Monthly Archives: December 2011

MMA Manga Top Contenders: Holyland

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MMA Manga Top Contenders: a series of posts examining the world of Japanese mixed martial arts comics.

Holyland is a peculiar manga. It’s about a character named Yuu, a shy social outcast who finally finds a place where he might actually belong: the streets. Life on the streets inevitably leads to fighting, and Yuu is terrible at it. So, terrified, he resolves to get better in order to stake a place in his new-found home, his own personal “holy land.”

I call Holyland peculiar for two reasons. One: it features a perpetually nervous protagonist. Yuu is almost always sweating or wincing or blushing. This sort of character isn’t rare in the world of manga, but in the world of martial arts comics he certainly is. Secondly, the artwork is inconsistent and wonky, featuring lanky characters with inexpressive doe-eyed faces. The first volume is downright ugly, and the reason I avoided this manga like the plague until only a couple of years ago. Overall it’s a very weird-looking series, and not in a good way.

Nevertheless, Holyland won over its fair share of fans due to its dramatic streetfighting storyline, both in Japan, where it ran for 18 volumes until 2008, and abroad, where it’s being actively scanlated. What can I say? Real men appreciate drama.

I can’t say I ever expect it to get published over here, and I’m not lamenting this fact, but Holyland remains a unique oddity. Because Yuu knows next to nothing about fighting in the beginning of the series, Holyland is the approachable kind of manga someone with absolutely no knowledge of martial arts can read and actually learn from. But as we’ll see, there are better manga titles that also accomplish this.

Hopes for 2012: for Chrissakes, SOMEONE License an MMA Manga

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Thanks to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)’s new partnership with FOX, mixed martial arts may see its biggest North American popularity boom ever in 2012. Up until now, the best UFC fights have been showcased on pay-per-view events, but now many will be shown for free on the Fox Network.

Manga is the only reason I ever became interested in the UFC, so I’d love to see its popularity lead to a MMA manga getting licensed.

It’s been tried before. Gutsoon! Entertainment, which began in 2002 but completely folded by 2004, published chapters of Baki the Grappler in its Raijin Comics anthology. In 2005, Viz licensed a manga called Tough, but had to cancel it after six volumes due to low sales.

Over the next few weeks I hope to go over the best mixed martial arts manga, and ultimately present the title I think would do best if published in North America.

REPOST: 2010 Holiday Gift Guide

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This year, instead of cramming anime and manga down reluctant friends’ and family’s throats, consider reducing your superfluous gift giving and donate extra cash to a needy nonprofit organization. The world may not be a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but for disadvantaged and unadopted children, it probably feels like one. Here are three worthwhile but less publicized charities you may be interested in:

ZERO TO THREE
http://www.zerotothree.org/

“ZERO TO THREE is a national, multidisciplinary organization that supports the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers and their families. We carry out that mission through a range of activities that inform, educate and support the adults who influence very young children’s lives. ZERO TO THREE informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. Additionally, we offer comprehensive resources about early childhood development and child and family well-being. We build, prepare and inspire professionals; advance policies and build systems; and raise awareness and inform parents.”

Pajama Program
http://www.pajamaprogram.org/

“Founded in 2001, Pajama Program’s mission is to provide a loving environment for children who have lived through a great deal of hurt in their young lives to give them hope for a better tomorrow. The program identifies key institutions in major cities in the U.S. and other countries where children are living temporarily as they wait and hope for adoption. It is to the children in these circumstances and temporary living quarters that the pajamas are delivered with love an affection. Since 2001, we have given away over 537,842 pajamas and 248,168 books.”

Nurses for Newborns Foundation
http://www.nfnf.org/

“Nurses for Newborns Foundation (NFNF) exists to provide a safety net for families most at-risk through home visiting by experienced, registered nurses who provide healthcare and resources and teach positive parenting skills. The overall goal is to prevent child abuse and neglect and infant mortality. NFNF provides services to babies who are born with medical problems, born to teen moms or born to mothers with disabilities/mental health concerns, or who are born into families who do not have money for even basic necessities. In addition to medical care, we assist families whenever possible with donated materials needed for safe care, such as diapers, formula, baby food, clothing, bedding, and cribs. We welcome hundreds of volunteers each year who help us manage the logistics of this work.”

3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Read This Blog: A 2011 Retrospective

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With the third year of this site kicking off in January, I’m forced to look back and think: what a terrible idea this all was.

But that’s not the whole story. Say what you want about the blog itself, working on it improved my communication skills and it’s taught me things which I’ve applied to my day job, with profitable results.

Everything is connected. And it’s with that fact in mind that I put together these three reasons why you should never read my blog. I’m doing this because I care about you.

3. I’m kind of a dick.

I began this site wanting to cultivate a friendly, welcoming tone that might ultimately persuade skeptics to watch Fist of the North Star. Many of those posts now give me douche chills so I’ve deleted them.

Blogging became more fun when I stopped trying to be a calm expert and started trying to give voice to the emotional enthusiasm I get when I really like something. A side effect of this existential probing is increased impulsiveness and abrasiveness in my writing.

Let’s not mischaracterize it: being a dick keeps me blogging without getting bored. I called the Head of Marketing & Acquisitions at MangaUK a cunt, for chrissakes. AND HE APOLOGIZED TO ME FOR IT.

2. I like comics that aren’t about superheros or transgendered robotic muffin princesses from the future.

Alright, I haven’t written about comics often. But I endeavor to do it more going into 2012. It’s intimidating as hell. Joseph “Jog” McCulloch sets the bar too damn high.

I’m doomed to failure, as there’s not much of an audience for comics discussion that goes beyond the gender politics of Power Girl’s tit cleavage or glorified ad copy about what a consummate master Tezuka is for deconstructing his reconstructions.

I’m stunned my review of a Franco-Belgian horror comic gets daily hits, often from search engines. It’s not a testament to my writing skill, but to how little has been written on the subject in English. That comic kicks ass and it’s actively in print in North America! I guess there isn’t a requisite movie tie-in to generate mainstream interest. And no underage nudity for the otaku.

1. I do everything wrong.

To write respectably, you’re supposed to nuance and weaken every point you make, and disguise your preferences with academic language to seem more objective.

To be a good blogger you need a modicum of civility. For example, don’t shit on your audience.

If you blog about anime, you’re supposed to hang out with pre-teens at anime conventions, even though you’re 25, everything is cheaper when you buy it online, and otaku smell bad.

If you like comics, everything at the end of the day is supposed to go back to your nostalgic love of superhero comics, and how that childhood fire only dims with time as your hobby inevitably slides into the pathetic matter of simply collecting comics for the hell of it.

You’re not supposed to like anime without liking video games more.

And if you blog about manga, by god you’re supposed to hail every Vertical title as a must-own product for manga connoisseurs such as yourself.

I do none of these things. I don’t take this blog seriously, and I’m a hack.

You probably shouldn’t visit in 2012.