An introduction

Hello, my name is Elspeth, and I read manga.

In recent years, Japanese media has begun to take off in the United States. You can find people everywhere who have seen and respect the movies of Miyazaki Hayao, or who caught parts of Cowboy Bebop on t.v. Anime dvds can be found nestled into the sci-fi, action, or family sections of stores, and the manga selection in bookstores is frequently triple the size of the shelfspace devoted to western comics. It's not mainstream, but it's getting closer. There's an increasing level of international feedback, with phenomena such as an American movie based on Astro Boy succeeding at the Chinese box office. There is space, and even a need, for dialogue about these works.

I've been a fan of Japanese media for years, ever since Spirited Away came into theaters. For various reasons, I've mostly been reading manga recently, rather than watching anime. I decided to create this blog partly to organize my thoughts on what I'm reading, partly to invite other people's thoughts, and partly out of a hope that I won't talk my friends ears off quite so often this way.

And yes, I'm good at telling when a character is doomed. It's often my favorite character.


As for how the blogging will go- in the title of each post I'll have the series name, the author(s), and the chapters in question. This is how the posts themselves will work:

Introduction: If I haven't posted about the series before, this is where I'll explain the premise, who the important characters are, and my feelings on the series at this point.

Summary: What happened in these chapters. For series where I'm marathoning a whole lot of chapters, this section will probably only consist of very broad strokes.

Spotlight: Things that are particularly notable, good or bad.

Strengths: It has to have something going for it, otherwise I'm not going to read it.

Weaknesses: Nothing's perfect.

In brief: My ultimate opinion on these chapters, and how that fits in with my opinion of the manga as a whole.


So! That's what I'm aiming for. Welcome, and I hope you'll stick around for what's coming!