The DA’s Otaku Spot
Issue Three: “Oh For The Love Of Bishonen!”

Wait!! Miss an issue? Check them here!
Issue One: “What Anime Is, and Is Not!”-[link]
Issue Two: “Otakudom 101”-[link]

This week, we are talking about the many genres in anime/manga. We’ll also be explaining the importance of hybrid series, and how even your favorite series can change from one genre to another over the many arcs and seasons that the series may have.

But as always, it’s time for our reviews of the week!

Anime Of The Week
The Third, The Girl With The Blue Eye
Volume One DVD out now by Right Stuff Entertainment.

In a future post-apocalyptic world, an upper class called The Third, who are distinguished by the extra red eye in their foreheads, governs and monopolizes the highest-tech equipment while the ordinary masses go about their lower-tech lives. A young woman named Honoka, who has made a name for herself as the jack-of-all-trades Sword Dancer because of her incredible skill and power with a katana, travels the wastelands with her A.I.-controlled tank Bogie looking for work and to make ends meet without having to kill any humans. A chance encounter with a beautiful, mysterious man named Iks, who seems to have an ability to heal, ultimately leads to him becoming a regular traveling companion as part of a job.

Pros To This Anime: The artwork is very detailed and rich with color and scenery you would want on your computer‘s desktop. The animation is very good by providing a nice balance between 2D and 3D elements. The music in the series also does help by using a wonderful balance of acoustic instrumentals and new age sounds. The opening theme song sounds something out of a western movie, which sets the right tone for this series. And while the opening volume is very abstract and you don’t quite understand the beginning of the series, this series shows great promise to be a very satisfying anime for all those involved. Or at least we all hope so.

Cons To This Anime: The plot is very slow moving, and you won’t quite understand the title of the series until the end of the fourth episode. The English voice over is also absolutely horrible. There is a consistent narration done by one of the main characters which drops in weird places in the episodes, and makes the watchers go “what was the point of that?”. There is a small thing in the episodes where you see both the English and Japanese endings instead of just one ending which is absolutely redundant. This series was acquired by Right Stuff Entertainment (a subsidiary group to Bandai Entertainment) but they way that this anime was edited and executed will make many veteran anime watchers shake their heads in disgust.

Miss Red Rose’s Verdict: While an abstract anime, it somehow is able to hold it’s own and keep you interested in what is going to happen next to the entire cast. Please do not watch the dubbed version, because you will seriously be disappointed with it‘s lack of emotion and adaptation from the original series. I do not recommend buying this anime outright but instead, rent this series and see for yourself if it is a worthier buy later on when the next volumes come out. I personally will be adding this to my watch list to see for myself if indeed this is a series that is worth it’s hype.

Manga Of The Week:
**Due to the crazy work schedules I have had to endure the past few days, there will be no manga review this week. However, I will treat everyone to TWO MANGA REVIEWS next week, and there will be no anime review. Sorry Manga fans! **

Feature Of The Week: “Oh, for the Love of Bishonen!”

So in the planning of this issue’s feature, I spent many days on the internet, searching for a list to base my feature on.. As I searched and searched, I noticed a lot of lists, had a lot of anime/manga genres in them. For a moment, I almost scrapped the idea, but I ran to the internet’s very own encyclopedia known as “Wikapedia” and found at the list to base this issue off of. However, in the research and break down on the list, I also stumbled upon a couple of different things concerning a growing group of anime/manga series that I like to call “hybrid series”. So let’s start by explaining this first.

A “Hybrid series” as I personally call them, represent those anime/manga series that have more than one genre classifications for them. While a majority of anime/manga series, especially those that are shown in mainstream, tend to stay within one category, there are a handful of notable tittles that are known for having at least more than one genre categorical element to it. One of the oldest, and most well known hybrids to date, is none other than “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. Within the otaku circles, it is known as “Eva”. This series was originally categorized as a “ Post Apocalyptic ” series, in conjunction with it’s opening season. However, by the end of the original series, the series had to be re-categorized. While many people add a bunch of different elements to “Eva”, the majority of fans classify this anime now as a: “ Post-Apocalyptic, mecha, action/adventure, drama”. With a few hints of shonen-ai in reference to the main character Shinji Ikari’s and his many interesting love adventures. (If you wanna know, you’re just going to have to watch the series now aren’t you?)

