. Lat. encyclopaedia, general education course <Gk.enkuklopaideia< enkuklios paideia, general education.]” I know, sounds boring, and far too ambiguous to be of great value. Historically, encyclopedias bring… [more]

An Introduction to Akira

Matthew Gregg — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:00:39 +0000

Akira" title="An Introduction to Akira" style="float:left;" />Akira is seen by the manga/anime community as the “beginner’s manga/anime.” That is to say, if you like this series, you’ll probably like manga/anime, and vice versa. While this is may seem derogative of Katsuhiro Otomo’s… [more]

Instant Karma’s Gonna Get You (Chon discusses the Phoenix comic without mutants)

Jeff Chon — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 12:36:11 +0000

Phoenix comic without mutants)" title="Instant Karma’s Gonna Get You (Chon discusses the Phoenix comic without mutants)" style="float:left;" />As I was walking through Chinatown last weekend, admiring the endless tanks filled with multicolored koi (which is my new passion of the moment), I noticed something very odd. The little Asian kids were mostly… [more]

Every Atom Belonging to Me as Good Belongs to You (He self-indulgently rambles once again and then finally talks about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)

Jeff Chon — Thu, 13 May 2004 02:07:01 +0000

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)" title="Every Atom Belonging to Me as Good Belongs to You (He self-indulgently rambles once again and then finally talks about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)" style="float:left;" />In the words of Frederick Schodt: Manga! Manga! We all love manga. It’s replaced ice cream as that thing we all scream for. It’s just fun to say. Come on and say it with me:… [more]