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12- Can Chyanne Interest You In...Anime and Manga?
11 Plays3 days ago
On this week's episode we jump right in with Chyanne Husar to learn about her obsessions, Anime and Manga.
Subjects covered include: The difference between anime and manga, Chyanne's travels to Japan, pets named after anime characters, (Princess Mononoke, Naruto) before learning SO MUCH.
Some of the many genres include Dragon Ball (battles) vs Miazaki (battle for life), leveling up, reincarnation, video games, slice of life.
How to consume?
While Netflix is an option to be able to watch some, a subscription to crunchyroll is world opening. Reference wikipedia for a list of the filler episodes to avoid.
Manga can be purchased as beautiful, colorful and pricey books, or Shonen Jump's app offers a digital way to read up.
Then Chyanne smoothly steps into the role of manga librarian and suggests media to consume based on our interests:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Spy x Family
The Apothecary Diaries
The Elusive Samurai
Bocchi the Rock!
Reach out to Chyanne at chyanne@gmail.com
Share our podcast with a friend, leave us a review, follow us on social, send us a message.
Logo design: Marielle Martin
Song: Upbeat Drums with Stomps and Claps by music_for_video
BlueSky: @canweinterestyouin.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canweinterestyouin/#
Email us your interests! CanWeInterestYouIn@gmail.com
Website: CanWeInterestYouIn.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Today's Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
You know that thing you love that your friends and family don't want to hear about anymore? Tell it to us, Patty and Charlotte. We want to learn all about your weird and wild obsessions or your perfectly normal hobbies that you've taken just a little too far.
00:00:15
Speaker
We want to dabble in your curious interests. Can we interest you in today's episode?
Meet the Guest: Cheyenne Hussar
00:00:34
Speaker
Hi, Charlotte. Hi, Patty. And hi, Cheyenne. Hi, Charlotte and Patty. Hi. So today we have our wonderful guest is my good pal, Cheyenne Hussar.
00:00:49
Speaker
And she is here to tell us about one of her many interests Cheyenne is like one of those people who always is doing something really really well doing several somethings really really cool so I can't wait to hear like what it is going to be that you're going to tell us about today well there were lots of things that I think I proposed to you and I think the one that you settled in on was kind of my passion and quasi obsession of anime and manga yay
00:01:24
Speaker
I'm very curious.
Understanding Anime and Manga
00:01:25
Speaker
Yes. Tell us about your interest. ok but What is the difference between the two? So anime typically means like the TV show or the, like the moving version of it. And the manga typically refers to the printed version or like the the book version, which if you look at Japanese culture and I'll predominantly be speaking about Japanese manga, even though there's like so many really amazing Korean ones.
00:01:54
Speaker
um There are a few American ones, but it's by and large, like manga comes from Japan and okay it is like ah cultural thing there. So I think before the manga birth in America, people were like, oh, cartoons are for kids and we'll just let kids enjoy cartoons, which kind of sucks for people who really appreciate animation and everything that goes into it. But thankfully,
00:02:20
Speaker
Japan is like taking over the world in terms of exploring, like helping people celebrate the amazingness of animation and drawings that go into these creations.
Cheyenne's Journey into Manga and Anime
00:02:30
Speaker
So like, think it was got the early two thousand s I was in Japan and you're just like on the train and there's like 60 year old men like reading these ginormous like books of manga and you're like, Oh my God, what what is going on? And it's like, it was like that phase of when everybody was reading Harry Potter, like, okay, so that's like a really old throwback, but maybe you can appreciate that one. Yeah.
00:02:53
Speaker
So, okay, it's the 2000s. You're in Japan. You're seeing this around you. Had you known about it before? What was kind of like your, as we like to call your inciting incident? How did you get how did you get interested in anime or manga manga? Oh, my God, not manga. Yeah.
00:03:17
Speaker
so my my inception well i mean i guess it it does i'll start with cartoons like i have been a cartoon junkie my entire life everything from the 80s as patty you know from our shy did her odd days like so many of our cart influences have been from early 80s cartoons and those kinds of inspector gadget oh such a good cart um But I think it really just kind of grew. it it was like a natural progression from like, what are TV, like what are cartoons that you can see on TV and like as the world changed, like what the internet brought and became more accessible.
00:03:55
Speaker
um It was just something that kind of filtered into my consciousness. I will say i Early on in this transition, i did not have an interest in like the Dragon Ball or the Pokemon. Like I've honestly like never watched Pokemon and like so there's a very specific genre. Well, there's so many genres of manga, but like I wasn't into like the battle manga.
Anime Influences: From Cartoons to TV Series
00:04:21
Speaker
So for me, my introduction came in through Miyazaki, who came up with like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away and all the like Totoro. you had a cat named after Princess Mononoke. I did. Yeah. So that was, I would say Princess Mononoke was probably my entry point. And Princess Mononoke, the cat, who I later found out means cursed one, my cat for like a good 20 years. And she was, she was pretty amazing.
00:04:47
Speaker
But I would say, After going to Japan, i don't know if that necessarily changed it because so much of the stuff was in Japanese. I didn't know how to get access to it.
00:04:59
Speaker
And it was probably meeting my husband that helped me shift into like maybe the deeper level of manga and anime. When I met Jason, he was super into Naruto, which is kind of like a very fundamental ah anime that it's like, it's one of the cornerstone animes.
Cultural References in Anime
00:05:20
Speaker
Can I interrupt? Because we're watching my parents' dog and his name is Naruto.
00:05:27
Speaker
Is that what you're talking about? Your parents' dog? Yes, they adopted him with that name already. So... Well, it can mean two things. So either it was named by somebody who was an anime fan after Naruto.
00:05:43
Speaker
Otherwise, Naruto, the anime character, anime and manga character, was actually named after those little spiral fish pieces that you find in ramen. oh um So that is also an art show. So either you had a foodie or an anime fan on your hands. love this the thread of ah animals named after anime characters. So maybe you guys could get like photos of best pets named after anime.
