Animé &
Manga
(plus some other Japastuff)

Good News For Animé Fans? AnimeCentral is no longer sharing time with PopGirl. It has a stream of its own, which could mean a planned increase in programming? (Or maybe they just wanted to extend PopGirl, which plays until 11.30pm now? Oh, and don't forget the new PopGirl+1!) Frequency 11.642 Polarisation Vertical Symbol Rate 27500 Video ID 2341 Audio ID 2342 PCR ID 2305

Introduction and index

CONTENTS:

• Japanese and romanisation
• Part one: An introduction to the genre
  • Words to forget
  • My introduction to animé
  • Then and now
  • Manga
  • Animé
  • Aniga?
  • Studio Ghibli
  • The "sailor outfit"
  • Cuteness / Kawaii
  • Cosplay
  • Tachikoma Wanted
• Part two: A brief education
  • Teach me something in Japanese!
  • Common terms
• Part three: ANIME CENTRAL and its presentations (alphabetical order)
  • Anime Central
  • Wiki Warning
  • Series: .hack//SIGN
  • Series: Bleach
  • Series: Cowboy Bebop
  • Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
  • Series: G.I. Joe
  • Series: Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex
  • Series: Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
  • Series: Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
  • Series: Planetes
  • Series: s-CRY-ed
  • Series: The Vision Of Escaflowne
  • Series: Transformers Headmasters
  • Series: Transformers Masterforce
  • Series: Transformers Victory
  • Series: Witch Hunter Robin
  • Series: Wolf's Rain
• Part four: Other animé and links
  • Film: Tales from Earthsea
  • Ghibli film reviews
  • Credits and links

DISCLAIMER: I have never been to Japan. I don't speak any more Japanese than the stuff given in the 'teach me' section (on a good day, when I don't forget half of it). I also have not knowingly spoken to an actual Japanese person in, like, the last decade.
One day I hope this will change. One day I hope to visit Akihabara while flashing lights and cute robotic toys still excite me; rather than somebody reading this in an archive and taking me out of some sense of sympathy 'cos I'm a senile old cantankerous git... If/when I do make to to Japan, I'll be sure to take lots of photos and then downloading this document will make your computer explode, even with broadband! :-)

NOTE: This document looks best in MSIE or Opera. There are some formatting oddities regarding forced flowing around inserted tables with Firefox, so if you are using Firefox you may see some stuff appears odd or some content overlays other content when it shouldn't.

Japanese and romanisation

Japanese in your browser.

This section is a bit geeky and, frankly, if you saw the Japanese writing in the line above (as shown on the right) and you have seen Japanese words written in Latin characters before... just skip on to the next section!

System support
Unfortunately, this will not work on all systems. You will need a Unicode compliant system with support for Japanese, plus a browser that can make use of both.
On my Windows 98SE machine (called 'Angelique'), I use MSIE 6 and I have the Japanese IME installed (you can download this from Microsoft). It works equally with Firefox and Opera.

Adding Japanese support to XP.

On the Windows XP Pro machine at the library, it is bizarre in that sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. It isn't my computer and I only have half an hour a week on it, too short to work out what is going on there.

On my own XP machine (called 'Aiko'), I installed East Asian language support so that Japanese ideographs will be correctly displayed (additionally Chinese and Korean as they share various large 'font' files with the Unicode "CJK Unified Ideograph" mapping).
To do this, open the Start menu. Follow Control Panel (either a link or menu depending on your setup) and then open Regional and Language Options.
Under the Languages tab, select the option Install files for East Asian languages (itty-bitty picture to the right). Click on OK.
(you'll probably need your XP installation disc, and be warned that if you have a smallish harddisc (say, under 15Gb), this will add a bunch of stuff)

Sadly, the situation under RISC OS is less hopeful. There apparently was a Japanese Unicode font created (a Pace spin-off I think?) but it was not to my knowledge released publicly. Newer versions of RISC OS use a Unicode rendering system (I believe this is available as a part of RISC OS Open?), but without the ideographic font...?
In short, as far as I am aware none of the RISC OS browsers (of any vintage) will correctly display this document. Here are the (scaled down) results of a test on the main browsers available for RISC OS 3.70, with MSIE 6's output for comparison:

I would assume that the situation is not a problem for Macs or Un*x variants; but it probably will be for those using DOS/Amiga/Atari and anything else 'old'.

Content blocking
Under Windows XP (or later), you may see the message "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer".
I have tried to remove all scripting and CSS as I get this message when loading from "file://". If you know what is triggering this, or - better - if you know how to turn off this annoying message (for file:// only, preferably), please let me know. It's quicker than using a local http server!

From your point of view, if you keep getting this message and you feel you can trust me (feel free to peruse the document source), you might be able to turn this off by adding this document to your trusted sites zone. Refer to MSIE's help to see if you can add single documents to this zone. There is some JavaScript that changes the "Konnichiwa" text (here) depending on the time of day; and code that also outputs Hepburned words with macrons or circumflexes (if RISC OS). I permit this document to run this "potentially unsafe content" (why can't MSIE be a bit more precise?) and it looks like I expect it to.
For you... the choice is yours. The best option is probably not to use MSIE... ☺

Romanisation
The Japanese in this document is romanised using the Hepburn method. This has not found favour with Japanese officialdom due to it doing based upon the English way of speaking, however it is widely used outside of Japan and quite a lot within Japan, because it is the system that provides an English-speaking person with the best approximation of a Japanese word.

Consider the word for governor, and thanks to Wiki for the example. It is 知事 in Japanese. This word may be pronounced chiji using the Hepburn system, or tizi using the Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki systems favoured in Japan. I think the difference here is that the Japanese systems allow the best translation of the kana to roman lettering (and back again) with little regard to how to speak the word, as they'll already know. The Hepburn system is lossy in that you cannot go directly from Japanese to Hepburn and back again. On the flip side, however, a word in Japanese is more likely to be said correctly by an English speaking person with Hepburn. So, does governor sound most like 'chee-jee' or most like 'tizzy'? There's quite a difference.

Likewise there are differences in Hepburn according to use, preference, etc. The fairly standard system uses the macron (i.e. Tōkyō), with fallback to the circumflex (Tôkyô) for those older systems that cannot do the macron properly.
Common English usage uses neither - Tokyo, arigato, and sayonara are all examples of words readily understood by many English speakers, but this method of spelling does nothing to aid correct pronunciation. The only reason most Brits correctly pronounce Tokyo is our speech patterns would tend to emphasis both of the 'o's. Conversely we would probably emphasis the first or second 'a' in sayonara (usually like sigh-onaara) which is not correct. The macron/circumflex guides this.
Other versions are "passport Hepburn" which uses an 'h' to mark the longer vowel (Tohkyoh) and "wordprocessor style" which uses an 'ou' sort of construct leading to Toukyou. You'll see this quite a lot, and it must be spotted because using the correct Hepburn rules would lead you to perhaps say too-kyew or try to-oo-ky-o-oo or some other mess.

Pronunciation guide
In numerous cases, I also provide a personal "Rick" style of how to say stuff. For example the girl in Planetes is Ai Tanabe (say like eye tah-nah-bay). Here, each syllable is usually broken with a hyphen and you just say what you see.
The problem with this is it relies upon me correctly hearing, plus being able to transcribe it (IPA would be simpler but most people cannot read nor render that!), plus my accent is likely to get in the way. For example some Brits say car, bar, far, and path with the same 'a' sound. I would say the 'a' in path like the 'a' in math or abstract.
This is further compounded by non-British conventions. I remember Hayley Westenra taking (on GMTV I think) about a concert that she was doing in "wimblee" (The Wembley Arena).
In addition, consider leaving your message at the bip. If you're a Frenchie, bip is to you what beep is to Brits.
So, take it how you will, and remember I welcome corrections and suggestions!

