Podcast: Ep. 52: The Season 2 Wrap-Up!
Finally, an episode that you can listen to without having read the book! ;)
Hey folks! Since the newsletter is a little new, let me officially introduce you to the Season 2 Wrap-Up Episode! We do one of these every 25 episodes (give-or-take), to reflect on the manga we’ve read over the past 6 months, and to give ourselves a bit of a break as we go on hiatus to recharge and build up our backlog of content again.
This time out, we’re actually only taking one week off, and we’re going to run some fun and unique bonus episodes for a month before starting Season 3 on April 12th. Don’t worry, still plenty to listen to, and plenty to read here on the newsletter, as we have some unique content on the way.
If you haven’t listened to an episode yet, btw, as you’re just here for the manga: This is a pretty good one to start with! We chat, crack jokes, and talk about the nature of reading manga, rather than a specific book. If you want to give a listen, click any of these links to get started:
Listen and Subscribe to the Podcast:
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This week’s header image comes from a really amazing exhibit on the history of Manga, from the Kyoto International Manga Museum in Kyoto, Japan. Anyone who’s a fan of manga should visit at least once in their lifetime.
Mangasplaining Season 2 Wrap-Up
Featuring Deb Aoki, David Brothers, Christopher Woodrow-Butcher, and Chip Zdarsky
Before We Get Started: Hi, it’s Christopher. I actually didn’t write show-notes for the Season 1 wrap-up, and I thought I could get away with that again. I was wrong, as we specifically reference putting things in the show notes for this episode, multiple times. I also told Deb she could take the week off because, again, I didn’t think there’d be show notes, so, uh, sorry, just me. And also apologies in advance for my many spelling and grammatical errors. <3
00:20: HELLLLLLOOOOOOO!
01:35: This is actually episode 52. Whoopsie!
01:58: Daredevil #1 in stores in May June 2022! From Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto and Marvel Comics! Order it at your local comic shop, find one near you at www.comicshoplocator.com.
Funny, relevant story, when I typed “Daredevil #1 2022” into Google to find the cover image, it gave me the Daredevil #1 that came out already, in January. That one was Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1 though. I was very confused for a moment, and then delighted when I realized how accurate this segment is. Gorgeous Bachalo cover though.
04:00: HIGH STAKES! FRIENDSHIPS ON THE LINE!
09:55: On Episode 33, we read Akiko Higashimura’s Tokyo Tarareba Girls, volumes 1, 2, AND 3, because volume 3 is where the advice columns started, and Chip used to be an advice columnist for a little while. I thought he’d find that part relevant. But not only did he like the series, he loved it, and he actively went and sought out more volumes, completing the entire series right through volume 9! It’s funny, because I think I said this was the first thing he went and read on his own, but I have a shit short memory, apparently, because his first self-directed, not-for-the-podcast manga, was continuing to read Way of the Househusband. Although he picked that one, and I picked TTG, so I’m putting this in the win column.
11:30: Here’s that link I was talking about, regarding Akiko Higashimura’s stuff, from a commenter on the Tokyo Tarareba Girls episode. Please be nice in the comments, thanks!
The long and the short is, comments said on a reality TV show, or made while making a manga, have a pretty big asterisk on them. I also think people learn and grow, and I’d like to believe (given her more recent work) that’s the case. Her appearance on Naoki Urasawa’s Manben was so self-effacing, so humble, that it doesn’t totally reconcile with her other TV appearance you know? So, to each their own, but I think we all appreciate people sharing their thoughts in the comments.
Somewhat conversely, the conversation drifted a little bit and I didn’t point out another of the examples I had of people sharing things in the comments that has continued to really affect me, and that’s people sharing some of their own experiences in the comments section for our episode on Jiro Taniguchi’s Journal of my Father. It’s a bit of a heavy read, but definitely go check it out, there’s some really nice stuff there.
17:30: AJIN Demi-Human, by Gamon Sakurai, coming up on Episode 1 of Season 3 of Mangasplaining. Which starts April 12th! We’ll have some bonus episodes in between then and now! 😀
26:00: Here it is, the most-commented on episodes (on the website), not counting our own comments or pingbacks:
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, by Hayao Miyazaki: 15 Comments
Devilman Classic Collection Vol 1, by Go Nagai: 10 Comments
Gundam: The Origin Vol 1, by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko: 9 Comments
Thanks to all of our website commenters, and everyone who comments on allll of our social media, we know that this list is neither ‘fair’ nor totally accurate. We’re very fortunate to hear from listeners after each episode via Twitter, Insta, Email, and now the newsletter too. So Maybe Devilman (which spawned a few Twitter threads) might rank higher by some metrics. Still, it’s a nice opportunity for us to thank all y’all for commenting. 😉
29:30: Here it is, who assigned WHOM the most manga this year?
1st Place: Chip Zdarsky assigned us 438 pages of manga. LAZY.
2nd Place: VIZ gave us 864 pages of manga to read this year.
3rd Place: David assigned us 1980 pages of manga this year.
4th Place: Christopher assigned 2140 pages of manga (one volume off David’s total!).
5th Place: Deb assigned a whopping 2700+ pages of manga this year!
So depending on how you look at it, Deb either lost, or won, but either way, it was a pretty good time.
32:47: Ah Pardonnez-Moi, David! Je suis tres désolé.
33:30: I was too much of a coward to add all the crotch shots from Raw Hero to our Social Media (no idea what we’re gonna do for the BL episodes…), but since we mention it here:
Raw Hero was a whole thing. I’m actually, finally, curious about volume 2.
33:45: I can’t imagine a universe in which this happens, and we get a clip-show. Maybe if David wins the lottery and gets a taste for truly pointless excess, we’ll have a clip-show from every episode. Here’s hoping!
