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The influence of Manga and Anime in the West

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? My reaction to Annarasumanara was that it reminded me a lot of the novel Night Circus by Erin Morgenstein. The character of the magician was very mysterious and left me very intrigued to find out more about him. Another thing that kept going through my mind was character Na Ideling. I spit out my drink when I read the other girls calling him HANDSOME. It was so funny to me. But the question I kept repeating over and over in my mind was... WHY does he look like THAT?! No one else looked like that and when he was compared to that piece of meat? Cheese? I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. 2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect? As far as personal connections go, I related a lot with Ai. I understood her financial struggles as well as the struggle to put needs over wants. I also liked the way the author implemented sexual assault in the workplace,
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Horror

Itou Junji's Tomie is a horror manga that follows Tomie, a beautiful and mysterious girl whose sloo of admirers become so obsessed with her that they're driven to kill her. But to their surprise, she's constantly reincarnated. Each volume consists of this plot told over and over again in a million different ways. Sprinkle in some manipulation, girl on girl destruction, and gore – so much gore – and you have the perfect horror manga.  Horror really isn't my go-to genre so this was a bit difficult to start reading but I love supernatural lore so I was captured immediately by this manga the more I read. While I'm a fan of horror movies, I don't think I'm a fan of horror manga.    
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Isekai

Focusing on the manga genre "Isekai," we were asked to read That Time I Got Reincarnated As Slime by Fuse. The slime follows a middle-aged man who leads a mundane life and seems okay with it. Then he's stabbed and killed. He wakes up in a world where monsters and dragons roam, and he too is a monster. But... he's a "slime." Which is a low ranking type, or breed, of monster that isn't particularly powerful in the slightest. In fact, it's a pretty mundane kind of monster. Which is interesting how it parallels his human life. Poor guy. But ultimately he uses his powers to his advantage and becomes the best Slime ever! Kind of like one of those believe-in-yourself-underdog stories we love so much. The narration of the manga is so comically and silly. The narrator was very relatable and funny, which made reading it much more enjoyable. I really enjoyed reading this manga, it was easy to read and I ate it up quickly! 
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Diversity of gender and sexuality in Manga and Anime

With this week's focus on the Diversity of Gender and Sexuality in Manga and Anime, We were asked to pick one from a list of two readings – I chose Nagata Kabi's My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness .  My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is an autobiographical manga, that uses more of an illustrated diary format, where Nagata details her struggle with her identity – sexual and personal – as well as her fight with depression and an eating disorder. Nagata begins the novel with a small prologue that illustrates her encounter with an older lesbian prostitute. She then goes on to rewind to the last ten years of her life, highlighting the events that led up to the encounter at the "love hotel."
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Shonen

This week for the topic of Shonen, I read 20th Century boys by Urasawa. I found the storyline hard to follow at first due to the fact that the author jumps back and forth through time as well as narratives. But after Hanlu's presentation in class, she clarified that the author was purposefully in doing that. Overall, I really enjoyed the mystery of the series and how just when I thought I knew whodunnit, it was revealed to be someone else. While that was frustrating, it kept my attention.
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Love and Sex

This week we discussed Love and Sex in Manga and Anime. Since I was one of the students presenting, I compared two different mangas on how they both portrayed similar issues but the outcome was completely different. Going back to our second reading, Ayako, I compared that to Mars by Fuyumi Soryo. Both take on issues involving rape, abuse, and the idea of love. While Ayako's approach to these topics was raw, uncensored, and despondent ending, Mars was more "flowery" and had a happy ending. It was just very interesting to see how such similar conflicts can be portrayed and resolved.
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Cigarette Girl by Masahiko Matsumoto

For week three, we were to read Cigarette Girls. After reading one of the short stories, it was really hard to continue reading. For some reason the style of artwork really bothered me and I just couldn't do it haha. The way their lips were drawn was the most unnerving aspect of it all. Although, the storylines were a bit funky and at times hard for me to follow, it was overall a cute book of stories.
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