00:06:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it is one way to show, right? Like that's like one of the things, like, what do
Anime-Inspired Tattoos and Pet Names
00:06:16
Speaker
you love so much? Name your pet after it. There you go. Wait, and so- Oh, I was going to say even tattoos. Like, yeah it was like well before I got into like, quote unquote, anime that my tattoo came to me when I was watching Samurai Jack and saw his family crest. And it was like, that's the tattoo I want. And I was like, it combines my love of these cultures and cartoons and all this stuff. So I'm sure there's there's plenty, plenty of amazing tattoos as well.
00:06:44
Speaker
Mm hmm. I don't think I knew you had a tattoo of where, I mean, you were holding your chest, so I'm guessing it's somewhere here-ish. It's kind of on my shoulder, but yeah, you usually see me in the winter, so it's like... Oh, okay. But I mean, we were just in bathing suits together, so I'm like, how did I miss it? That's right. Yeah, it just looks like such a part of me that you wouldn't... Maybe. at that birthmark. It does not
Genres and Styles in Anime and Manga
00:07:10
Speaker
look...
00:07:12
Speaker
yeah
00:07:14
Speaker
um Okay, so you said that you're not as interested in the battle side of things, but that like the Princess Mononoke was what pulled you in. So what would you say that genre is, if not battles? Like, or what is the kind of storyline about, or the plots?
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I think the big difference between the Miyazaki entry point is it's, it kind of comes in with a it's more ah of a fantasy heroic model. So you look at Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa and they're these princesses who are saving their clan from like Earth's utter destruction kind of thing or like an apocalyptic situation. So it's more like a fight for survival.
00:08:02
Speaker
Whereas like Yes, I think there's some like Dragon Ball. I'll just use Dragon Ball as the example, because I think so many people know it. And I think Dragon Ball is more your classic street fighter mashup of like you have this person battling this person. And it's all about these rounds of fighting.
00:08:22
Speaker
So i can I can now appreciate that. And I will say like Naruto was my entry point that gave me a greater appreciation of the fighting that happens within anime, which there is, you know, for a greater part of anime, there is a huge amount of fighting.
00:08:41
Speaker
But there's also like, I think I probably know like the tip of the iceberg when it comes to like all of the different versions, because you have like, your street fighter style, you have your high school like fighting style, you have your fantasy level fighting style, you have Isekai, which means that you have somebody who has been transplanted out of this world into another one and needs to level up so that they can possibly return home or master like their new skill levels in this new world.
00:09:11
Speaker
And that includes like the time, like an isekai version of where you were, or I think it includes kind of like this reincarnation series as well, where people get reincarnated as a vending machine, or there's an entire genre.
00:09:27
Speaker
There's an entire genre of people who get reincarnated as slimes and like use a slime to like gain points to then become humanoid again. And yeah,
00:09:40
Speaker
or magical skills. So there's like, Oh, some like gamification stuff too. <unk>s That's a different genre.
Video Games and Anime: A Creative Intersection
00:09:48
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:09:52
Speaker
Levels. ah Well, there's also, so there is, um well, my favorite kind of game one is currently solo leveling. which I love, it is a Korean version. And it's this idea of like having this game interval interface overlaid on your reality to be able to like physically level up.
00:10:12
Speaker
um But there's another, there's a whole genre of animes and mangas about people either playing in video games or getting stuck in video games or having like the video games became like become greater reality. So like another one that I'm currently watching is called Shangri-La.
00:10:30
Speaker
which is about this like powerhouse gamer in like this amazing VR world and how he's like championing the game. And it's just kind of like a simple, basic level.
00:10:43
Speaker
It's like, did you guys, when you were in high school, did you ever have that guy you were totally crushing on and he would invite you over to watch him play video games? And you'd be like, yes, I totally love to watch him play video games.
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, I was never invited, but I dreamed about it. Okay, really, I just invited myself over to the thing. I never led anywhere.
00:11:13
Speaker
So yeah, I think there there are definitely like so many different entry
Exploring Slice of Life and Other Unique Genres
00:11:17
Speaker
points. um And those are just kind of like the action ones, because then there's like this entire genre that they call slice of life, which is just, it's like your regular soap operas. So there can be dramas, there can be history pieces, anything that you can possibly imagine.
00:11:33
Speaker
There's an anime or a manga for like one of the more, a couple of the more recent adbo, like ones that I've even say or oddball where like um i had to have a hundred girlfriends and like this guy was cursed by a deity so that he would have over a hundred soulmates and he was finding all of them and all of a sudden he was like earning this like heart like harem of women that were all like passionately his soulmates and i'm like i can't get into this one there were so many like the bachelor that sounds very stressful yeah
00:12:09
Speaker
Well, i think not only that, I think it also like started to uncover like every little fetish, like each one had its own like little fetish thing going with it.
Realism and Fantasy in Anime
00:12:20
Speaker
But it was sometimes Jason and I have a nomenclature where there are like the various pervy animes that like sometimes just like cross a little bit of a line in terms of what gets into the fetishism or like the interest, but it's also fairly easy to stay.
00:12:38
Speaker
outside of that, as long as you don't mind any woman fighter having like an engorged bosom that's falling out of the skin. But you know, that's what everybody does to women fighters. They do it. It makes me so mad. I'm like, that is not a good fighting outfit. That is going to be, it's not going to help you beat the enemies.
00:13:00
Speaker
She's going to end up with a yeast infection. How do you – okay, like, because it sounds like if there are so many styles and so many types of things, where do you watch these?
Learning Japanese Through Anime
00:13:16
Speaker
Are they self-produced or – Oh, I'm sure there are a whole bunch that are self-produced. And but like this is part of the reason that I'm learning Japanese is so that I can expand my content into native language.
00:13:32
Speaker
Okay, that is like excellent ah dedication to an interest. Yes. and But I'm not saying that other people need to do that. No, no, I appreciate it. and There's plenty, plenty of content that's been translated into English. And even like, oh my gosh, so many of the series are on Hulu and Netflix and Amazon. Like all of it's totally readily available.
