Forum - View topicManga for Book Reports?
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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Has anyone gotten away with doing a report on manga by, perhaps, labeling it a "graphic novel?" My English teacher has let me do multiple reports, analyses, and other such assignments on anime/manga. I'm currently supposed to be doing a book report. I'm trying to decide on a novel adaptation of anime/manga, and I wanted to field some thoughts on it. So if you've done a paper on some work petaining to anime/manga, I'm open for thoughts/suggestions.
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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… You're defeating the purpose of book reports which is of analyzing literature and spreading a love a reading. Actual novels and graphic novels are two very different things, and I’d be disgusted if one of my teachers let a student take such a cheap route. No offense meant, but why not read a book?
I can't really think of many manga adaptions of literature, ones that stay on the story at least. Umm... Jesus by Yoshikazu Yasuhiku? That's based off stuff from the bible... That or you can always read Junko Mizuno's Cinderalla. :roll: |
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Tis Grief
Posts: 51 Location: Currently, G'Chaat |
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Well, books reports are really just a test at how well one can read into a book (i.e. understand it's plot, it's underlying message), so I don't see why graphic novels wouldn't work, especially ones that have heavy imagery. Personally, I've found "classic" literature to be boring and not worth reading most of the time. I was never allowed to read any good or entertaining books as part of English class.
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littlegreenwolf
Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Yes, they're a test to see how well one can read a book. Therefore there is no real reason why manga should be allowed. I love manga as much as the next person, but books have things such as discriptive writing, whereas manga just portray it in drawings. Also, another reason teachers make kids read is because studies have shown that people who actually read books a lot learn from the books how to write properly. And he didn't say it had to be based off classic literature, just a novel. No excuse there. Oh yeah, Battle Royale was based off a novel. That'd be an intresting thing for other students and teachers to hear about. |
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Mou Kaoru
 Posts: 298 Location: Simple minds are easily amused. |
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lol Yo know BR kinda reminded me of Lord of the Flies. 
Just pick up a book and learn something. Don't get me wrong, obviously I love reading manga/graphic novels. But I would prefer actually reading a good book where I can use my brain (and imagination). I personally think the classics are great, a tad boring...(a tad?) but great reads nonetheless! 
Give me tho' biggest book ya got! *has gone blind from reading Harry Potter #5* 
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Kidotai
 Posts: 138 Location: one of those islands in the pacific |
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Considering how in the wake of Columbine that schools have Zero-Tolerance policies, writing a book report on Battle Royale would be asking for trouble. Anyone here the story of the girl whom did some free writing of how she daydreamed killing a teacher and got suspended? Only the threat of "Violation of Free Speech" cause the school to rethink their descision. I can see one report: "Battle Royale is a book about a psychotic goverment whom forces a group of schoolkids to fight it out with various weapons like Scythes and Guns and Forks untill one of them is dead." |
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molloaggie
 Posts: 578 Location: Texas |
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In high school, they let kids watch movies and analyze them. I tell you, Dances With Wolves and Excalibur just don't seem to be literary classics to me. Why shouldn't you be allowed to do a graphic novel also?
It's not like Shakephere is a novel either. It's just sentences, no descriptions. I think we call that a script....aka manga script. I'd suggest a study of Nausicaa. There is SO MUCH in there including Miyazaki's love of nature, wonderful character development, and the study of L_I_F_E. |
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MelancholyDevil
 Posts: 311 Location: Louisiana |
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That seems more like crimilzation of thought than violation of free speech. |
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The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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Seriously, there are much better subjects for a book report than manga.
