From: bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com   
      
   On 12/13/2012 10:23 AM, Kenneth M. Lin wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > "Bobbie Sellers" wrote in message news:kabjpd$lpc$1@dont-email.me...   
   >   
   	snip   
   >   
   >   
   > In Hen, Satou-kun is the effeminate one and Suzuki-kun is the tall boy that   
   > is attracted to him. It's probably the author's early work and not very   
   > coherent or interesting. First of all, they and other characters keep   
   > calling these two "fags" but from I have read so far, I am not sure if that   
   > is the case.   
   	   
   	I never got to that point,   
   >   
   > His current work, Gantz is somewhat more interesting in a science-fiction   
   > way but it's also just really drawn out and a "mission" often lasts an   
   > entire volume and I have no ideas where he's going with the whole thing. So   
   > in a sense it's entertaining in an episodic manner but it doesn't feel as   
   > it's progressing toward something.   
      
   	Well don't take the idea of progression toward a definable end point as   
   important.  Take a look at US comics like Superman which keeps   
   finding ways to continue with no true end to adventures or villians   
   in sight. Same goes for Batman and most of the superheroes in costume   
   genre.   
   >   
   > I wonder what the whole reason behind Japanese manga artists drawing   
   > Japanese people as more "Caucacian" in appearance. In some books I have   
   > read, they'd without hesitation draw other Asians as slanted eyes but keep   
   > themselves looking pretty with big eyes and different hair colors. It   
   > started with Tezuka but it says a lot about how much Japanese have   
   > embraced/envied European culture starting in Meiji era (so as not to become   
   > a colony like China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other neighbors and started   
   > their own empire.)   
      
   	Ok first of all Japanese manga artist tend to draw all the   
   good characters in the big-eyed style that they found in the American   
   comics that were popular before WW II in Japan.  Anyone with tiny eyes   
   is presumed to be less than good.  Hair colors are meant to distinguish   
   between characters.  And embracing European knowledge was essential to   
   escaping the primitive technology they had during the Tokugawa   
   shogunate.  I mean they had no powerful weapons to compare with the   
   Europeans and Americans.  After the US Civil War the weapons were   
   even more advanced.  And the Europeans could scarcely go a generation   
   without a conflict breaking out and this advanced military science   
   and technology.   
   	The Japanese government was originally an Empire of Japan.   
   That is the powerful moved the emperors and empresses out of   
   communication with the rest of society.  In addition the tax exemptions   
   granted to religious establishments and some nobles ruined the tax   
   base of the nation.  This impoverished the central government   
   	In 1174 or so the Warrior class (Samurai) took control because they   
   were capable of doing so.  First they had battles between the Taira and   
   the Genji who were families that derived from the Imperial bloodline but   
   had been given family names and separated from the Imperial court to   
   take up useful tasks(as the Emperor understood it) in   
   society including being warriors and the leaders of warriors.   
   	After about the year 1000 these were the people who   
   pushed the aboriginal people to the North and finally onto   
   Hokkaido, the northernmost island.   
   	Anyway the Taira first did the Genji down then the   
   Genji aka Minamoto struck back with a vengeance and suppressed   
   all of the main Taira clan.  Then the leader of the Genji   
   usually known as Minamoto Yoritomo managed to set up a government   
   in Kamakura and was awarded the title of Shogun by the Emperor   
   (who had very little choice).  The interesting thing is that   
   Yoritomo did not want to be in Kyoto because the Imperial   
   Court's focus on artistic pursuits had weakened the Taira.   
   	After a lot of fighting over who would take power   
   in the 1600s the Tokugawa emerged as the indisputable rulers   
   and brought the rest of the local (samurai) lords to heel.   
   	In the 1800s the rest of the world was very curious   
   about Japan and trade was expanding so the Black Ships of the   
   USA pushed themselves on Japan by force majeur.  This caused   
   incredible upset to Japanese society.  Taking advantage of this   
   the plutocrats of  former samurai lords overthrew the Tokugawa   
   and raised the young Emperor (called Meji after death) to be the   
   figurehead of their modernizing nation.  And they treated the   
   common people very badly during this period.   
   	So for about 700 years the nation was an Empire   
   only in name but a military dictatorship in practice.   
   	Now the oligarchy of the plutocrats who were the   
   true rulers began to create a colonial empire.  Following   
   Meji the Emperor was very weak so Hirohito his brother?   
   was made his regent. The Japanese were not taken too   
   seriously by the European colonial empires and despite   
   Japan having beaten certain groups during WW I refused   
   to let Japan take possession of land held by Germans   
   and the like.  This caused the Japanese to grant more   
   power to the military and to the industrial combines   
   that lead to WW II.  After the restoration of Imperial   
   rule, the rulers had suppressed Buddhism as an imported   
   religion and elevated Shinto to a State religion which   
   taught that the Japanese were a semi-divine race and   
   the Emperor was the Sun Goddess direct descendant   
   and so empowered by her to rule the Earth. In addition   
   the military was taught a particularly brutal version   
   of bushido the codified rules the Samurai had lived by.   
   	And you have to read a lot of manga to   
   cover all the ways the Japanese have portrayed themselves   
   in art.  You might look at the work of Yoshino Tatsumi   
   especially the biographical "a Drifting Life" about   
   the development of the author as a manga artist,   
   	He has lots of other work that depicts Japan   
   after wW II in a raw and brutal style.  But if you   
   want a good story find Ashita no Joe aka Tomorrow's   
   Joe and look at the depiction therein.  This is on   
   Stoptazmo.com and may be in other places and it is   
   a grim tale of a driven boxer.   
      
   	Pretty tired now and I have errands yet to   
   run.   
   	bliss   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)