00:13:58
Speaker
In my snobbish opinion, I would say Netflix is not the best producer of anime.
Critiquing Anime Platforms: Netflix vs Crunchyroll
00:14:04
Speaker
There's something in their animation that is... heavily reliant on like computer graphics and it just like comes out looking really weird to me like sometimes like the more that watch the more you can be like oh my god that's just a cgi animation program that's like syncing all this they need a better algorithm or like it detracts from the experience when the animation is a little bit off for me
00:14:31
Speaker
But there's still plenty of really great, like either recast or, you know, other animation series there. My world was like totally open once we finally subscribed for Crunchyroll and Crunchyroll is basically like the Netflix of anime and it has, it doesn't have everything available.
00:14:51
Speaker
But it has a huge selection available at any given time. And like Netflix and Hulu, it kind of like cycles through. And then it's like, here's the newest releases. And so you can watch the series like week after week, like a junkie.
00:15:05
Speaker
and And you watch so much of it, you're like, oh my God, there's no new anime this week. We only have two series that we're tracking and we can only get to watch this three nights a week instead of the usual seven.
00:15:22
Speaker
Wow. I am so impressed with your level of dedication. I've never told anybody how much I love anime at this level. so telling the right You're telling the right people because we are like obsessed with people who are obsessed with things.
00:15:38
Speaker
yeah Well, that's perfect because I think on the other hand, if you're asking where to go for content, like so that would be the animated side on TV. And there are a number of apps where you can get like the written content.
00:15:52
Speaker
You can also buy like printed versions and volumes, which are like the books of all of the stories coming together. It gets really pricey. I mean, if you want to have like a really colorful bookshelf and have all of these box sets of anime behind you and use that as your backdrop, go for it. But you'll be dropping like thousands of dollars.
00:16:11
Speaker
So I would say like the most ubiquitous or common forum is called Shonen Jump. And that's like the top tier platform. regular anime series. So like all of the the majority of the big anime that gets translated into English kind of has a run on Shonen Jump.
Accessing Manga: Shonen Jump and More
00:16:30
Speaker
And basically it would be like the NBC of anime kind of thing. So there's other versions of that. I just don't, I'm not quite as familiar with them.
00:16:42
Speaker
um And so Shonen Jump does have an amazing app. It's like $2.99 a month. to get legal viewing rights of all of their manga. And I'm like, that is totally worth it. So like when I'm like on my bike or on the train, I can just sit there and like get caught up on all of the series ahead of the animation schedule. And even when it comes out in anime, it's still like super exciting to see it. Cause you're like, whoa, that fight looks super amazing, but now it looks even cooler.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah. Or like to get to hear the voice that was cast or whatever. It can have like a negative impact too, which is another strike against Netflix because there is one Shigemoto Days that I was really into and I'm like, oh my god, this series is so cool. It's about like, ah or Sakamoto Days, sorry. It's this ex- assassin who falls in love and starts a family and runs a convenience store and all of a sudden like all these like assassins are out to hit him but he's just like the top of the top um and he has a deal with his wife that he won't kill anymore that he like can like take somebody out with like the flick of a pork bun
00:17:55
Speaker
It's like so charming. But then Netflix, like, I don't know what they did with the voices, but I'm like, I can't take any of these characters seriously. Oh, that's too bad. ah the The like over the top voices where it's like,
00:18:10
Speaker
um you know, like, I don't know, they sound like too cartoony is. Yeah, I think that's part of it. And so I even like switched it into like Japanese, because when you can't understand the language, it always sounds more romantic.
00:18:23
Speaker
But yeah, even in Japanese, I was like, this isn't doing it for me. So, so I'll just keep reading that one. Do they always start as manga, the anime?
From Manga to Streaming: Anime Adaptations
00:18:35
Speaker
Or are there some that are not based on I would say traditionally in Japanese culture, I believe they start as manga. Manga. Sorry, I'm doing the wrong emphasis.
00:18:47
Speaker
That's okay. Like I called it manga forever and now I call it manga and then I second guess myself and... um you know I'm really just the fan. and Yeah, we're not saying you're an expert, just a fan. There we go. Thank you.
00:18:59
Speaker
um However, i think there are a number of series on like Netflix and Hulu that have been created just for their content. And sometimes I think what happens is the anime takes off so much faster than the manga that they'll just start producing um more anime than like the written content has happened and so that's a there's also a very classic trope in anime which is called the filler and so you will have like all of the written books but then the anime wants to keep producing shows so they'll just come up with like the side stories that fill in like this season while we wait for the source content to really come out and it will take you on all these like pointless side arc stories and so
00:19:50
Speaker
I mentioned Naruto, which was one of my entry points. Like if you go to Wikipedia, there's enormous lists that will tell you, like, if you want to skip all the filler, these are like the, you know, 70% of the episodes that you should be watching.
00:20:05
Speaker
Oh, that's cool, though, that at least like I'm thinking about any series series, right? Like, but especially The Handmaid's Tale, where they kind of went beyond the books. And then also um Lord of the Rings, where no Game of Thrones, where they're like waiting. And it's like, that may that book may never come, you know, the next book. And so it's, it's like,
00:20:28
Speaker
Okay. I just feel like
The Role of Filler Episodes and Dream Sequences
00:20:30
Speaker
that's a common thing. But to to know, like, this is not canon or not based on anything official, but rather it's filler.
00:20:40
Speaker
That's kind of nice that, like, you get the fix. But also if you want to just be, like, a purist, you can, you know, just watch the ones that are officially based on something written.
00:20:52
Speaker
In my mind, you also, like, can't have filler that would end the story for you. Right, right. That just seems like a poor use of filler in my book, because how could the written content or book ever then like redeem itself if yeah that's the ending?
00:21:09
Speaker
Right. Like you said, like to go on side stories or like almost follow like tangent characters, you know, like on something that's great. But like, to yeah, you can't substantially change the course of the main story because otherwise then it's like, unless you're like, and that was just a dream sequence. And how bad? That's the worst. trick do Yeah. that the end of Roseanne that was like, it was all a dream or something? I don't know. don't know.
