There is an app for that!

After finishing the online course Japanese Sub-cultures,  I had to think about what I wanted to do with what I had learnt.  My new teacher librarian was very supportive of me doing extra curricular activities, and I was very excited about what I could do. The day I got the go-ahead to do the manga club I couldn't stop smiling.  After so many years of repression in my old job this was a brand new experience for me (having this encouragement and support), and for the first time in a long while I was full, actually I was brimming over, with joy. 
There was still a lot to do though.  I wanted to present the club as something that was all inclusive.  Originally, I had thought we might run it along similar lines as my online club which meant we would need to get more than one copy of which ever manga was chosen, and considering that that was an expense we couldn't afford, I had to find alternatives.  On my own Samsung tablet I tried out a few different manga apps but settled on Manga Master.

 I like it's simple format and inclusion of older stories (lots of Tezuka on it), but mostly I liked that you could do searches for storylines that are completed.  For IPads, I chose Manga Rock.

I admit I don't like this app as much as Manga Master, but I wanted to find the best app possible for Ipads.  Also, I find that if you just look at Manga Rock online rather than using the app you have access to more choices.
For my lap top I tried out both Manga Blaze

and Comics Unlimited. 

I like both apps, especially Comics Unlimited as I can read some pretty old comics (which is great for my research).
There is also, Mangareader.net an online resource for those who do not have access to devices or have an older computer without Windows 10. 
I tried to cover all the bases so that any new member to Mangamaniacs!  could read the manga I had hoped to cover. 
It didn't quite work out the way I had hoped.  Most students would prefer to read the actual volume rather than look at a screen (well...for reading a book that is), but the information is still handy, especially when we have gaps in our collection.  I encourage students to have a look at these websites to fill in those gaps. 
For myself I found these apps to be invaluable.  To be able to read what book choices are made on my online group, and also to do research on whatever story might be chosen next for Mangamaniacs!  
We haven't limited ourselves to just reading manga but looking at the Marvel and DC universes as well.  Which is where Comics Unlimited has been very valuable.  Last spring we did Infinity Wars for the month of May and it was a very interesting month, discussing various superheroes, right down to their origins.  I got a lot from the experience as well as learning something new. 

Osamu Tezuka

The creator of Astro Boy and one of my earliest exposures to the science fiction genre (it probably had something to do with my enduring devotion to stories about robots as well!).  I have fond memories of watching the show when I was a kid, and I had goosebumps when the first episode was showed to the new manga and anime group (Mangamaniacs!) at work. 

Tezuka's work was mentioned often in my course about Japanese sub-cultures and he is considered the godfather of manga and anime.  It's true that his work has inspired many artists in Japan today (including one of my favourites Akira Toriyama!).  What is fascinating to me is the scope of his work.  Not only did he create unforgettable characters for children but he also wrote for adults too.  I think back to my course and the professor's comments about the fact that there is an immaturity contributed to Japanese people today; possibly because there is such a huge industry of manga and anime.    I disagree.  I think that in the past twenty years graphica and animation have progressed so much in quantity and quality, that it is indeed something that should not be attributed just to the popularity of a younger generation.  I have read, over the past eighteen months, story lines that would never be suitable for a child to read.   Grownups need their comics too!  This is something that deserves further research, as I feel that I have a minute idea of what Japan and it's people are all about.

Back to Tezuka.  I have as yet read only eight or so of his stories, and I am impressed with his talent for illustration and his ability to shape a story that is engaging and unique.  Last year I challenged myself to read a volume of manga each day (365!), with the intent of reading all of my library's collection, so I had to drop reading Tezuka's works for a while.  Trying to read the library's collection was a challenge too because I also had commitments to what my online manga club wanted to read,  and after starting a new club at work there where different choices in this group as well.  As yet, I still have at least a third of the collection to go.  But I want to go back and read the rest of Tezuka's collection soon.  Though if you glance at the picture I posted above, you can see just how immense a task that will be. 

I loved how sometimes Tezuka would insert himself into the narrative of the story, it created a personal connection to him which I think endured him to his audience. 

I adore him for his imagination!  It touched more people than he could possibly have ever known. 
When Mangamaniacs began a year ago, Astro boy was the first story we looked at.  I will, from time to time bring him back into rotation in our club, because I think it's important to see the origins and the inspiration for what was to follow, in both manga and anime.  Of course there is lots more to talk about when it comes to the vanguard of manga and anime, and I look forward to doing that!

2017

So 2017 was a major year for me.  First, there was lots of anguish over my place of work and the harassment I was receiving from the administrator. Next I made a major decision to leave my job.  Also, I had begun to take courses online and most of them were focused on Japanese literature and culture, but a lot of them were going to be useful in my job.  It was a big year.  A difficult one.  I had to suffer a lot before I reached a place where I could be free of stress and unhappiness.  My emotions were riding a pogo stick, it was exhausting. 
Once I had reached the conclusion that I had to leave my job, I began to sleep better, the end was in sight.  While my original plan did not work out (getting a job at the public library), a job fell into my lap during September, with more hours and at a high school, plus I would have to commute (something I had already resigned myself to doing if I had got the job at the public library).  I already had a pretty good resume put together so, like I said, it fell in to my lap.
Next came for  me a period of steep adjustment and some anxiety (residual from being harassed for more than five years in my old job) and some things I like, coincidences.  I think I might have commented on the fact that my first semester I felt like I was floating, and kind of high with happiness.  It was a very strange feeling (but constant... no more pogo-ing of emotions!).  Physically, I was improving too.  It was overwhelming to see how better I felt without stress in my life.  It was equally overwhelming to know just how bad it was before, and I felt bad for all of the co-workers I had left behind. 
Now for the coincidence.  I have been taking online courses, and some of them are through Keio University in Tokyo.  I had already completed two courses on rare texts and was looking forward to the next course on sub cultures.  Which is where the coincidence comes in because my new library has a great collection of manga, and I had never read any in my life.  I didn't know anything!  So that course came along at a perfect moment.  Since I had enrolled in the spring, this just felt like destiny!  I have lots more to say on the subject, but for now I just wanted everyone to understand the origins of my new interests.  Manga has already been added to my labels... I look forward to using it a lot!