Words to forget

Prepare to have your horizons broadened. ☺

My introduction to animé

Deeper issues
These are an extrapolation of issues that affect us today - I can imagine in the future a possible (and illogical) stigma for, example, a child adopted by homosexual parents or the child of an IVF birth. It may seem bizarre to view this in the setting of a 'bot, however humans are naturally very able to apply discrimination: Blacks, Whites, Asians, males, females, blondes, short people, Muslims, Christians, the impoverished, those with disabilities... It may sound like "the usual lineup" for cranks, and perhaps it is. That doesn't mean such discrimination does not occur. Wherever there is a difference, there is always somebody willing to exploit this difference to distinguish superiority. Even with children, the social standing within their group could be determined by something as ridiculous as which Saturday morning magazine programme they watch. Swop Shop or Tis-Was in the '80s? Live & Kicking or... whatever... in the '90s? I used to like AirWolf. So uncool. KnightRider (which I happen to think is a bit naff) was the trendy thing to watch. It's utterly idiotic, but not really that different to saying "you're stupid because you're blonde". A pointless discrimination and nothing more.

Actually, the disabilities example is the most interesting of all if you recall those disabled runners with the spring-leg-thing outperforming their non-disabled competitors. Many of these modifications of our own selves will not just be repairs and replacements, but actual functional enhancements.

If we cannot come to terms with the natural variations within our own species and the choices we may make, how can be possibly be able to cope with artificial augmentation? Not only will it lead to discrimination, but this discrimination will be coupled with a serious inferiority complex...

The technification of the human race is already occurring - pacemakers, disabled runners, hip replacements. While these things are currently provided on medical grounds, how long will it be until body mods are performed in order to enhance the body's abilities. Imagine a boxer or football player if you replaced a number of the brittle human bones with strengthened carbon fibre. In a way, is this not really that much more than a somewhat severe continuation of the likes of the "dopage" problems that have blighted the Tour de France in recent years?
This isn't to say that replacing bones with stronger materials is 'cheating', per se, but it is fairly simple to draw a direct comparison between steroids which attempt to push the body beyond what it is naturally capable of and part-replacement to take the body beyond that which it is naturally capable.

So while this technification is primarily for medical reasons, today, it will slowly gather pace and be applied for performance enhancement. Egotistical mankind attempting to better the design and counter the inherent fragilities of the human body.

Sure, it will be a while before we see cyborg bodies with a biological brain, and it may be a while before we see human-realistic AIs; probably not in my lifetime... but the time will come. Look how far the Honda Asimo has come, a walking human-shaped 'buddy' that you can interact with.

With some digital trickery, we can see Asimo leaving the cleaning duties to a vacuum cleaner 'bot. Images from a programme on BBC FOUR hosted by Michio Kaku.

• a constant and excessive surveillance by an unknown governmental organisation whose motives are probably somewhat malevolent
• credit cards
• instantaneous news - events reported almost before they occur, where the important factor is not accuracy but simply being the first to report
• the feeling of general helplessness where you are reduced to a generic group entity and no longer a person with an individual identity

By imagining the future, they can make stories about it today, so maybe when these dreams become, it won't be such a shock.

You may have read the above paragraphs and be thinking "phew! bloody hell!". Rest assured, however, that most animé/manga is designed to be an entertainment. You can look for the meanings, you can "read between the lines", you can ponder the existential nature of things... or you can watch an underdressed cyborg chick blow hell out of some bad guys.
You can even, gasp!, do both!

Then and now

Recursion
After a while it gets monotonous. It is like watching Star Trek: TNG (namely: something happens, the "Away Team" investigate, something really bad happens, somebody comes up with a solution like re-aligning the di-Lithium crystals (how many times did they dump the di-Lithium core moments before it blew up?), crisis over, they can fly on happily...) in that there is only so much of it you can take. Okay, perhaps unfair to compare Roadrunner with Star Trek as there were a number of small subplots ongoing within the latter while the cartoon was stripped to the bare essentials... In any case, it got repetitive.

Cartoons are for kids
In terms of printed media, I had no idea about manga until about the same time I saw Ghost In The Shell - and went to Woking library to see if it was available on tape. It wasn't, but they had it in printed form...
Previously, I had been used to the likes of The Beano and the various supplements and strips in newspapers. While some (i.e. "Love is...") tried to aim for a more mature reader, the most of it was targeted towards children, either as a few pages, or a three to five frame strip essentially setting up for a punchline. Note, as in common with a lot of this genre, the drawing is highly minimalist. For example: no backgrounds and little use of dimensions.

An example three-panel cartoon strip, © 2005 Rick Murray (2005/09/23).

Wai-wai! Welcome Anime Central!
It is with some degree of happiness that I see the birth of Animé Central on British satellite TV, along with the various Studio Ghibli films on FilmFour. I cannot say how the state of manga and animé are in Britain as I've not been there since May 2002. I hope that these small things are in some way indicative of a growing acceptance of animation as a medium for all sorts of different age groups. It is especially good to see the likes of Planetes and .hack//SIGN on television, as they are both intelligent series that make you think.

The situation at Home Farm
Over here in France: I cannot receive any French animé because not only the technical reasons (PAL vs SÉCAM), but also that a lot of this is PPV. It seems the French are more used to the PPV model thanks to the "ethics" (debatable phraseology!) of the likes of Canal, who look to be trying to make it as difficult as possible to receive the French "terrestrial digital" channels off satellite (some are available on Atlantic Bird at 5°W, the whole line-up to be made available on Astra at 19.2°E will be encrypted and require a special decoder) which is, in deep irony, the polar opposite to the British model where the BBC plan to bring the DTT channels to satellite "in the clear" (somewhat following what the Germans have been doing for over a decade). This decision means that, because where I live now is out of the broadcast zone for DTT and most analogue channels, I am very unlikely to watch anything French unless it is being broadcast on British television (i.e. Manon des Sources). In addition, I don't have a phone line but if I did, TV is not available on broadband here. This is a great shame as I think watching and enjoying French television would help my comprehension of the language and also keep me up to date with topical issues.
On the plus side, animé has quite a following, so maybe some day...

As far as manga is concerned, it is widely held that France has the highest consumption of manga outside of Japan. So I'll talk about this next...

Manga

The word itself is 漫画 in Japanese, which translates to mean "whimsical drawings", a fairly accurate description. The Japanese themselves have also created their interpretation of the English word, arriving at komiku. This is somewhat ironic, given that most of the Japanese-style 'comics' are called by the Japanese name outside of Japan!

How does manga differ?
Manga can be usually be differentiated from Westernised comic strips by three main points:

• The use of lines. This is extremely hard to even begin to describe, suffice to say that a bit of research tells how up until recently most Japanese writing and drawing was created with a brush; while in Europe the quill and other hard implements have been used since the Dark Ages, if not before.
  While I would imagine most comics are outlined these days with some sort of graphing pen (rather than brush vs quill), it has affected the way the lines are drawn, indeed the way the entire artwork is drawn. All I can suggest is that you do your own comparison here, and I hope you get what I mean!
• The "moé" style, described just below. Not a rule, but very prevalent.
• Backgrounds and dimensions. If you look at the example scans below, you will notice that not only are the frame backgrounds as richly detailed as the foreground, but heavy use has been made of three dimensional drawing. It seems Westernised drawers prefer a more minimal approach, with the likes of Bécassine and Tintin being more extreme examples of this.
  Furthermore, while Westernised strips generally follow an action in a fairly flat format, manga prefers to alternate angles, depth of field, and suchlike as if it was a series of shots from some sort of film. The Appleseed page scan (below) is an example of this.