Anime's Influence on Dreams and Creativity
00:21:40
Speaker
But this does lead me to a question because I think in one of your emails, Cheyenne, you said something about anime invading your sleep. Oh, yeah. Or was it dreams?
00:21:53
Speaker
And that I was very intrigued by that. Oh, well, I have some wild dreams like in regular basis, but yeah. And I would say anime has definitely expanded like the the wildness of my dreams and like the things that you can do in dreams. I think that's partially why I love anime so much to begin with, because it's oftentimes this like incredibly wild adventure. Like there's just so much amazing creativity in it.
00:22:24
Speaker
There's, um, like a couple of recent favorites are like Dun, Dun, Dun, which is the story of ah basically this girl who has superpowers and who believes in like the supernatural versus this guy who believes in aliens. And they like basically swap.
00:22:43
Speaker
and earn like superpowers of the other. And they have this like growing crowd of people who can see this like other worldly experience and develop these like supernatural powers to defend the earth from alien invasion and bad mojo people.
00:23:01
Speaker
um And just like the scenarios that they get into are just like kind of just like, speechlessly dumbfounding. You're like, who the hell comes up with this?
00:23:15
Speaker
And why is there underwear on your head? yeah But they're, they're hilarious. And you're just like, Oh my God, this is totally cracking me up. And another one that I haven't read the manga for, but was a, a great TV series was like, um,
00:23:29
Speaker
the train at the end of the universe, I think it's called. And it was basically about, i might get that name wrong, but it was basically about somebody hit this button to launch seven G and it basically turned the world inside out into this like dolly creation.
00:23:43
Speaker
so like all the different towns had like different things wrong with them. So there was like a whole town of like mushroom people. And there was a town of these girls that once you hit 17, you turn into an animal spontaneously.
00:23:56
Speaker
And they were like out to rescue their friend. And so they were taking this like one train line through this like bizarre dream sequence. And I mean, like, how can you not have wild dreams after this? Because all of a sudden you're just like on that train and you're like dreaming your own like wild things that could happen. And it's like so fun that you just kind of like get caught up in these adventures and you go talk to your therapist about like, why did I have this bizarre dream? And as you're explaining it, you're like, well, actually that was really just kind of like this TV series I was watching.
00:24:27
Speaker
so it makes you feel much better about things that sounds more fun I've been having dreams where I just like talk to people I knew in the past just like catch up with them like and they didn't turn into like interesting animals or no none of that yeah yeah or like the work dreams where you're just still clicking those buttons trying to schedule a meeting.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, that does sound much better. I am curious, are there writers of
The Collaborative Process of Anime Creation
00:25:02
Speaker
these? Like, is there like an author of, or is it like a group of people or, um you know, like, is it a writer's room?
00:25:12
Speaker
That's a great question. It's really funny um to answer your question. Yes. There's typically an author who is like, designated for the series, but to actually create all of this, it takes a team.
00:25:25
Speaker
And so, you know, in TV, there's like breaking the, what is it? Fourth wall. Fourth wall. um In manga, there's like always so many fourth wall breaks of like referring to the, you know, the poor, sad manga artist who's like slaving away at making this.
00:25:45
Speaker
Right. um So you see that theme kind of coming up a lot about how difficult it is to be ah a manga artist. So as far as I understand, there's like kind of the the person who creates it.
00:25:56
Speaker
And i'm my cousin is actually and college for illustration. So she kind of gives me all of like the miscellaneous titles of like, oh, well, this person's the color, or this person is like the character creation, and this person does this stuff. So like, there's definitely a whole team of people that help this get out week after week, you know, similar to any sort of TV show, because otherwise one person wouldn't be able to like create it and draft it and like do the whole thing.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah. um But otherwise, like, I really don't know too much about how they make that happen. There is this one really weird series. I'll have to pull it up for you.
Diverse Subjects in Anime
00:26:38
Speaker
It's like the Skullhead bookseller or something. And I haven't watched too much of it, but it was this really bizarre look into what goes into creating manga. And it definitely started getting into like some of the, like the, the deeper genres of manga that I know nothing about. So was like,
00:27:04
Speaker
taking notes and like, Oh, here's this thing. And here's this thing. And it's all like dictated by the skeleton who's working at a bookstore. love that. love that Yeah.
00:27:16
Speaker
I will say like maybe ah fun place to talk about would be, I mentioned kind of like the slice of life. Yeah. And, um, patty i know you are into pottery uh but there was like a pottery like just to show how like how many options there are there was like an entire series that's called like let's make a cup and it's all about this girl learning how to follow her mom's pottery history in like some particular town in japan and it not only like
00:27:49
Speaker
you know, shows these high school girls starting like a pottery club, but then it like shows them touring different cities in Japan and like studying the different pottery and things like that. Oh, cool.
00:28:01
Speaker
So sometimes they can also kind of be like a little touristy. Like there was this really cute one called, um I forget the full name of it, but it's basically like Chitosa. And it's all about this penguin who like tours different, like,
00:28:15
Speaker
Um, and the shrines and each episode is, you know, it's like three or four minutes, but it's like, here's this like tired little penguin walking up the thousand steps to the shrine. They had to get the traditional local candy and things like that. Oh, wow. It's really sweet.
00:28:31
Speaker
So you can definitely like plan your vacation route based on what you see in different manga episodes. Well, and are I know you guys are planning to go to Japan.
Anime-Inspired Travel and Language Learning
00:28:41
Speaker
So are you using any of those to like help you figure out or have you been inspired by any episodes that you're like, oh, based on this, I want to go there?
00:28:53
Speaker
We haven't actually made our itinerary for the plan. But if I do see things in manga that are like in the anime that I'm like, oh, my God, that seems really cool. I do add it to a Google map that I have. okay But in addition to manga, my husband has this thing for YouTube where he just he watches some really bizarre things on YouTube. And one of the things that he found is this like food stall setup.