While not to offend our friends who love series that tend to stay in one group, hybrid series, have a tendency to be more well rounded, and more well known. While many people know “Eva”, a more modern anime/manga series that can now be declared an hybrid is “Full Metal Alchemist”. While many people know it’s original origins as a “shonen or Maho-shonen” category for it’s target audience of boys and magic by the ways of alchemy; by the end of the anime, the entire franchise had to be re-categorized as a “Shonen, Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi, Drama” with bursts of comedy to lighten up the intensity of this series.

Hybrid series, whether you realize it or not, are now more than ever becoming more and more apparent in the anime/manga world, and the demand for them is even more staggering. Many fans now, are looking for more than just a few laughs or a few tears. Fans are looking now, for more and more substance in their picks. Which for older otakus, who were raised under the Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon era is a good thing. Because otakus who were raised in that era know that back in those days, anime/mangas that had substance were extremely hard to find, and ridiculously expensive to own as well. Thanks to the growing trend of anime/mangas and the faster licensing and production of series, the newer generation of otakus have so much to choose from that it’s not even funny. And those older otakus, now have the money to buy those goodies as well. So everyone wins! In closing of this topic, I want all otakus reading to know, that hybrid series are here to stay. And will more and more likely gather a bigger fandom in the many years to come.

So now that we have taken care of that, let’s get onto the many genres that are in anime and mangas. After careful work and consideration, I have broken them down into three categories: “In The Western Style”, “Guy/Girl Series” and “Mixer Genres”.

1) Guy/Girl Series-In Japan, a majority of the series that are produced, usually are targeting a certain demographic of readers and watchers. So many of our favorites are based from that same concept, in Japan, they are broken down into Shojo/girls and Shonen/Boys.

Shojo-Series aimed at girls. The most well known series in both manga and anime is “Fruits Basket”.

Maho Shojo--Means literally “magical girls”
Most Renown Work: Sailor Moon Series

Bishojo--Means literally “beautiful girls”. So this genre usually has a bunch of lovely ladies in it.
Most Renown Works: Magic Knight Rayearth and Ah My Goddess.

Josei--Means literally “Young woman”, these genres usually are targeted for high school and college women.
Most Renown Works: Paradise Kiss, NANA, Honey and Clover

Reverse Harem-A reverse harem is when a lady is surrounded by a bunch of lovely guys!
Most Renown Works: Ouran High School Host Club and Fruits Basket.

Shojo-Ai/Yuri - These two genre’s are separate. Shojo-Ai literally means “girls love” and this genre is more the romance style instead. Yuri, on the other hand, does actually include actually has the sexual situations and sometimes actual relations girl on girl style.
Most Renown Works: Revolutionary Girl Utena

Shonen-Series that are targeted to boys. The epitome of all Shonen, sill is without a doubt: Dragonball Z.
(I mean, how could it not be? The series not only defines shonen, it put anime into the mainstream!)

Maho Shonen: Means literally “magical boys”
Renown Works-D.N Angel and Shonen Omyjioi

Bishonen: Series with tons of lovely boys!
Well Renown Works: Fushigi Yugi and Kyo Kara Maoh

Seinen: Series that are targeted for older boys.
Most Renown Series: Cowboy Bebop

Harem: A genre where several female characters swarming over a lovely boy!
Most Renown Works: Love Hina/Negima!

Shonen-Ai/Yaoi: This category is slowly gathering more and more love among the fellow fan girl communities. But please remember the difference! Shonen-Ai means “boys love” where there are only romantic elements involved but love scenes. Yaoi, on the other hand, does have the sexual scenes.
Most Renown Works: Loveless and Gravitation

2) In The Western Style-Animes/Manga series that fall into this category, usually take most of their influences from western works and genre classifications.