What's with those big eyes?
The moé style is a style prevalent in a lot of manga and animé. Basically the characters are overly cute and with really big eyes. People will readily tell you that the eyes are enlarged to allow them to be more expressive, and while a small enlargement can work (refer to the Appleseed and Angel Heart scans below), moé takes this to an extreme.

While this is not an absolute rule, and a lot of more serious manga tries to be more realistic in this respect, there is a lot of moé around - take for example the two scans either side, which are from fruits basket (Natsuki Takaya).

A rather amusing side effect of this is that a number of the more extreme moé characters, drawn in long shot, look like greys (as in the aliens).

 
Distribution
It seems manga (even serialised manga) is more often published (at least here in France) as individual books which typically contain one story (i.e. xyzzy volume 2, volume 3, etc) although some books contain several shorter stories. I think the Beano-like thin multi-story comic-like layout is rather rare for manga. The reason for this is products such as the Beano tend to set the characters up for a punchline. A scenario, followed by an amusing payoff.
Manga books, on the other hand, are typically 150-250 pages. In Japan, some manga publications contain multiple stories and can run to 500 or more pages.

Much of the stuff on sale at this e. leclerc seems to be manga (stuff like fruits basket (Natsuki Takaya) aimed at girls), and I did come across something that looked suspiciously like yuri manga (girl-on-girl action), but there was stuff to occupy my empty mind as well. I am currently reading Angel Heart (Tsukasa Hojo), having entered into the story at episode 17. I like the drawing style.

My current manga reading... I purchased all of this in a local bookshop (not the supermarket), with the exception of fruits basket that I got from a boot sale for €0,25 (about £0.18?). Not really my 'thing', but nevermind - live and learn, eh? If you have any suggestions (from reading this document) of manga I should look out for - let me know!

Additionally I am reading Quartier Lointain ( Taniguchi), on loan from the local library. I don't know the English title, it is apparently "Harukana Machi-e" in Japanese - the story of a middle-age salaryman who goes back in time to when he was a young teenager. The drawings are sublime and must have taken ages. There are so many little cultural references that I'm not entirely certain if this was a sci-fi story on behalf of , or simply a reminiscence wrapped in a story. In any case, it is a hard slog appreciating the nuances of much of the dialogue (remember I'm reading in French!). Some of what is said has more meaning than just the obvious word-for-word translation.

Manga vs animé

"Bleach" in its manga form (#14 p144), click for larger version.

It is very important to consider manga, not just as a rival art form, but also often as an origin. Such wonderful films as Ghost In The Shell began life as a manga - in this case by the not-very-prolific but technically-skilled Masamune Shirow.
The series Bleach is an ongoing manga with 23 books available in France (29 in Japan; Sept 2007). Likewise the series Planetes that I discuss later on started as a manga. It has evolved quite a bit in the transition between page and screen, but the same could be said of any number of Bronté sisters adaptations and Agatha Christie novels once you've seen the “sexed-up” ITV versions!

Problems with translation
One of the main points of contention with manga fans is not whether there's an animé-of-the-manga, or even if it is a manga-of-an-animé. They aren't even concerned with the Hollywood rip-offs or attempted rip-offs of either (you'll see a lot of similarities between The Matrix and Ghost In The Shell). No, the point is much closer to home.

If your eyesight is up to it, consider the following (they are from two separate stories):

Appleseed, vol 1, p14. By Masamune Shirow. English version by Studio Proteus.		Angel Heart, vol 18, chap 194. By Tsukasa Hojo. French version by Panini Manga.

Stuck?

Try this. The French one (on the right) reads a lot better if you do it right-to-left. Japanese manga has, traditionally, been written in a style that would seem to be "back to front". This goes as far as the book is actually read completely in reverse (i.e. the spine is on the right). If you look really carefully at the crappy picture of the four manga books above, you may notice that the spine and binding is on the right of all of them.

The English one, however, has been 'doctored' to read in traditional Western style. Purists would argue that this is an abomination, and I do wonder what is changed in the translation - while each 'cell' typically fits within the rectangle and rejigging the rectangles is pretty easy with computers, however you cannot help but wonder what happens in the case of things that extend beyond the normal boundaries (sound effects are notorious for this) or more difficult cases where the cells are oblique shapes.
Below you can see a quick'n'dirty reworking of Angel Heart. On the left is how it may appear if the frames were cut out and moved around. On the right is the worst case scenario. As the original Japanese text will be erased from the speech bubbles for the translation, all that needs to be done is a simple optical flip. Ugh! Ugh!

Angel Heart, reworked for left-to-right reading.		Angel Heart, flipped for a quick change to left-to-right style.

It could be argued that the optical flip version is graphically nicer: in the middle left frame Mademoiselle Shindo is looking into the page and not out of it, likewise bottom left shows Xiang-Ying (driving) looking into the page. It is a more pleasing layout. However doing this introduces its own inconsistencies. So Mlle Shindo doesn't know how to drive and they are teaching her to use the brakes. Something that is fairly universal is the pedal ordering in a car - so in the flipped version it appears as if she is stamping hard on the accelerator! The more observant of you will have noticed that the Japanese drive on the left, like the English, however the optically-flipped version puts Mlle Shindo sitting on the left of the vehicule, which would be wrong.
This could logically be fixed in this instance by flipping the page, then flipping again the problem frames. But surely it is no great hardship to read 'backwards'? It may seem odd at first, but it is like sudoku, either you get it or you don't...

What's "mangaka"?
Mangaka - 漫画家 - is the name given to a professional manga artist. It is not the 'full' name for manga.

Animé

"Japanimation"

"Mew Mew Power" (PopGirl). A good example of animated moé.

It is widely understood that animé refers specifically to animation of Japanese origin or something that tries to mimic the visual style. Some people also refer to this as Japanimation, but this phrase sort-of died out in the mid eighties.
It is fairly unusual, outside of Japan, to refer to animé as manga; however within Japan it is more common, roughly akin to using the word "cartoon" for both print and animation.

Pronunciation
There are a number of ways to pronounce "animé". The Japanese 'e' is roughly equivalent to an Italian 'e', so I think the best pronunciation is "ah-nih-meh". I accent the final 'e' (this is a common optional variation of the spelling) to show that the word is not said like "ah-neem", as it might otherwise seem. This leads some to pronounce it according to French, ending up with "ah-nih-may" - and I must admit that I do tend to say it like this myself from time to time. This is not unreasonable as the word was originally a Japanification of the word "animation".

In any case, something of importance is that each part of the word is said with equal stress. It is not aaah-nih-meh or ah-niiiih-meh or even ah-nih-maaaay.

The stress is something that you must get right. A word common in manga is which means "young girl" and is often used to specify content for young female readers.
A much less common word in manga is , which means "orangutang". You see the difference? ☺

Aniga?