00:29:16
Speaker
And it, it just goes through all of these like like the restaurant set up for an entire food stall, like from start to close at the end of the day. And these people have like 20 hour days. i have no idea how they do this.
00:29:31
Speaker
So it's more like the food that we catch from like those videos where it's like, they'll also like trace through restaurant kitchens and things like that, that I think capture, like we get more places from there. Cause I'm like, I want to eat that.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yes, yes. Yeah. And when are you going? hopefully in October. nice. But yeah, it's been a while. i was in Japan, I guess it was 2005 that I first went there. And part of the reason that I went there was because I wanted to actually go to China. So I guess some of this kind of goes back to when I was in college, I had studied French in high school.
00:30:07
Speaker
And they canceled the French program. So I only had two years of language. And when I got into college, they were like, well, you still need your language requirements. And i'm like, well, French is great, but I'm going to the U of I i could study anything.
00:30:21
Speaker
And I talked to my uncle, who was a writer for the Tribune, about whether I should take Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. And he's like, you know, this was, I don't want to date myself, but it was in the late ninety s And he's like, well, China just turned or like Hong Kong is going to be turned back to China. And like the trade with China is going to be amazing. And you should take Chinese. And I was like, okay, they're all kind of the same to me. So I studied Chinese for like three years in college.
00:30:49
Speaker
And I loved it. And it was wonderful. And I had planned on going to China. But I totally ruined it for myself because I went on this like exchange to Tokyo where we had these like partners with the Tokyo University of Science who like took us around and we studied all these architectural things and they took us out for food and they took to karaoke and like got us all the snacks and it was like amazing it was so incredible and like everywhere we stayed had like fish for breakfast and there was all this traditional stuff I I didn't even like fish when I went to Tokyo like the first time and I left there eating fish for breakfast that impactful for breakfast yeah yeah and then i went to China which was you know it was China in 2005 which felt
00:31:38
Speaker
was just it so like such a juxtaposition of where Japan was at that time. And I remember like this guy cooking me food with like his finger up his nose. And I'm like, I'm not sure I want to eat this.
00:31:53
Speaker
And it it was just such a, you know, you would have to carry your own toilet paper around with you then. So it was like a wildly different experience. And I honestly like was still ah always bent on this mission of going back to China or Asia and um When I started my own firm in 2010, I went back to China trying to get this international firm going. Well, it was 2012 that I was back there. And it was like, China was just like a completely different world at that point.
00:32:22
Speaker
And it was amazing. So Chinese has definitely come in handy. And I certainly, you know, really appreciated my time and China. But man, I always kind of kick myself like I wish I just studied Japanese because then I'd be so much further ahead.
00:32:37
Speaker
There is this very useful balance in Japanese, not to get too off track from anime, but Japanese actually has three different alphabets, I guess you could say.
00:32:50
Speaker
Really? Well, not technically alphabets, but they have kirigana, which is like the alphabet that you use for Japanese words. And then they have katakana, which is the Japanese that you would use for foreign words.
00:33:04
Speaker
So like... you're often learning things like robsd, which means lobster, or t-shirt, which means t-shirt. There you go. So there's like plenty of like cases where you're like, oh, I totally can figure out what this word is.
00:33:21
Speaker
But then they also use kanji, which is like all of the Chinese characters kind of overlaid with their alphabet. And so Chinese kind of comes in handy because you can still make out the word visually, even though it's like used in conjunction with Japanese like alphabets.
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah. You know, my family, we lived in Japan from like second to fourth grade. Really? Yeah. And my mom is Chinese, although she was born in Taiwan. And so it was extremely helpful because even if like couldn't speak to people, she could write something down and then communicate with them in that way.
00:34:02
Speaker
So yeah, that I was going to say, like your your Chinese background would really help then. Although I'm impressed that you retained any of it because it's like ah very hard, especially to write a hard language.
00:34:17
Speaker
Yeah, and it's not like you get to use it all the time, right? right i forgot plenty of it. Don't worry. But Charlotte, where were you like living in Japan and what stays with you? like Did you get into anime as a kid?
00:34:30
Speaker
was. did Well, we lived in Tokyo and yeah I guess like we i didn't particularly get into anime, like except that it was kind of just all around. So um in that sense, it just, yeah, it's just sort of like a part of being there.
00:34:46
Speaker
I did like remember not particularly caring for sushi or anything until I lived there. And then, then after that just loved it. It was, it was different.
Personal Anecdotes: Childhood in Japan
00:34:57
Speaker
It was like so long ago and it was,
00:35:01
Speaker
like I was what, seven when we first got there. My brother was like, don't know, four or five. And we would just like walk to school on our own. it was very safe, very just, I guess like okay for a small child to just walk across the city to their school.
00:35:22
Speaker
And yeah, I did learn some Japanese, but I did not retain any of it. And I used to go to Chinese school and like learn how to write. And I did not retain any of that. So that's why I'm like so impressed.
00:35:36
Speaker
I could speak it, but I can write it or read it. I think it depends on what kind of learner you are. Like, I think the language is definitely like a visual learning thing.
00:35:47
Speaker
um And there's like audio, there's audio learners and visual learners and somehow the visual aspect of it is so, but I find it really relaxing.
00:35:58
Speaker
And even like I use Duolingo and you can just kind of trace out the characters and there's something that's like a little bit, it's even more soothing than Candy Crush, thankfully, because I feel like I'm being a little more productive.
00:36:11
Speaker
you can just kind of like trace it out and you're just like, get lost in this kind of writing moment. I don't know. if you If you told me to like write out English words, I'd be like, no, thank you. but Yeah, very much like shades of being a kid and having to like write out, I will not do whatever just did 10 times.
00:36:36
Speaker
Well, and I, so you were mentioning like, there's something about it that's soothing to like, write, and you are so visual, you're an architect, you're an artist, you make pottery, you know, so do you think that some of what interests you about this is the art of the format?
