Anime & Manga Resources

Anime and Manga are a part of the Japanese society that have a universal appeal. Anime is basically short for animation, while manga are printed books similar to comic books. Since I started learning about Anime and Manga I have found that they have a much further reach than the country of Japan. Both have been translated into English(in the U.S. and the U.K.), Spanish, Italian, and French. And those are only the ones that I am aware of from my research. Some Anime and a few Manga are available in the United States, with more coming every day,  from local comic stores and video retailers. Regarding Anime, I have one recommendation for everyone:

Table of Contents

• Information
• Collections
• Personal Favorites
• Merchandise Vendors
• Conventions

Information

• Anime Hasshin is an independent, Japanese animation and manga (comic books) fan club. They do reviews of upcoming anime with a focus on the fan's perspective.
• I came upon a book called "The Anime Companion" by Gilles Poitras. It explains some of the cultural details of Japanese Society that appear in many anime. For example, it explains what that cat statue with one paw in the air means. A good reference for the anime fan.
•  If you are a Hello Kitty fan(the little kitty jumping up and down on my home page), then be sure to check out the Sanrio home page. It has information on all of the Hello Kitty characters, games, horoscopes and more. There is also a Hello Kitty game called Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy out for the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo Gameboy.
• EX The Online World of Anime & Manga is an online magazine for up to date anime news. The page is updated weekly.


• OSAMU | Otaku Society 4 Anime @ McMaster University is an anime club located in Ontario Canada. Of particular note is their anime lingo page which answers most of the questions you have regarding those strange terms like doujinshi or seiyuu that you hear spoken at conventions.
• The Shoujo Manga Home Page written by Matt Thorn. Shoujo Manga are defined as "girls comics", meaning that the stories are written for shoujo(girls) instead of shonen(boys). The following sentences were taken directly from the author's page:

Strictly speaking, they are just what the name suggests: comic books written for girls. In practice, though, shojo Manga is used to refer to a broad range comic books targeted at both girls and women.

• Philadelphia Animation Society is a local anime club. They have been meeting since 1982. Meetings are scheduled for the second Saturday of every month.
• The South Jersey Animation Society is a local anime club. They have a good list of local stores, but no information on how to join.
• The Animeyhem Society of the University of Pennsylvania is a local college anime club. They seem to run on a Spring and Fall semester basis. This club has a membership page. They showed Video Girl Ai in the spring 97 schedule so they must be a good club. 8-)
• Japanese-Online is a free public service provided by Pacific Software Publishing Inc. It has introductory language lessons with dialogues, vocabulary, grammar, and culture modules. Sound files help with pronunciation.

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Collections

• The lady hitchhiking is Trixie Turnpike. She is your guide to the Anime Web Turnpike. This site is as close to an anime fan's dream as possible. It has everything you need, links to information about anime series, convention web sites, fan clubs, and much more. Rumor has it that the European mirror site has less traffic and works more quickly. A must visit!
• Bigfire Anime is a collection of images, sounds and shareware collected from various sources. They do sell some of their collection, but I didn't do any research into their products.

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Personal Favorites

• Far and away my favorite Anime series is Video Girl Ai. I loved it so much that I created my own fan page. I loved it enough to drive 8 hours in a snowstorm to get to see the creator, Masakazu Katsura, at Katsucon 2. Available from Viz Communications.
• Before it leaves television for good, watch Card Captors on your local Kids WB affiliate. The series is really called Card Captor Sakura, which is based on an original manga by the four woman manga team known as Studio CLAMP. The Kids WB page for Card Captors has a really well made introduction to the show and main characters, but it requires the ShockWave Flash player. If you have it then by all means check it out.
• ccaptors.com is dedicated to the Card Captor Sakura series by Studio CLAMP. It has chat areas, wallpapers, and all kinds of other goodies. Have fun exploring and learning about Sakura and her friends. A very good series which is well worth watching.
• Ranma ½ Perfect Edition (available from Viz) is a story about a young man who fell into a cursed Chinese spring. The curse is that when he is splashed with cold water he turns into the busty young red head that drowned in the spring. A splash of hot water will change him back. This comedy series by Takahashi Rumiko has many weird and wonderful characters. This was the first anime series that I ever saw, and the one that got me into this stuff. This page is a good primer to get you up to speed quickly.

• Nuku Nuku's Page is a synopsis of the anime series with a listing of the cast of characters and links to mp2 files of some of the songs in the series.
• Super Catgirl Nuku Nuku(from A.D.Vision) has a more in depth description of the cast as well as a synopsis of the episodes, in addition to links to other NK-1124 sites.
• Nuku Nuku Chan's Web Page is a collection of general links to various anime. The background to her web page caught my eye right away. Check it out.
• Ryoko Forever Fan Club is dedicated to the Demoness Ryoko of the anime series Tenchi Muyo(from Pioneer)! The site has a chat room and a mailing list for Ryoko fans to communicate with each other, as well as links to fan pages. In my opinion, Ryoko is one of the most interesting characters in the series. She has a strong love of Tenchi, as well as a devilish mean streak that she uses to persecute the Jurai princess Ayeka.
• Irresponsible Captain Tailor(or Tylor depending upon whom you talk to) just released in the US by the Right Stuff International, is one of the funniest characters in anime. This misfit soldier manages to survive every situation through pure luck. Having joined the military so that he would have an "easy" life, Justy Ueki Tylor gets promoted to a ship's captain virtually overnight. Given his own spacecraft, the Soyokaze(Gentle Breeze), with a motley crew, he battles the Rarlgon Empire.
• Save Our Sailors (SOS) Campaign Headquarters is dedicated to keeping Sailor Moon on US television. Sailor Moon is extremely popular in Japan and has a rather strong following in the here. I didn't watch it when it was first broadcast, I didn't even go to the US premier at Animeast. Then I was home sick from work for a few days and I finally saw what I was missing.
• Hitoshi Doi's Sailor Moon Encyclopedia is full of information on every character in the series. If there is anything you want to know about Usagi and company, this is the place to go.
• I saw the BASTARD! anime at the original OTAKON. For individuals who like sword and sorcery stories, this series is well worth it. I have not read the Manga, but I enjoyed the anime. From Pioneer.
• If you haven't had a chance to watch Pokemon yet, by all means do it right away. Yes it is dubbed, and they changed the theme music, but it is still a fun show. My favorite characters are Pikachu and Psyduck. Both begin with a P, curious.

Meet my Pikachu.

Get your own Pikachu!

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Merchandise Vendors

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Conventions

• The very first anime convention that I ever attended was OTAKON: The Convention of the Otaku Generation. I have attended every one so far and have watched it grow from a few hundred people, to the 4500 that attended the last one. If you like anime you must attend at least one convention in your life. OTAKON is a great con that is well organized and FUN! The latest rumors are that the convention in 2000 will be at the Baltimore Convention Center again, check the web site for updates.
• Katsucon is another East Coast anime convention. I attended it once, but had a good time nonetheless. I attended Katsucon 2 to see Masakazu Katsura, creator of Video Girl Ai. 

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