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Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Shigeru Mizuki




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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 9:01 am Reply with quote
Great article about Shigeru Mizuki! Very Happy

I've only managed to read a few volumes of GeGeGe Kitaro online, as well as a few episodes of the first series, but, from I've seen, he truly does have a passion for Japanese folklore and World mythology. His sketchy art style is so robust and free from cute or beautiful people that I can't help but find it so appealing.

I'm currently reading On Towards Our Noble Deaths and I'm enjoying how Mizuki portrays the harsh, if not ridiculous, life of a WW II Japanese solider. I'll probably pick up Nonnonba sometime later.

BTW: The "sharing of the prostitute" incident might not be completely fictional.
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Myaow



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 1068
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 9:06 am Reply with quote
Good stuff! Mizuki's life story is so powerful; I'm glad that his works are gradually starting to leak over into the US.
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 10:25 am Reply with quote
I'm loving these columns. For many years I've been somewhat familiar with Shigeru Mizuki but never knew his name. My first exposure to the GeGeGe no Kitaro series was in the mid to late 80's, browsing through old defunct Japanese animation magazines. The character piqued my curiosity but Kitarou got my attention even more. Was the eye that sat on his head his? And why you never saw both his eyes at the same time. Not to mention he shoots spikes from his hair. Unfortunately, I never investigated any further. This was due in fact to the limits of anime reaching mainstream audience. The only way you'd could see something of this nature was to find some "old school geek" who hosted an anime club and hope that someone would come through and screen something new. Or knew someone that had it in his private collection from a poor transfer. Years later I would find myself looking into Asian horror and finally reading about the crazy world of "yokai". Yes, that old 'Pocky & Rocky' game, thinking back on it who knew or 'Ushio & Tora' (another fave of mine). It's an interesting world, and part of Japan's colorful folklore. I found myself looking back at GeGeGe no Kitarou with a better understanding of what I didn't understand 25 years ago. Today we're getting a chance to see some of his works. With this month's release of Nonnonba, which I'm in high anticipation to read once we get our copy in. He's definitely spawned a generation of of those inspired by his work. I look forward to seeing more of his work published in the near future.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 2793
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 2:24 pm Reply with quote
I remember reading about Shigeru Mizuki in "Anime Insider" once. Both in this article and that one made the guy sound interesting. I also remember on this site reading about a manga he did that was translated into English. It was also about his experiences in World War II. I hope to hear more about him in the future.
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grooven



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 1424
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Wow thanks for doing such an amazing article and spreading word of an amazing Mangaka!! I also find it hard to believe his work isn't more readily available in English!
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2377
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 7:52 pm Reply with quote
I don't typically think about Mizuki-sensei because he's no longer a spotlight mangaka, but in the past, I read bundles of random Gegege no Kitarou manga chapters. I've seen all the live-action movies based on some of his works, too. I didn't know about his wife's book, so now I'm interested, even if I can only find the drama. His artwork is really inspiring, though. I bought an expensive set of hanafuda cards with his exclusive artwork on them just because I liked his art, even though I didn't know how to play hanafuda at the time. He's definitely a great man. I hope he lives to a happy one-hundred. =3
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jcaliff



Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 156
Location: Houston
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 11:41 pm Reply with quote
I really enjoyed the Gegege no Nyobo drama. It was one of those daily asadora 15-minute long series (the current one is called Ume-chan Sensei and it's interesting so far). I do like Gegege no Kitaro - I've seen a couple of versions of the anime, but find the old b&w version to be my favorite so far. I actually can't watch the end of the ending credits any more - I have to turn it off before the end. The startle scene always makes me jump even though I know it's coming. Very Happy It also sufficiently creeps me out that I don't like to watch it alone at night. Silly, I know. I haven't read the manga yet, but I'd love to one of these days.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 2793
PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2012 2:08 pm Reply with quote
I hope that Mr. Mizuki visits the United States someday. A lot of people here would be happy if he did. I also hope he does a manga set in America. It would be about a Japanese tourist who visits America. He also has the ability to see spirits. He sees not only the different people who live here but also spirits and things from around the world that also live here but the Americans don't see,that includes yokai.
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dragon695



Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Posts: 1377
Location: Clemson, SC
PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2012 2:35 pm Reply with quote
Snomaster1 wrote:
I hope that Mr. Mizuki visits the United States someday. A lot of people here would be happy if he did. I also hope he does a manga set in America. It would be about a Japanese tourist who visits America. He also has the ability to see spirits. He sees not only the different people who live here but also spirits and things from around the world that also live here but the Americans don't see, that includes yokai.

He's over 90 years old, I seriously doubt that he will be wanting to travel to the United States, much less make a manga about it. I also fixed that bad formatting of yours, share and enjoy!
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