00:36:56
Speaker
Like, do you enjoy the styles of the art? Yes.
Themes of Art and Inspiration in Anime
00:37:00
Speaker
Like, I think that's a huge piece of it. The art definitely informs it. And I think the art is what pulled me into it. But there's also something about the stories that are that I find really inspiring.
00:37:13
Speaker
And there's kind of a ah commonality of themes that is very redundant in so many of these stories. So for instance, in the example of Naruto, you have a lone ninja who is abandoned at birth and has all of this like inherent power that they have to use to defend what they care about. And so it's all about this leveling up for this intention of protecting the people that you care about and for growing this like network of people that you do care about along the way. So there's usually this component component of camaraderie
00:37:57
Speaker
and protection through this like idea of self-improvement. I think that like distills a lot of it. And for some reason i it inspires me to like do better in my own life in like a weird sort of way.
00:38:16
Speaker
h But the art makes it incredibly beautiful. And even like you look at graphic novels outside of anime, like some of the things that I was thinking about were like mouse, which like covered the Holocaust and things like that. And maybe,
00:38:32
Speaker
You know, maybe I haven't read that one for a really long time, but it definitely, for some reason, like that, having the visualization of that made that whole story like so much more compelling for me.
00:38:43
Speaker
But yeah, there is also like a really broad range, like even in the, you know, in just the manga, just like the drawn work of what you're getting into. There's such a broad range of like different styles and just what people are coming up with that I find super, super inspiring.
00:39:01
Speaker
I will say another big difference between the manga and anime is that typically the manga is drawn like just as an outline in black and white and the anime is like fully in color. So it's like that old like weekday comic strips versus the Sunday funnies.
00:39:17
Speaker
Uh-huh. That's a good analogy. Yeah.
Demon Slayer: A Gateway Anime
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah, along that, I think, and well, completely separate from that, but another anime that got me completely hooked is called Demon Slayer. And I feel really guilty that I don't know the like the proper Japanese version. So again, fan, not expert here.
00:39:37
Speaker
um So English version is Demon Slayer. And it's all about this guy whose sister got turned into like basically a vampire for without getting into like all the detail of it and um how she could hold back her vampire-ness so that he could go on this mission to like re return her to human strength and it's all about like learning these different like old samurai techniques and breathing techniques to be doing these like wild fighting styles and things like that and it's just
00:40:11
Speaker
I think there was something about the animation of that one that was so beautiful when I saw it that I was, I just got completely hooked. And that was the first one, but like, because that was so beautiful. i was like, i really want the written series. And I've ended up reading that written like the manga, like three or four times.
00:40:32
Speaker
it was a good investment in the books. um And that's still coming you know As an anime, it's still being released, but the full story of the manga has been published.
00:40:43
Speaker
I wonder if they have the manga at the library, because that could be a way to at least for Patty and I to to take a look.
Exploring Manga Locally: A Challenge
00:40:53
Speaker
That was actually going to be my challenge, because I heard you guys having...
00:40:57
Speaker
Yes, our homework. Yeah, i agree i the I heard your library podcast and um I figured it might be, since you guys are so interested in using the library, it might be another way too to reinforce that.
00:41:12
Speaker
um There are huge amounts of manga at the library. So I would definitely, um i'm i'm happy to work with you on what your challenge is. I would say it would be pretty easy to like pick out a written series and I do think they probably have like anime on PD or sometimes they have you know show rentals or something like that so I don't know everybody's so segmented in terms of their streaming these days that it might almost be easier for you to go to the library and just get manga versus like trying to find one entry point but I would be happy to hear what you guys are interested in and like custom pick a couple of different titles for you
00:41:55
Speaker
This is like going to a librarian, like the manga librarian. um I would be interested in, well, some of the things that you said are kind of funny and wild.
00:42:09
Speaker
And also when you said the thing about was it Princess Mano, okay, who like are fighting the apocalypse. I feel like that could be useful in this day and age to just really be ready.
00:42:25
Speaker
that type of thing. Or i also really like that the idea of the slice of life sort of thing. That's, that's, that's my vibe too. um Cool. Then the two that immediately come to mind for you would be Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which was my entry point.
00:42:45
Speaker
And she definitely has this whole like protector of like the natural environment and kind of this like beautiful, objective. It is a movie, so it is and maybe an easier entry point.
00:42:58
Speaker
It is also a very limited kind of written um graphic novel. So there's, I think, like five or six editions. So it's it's not too big of a commitment to get into.
00:43:10
Speaker
How do you use it? N-A-S-U-K-A? It is N-A-U-S-I-E-A-A. me eight And then the other one would be, i call it Spy Family, but it is technically Spy X Family.
Recommendations for Patty and Charlotte
00:43:26
Speaker
And i don't know anybody that says the X, but I'm sure maybe somebody does and would want to correct me on that.
00:43:33
Speaker
So Spy Family is absolutely adorable. It's about a world-renowned spy who has to come up with this like plot to have a family so that he can solve his mission.
00:43:47
Speaker
and he adopts a girl who can read minds and because they need to get a mom this little girl pulls in like an assassin as the mother and so they're all hiding their personal like powers from each other and living as this family but also like saving the world from disruption kind of thing and it's It's more like family based and like very, it's like written in like a 1920s style, like aesthetically it's very chic, but you just get these nice little like school outing stories versus all of a sudden I'm like this badass assassin who took out everybody in one blow kind of thing.
00:44:28
Speaker
I love that. Okay, thank you. i love how quickly you came up with those suggestions too. It's like immediate. I don't know if I have these two suggestions. And they weren't even the ones we've already talked about. They were completely different.
00:44:43
Speaker
I also like a slice of life kind of thing. I love a soap opera. I love drama. i like... I don't care too much about romance stuff, but if that's in there, that's okay too.
00:44:55
Speaker
Or I'd love just a suggestion of like, because that one that you mentioned where it's like um Sakamoto days. okay Did I say that right? No, but where he was a past assassin, that sounded fascinating too.