Action/Adventure: Naruto, Ninja Scroll, Bleach, Black Lagoon
Horror: Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing Series
Progressive/Independent: Sprited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Voices of A Distant Star
Mystery/Suspense: Death Note
Comedy/Parody: Hayate the Combat Butler

3) Mixer Series-Many series that fall into this category are hybrids. And they take these series and add onto their rich mixture..

Moe: This genre has recently come into the mainstream of anime/manga. This slang term represents anything that is SUPER CUTE.. And when I say cute, I mean it to an obscene amount. Whether, it’s the comedic or romantic elements, moe is the genre that represents all fluffy series.
Renown Works: Kare Kano (or His and Hers Circumstances. Same series title.), The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Expertise: Series that specialize on something in the real world. May not be in documentary form, but they specialize in talking about one main aspect.
Renown Works: Eyesheild 21 (Football),Yakitake (bread making), Comic Party (fan comics), Lucky Star (otakudom)

Sentai: In Japanese, this means “fighting teams”. So this usually applies to those who fight in groups like superheroes.
Renown Works: Cyborg 009, Dragonball Z,

Post Apoctalyptic: Series that are set after the ending of the world.
Renown Works: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nausicaa-Valley of the Wind

Mecha: Series, that have any robotic fighters in them.
Renown Works: The Macross Series, Gundam Series, Code Geass-Leouch Of The Rebellion.

Kodomo: Series, that are targeted only for children! The next generation of otakus.
Most Renown Works: Pokemon, Doreamon

Hentai/Ecchi: The naughtiest of them all. It’s pretty much the animated version of porn. Hentai/Ecchi has been forbidden to be sold in the US by regular licensers. So if you are looking for any, check Amazon or Ebay.
Most Renown Works: Bible Black


*Takes a deep breath* Okay, so that is anime genres in one whole entry. For those who are still wondering where their favorites are, you can leave a note here, and I’ll gladly check it out and let you know! I hope this entry, while long, will help you understand the importance of anime genres. Tune in next week, as we not only talk more about series genres, but we’ll be talking about how series get their press and love from fans! We’ll also be talking about the hottest newest series that are hitting the airwaves here in the US and in Japan! Till then, I’m going to take a serious nap, this entry was a long one.

See you all next week!
~Miss Red Rose~

Missed an issue? Check them out here!
Issue One: “What Anime Is, and Is Not!”-[link]
Issue Two: “Otakudom 101”-[link]

Upcoming Releases!-- All releases are subject to change without notice, and prices will vary on publisher, and distributor which you buy from. So shop around okay!

Upcoming Anime DVD’s for 8/21/07
009-1 (DVD 2 and Special Edition)
Burst Angel - A New Tokyo (DVD 2)
Burst Angel - Death's Angel (DVD 1)
Fate/stay night (DVD 5)
Galaxy Angel AA (DVD 2)
Gunslinger Girl (DVD 1)
Gunslinger Girl (DVD 2)
Innocent Venus - Grave New World (DVD 1)
Kasimasi - Triangles Hurt (Sub.DVD 2)
Le Chevalier D'Eon - Ancien Regime (DVD 4)
Peach Girl (DVD 4)
School Rumble (DVD 1)
School Rumble + Artbox (DVD 1)
Solty Rei (DVD 6)
The Big O II - Complete Collection (Anime Legends)

Upcoming Manga Releases for 8/21/07
Drifting Classroom (G.novel 7)
Fullmetal Alchemist (G.novel 14)
Golgo 13 (G.novel 10)
Hana-Kimi (G.novel 19)
Inubaka (G.novel 4)
Kekkaishi (G.novel 10)
Monster (G.novel 10)
My Dearest Devil Princess (G.novel 1)
Ordinary Crush (G.novel 1)
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (G.novel 4)