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Deb Aoki
@debaoki
Manga addict, journalist & traveler. Tweets are 75% comix stuff. UX stuff at debaoki.com | also debaoki@mstdn.social + Post.news, Spoutible & Instagram
Deb Aoki’s Tweets
Ha! a guy shot a live action video of himself around Shibuya Station in Tokyo to mimic video game action
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It’s pretty ridiculous that Rumiko Takahashi gets passed over every. damn. year. for the Eisner Hall of Fame, despite the fact that she probably influenced a lot of comics creators today. Don’t know who she is? Start here 👇🏻 twitter.com/comicperch/sta
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Generally, my 1st check for “is it a shojo/shonen/seinen/josei manga title?” is to see what magazine it was originally published in Japan, since that’s your best indicator of its original target reader demographic. However, i understand the confusion when its published overseas
we announced our next manga license at #SDCC2022: Giga Town by Fumiyo Kouno - a collection of witty comics explaining “manpu,” the visual language of manga. It’ll be out in print in Spring 2023 with our latest publishing partner, ! mangasplaining.substack.com/p/welcome-to-g
Best Manga - #animeawards - My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi fr | read it! sevenseasentertainment.com/series/my-lesb
for the manga vs US comics discussion, maybe we need to look at a more 🍎:🍏 comparison: US superhero comics vs. shonen manga
for starters, shonen manga is primarily made with tween/teen readers in mind. US hero comix today seems to be more like seinen manga, for older readers
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Junji Ito is the goodest of good sports that has ever lived 💖
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SUPER excite abt Tokyo Tareraba Girls by creator of Princess Jellyfish - sharp & funny single girls comedy kodanshacomics.com/series/tokyo-t out 2/14
. asked Junji Ito what he thought of the tributes & memes inspired by his manga, like this scene from Steven Universe and this episode of Spongebob Squarepants. His reply: “I’ve seen this online but thought it was just fan art! It’s an actual kids TV show?” #TCAF2019
From Circana (aka NPD Bookscan): in the US “manga sales have quadrupled since 2019, growing 27x faster than the total print book market” npd.com/news/infograph
After a year of carefully spacing out my binge read/watch of One Piece (i started in June 2020), I finally caught up with the latest chapter on 🥲
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Haha. I guess this is my way of saying, “it’s not that Japanese publishing is weird/hard to understand, but maybe their take on what readers enjoy reading is more open-minded/progressive/blended than western comics publishing is now, & maybe that’s the bigger issue?” 🙃
Wow, sad news -- KIKU, the longtime Japanese TV station in Hawaii is switching to a 24-hour shopping channel as of June 28, 2021. :-(
I watched tokusatsu shows like Kikaida, anime like Ikkyu-san, TV shows like Aburenbo Shogun & Soko ga Shiritai on KIKU. facebook.com/kikutv/
. @ #SDCC18 Q: “All-Might is such a supportive mentor. Do you base him on anyone in your life?” Horikoshi: “No, not anyone in real life. I based him on Goku in Dragon Ball.”
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I have never seen this at any US comics convention, but our Angouleme taxi driver keeps a mini sketchbook where he asks his (often cartoonist) riders to draw him a picture
This cover of Shonen Magazine from 1969 is just amazing. I can pick out Takao Saito (Golgo 13) -2nd row L, Shigeru Mizuki (kitaro) - 1st row L), Kazuo Umezu (Drifting Classroom) - top row, 2nd from L), Fujio Fujiko A & F - 3rd row R), Shotaro Ishinomori (Kamen Rider) 4th row R…
2021 Hall of Fame inductee is Rumiko Takahashi, creator of Inu-Yasha, Maison Ikkoku and so much more - here’s here acceptance message, via
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One mistake that overseas readers frequently make is assuming that all “romances” or stories centered around female protagonists are either shojo or josei (girls / womens) manga series. Horumiya, Emma & Ranma 1/2 were all serialized in shonen/seinen magazines.
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. at #ax2018 - new print license! Witch Hat Atelier by - March 2019! In a magical world, a girl lacks powers to become a witch. Gorgeous art, voted one of top 10 manga in JP 2018
Okay, so the main reason why I wanted to visit Tokorozawa was to check out - that big building that looks like a rock, but is a big love letter to books, manga, anime & light novels
WHOAH. The latest volume of Spy x Family fr. is the #1 BESTSELLING BOOK (not just graphic novel) in N. America this week, according to the bestsellers chart on the homepage.