35:45: We’ve glossed both Bleach and REAL multiple times, you probably either know, or can pop either of those words + manga into Google to get the gist.
36:05: THE BREAK! It’s time for a completely arbitrary break in the action, maybe pause and get a beverage.
(Fun fact: It wasn’t arbitrary, we had technical difficulties that we were trying to sort out.)
37:00: Here’s what you’re all here for, stats!
This season’s top translator (i.e.: The one we read the most): Is a six-way tie!
Kudos to Jocelyne Allen, Amanda Haley, Ysabet MacFarlane, Jenny McKeon, Ko Ransom, and Kumar Sivasubramanian.
This season’s top letterer (i.e.: The one whose work we read the most): Six way tie too!
Kudos to Lys Blakesee, Nicole Docych, Evan Hayden, Grace Ly, Rina Mapa, and Walden Wong.
39:00: There are other Manga Podcasts!
I misattributed the lettering roundtable episode, it was actually by the good folks at Manga Mavericks! Please check out that episode (and the rest of their podcast) over at http://all-comic.com/2022/manga-mavericks-ep-187-letterers-roundtable/.
The other podcast I mentioned is another great podcast that I like, Manga Machinations, and you can go listen to that one at https://mangamachinations.com/
39:51: Just Kidding Jocelyne! <3
42:00: For the last part of the wrap-up, we made some groups of books to talk about!
Love & Sex: The Blood Red Boy, Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Our Dining Table, Wotakoi, Raw Hero, Blood on the Tracks
Digital Only: Dan Da Dan, Look Back, Blood Red Boy, Spy X Family
Art About Art: Blank Canvas, Look Back, Blue Period, City, BL Metamorphosis
Classic Manga: Phoenix, Gundam: The Origin, Nausicaa, Kamen Rider, Devilman Classic, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories
Adventure!: Vinland Saga, Golden Kamuy, AKIRA, Aposimzs, An Invitation From a Crab
Interview: Shout-out to our interview subjects, Jocelyne Allen, Ben Applegate, Ed Chavez, Nick Dragotta, Ko Ransom, and Emma Rios!
47:00: It WAS comic critic Johanna Draper-Carlson, who was talking about the charms and appeal of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku. Paraphrasing, it’s about having a group of friends, a circle of friends, that are all weebs/otaku/fanboys etc. Having grown up in a lot of those spaces, I see the appeal for sure! Check out her review here.
48:30: We’re talking about Chip’s Public Domain, serializing now at The Chip Zdarsky Newsletter!
51:45: It’s true! Two books from the digital-only category that we really liked this year, DanDaDan by Yukinobu Tatsu, and Look Back are finally getting print editions.
52:10: Man this is the worst anecdote/joke I’ve ever done on this podcast. I can’t believe David left this in. But I stand by my take on Franken-Fran.
59:00: Pop Life, by Minami Q-Ta! It’s good stuff. I read it after I finished The Blood Red Boy, and it’s literally the only story I’ve ever read like this in comics. The cover art features 3 kids and a ‘pop’ cover illustration, but the actual story is about two middle-aged women who develop a supportive friendship! It’s really great stuff, and it made me happy. Go check it out from Starfruit, or read it on Azuki.
59:40: What is City Pop? It’s a the Japanese equivalent of yacht rock. Here’s the Wiki for a fuller answer. I’m soooo tired.
1:03:00: Big thanks to manga historians Matt Alt and Ryan Holmberg, who popped up on Twitter with some illuminating info about Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island), Osamu Tezuka’s first full-length graphic novel. I had solely credited it to Tezuka, but it’s much more appropriately credited to Shichima Sakai and Osamu Tezuka. Here’s the exchange from Matt and Ryan on Twitter.
Matt Alt: [New Treasure Island] Is amazing and transformative, but let’s not forget it was based on Shichima Sakai’s script. His contribution often gets glossed over.
Ryan Holmberg: I’m pretty sure Sakai did the basic storyboards too. I wrote a pair of articles on TCJ eons ago about New Treasure Island.
Matt Alt: The rift between the two is discussed in chapter 2 of Pure Invention as well. In fact, Shin-Takarajima’s so key to Pure Invention we put it on the cover! (image)
That pair of articles on early Tezuka that Ryan Holmberg mentions can be found online at TCJ, links here and here. They’re very good reads, if you’re into Tezuka, Disney, and post-WWII comics in general.
for Matt Alt’s Pure Invention, you can buy yourself a copy wherever books are sold.
1:05:20: Welcome to the world of tomorrow!
1:10:00
“Sorry, I’m just really cool.”
Chip Zdarsky
1:14:40: I dunno if I explained this well, but it’s like how for all of season 1, we kept mentioning Akiko Higashimura but didn’t read any of her work for the podcast… and then we covered her a couple weeks into volume 2 and she was a huge hit! She was a big part of the discourse, the flavour of season 1, but wasn’t actually a subject until season 2. I think, Deb makes a great point about covering some important manga creators at the end of this episode, that we’ve mentioned extensively on the podcast and the notes, and it’ll be a fun year.
1:16:00: Coming up with the perfect retort days later? Seems like a good place to end these show notes!
Thanks again for listening to Mangasplaining this season! It’s been an incredible season, tons of change, a really strange year, really. Happy to have this time with my pals Deb, David, and Chip, and all of you. Thanks so much! We’ll be back soon with new episodes!
In the meantime, you can find a comics and manga specialty retailer near you at Comicshoplocator.com. And check out your local library for print and digital lending options.
Check out D.A.D.S. on Spotify, they made our cool theme music for us. 🙂