Studio Ghibli

Trademarks of Ghibli productions are:

• normal sized eyes and realistic colouring for hair and body (i.e. no "moé")
• films that require some degree of emotional involvement
• films grounded in reality - we may have a flying witch and we may frequently enter the spirit world and come across dragons and such, but these are often based upon fables of old - I think I would be shocked beyond words if a giant mecha turned up with all guns blazing...
• for the Miyazaki films: cats and flying will always feature in some way or other
• strong female lead roles, usually independent females
• and for us film buffs, following the horrible American wrecking of the original version of the film Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind which was not only badly dubbed but also edited and in some parts rearranged (if you want to see this travesty, go look up the animated film Warriors of the Wind); the studio has made an exclusive "no edits" policy for all of their films licenced internationally. So we viewers get to see Ghibli's film, and not what some suit beancounter thought would 'translate better'.

It is perhaps fair to say that there are some great non-Ghibli films out there (Ghost In The Shell being a good example), however it is perhaps also fair to say that the majority of the Ghibli films are masterpieces.
You see, there are a number of films with a story and a message and lots of detail and action. I would put Akira into this arbitrary category. However once Akira has finished, it has finished. You and your friends might order pizza after the film and talk about it, but that may be it. Try giving such light treatment to the haunting Grave of the Fireflies. Even more fantastical material such as the OSCAR® winning Spirited Away (frequently translated internationally as "the journey of Chihiro") is likely to linger in your mind for a considerable time.

While Nausicaä is not strictly a Ghibli film, it was following Nausicaä that the studio was founded. Since then, they have been the driving force behind such films as:

• Grave of the Fireflies (Japanese)
• Howl's Moving Castle
• I Can Hear the Sea
• Kiki's Delivery Service (English)
• Laputa: Castle in the Sky
• My Neighbour Totoro (*)
• My Neighbours the Yamadas
• Only Yesterday (*)
• Princess Mononoke (English / Japanese)
• Pom Poko
• Porco Rosso
• Spirited Away (English?)
• Tales from Earthsea (French)
• The Cat Returns (Japanese)
• Whisper of the Heart (Japanese)

The "sailor outfit"

The "sailor outfit" is the Japanese girl's school uniform. Properly called the (or セーラー服 in Japanese); fuku is the word for 'uniform' and is the closest the language would allow to the word 'sailor'.
Sometime shortly after WW2, somebody introduced rather militarised school uniforms. The boys tend to wear all-over black (or nearly black) with no collar ("mandarin" style). The girls wear a uniform that is a stylised version of the uniforms that were worn by the British navy at the turn of the century - hence the Donald Duckness.
I'm not certain why these styles were chosen, but one thing you cannot argue is that it is highly distinctive; you may be able to consider the as much a symbol of modern Japan as, say, sumo wrestlers or Hiro Nakamura!

The 's main points are a rectangular sort of thing hanging partway down the back, which is gathered together at the front and tied with a sort of a cross between a scarf and a ribbon, to make a tidy bow; you can see this in the pictures either side (from the film Whisper Of The Heart) and in the picture below; either is better than my lame description! If we compare with a generic British "junior" school uniform (below right, scanned from a recent IXDirect catalogue and tidied (price markings removed)), you can see that the is not only distinctive, it's a lot better looking!

Some teacher once told me that if you take pride in your appearance, this will spread through to all parts of your life. I can't say I ever really followed this advice, but I do feel that the British take on school uniforms (in my day, -1990) were pretty blah and uninspiring. And as for when I left England (-2002), a local school's big thing was for girls to wear black bras under a very thin white blouse; especially on days when it was raining - they'd sussed that a wet blouse goes sort-of see-through. They hadn't sussed that the whole slag-look would be attracting totally the wrong sort of person.

In any case, I think the is nicer, tidier, and more stylish than most school uniforms I've seen.

Quartier Lointain, vol. 1, p102 by Jirō Taniguchi. French version by Casterman.		Generic British school uniform. Scanned from IXDirect catalogue.

The in Kill Bill (vol. 1).

A "schoolgirl" in a pop video.

While some people might think the turns up for all the wrong reasons (and sometimes it does...), to have adolescents in school uniform is really no different to that which appears in British, Australian, etc, programming - such as Neighbours, EastEnders, The Worst Witch, the various Harry Potter movies, the British Eurovision entry in 2006, that H Two 0 feat. Platnum (sic) song...
Anyway, that whole dress/red-tie/square-down-the-back thing... Get used to it, it turns up a lot in one form or another - even in Kill Bill, as seen on the left...

And, well, sometimes something very similar turns up as a 'fashionable' item. Pictured below is Jennifer Love Hewitt in episode 2 of "Ghost Whisperer". I think, with the stripes on the arms, it is a naval-inspired outfit. Looks kinda familiar though, doesn't it? ☺

Various shots of Jennifer Love Hewitt's outfit in Ghost Whisperer 1-02.

Cuteness / Kawaii

Miss Ebihara and the donuts!

This is not to forget Yuri Ebihara (left) who is considered by many to be a real life big-eyed idol of extreme cuteness. She once said "If someone doesn't find me cute, I want to know why because then I'll work on it to get better at being cute". I'm afraid I have no suggestions as, well, yeah... she's cute.
That advert she made to promote the Japanese release of "The OC" - who'd have known you could have so much fun with a donut!

In fact, so innate in Japanese is the concept of cute that it turns up in places where it might be considered peculiar or just plain inappropriate in the West. For example the mascot of the police force is Pipo-kun, a sort of flying superhero mouse-like thing, as we can see here (scanned from Japan Vibes #39):

They say the official reason for the big eyed characters is because a lot of emotions and expressiveness occur with the eyes. To a degree it is true. But, let's face it, it is also cute. Would Bambi have been as cute if it wasn't for those big eyes? Would Orihime be as cute without the big eyes? All this cuteness and no need to toss cookies!

One final note on cuteness, Wiki has a brief list of loan words which ends with the amusing:

• wai-wai: the sound of an excited cute person. Equivalent to the English "yay!".

Cosplay

The newspaper Ouest-France covered Cosplay in their 2007/07/05 issue. Here is a scan of that article:
 

(click picture for a large version - warning, it's nearly a megabyte!)

A rough translation is as follows:

Living in the skin of their manga hero.
During the week, they are a lawyer, programmer or nurse. On the weekend, they put on their costumes and imitate their manga hero. The phenomenon is called "cosplay" and it hits the mark.
 

Playing the hero; and parading in order to entertain, it's all in the spirit of cosplay.

The Japanese school outfit is a pattern often imitated by the cosplayers.

Sometimes sumptuous, the costumes require hours behind the sewing machine.

Julia Degorce is a serious student. But on the weekend, and sometimes in the evening, this Parisian swaps her faculty outfit for a costume distinctly more rigolo, the one of "Gigi", heroine of the Japanese manga of the same name. "I make my own clothes and accessories. The goal is achieving the most faithful possible imitation. I became a pro of the sewing machine!"
Julia Degorce practices "cosplay", contraction of "costume" and "playing".
In France, the second homeland of manga (a type of comic) behind Japan, she is not alone. Kat, for example, based in Nice, has been a cosplayer since 2000. She adores to "mimic the Japanese school-girl style with short skirt and big socks". Practically becoming professional, you could see it on the Disney cosplay website. She doesn't forget anything, "especially the pink candy coloured hair". [don't they mean blue? cf. middle picture above -Rick]
The family of cosplayers (those who practice it) has grown since the year 2000. It is all rather urban, young and relatively comfortable, in searches of things to do. Tsubasa, the association of Julia Degorce, united "some data processing consultants, a photographer, some store-keepers". The Cosplay Factory, which is integrated with the Parisian association Tengumi, counts among its members a lawyers and a journalist.
All these Goldoraks, Nanas, and Narutos become real on the weekend. "You could call it a convention, a big gathering-competion where everybody parades on stage in their disguise. They are judged on the result. The ambiance is often very good", assures Julia Degorce.
Cosplay might have been born in the United States, the other country of heroes - those who save the planets in the comics, those which appeared in the fifties. But in reality it developed in Japan, all beginning during the nineties, with the fringe of Japanese youth fighting the attitudes of the conformist society. An outfit is 'de rigor' at work as in school - in a way it has become an identity of life.
In France, cosplay remains a pass-time which provides a taste of Japanese culture. This weekend, this happy little world meets to contest at the Japan-Expo 2006 in Paris. For the first time, the French selection of cosplay appears on a global cosplay venue.
 