Added bonus: Jujutsu Kaisen vol. 19 is at #5! publishersweekly.com/pw/home/index.
Aaaaahhhh! Look what arrived in the mail today from - The Poe Clan v.1 by Moto Hagio, translated by @rachel_thorn_en
Akira Toriyama is up for "voters choice" for the Eisner Hall of Fame awards. comic-con.org/awards/hall-of - don't get me started on why he isn't there already... Read DragonBall - viz.com/dragon-ball & Dr. Slump viz.com/dr-slump & you'll see why i say that
if you ever wondered about the lengths a manga artist will go through to NOT be photographed, i give you Paru Itagaki (BEASTARS, now avail. fr. ) and her chicken mask. (bonus live iguana too)
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Here’s a closer look at the finished drawing of Soichiro’s beloved pet Colin, as drawn by Junji Ito at Expo #crx2019
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Is it that hard for western publishers/readers to imagine a comics magazine aimed primarily at young boys would have romance stories, or that a boys volleyball team story would be just as appealing to girls/women readers? Or that adults might enjoy an “all-ages” series? I wonder.
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But a lot of manga that overseas readers consider to be “all-ages friendly series” were originally published in seinen manga magazines. Chi’s Sweet Home, Witch Hat Atelier, Yotsuba&! were/are serialized in seinen manga magazines in Japan, like Morning Two or Dengeki Daioh
If you’re in Tokyo/Yokohama in May, there’s a “Gourmet Comic Convention” - just for indie comics about food/eating/cooking! gurucomi.com /
. at #AX2018 - “Burn the Witch” new one shot 62-page manga by Tite Kubo (Bleach) - debuting in July 16 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump “a rom-com set in London - I got a sneak peek & the art is pretty cool viz.com/shonenjump
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More of the One Piece Red takeover of NYC Times Square #nycc2022 - opening in US theaters Nov 4! onepiece-film.jp/en/
Dear American comics: here's why you're losing readers to manga & anime (a twitter talk recap) mangacomicsmanga.com/anime-manga-an
It's kids day at #NYCC14 so here's a pint-sized pair of Trigun cosplayers! cc: http://t.co/J6NtnmBSuW
“It’s important to remember that manga was made for Japanese readers. At , manga is 1% of our output, but represents 66% of our sales.” - Michael Gombos - at “Found in Translation” panel at #SDCC2023
On Wed (5/12), the chat I had with TCAF special guest Nagata Kabi () will debut on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCOUkw
(big thanks to for translating!)
Her latest, My Alcoholic Escape from Reality fr. goes on sale on 5/11 - sevenseasentertainment.com/books/my-alcoh
Ta-da! The finished drawings of Link and Hime by ! Be sure to check out their autograph session at #crexpo2018 at 4 pm today and their panel at 3:45 on Sunday!
Support the artist - Helen Green drew that killer many faces of Bowie gif that's circulating now society6.com/product/time-m
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The labels “shonen” (boy) manga and “shojo” (girl) manga originated at a time when content aimed at an age and gender-based reader demographic was more easily defined. Boys were the primary readers of shonen manga, girls were primary readers of shojo manga… but now…
Oh wow. is publishing Bomba by Osamu Tezuka - a psychological/suspense drama about a boy who can summon a killer horse - coming Fall 2021
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meanwhile, as the thriving kids graphic novels segment shows us, tweens/teens like comics.
trouble is, the US superhero genre today seems to not be very welcoming to them as new readers as shonen manga is. hard to find entry points, continuity of stories & characters is a mess
Help my friend / super talented illustrator Sho Murase through some tough times. Join the Heal Sho Online Art Auction! Purchase original artwork and workshops from the entertainment industry’s top talent. Begins December 10-13, 2020. Register at bit.ly/healsho
FYI - my chat with manga creator Nagata Kabi () w/ translator for #TCAF2021 will debut at 4 PM PT on ' YouTube channel: youtube.com/watch?v=WuKlV- | her latest, My Alcoholic Escape from Reality is available now fr.
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I’m not pointing this out to be a “know-it-all” about identifying manga genres, but just to say that it’s not as simple as it seems. This is partly because these gender/age-based genre labels have evolved a lot since they were first introduced in Japanese publishing.
. - time to pick a different “most wanted/not yet licensed manga. just announced Do Not Say Mystery by Yumi Tamura (Basara) for May 2023
here's the compilation of responses from "what do US fans get out of anime/manga that they don't get from US comix?" mangacomicsmanga.com/anime-manga-an