00:45:08
Speaker
That one's really cute. um I think that one's probably a little bit more fighting heavy than you would be looking for. a lot of the ones... So Jason's really not into dramas, but there's been a series that I have wanted to check out, um, that I heard highly recommended from like other anime friends.
00:45:29
Speaker
That is more of a a drama version. I think it is a period piece, but it's called the apothecary diaries, super highly rated. and I can read you the little description it is Mauma lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father.
00:45:44
Speaker
until one day she sold as a lowly servant to the emperor's palace. But she wasn't meant for the compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure.
00:45:54
Speaker
This catches the eye of Jinchi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now she's making a name for herself solving medical mysteries. Love mysteries. Yes. you go.
00:46:05
Speaker
The apothecary diaries? Mm-hmm. Diaries, yeah. And then the other one that comes to mind... um kind of along that vein is like a historic one that has just been like super fun. It kind of has like a little bit of like a modern spin on it, but it's called the elusive samurai.
00:46:25
Speaker
And it is, technically based on like some old Japanese history and I'm constantly like looking at it and having to look up the history and like try and figure out what's real and not real. um But it is kind of like this fun look at somewhat of like the feudal period of Japan told in like a completely captivating way. Wow. and That was like your own description of it. Cause that sounds like lovely. like Yeah. So that one was the elusive samurai. Yeah.
00:46:56
Speaker
Excellent. and You mentioned some anime
Anime Community and Shared Interests
00:47:00
Speaker
friends. So like, do you just happen to know people who also live anime or did you like connect with them somehow over anime?
00:47:08
Speaker
Many of the friends or people that I have. So like, I have a number of cousins who are like a good 10 years younger than me. So I think it's kind of like that half generation younger, like are all like, it's much more ubiquitous, I think among that age range.
00:47:24
Speaker
um So we'll always get together and like swap our favorites and things like that. And now that I have Crunchyroll, feel like I can hang because otherwise they were just giving me these lists of things that I had like no idea.
00:47:37
Speaker
oh the other one, Patty, it's not really a drama, but there's this one called Bochy the Rock. B-O-C-C-I, I think it is. And it's this super adorable story about this incredibly shy girl who plays guitar and how she like accidentally joins a band and how she overcomes her stage fright so that she can rock out.
00:48:04
Speaker
And it's ah it's really sweet. Well, and would you say any of those are kid friendly? Because I know obviously you have a daughter. do do you watch any of these with her or...
00:48:16
Speaker
I don't yet, primarily because most of them are in Japanese. And so i would have to translate. yeah So, I mean, they're just subtitled. um I do. She does like watching that Chitosa one, which is like the penguin. And I'll just kind of describe what the penguins do. Talk about it because there's not it's not really text heavy.
00:48:37
Speaker
But yeah, she's like, I think she kind of knows about it and she's like really interested. but then again, like I have a box set of Chainsaw Man the shelf, which is it's the story of this guy who is saved by the chainsaw demon. And so he like can morph into this like guy with a chainsaw coming out of his head to like battle the demons of the day So a lot of it is really not.
00:49:04
Speaker
toddler friendly but I think the ones I gave you Patty would be like you don't have to worry about somebody reading over your shoulder cool no just figured like if you know they were I was like oh then I could watch it with or like read them with any of them I would say Boche the Rock is probably, I don't remember if that one's particularly in English, but yeah, that one would definitely be. Cool.
00:49:29
Speaker
Thank you. Those sound like great suggestions. Would you ever want to make one of these? That's a tough question. I think for me, like there are plenty of things that I want to do and make in my life.
00:49:44
Speaker
And I think I'm finally at the point where I can say, no, I would not want to do or make this because it seems like so much work. And sometimes when you do and make those things, it like loses the magic of it. Like I remember joining my school paper and all of a sudden I was like, I don't want to read the school paper anymore because I got too close to it.
00:50:06
Speaker
But there are ways that I definitely incorporate anime into my pottery.
Anime's Impact on Pottery Design
00:50:10
Speaker
And so I get really into like the different textures or as i'm watching it, I'm like, oh my God, I'm totally inspired by this thing. And I'll create like a lino cut or like a, like a linoleum cutting that I then use as a imprint within my, like within my pottery. And so there's like definitely nods and references and influences by the color in the work that I'm doing.
00:50:33
Speaker
um But it's like abstracted to the point that nobody would be able to draw that conclusion.
00:50:42
Speaker
i would never have thought that anime or manga could inspire pottery, but yeah, I mean, any sort of art can inspire any kind of other art. Yeah, that sounds like the next episode. So if you guys want me to come back and talk about pottery. Yes.
00:50:57
Speaker
That's a yes. I'm also curious because, okay, so Charlotte, you said when you were in Japan, you just, you picked up on the influence of it there because it's just so present. And then Cheyenne, you said the same. So do you think that Japan as a culture just really values this art, the style of art that there is so much that's created? Or what?
00:51:21
Speaker
like I don't know. Is there anything there? Because I'm kind of like, how do you have this much? Like, is it kind of like the United States now with reality television? Like, it's everywhere.
Cultural and Historical Significance of Manga
00:51:33
Speaker
and just Because it's cheap. But I mean, you know, or or how is that how can so much of this be sustained?
00:51:41
Speaker
Like, does it relate to... the country's values as in like americans really enjoy being seen and and producing things for like really cheap you know it's like and oh i don't yeah winning things and maybe in japan they appreciate i mean i think that there is like ah an aesthetic that's that's probably like visually things are kind of I don't know. It's hard because I was a kid when I was there. And so it was like, to me, it was just cartoons.
00:52:13
Speaker
So I was like, oh, this is what this is what we do. we just We just watch cartoons. Yeah. A very quick internet search gave me the history of it, which traced back to the 12th century scroll paintings, which kind of told a story right to left.
00:52:31
Speaker
And then in the 18th century, there were woodblock prints that kind of combined illustration and text, but it was really in like the post-war US introduction, like, you know post-World War II when US brought over comic books that like this idea really took off. And so it was Astro Boy is cited as the first kind of like modern day manga, which came out in 1951, which was also like kind of on par with like Walt Disney.