Written by Christelle GUIBERT and translated by Rick Murray.
 
Links (probably in French): www.cosplay.factory.org / www.association-tsubasa.com

An interesting aspect of cosplay is that in Japan there does not appear to be any specific stigma to cross-dressing. This could perhaps be a reflection of a recent(ish) trend where boys dressed as girls (and vice versa), perhaps as a statement against the society seen as overly conformist? And also to really upset their parents, no doubt!

Japanese cosplayers tend to find Western cosplay 'interesting' because, let's face it - stereotypically the Japanese have a particular body shape and size, while us Westerners have a different shape and size. While neither is ideally suited to exactly mimicking a style which frequently includes long legs and no waist whatsoever, I think - height issues aside - a Japanese person is more likely to pull it off than an average Westerner who may have the legs but will also have a waist to contend with.

That said, and while there is a very serious competitive side seeking to exactly and perfectly duplicate their chosen hero, the majority of cosplay is intended as being fun. To design and produce an outfit based upon your favourite manga/animé hero and just dress up as them. Most of us might be able to save a cheerleader, but saving the world is a tall order, and doing it week after week is nigh on impossible. But, hey, we can pretend, right?

Help wanted! If you have URLs of cosplay site within the UK, please send them to me so I can link from here.
Also, if you are willing to let me include a photo of yourself in cosplay mode (especially if you are a character from one of the series shown on Anime Central), please get in touch!

Tachikoma Wanted

Advert for "Roboquad", SuperU advert 2007/06/07 (what? did you think you'd only see English and Japanese? hehe...)

I am sure that you are reading this and thinking my suggestions have just doubled the price. Look at it like this - I have several organisers but the only one that I use now is the PocketBook II (a rebadged Psion 3A). Why? It is limited in processor speed (a near-8MHz 8088 core) and memory (256K onboard, plus a 128K file storage card) and it is larger device overall, plus it consumes more battery power (AA cells give about 8-20 hours use).
So why do I prefer the older organiser in preference to the others that I have? Two reasons - good applications software that can do some useful stuff (impressive compatibility too), and equally important is the built in OPL programming language (BASIC-like procedural) which allows me to create custom applications. To save space here, you can find out more and see some of my creations.
It is important to apply this logic if a little Tachikoma were to be created. Think of the Lego® Mindset experiment kit - does the thing want to be an expensive cool novelty, or a gadget that can be customised, personalised, and played with for ages...

Teach me something in Japanese!

• The language developed completely differently to the Western (predominantly Latin/Germanic) languages. While this isn't a bad thing, it does mean there is a lot less correlation between words we've picked up along the way (i.e. amour, aide, assistance, fraternité)... thanks to various wars and invasions through the course of history, you might be surprised how many words of French/Latin origin are lurking in the English language. What do Muslim and Jewish people not eat? Porc. What are burgers made of? Bœuf (we say 'beef', but it's essentially the same word). What does your girlfriend enhance her appearance with? A bra (from brassière). What does she wear to look appealing in the bedroom? Lingerie! A "park" (as in green space) is a Parc. The list goes on... It includes words of German and Scandinavian origin as well as the Romance Languages. What it doesn't include is Japanese. This may change in time as geeks think it cooler to be otaku and we read manga and watch animé and greet with konnichiwa... but there will be many many words that have no possible relationship to anything we know from our own native language. So it is like starting from scratch. Phew! And I find French hard going!
• It has a horribly complicated honourific system (akin to using "tu" incorrectly in French, only with lots of categories instead of simple formal/familiar).
  The French think it odd (and somewhat amusing) that my mother and I 'vous' each other. We were both never taught the familiar; and while it may be 'odd' to always use the formal (or, in Japanese, to be ridiculously bottom-of-the-food-chain subservient), you won't cause offence. The same cannot be said in reverse, where you could greatly dishonour your host with your very first sentence. But you'll have to be aware of these variations as your host may well use a different manner of speaking to you than you would (asides from, you know, them being fluent in the language and all!).
• This has nothing to do with the language... but brush up on honour and dishonour. These are concepts very important to the Japanese. Show appropriate respect for their traditions, as I'm sure there were Japanese kids reading manga and playing with their Sega while we slow-developers in the West were busy clubbing beasts over the head with sticks and leaving graffiti on cave walls...
• I don't know whether this applies mainly to children, or equally to all age groups, but males and females have slightly different ways of speaking. I cannot give any examples as this is not at all clear to me - it was picked up from information on the film "Azumi" on IMDb, referring to a woman "speaking like a man" (re. the 'trivia' page).

• There are no less than three systems of writing in use. It is said that missionaries to Japan back in sixteen-something (I never was much good with history!) described Japanese as it was then as "the devil's language" because it represents the most complicated system of writing ever devised by mankind. Yes, it is even worse than trying to make sense of a PERL script! ☺
  Since those days, and especially after the second world war, Japanese has undergone numerous simplifications. Billions of Kanji were discarded, and the official table of recognised Kanji sits at something like 11,000 (which is mindblowing enough).
  I cover these writing methods purely to demonstrate that learning to read and write Japanese will not be easy. Thankfully, you do not need to know how to WRITE anything in order to SPEAK the language.
  • Hiragana - a sort of phonetic writing system for words of Japanese origin. The approximation of my name would look like むりい りき (mu-r ri-ki).
  • Katakana - a sort of phonetic writing system for words of non-Japanese origin. My name would probably be written in Katakana as it isn't Japanese, so it would look like ムリー リキ (mu-r ri-ki).
  • Kanji - a writing system originally borrowed from the Chinese. Kanji characters are built up of a combination of parts all of which have a specific meaning. Each character has a sound (or several sounds) as well as the meaning, which is how we arrive at situations like this:
    

    The ideogram for a tree is 木 (ki), and the ideogram for the sun is 日 (hi) - and if you put them together like 東 then you have the sun rising behind a tree, or the way of saying "east" (higashi). When you combine this with the symbol for a stone lantern that guarded the ancient capital city, which is 京 ()...
    ...you will arrive at 東京, which means "the capital in the east", or "" in .
    It is worth pointing out that 東 is said like higashi on its own, and like when it is part of a word. It may also appear as a family name, where it is said like azuma.
    It would appear that many of the Kanji offer this complicated duality!

    My name in Kanji looks like 海上 勇強 - and Japanese speakers will have spotted that this is slightly different, giving my name this time as mari rikku. This is because I looked it up on-line and then spent two and a half hours staring at my character table to match the pictures on the website to character codes.
     
    That's the thing, you see... as it is an ideographic writing system, there are thousands of ideograms - you'd need to know 880 to be considered 'basically literate', about 2000 to graduate from high school (and be able to understand a typical newspaper), and around 2500-3000 to read college-level books. To my eyes, many of these ideograms tend to look alike. Consider some Kanji characters randomly pulled out of my character selection tool:
    • 橿 - it's stick-man in a bookshop!
    • 櫑 - cosy! stick-man's looking out of a window over a nice warm radiator
    • 欄 - stick-man is waiting for the lift
    • 知 - stick man has diarrhoea, is running for the toilet!
    Actually, the stick-man in the first three examples is "tree". A man (person) looks like 人 (hito).

