The Rose of Versailles

Is a manga/anime made in the 70's; it consist of 10 volumes for the manga, and 41 episodes for the anime. The story takes place in France before and during the French revolution. The main protagonist is a woman named Oscar François de Jarjayes. She is the daughter of the general in charge of the royal guard. Since her father never had a baby boy, he decided to train Oscar to take his place. She was train in different martial arts, and she was left in charge of protecting the royal family. The story deals in part with the problems that Oscar is having; she feels the need to obey her father, and stay like the leader of the royal guard, but she also wants to help the people that are suffering, and poor because of the unnecessary expenses of the queen Marie Antoinette. The queen is expending an enormous amount of money because she is love sick; Oscar had to send a conde that was having an affair with the queen to try to save the name of the royal family. Also, Oscar deals with her needs to express herlself like a woman, and stop behaving like a man. So at some level this manga/anime deals with a bisexual struggle. At the end of the plot she helps orgnize the people in the taking of the Bastille to end the french monarchy. She is shot, and killed; the royal family is captured and guillotined. This manga/anime was a pioneer dealing with themes as strong as bisexuality. The story is superb having an always impressive reference to history. Overall even if its and old production, its still enjoyable and I'm pretty sure that many can relate to her story.

F.M.A

Full Metal Alchemist, is a manga and anime than in my opinion is popular because it has something for almost everyone. One can see it from the perspective of a superhero story, others appreciate the imaginative story deriving the origins of chemistry, the alchemy, and how is well explain, and at the end its completely understandable. Moreover, the social and racial issues that this anime/manga deals with. The struggles of being discriminated because of ones religion, skin and eye color, and how this leads to war and massive destruction, and death. The mental scars of the soldiers that were forced to abandon their moral, and principles to obey the order of superiors. It also deals with the consequences of seeking power at any cost. Full Metal Alchemist may seem as a simple anime/manga at first, but as one pays attention to the story, its easier to realize how complex it is. Another plus for FMA, is that is not an extremely long series, having 51 episodes, and one movie that finalizes the story. However, there is a new series of FMA that was released this year, and its still ongoing.

Dōjinshi

dōjin, literally "same person" and shi is a contraction that means magazine. Dojinshi works are usually amateur works; however, they are sometimes made by professionals too. Doijunshis' are made like an extension of the original manga, hentai, or videogame. They contain the same characters, and usually the same setting, but what they do is they explore the plot or a certain characteristic more in deep, or they just extend the story to whatever the new creator thinks it should go. They are usually self-publish, so the creator has the liberty to take as much time, and effort as he or she wants. They sound like the OVA, but they different. OVA is based in manga, and they try to change the story, but Dojinshi works can go to wherever the new author wants it to go. They have Dojinshi conventions as well. An intersting aspect of this trend is the copyright. One would think that people can get in trouble for explictly copying someones elses ideas, but the truth if far from that. Many many times they are actually encourage by the original authors. Why? well first there is a chance that people get to know the original the manga from the doijinshi, and second the artits can get fresh ideas from them.

AMV

AMV stands for Anime Music Video. They are fan-made videos that take different video clips from one or more anime series and then a song is added to it. The process can be very long since there can be a great amount of small clips per song, but the results are truly impressive. They have a wide variety of themes, including love scenes, fights, and sometimes just silly moments. AMV's competitions are offently done in anime conventions; also, the conventions usually have exhibition of famous AMV's. Also, not all of them are made from anime clips; they are also made using video games clips. AMV's are quite popular, and when they are well make can serve as a form to get to know new anime, or to just enjoy a cool scene from an anime that one enjoys.

Anime Convention in Colorado

There is going to be an anime convention here in Colorado on September 11, 12, and 13, 2009. Is going to take place in this address:

Marriott DTC
4900 S Syracuse St
Denver, CO 80237

If you register before august 15 the price will be $45. It seems like a great way to get to know more manga, participate in costume and AMV contests, and just to have fun in general. If anyone wants to know more this their website:

http://ndkdenver.org/attending

Masashi Kishimoto

Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1977, and he is a Japanese manga artist. He is well known for his Shonen Jump publication named "Naruto." Masashi created naruto in 1999 and after 10 years the series is still running. Viz media (which its another manga publication company) stated that in 2006 naruto accounted for 10% of their total sells. Masashi Kishimoto says that his inspiration to create the character naruto came from reading the manga Dragon Ball Z; he wanted to imitate the energy and enthusiasm of the main character son Goku while trying to develop a character that was unique at the same time. The manga has over 46 volumes, from which 36 have been already converted into two well known and successful anime series. Masashi Kishimoto fallows some straight forward steps while working in the manga; he first creates the concept and draws a rough sketch. Then, he starts creating some drafts of the concept, and when he's happy with the rusult Masashi makes the draw on ink. After that he makes the shading, and sometimes coloring. Masashi has stated that the most difficult character form him to draw in the last 10 years has been Sasuke Uchiha, which at the beginnings of the series he will miss draw making him look older all of the sudden.

An image of Sasuke.

-Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Kishimoto

Shonen Jump

Like an overall general statement Shonen Jump are magazines that are dedicated to the manga, anime, and Japanese culture. Shonen Jump weekly being one the oldest branches is as its name says a weekly magazine that is release in Japan. It features different manga series, video games reviews, and general culture contents. Its known sister in the US is Shonen Jump Magazine. Shonen Jump Magazine is the US version of Shonen Jump, and its release monthly just because its more traditional. Also, since is release only once a month it possess certain differences. For example, the manga that is publish is far more carefully selected, and its chose trying to get the manga that will appeal to an audience from the US. Moreover, not all the manga titles that are selected get to end their series inside Shonen Jump. When the manga becomes unpopular its replaced. I consider it annoying that certain titles are removed from the magazine without having an end; however, with series like Naruto, and Dragon Ball Z that are extremely long is reasonable, but magazines like Shonen Jump are important to spread different and new titles of Manga.