00:53:01
Speaker
1951. Yeah. yeah And would that have been like space race at that time too, for it to be like Astro Boy? Yeah, potentially. But it sounds like I have a ah new series to check out.
00:53:14
Speaker
Go back to the the founding days.
00:53:18
Speaker
There is a huge comics culture in the U S too.
Live-Action Adaptations: Success or Failure?
00:53:23
Speaker
and And then now of course, like movies and movies upon movies and the whole Marvel cinematic universe, et cetera.
00:53:30
Speaker
I will say that difference of going from comic book into live action Marvel, there is now this like push for live action anime, which seems very bizarre to me. Although I could not get into this one piece manga, which is like one of the longest running shows about a pirate.
00:53:52
Speaker
And I could watch the anime and I was like, this just feels really goofy. But the live action was like so good. and i I think I think it was on Netflix or it was on Netflix or Hulu and it was really funny really succinct and had some of like the humorous anime characters too to That would be, i mean, yeah, I suppose that's exactly what is happening from comic book to live action, no matter what it is. Like, it's like, oh my God, this fantastical story that's anything that your mind can come up with.
00:54:28
Speaker
But then to bring that to life, you run the risk that it's like, that's not at all what it was supposed to be, or it looks really silly, or you can't make it as fantastic as it was. But yeah. Yeah, I just am like, how how are you going to have them going on this train? That's a dream. And the world is, you know, very dolly. And, you know, like, I don't know.
00:54:48
Speaker
How would you do that? But it would be, I guess it would be a good challenge. I just am always like, don't ruin it. Yeah, anime would be so much more, it's so much more cost effective than the CGI required to make those things happen in movies. Although like as- Right.
00:55:04
Speaker
But as CGI- expands. Like I even just saw something, Pixar found a new way to model black hair because like historically black hair was just difficult to model the the amount of processing that it took to kind of get a natural movement and like spring to that just took too much computing power. So they would often like do these like simplified, like white hairstyles on, on people.
00:55:32
Speaker
So like, as that becomes more ubiquitous, will things stay as cartoons or will it move more into that real world
CGI in Anime: Balancing Art and Tech
00:55:42
Speaker
piece?
00:55:42
Speaker
And then there's the even bigger question of AI and computer generation and like the environmental impacts of all the data farms. So like, Do we want to just really encourage people to go back to like pencil and paper for the environmental factors?
00:55:56
Speaker
Not to mention that art is what drew you in, you know, and it's like there were already live action things that you could have been watching. And it's like, no, i want cartoons. I want things that are drawn. I want, you know, so it's interesting that we that it tends to be like, that's our goal. And it's like, it?
00:56:19
Speaker
I'm always a fan of going back to analog forms of things, even though I don't always do it, but it's a goal. Gotta bust out the record player.
00:56:33
Speaker
Is there anything else that you'd like to tell us about that you think would be useful? Or Charlotte, did you have any other questions? I'm just very interested in the depths that you've gone to to learn all about anime and manga and impressed with your level of knowledge, even As a fan, as you mentioned, and not as an expert, but clearly an expert.
Staying Updated: YouTube as a Resource
00:56:56
Speaker
Well, i I really appreciate that. I mean, a lot of it has just been what I choose to consume. Like, Patty makes fun of me all the time. Well, you don't you very kindly don't make fun of me when I have no idea what famous person you're talking about.
00:57:13
Speaker
And so it's just a matter of, Patty, if you started dropping like anime character names, I would probably be able to pick up on it much faster. I will say in terms of entry point or the way to know about things, there's so much on YouTube and there are so many people who do like, what's the latest anime drop? And they'll like pre-review these things for you. So again, thankfully I have my husband who's also into it. So he'll be like, I heard about this one. And then I'm like, he doesn't read the manga. So I'm like on the manga and then, Oh, this one happened to be promoted and I checked it out and I can't wait for this one to come out, whatever it is. So there's definitely like,
00:57:52
Speaker
I, a lot of it just kind of comes to me as information. Like once you realize like where those sources are and it's just a matter of like, there's like, it never feels like there's ah enough to get through of the, you know, of the good stuff. So you just keep chewing through it.
00:58:12
Speaker
Which is such a good problem to have. I always get nervous. Like, I feel like every time I finish a good book, I'm like, And now I'm never going to fit find another good book. And it's like, oh, my God, you haven't even read the classics.
00:58:24
Speaker
Come on. like Oh, my God. Well, that's funny, because right now I'm reading Jane Austen. And I don't know how I got stuck on Jane Austen. But it's a really funny dichotomy of going from like this. like proper English over, like switching back to anime and like seeing this like plant monster blow somebody's head off and like switching back into life.
00:58:44
Speaker
Just the romantic period. And i was like, I finished a couple Jane Austen. I'm like, I need to take a break from this. She only wrote six books. but And she's dead. stretched it out. Wait, what? No. Spoiler.
00:59:00
Speaker
Spoiler.
00:59:02
Speaker
This was fascinating. i love learning about things that I don't know really much about. So thank you. Yeah, thank I think in my mind, there was a lot of.
00:59:16
Speaker
you know, there's the manga that you you kind of want to stay away from, like the violent or whatever, like too violent. And so I didn't know the balance and like all the different directions that it could go in.
00:59:30
Speaker
And so this feels like it opens up a lot for me. That's so awesome. I'm so glad I could share this little piece with you guys. Yeah. And we have our we have our marching orders so we know what our homework is.
00:59:43
Speaker
And then we'll regroup. Well, I look forward to hearing your your thoughts on it. Thanks. All right. Thank you so much. Bye, ladies. by Thanks for listening to today's episode.
00:59:55
Speaker
Please subscribe, comment, and like the podcast. Follow us on Blue Sky Social at CanWeInterestYouIn. Send us an email at CanWeInterestYouIn at gmail.com. And join us next time.