    This isn't to make fun of the Japanese language, it is to illustrate that whatever ways I devise of trying to remember one glyph from another, I think I'd have my work cut out remembering katakana, never mind a thousand-odd kanji!

  • - this is not an official writing system but it turns up in touristy places to help dimwits such as myself. Essentially it is Japanese written in the Latin alphabet. You'll see loads of this here, like rikku or komiku or konnichiwa...
    You will notice some vowels have a bar over (or circumflex if you're using RISC OS or don't have JavaScript), such as . This accent means the vowel is lengthened. It isn't toh-kyoh, it is toe-ky-ohh.

As an interesting diversion, it is very much worth pointing out that despite the perceived difficulties with these varying methods of writing and the seemingly illogical (i.e. Katakana doesn't offer anything 'new' as far as I can tell, you cannot write "hello" in Katakana, the closest is "haro", so aren't Hiragana and Katakana sort of doing the exact same thing? Is the benefit of knowing which words are foreign really worth learning a second phonetic alphabet just in order to write those words that are foreign?), and despite the requirement to be able to quickly read and understand Kanji... Japan has one of the highest rates of literacy in the world. The system may seem really complicated to a Westerner used to a mere 52 squiggles, but it certainly doesn't seem to have been an obstacle to the Japanese!

You read a little bit about Japanese numbers.

The final thing I have to say about writing in Japanese:
This document begins with two large Kanji words: 和 which means happy and/or harmonious and is said like "wa", and 慶 which means to be happy and is said like "kei".
This probably isn't correct Japanese (I wanted to have "enjoyed pass-time" but couldn't find the Kanji for that!) but, you know, it's the sentiment that counts. ☺

And to say something...
But, as I said, you do not need to be able to read and write Japanese in order to know how to say a few things. In fact, a BBC television course covered only some extreme basics, such as "what '' looks like" and "what 'Japan/Japanese' looks like". I feel in addition it would be useful to know how to write your name in Katakana, and as I have already mentioned, my name would be ムリー リキ and that's not too difficult to remember!

Lost in Japan?

Do I know this?

What you really need to do is learn some of the phrases below, and if you are visiting Japan - take a phrase book for the other stuff you might want to say. Additionally, if you stay mostly within the metropolitan area, you stand a better chance of tracking down an English-speaking person if you get really stuck.
 
Of course, you might think this is not much use if you go into a shop and want to buy some coffee and an instant chicken noodle meal given that the pack will be written in those seemingly incomprehensible scribbles that represent Japanese writing. Well, actually it might. If you learn how to say "excuse me" and "where is" and the names of the things you want to buy, you can then ask somebody where things are.
The alternative? Poke a hole in the pack and sniff it to see if it is anything you recognise, like Clea Duvall's character in the American remake of "The Grudge", as shown on the right.

Given all of this, and assuming you will want to visit the more touristy parts such is Ginza (shopping mecca), Akihabara (geek central, yay!), or one of the more popular 'spiritual' places outside of , you need only remember a small number of things...

Pronunciation guide: The 'ah' implies an slightly aspirated a vowel, so "wah" is said like the "wa" in wangle, and not like that in water or wash. Same for "kah" etc.
The "ri" is more complicated. It is said a bit like a cross between "ree" and richard.
Other things should be said as they look; like "eye" (the thing you see with) and "shi" like the beginning of the word ship...

So here we go. Useful phrases, in no specific order. The title phrases are written in and the explanation gives a sort of read-it-aloud guide to how to say the phrase.
Note that numerous phrases are actually said slightly differently to the . This, really, is no different to the French saying peut-être like poo-tet, or little complications like English saying wind like the stuff that blows or different like you do to a fishing line. It's just a quirk of spoken language.

Certainly, don't get hung up on incorrect pronunciation. It is my experience in French (and some Spanish) that natives will allow you to get away with all sorts of horrors as they are usually pleased you are making some effort to recognise that they actually have their own language, instead of just expecting everybody to speak English. I have no doubt, given Japan's worldwide reputation for being a very polite society, that any attempts you make to speak in Japanese will be appreciated, and imperfect pronunciation won't mean the end of the world. So long as your acquaintance can work out what you mean, you'll be okay... and if anybody corrects you, pay attention as it is their language after all!

• sumimasen, eigo-ga wakarimas ka?
  The first thing to remember!
  This is said like sue-me-mass-en eye-go-gah wah-kah-ree-mass-kah?, with each syllable having equal emphasis, and it means "excuse me, do you understand English?".
  You will be hoping for a reply in English, or "hie!" if the person you are asking is feeling a little bit playful. Anything else means you should smile, bow your head slightly, and then go hassle somebody else.
  There is a version "eigo o hanashimasu ka?" which translates to ask if the person speaks English (as opposed to understands English). You may use this if you prefer, but note that a shy person who took English at school may perhaps be more willing to help if you ask if they understand English (so could read/write) as opposed to simply speaking it. I have come across this distinction here in France... sadly by some people who were actually quite good at English once they overcame their fear of saying something in the language!
• hei! / iie
  This means "Yes" and "No".
  "Yes" is said like hi!, and you'll see if you try that I have added the exclamation mark as it takes practice to say this in a laid back way. In lots of movies (and some animé), the saying of "hei!" is rather emphasised with tipping your head forward (and, apparently, with your eyes closed?); almost like a restrained sneeze.
  Conversely, "no" is said like ee-eh.
• hajimemashite!
  This is what you say when you first meet somebody. It is like saying "pleased to meet you", and it is usually said like ha-ji-mem-ash-tay.
• 
  Remember Japanese is a very polite society. Don't forget to say "thank you"!
  It is said like ah-ri-gah-toe, with a slight emphasis on the final syllable.
• 
  If you are very thankful, like if the person pointed you to the toilet in the nick of time, this is a more emphatic way to say thank you, rather like "merci" vs "merci beaucoup" in French.
  It is said like d-oh-mo ah-ri-gah-toe go-zah-ee-mass, with slight emphasis on the 'oh' of the first word, and the final syllable of the second word.
• tasukete!
  If you get into trouble, or trouble gets into you (I would advise you not be a daredevil and try the globefish), this is how you say "help me!".
  Say it like tah-skeh-teh (I think? can somebody clarify this?).
  Remember, if you're really really in a bad way, the universal aaargh! would work too.
• 
  This is how to say "goodbye". There are several ways of saying goodbye each with their own nuances, like in French, however I think this is a fairly universal method and has the advantage of being a word commonly understood outside of Japan, so you'll have a built-in excuse!
  Say like s-eye-oh-nah-rah with slight emphasis on the 'oh'.
• konnichiwa
  Just as there are different ways to say goodbye, there are different ways to say "hello". This is the 'daytime' version (i.e. "good afternoon", there are also morning and evening ones too), but I am hoping that - like in French - a foreigner can usually get away with a small mistake.
  Say like kon-ee-chee-wah.
  If you wish to know the different ways to say hello:
  • Morning:
  • Daytime: konnichiwa
  • Evening: kombanwa
• moshi moshi
  You may also hear somebody say "moshi moshi". This is like the French "allô" in that it is only used as a greeting on the telephone. Never greet a person in person using this phrase!
• wakarimasen
  If you get completely stuck, like you point to Ueno park and floral garden (or perhaps to The Maid Café if you're into that sort of thing) and the person you asked rattles off explicit directions...in Japanese, this is a polite way of saying "huh?".
  Say like wah-kah-ri-mass-en.
  