The only one I would even consider would be Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. Go to your library and get something like The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury, Howard's End, etc. You'll be better off and your grade will probably be beter. |
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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OK, first of all, I have nothing against doing a report on a novel. The trick is, I have found it difficult in the past to limit my writings within the 3-5 page parameter. My grade most certainly isn't going to suffer; I would literally have to fail everything for the next nine weeks to get a B+. I like to test my writing prowess; I have almost everything from a 10-page analysis on a 5-paragraph excerpt to a 117 page thesis on the importance of advancing quantam physics research. I'm not necessarily trying to do a report on a manga; rather, I would be more inclined to do a report on the novels some animes/mangas are based on (i.e., Peacemaker Kurogane, Eva, and others of the like).
By the way, I'm a high school junior, so if this isn't impressive to college students, too bad. It simply happens to be overkill at my school. |
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lianncoop
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1705 Location: Indiana |
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That's part of the challenge of book reports; writing within the set page limit. It's good to learn how to say what you mean in 3-5 pages, rather than 10-15 pages. The page limits aren't set to discourage you from saying what you want to say. They're there so you can learn how to concisely say what you mean without all the in between stuff.
I don't see what would be wrong with referencing manga/novels. I think it may bring a fresh point of view to the rather dull points of classic literature. |
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littlegreenwolf
Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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:? Well then get used to it.
:roll: Sorry, but good luck finding novels in America those are based off of. If you want, you could always try Kiki's Delivery Service, and Howl's Moving Castle. Those are in English. Unless you can read Japanese, fat chance of finding novels some anime and manga are based on. If you want something with samurai action, read Shogun. That book rocks untill the sudden ending.
:roll: I'm a highschool senior, and I'm not impressed. That's just cheap. People out there are just too lazy to read, and it's disgusting. "I find reading boring. That's too many pages" blah blah blah. So what if you're good in math? Big whoop. I suck in math, yet I get the some of the highest grades in English with my whole senior class. People have their weaknesses, and they should really work on them. |
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The Ramblin' Wreck
Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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Shogun is an option. That might work.
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Aya
Posts: 9 |
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Wow...you could fail all assignments for nine weeks to drop to a B+? I'm in grade 10 and we have a lot of assignments for each class. I was getting about 99% in Science but dropped to 90.9% by getting a B on one small quiz out of 7. I don't get how his percentages work but adding up all the other items handed in for marks my mark should still be well over 94% at least. If I slacked off for nine weeks then I'll be failing, even with a 99 to begin with.
I believe book reports test your understanding of a novel and how well you have come to know the plot, characters, etc. A manga, has pictures. It's a picture book. Everything's spelled out for you much clearer than a novel, so I think it would be just missing the whole point of a book report. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10421 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Allow me to be the dissenting voice here. Some manga have a lot of literary value, and everything that can be had from reading a good book (and much more than can be had from reading a bad book) can be had from these.
An example would be Tezuka's Bhudda, which conveniently has just been released in North America. While the effort to read the manga will certainly be less than the effort to read a similarly good book, the effort put into thinking about it need not be less. The problem lies in the sort of book report. Most elementary schools have students write "book reports" that are nothing more than a summary of the book. You can't expect an average grade school student to talk about whatever hidden meaning exists in the book or manga, nor can you expect them to discuss literary technique. The purpose of an elementary school book report is to make sure that the student actually read the book, and to verify that he or she understood the basics. But once in high school or higher, students are expected to analyze more than regurgitate. As I said above, just as much thought can be put into analyzing Bhudha as can be put into analyzing 12 Angry Men (and I suspect that the person analyzing Bhudha will walk away significantly better off for the experience). So writing a high-school "book report" on manga might not be so bad, provided the manga in question has literary worth as opposed to being purely entertainment. Of course, High School students are still children, they think a bit more, so allowing them to do something different is great, but they do like to take the easy route if they are allowed, I would recommend any teacher permitting students to review comics of any form know the comic in question first (to know that it has literary value) and limit the number of comics that students can review. In the end it would just be easier for the teacher not to permit comics. But that unfortunate truth is more about making life easier for the teacher, as opposed to a reflection on the validity of "manga book reports." After all, university papers have been written on single manga titles. |
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