  This is not the same as the wakarimas from the first example. The -en suffix means that you do not understand, and as there is no specifier of who the not understanding relates to, it will be assumed that the speaker (in other words, you) is the person who does not understand.

• itadakimasu!
  This means "I will partake", and it is polite to say this before eating.
  Say like tah-dah-key-maas - the 'I' and 'u' at each end are not usually vocalised and it seems sometimes the final 'a' is lengthened seemingly arbitrarily. I figure this is maybe a method of emphasising what is being said?
• kanpai!
  This means "Cheers!" and is said at the clinky-glass stage before enjoying a social drink. Say like "kan-pie".
• watashi wa .... desu
  This is how to introduce yourself. It means "My name is...", and is said like wah-tah-shi wah <your name> dehs (the 'u' is not usually said).
  It might be useful to translate your name on-the-fly into something your new Japanese friend can say. For example, I would give my name as muh-ri ri-ki (essentially Murray Ricky) despite never calling myself "Ricky"... Oh, and you'll perhaps have noticed that it is surname first.
• o-namae wa?
  This is asking "What is your name?". Say it like "oh na-ma-ee wah?
  The reply will be in the form "<surname> <first name> des". I would reply to this question with "Muri Riki des" (note I've converted my name to a more Japanese-friendly form).

  The "des" at the end is from the Japanese word "desu" (the 'u' normally not vocalised; and it is "des", not "dez") which means I am, I be or simply be.
  I could introduce myself as:

      Muri Riki des, oh-tah-ku des.

  which means, literally:

      Murray Rick I am, geek I am

  only, sadly, the Japanese person that I am talking to would have to try hard not to be somewhat shocked, as "otaku" has a somewhat more dubious/less polite connotation in Japan, as opposed to its "geek/fanboy" meaning in the West.

• o-shigoto wa?
  I include this for completeness as it is asking somebody "What do you do as a job?", which may be a polite way to show interest in a person.
  It is said like oh-she-got-owa?
  I would not recommend using it much, however, as if I asked a Japanese girl and she replied "student" or "office worker" or "chainsaw massacrist", I doubt I could tell the difference as I don't know the words for any of those. you may, if asking a male employee, come across a phrase that sounds like "sa-ra-ri-ma". This is the direct Japanese take on the phrase "salaryman" - an employee that doesn't have a fancy title.
• igirisujin desu
  If somebody asks where you are from, this is how you say "I am English" (with apologies to the Welsh, Scots, and Northern Irish, as "English" is a generic word for "British" in many places).
  It is said like ee-g-ee-ree-sue-jeen des

  You may be asked in the context of "Amerikajin desu ka?". The "ka" turns the statement into a question as demonstrated in the very first example, so you should be able to figure out what this question is asking!
  In this case, you would want to prefix your response with "iie" which means "no" and then reply igirisujin desu.
  Obviously, if you are American, or if you are a reader from another part of the world, you will need to alter your reply accordingly!

• nihongo
  This is the Japanese way of saying "Japanese", seems only fair that I include it.
  It may be useful to know what Japan(ese) looks like when written:
  • 日本   nihon    Japan. For some reason, this is also said as 'nippon' by some...
  • 日本語 nihongo  Japanese.

You also read about Japanese numbers.

Given that the Japanese like some incredibly yucky-looking fish meals (I'm so not a fish person), I should also point out food options for the less adventurous food eater.
Or, to put it like this, I nearly had a When Harry Met Sally moment over finding "farmhouse cheddar" in a local supermarket... some people are destined to take their eating habits with them, so within the limitations of Japanese understanding of the weird crap we Westerners call 'edible', here's a match-up list:

• - ice cream... ice(u) c(u)ream(u), geddit? ☺
• chikin - exactly as it looks, chicken soup! I now refer to chicken soup as "chicken soupoo".
• - hamburger... they have McDonald's in Japan, y'know!
• hayashi raisu - beef and gravy over rice, almost like being back home!
• kaki tamago - scrambled egg
• miruku - milk
• saishoku - vegetarian meal
• sukiyaki - beef dipped in soy, with veg and probably noodles
• tamago furai - fried egg
• - toast
• - Western-style meal
• yakitori - chicken bits on a skewer, BBQ style, apparently a bar snack; sounds classier than any of the bars I've even been taken to! Sometimes may be chicken and soy and noodles.
• yasai - vegetable soup

• fugu - globefish. A poisonous (if not prepared exactly correctly) delicacy eaten by people who think they have something to prove. To be avoided unless you are some sort of nutter.

Well, that's about all I know (with a crib-sheet, I'm so lame!), so if you wish to know more, I suggest you purchase (or download) some sort of language course.

Common Terms

• animé - Japanese animation or Japanese style animation.
• baka - stupid/twit/moron.
• BGM - background music
• - a pretty (< 17 yrs) female.
• - a pretty (< 17 yrs) male, especially one who is somewhat feminine (or androgynous) in appearance.
• chara-design - character design, the process of developing the style and behaviour of a character. This is said like kara design.
• chibi - small; also used for a style of drawing where small things are shown in a deformed way which is designed to enhance their inherent cuteness. Think of many cats, pets, little-magic-girls-with-glowing-wings, Mew Mew Power, that sort of thing...
• Cosplay - a contraction of costume playing, essentially where you get to dress up as your favourite character. There does not appear to be any particular stigma attached to cross-dressing, so for example I could dress up as Rukia (except I would look really rather stupid). It has been reported that the Japanese find it very amusing when Westerners Cosplay because our bodies are a different shape to that of the Japanese (i.e. most of us are larger in all three dimensions and we really could do with more exercise and less junk food) so it can lead to some 'interesting' interpretations of the chosen characters, like "Omigod, Rukia - the fat chav version!".
  Read more about Cosplay.
• CG - Computer Graphics, seen by some as the regeneration of animé for bringing a fresh sense of realism and allowing directors to attempt things that would be too costly if created by hand; seen by others as an evil corruption. Perhaps one of the best examples of a perfect blend of animation and CG is the Ghost In The Shell series or Witch Hunter Robin.
• Hentai - in the West this means porno or perverted animé/manga, while in Japan it means literally "strange appearance", and the Japanese prefer to use the term Echi (the letter 'H') to mean perverted/pornographic.
• Kawaii - cute. Re. Yuri Ebihara (human) and Hello Kitty (drawn).
• Manga - Japanese graphic novel, or one created in the Japanese style.
• Moé - A type of character with big eyes and an extremely large amount of inherent cuteness. Usually slightly clueless and naïve, there is rarely anything sexual which these characters, rather they tend to make you feel maternal/paternal, like they are your little sister - you wish you could give them a hug and point them in the right direction!
• Mecha - a sub-genre that involves big robots - typically humanoid in shape, the most extreme example being the Transformers franchise. This genre has a huge following, which is a shame for me as it really doesn't do anything for me, and these stupid mechas turn up in all sorts of unexpected places (i.e. The Vision of Escaflowne).
• Nekketsu - manga or animé dealing with dead things, which can be spirits or the afterlife. The best example of this is perhaps Bleach.
• OAV - Original Animation Video. The animé version of a made-for-video film.
• Otaku - meaning literally in the house, it is often used by cultured geeks to refer to each other without using the word 'geek'. Also used as a catch-all term for "fanboy"/"fangirl" or the sorts of people that hang Planetes posters on their wall and can recall in detail exactly what Tanabe did in the last episode, but can't remember what they ate for breakfast. People like me in other words!
  This word has a somewhat more negative connotation in Japanese - probably like the difference between geeks who refer to themselves as such, and those who say you're such a geek! as an insult...
• OST - Original Soundtrack, which is normally Japanese. Versions on sale in the West will, hopefully, include subtitles; however if you are the sort of person that would prefer to download entire episodes of your favourite animé, don't be surprised if it is entirely in Japanese... It would appear from what I have heard that stuff available for download is OST without subs unless it says otherwise.
  
• Seinen - a more adult form of manga aimed towards young men (of college age).
• - a form of manga aimed towards young girls; ummm... fruits basket anyone?
• - a form of manga aimed towards young boys; probably those annoying mechanoids.
• Yaoi - (also ai or "boy's love") - a form of manga with strong homosexual themes between males, aimed - oddly enough - at female readers. I understand there is no actual sex, just a lot of 'love'. Having never seen any such content, I will leave it up to you to imagine what this means.
• Yuri - a form of manga with strong lesbian themes, aimed at female readers (but, hey, I bet males read it too!)

Anime Central

Programming
Broadcasting between 9pm and 6am (UK time), it shows six half-hour programmes three times a night; for example 9pm - 9.30pm (again at 0am, and again at 3am); then 9.30pm to 10pm (again at 0.30am, and again at 3.30pm) and so on.

Anime Central is currently repeating:

• Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
• Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
• Cowboy Bebop

The following series have been shown, in rough order of my preference:

• Planetes
• Witch Hunter Robin
• Bleach (season one)
• Bleach (season two)
• .hack//SIGN (two in Japanese, then English dub)
• s-CRY-ed
• Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
• Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
• Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
• The Vision Of Escaflowne
• Fullmetal Alchemist
• Cowboy Bebop
• Wolf's Rain
• G.I. Joe
• Transformers Headmasters
• Transformers Masterforce
• Transformers Victory

Is it coming or going?
I had previously stated that the channel had ceased broadcast (2008/06/10). This is incorrect, it has simply changed allocation, perhaps to permit the longer hours of PopGirl (6am-11.30pm UK time) which the channel used to time-share with. In this tiny window of opportunity, my satellite scan didn't locate it. The following day? It did... ☺

What is of particular interest to me is that the channel would not have surprised me if it had ceased broadcasting due to the fact that for months now it has been repeating Bebop and GITS : SAC (and the 2nd Gig over and over.
Instead, the channel now displays a title saying programmes begin at 9pm during the off-hours. This opens up the future possibility of extended hours, which I'm sure you'll agree is way better than a bye-bye. Perhaps as we all gear up for summer (summer?!? summer?!? where!!!), they are gearing up for a relaunch with new animé and - I really hope - the odd Japanese cultural broadcast and J-Music video... Refer to No Life for a basic example... I give some ideas at the bottom of this section (click if you're impatient).

Rick was there first...
Between programmes, Anime Central runs short 'CosDocs' video sequences where Cosplayers talk about Cosplay. The schoolgirl is quite pretty, the Robin Sena lookee-likee is interesting, and some of the outfits are, well, odd. Still, it's an amusing passtime so why not? I mentioned Cosplay in this review document last year, you can read about Cosplay here.
Also, I wrote about Goro Miyazaki's "Tales From Earthsea". I went to see this in the cinema (dubbed to French!!!) and included my review in this document. It was released on DVD at the end of January 2008, and in conjunction with this, Anime Central had little inserts saying "Anime Central brought to you by Tales From Earthsea". You can read my review here.

In the future...
When the channel was first logged with whatever authority one uses, they provided a list of series that would be shown. Apparently all mentioned series have now been broadcast.

There was a poll on the channel's forum, and it looked (on 2008/01/09) as if the most voted-for series were:

Series that seem to be well regarded here in France are: Ah My Goddess, Death Note (isn't this also a movie with real people in it?), Elfen Lied, Ergo Proxy, He is My Master, Naruto, and right now everybody is going all yaya for Air Gear (not in their list - see Japan Vibes).

I make some suggestions further down, based on stuff I know or have seen good things about in the French animé media.

As for my vote? I don't have time to join the forum and say anything - only got half an hour a week at my local library! So, I shall put it like this:

• I quite like Ghost In The Shell: SAC, s-CRY-ed, and .hack//SIGN. You'll probably think I'm a total baby, but I quite like Mew Mew Power (showing on the sister channel PopGirl) - some of the dialogue is really snappy and funny.
• I really like Bleach and Witch Hunter Robin.
• Planetes is imcomparable, near perfection.

On subtitling
I frequently watch French and Japanese films on FilmFour (reviews here), and also living in France I sometimes have the interesting task of watching a film in Japanese or Korean that is subtitled in French! (i.e. The Resurrection of the Little Matchgirl)

What I am trying to say is that some people will scream in agony at the idea of subtitles.
Doesn't bother me. In fact, I have several with-dubbage films on DVD - Nikita and Kiki's Delivery Service to name two - and in these cases I much prefer switching to the original-language audio with subtitles. You can argue that subs can lose some of the context of what is being said. Well, the same is true with dubbage - where the emotion of the dialogue can be lost, or subtly changed. Was the character supposed to be that perky? Is she supposed to speak in non-stop slang? Or are these improvisations by the voice talent and/or the translator?
I shall give you an example mom found. A detective book, main character a hard-boiled New York guy, you can imagine the sort if I say the line of dialogue was: I wouldn't give that dame a dime on a rainy night.
The French translation was hysterical. The translator obviously was unfamiliar with such vernacular and the line ended up as I would not give that titled lady a centime at night when it is raining.
Need I say more? ☺

The bottom line is this: While I think Anime Central may lose some of its audience if the presentations were 100% Japanese, we must remember that these productions are from Japan (and are, largely, Sunrise productions!). Therefore it should be expected that Japanese language will turn up from time to time - and I don't mean at 3am! I really don't like the Transformers series, so I don't watch.
FilmFour hasn't shied away from films in French, Japanese, Swedish, German, etc etc; so if Anime Central was to broadcast five English language programmes and one Japanese language one, the answer is the same - it's only a 6th of the schedule time, just go bake a pizza while it is on if subtitling bothers you that much!

Web resources
Their official website is http://www.animecentral.com/ should you wish to pay a visit. The site provides information on the series currently being shown, including an episode list and a résumé of the main characters. Quite useful.

What is perhaps of greater interest is how the channel sells itself to search engines. In November the pages had additional meta tags inserted. The 'keywords' one contains the following content:

Anime, Central, .hack, Escaflowne, Bebop, Planetes, Headmasters, Masterforce, Japanimation, Japanime, Otaku, Animation, Cosplay, Cosplayer, Central, Bleach, Fullmetal, Transformers, Mecha, Manga, Hentai, Shojo, Shonen, Seinen, Yaoi, Akira, Miyazaki, Ghibli, Japan, Scifi, Action, Fantasy, Ichigo, Hollow, Mononoke, Ninja, Samurai, Alchemist

In any case, I would suggest visitors to the Anime Central website either stay away from the forum or try to write positive things. One of the posts (replicated alongside the Bleach information, that's a clever bit of code!) read:

Did anyone get bored of bleach after like the 70th episode?

Im looking for a good poster of the Major AKA Motoko Kusanagi in specific. The less clothes she has on, the better.

While forums can be a great way to allow fans to talk about the programmes and let the broadcasters know what we're all thinking, sometimes it is better to not know that your audience are whinging weirdos!