Fancy hearing cake

My search for a manga series as fun to read as Full Metal Panic led me to Azumanga Daioh, and a group of silly, yet endearing high school girls. The series has four volumes- one for each year of the girls' high school experience, alla Harry Potter. But there are no wizards or giant robots in the four-panel sketches that giggle down the page from right to left. I was first disappointed that the manga contained no speculative element. As I turned the pages, I grew to enjoy Chiyo-Chan's perky piggy tails, Osaka's wide-eyed daydream stare, Miss Sakaki's desperate wish to have a cat, despite the fact that every cat she meets tries to bite her. But as the vignettes of the lives of ordinary high school girls unfolded, a little fantasy found its way into the series.

Call them dreams (daydreams in Osaka's case) if you like, but the fantastic experiences met in sleep bleed into the girls' daytime consciousness. Osaka becomes convinced that Chiyo-Chan's piggy tails allow her to fly, and are trying to control her. Miss Sakaki dreams that Chiyo-Chan's father is a Tanuki-type furry Japanese guardian spirit. The animal-loving Sakaki sews stuffed animals that look like the guardian spirit. Sakaki, and soon all the girls, begin to call the stuffed animals "fathers."

Azumanga Daioh isn't speculative fiction. The stories depend on the realistic framework of school life in Japan. But there is a fun thread of imagination that spec fic fans will enjoy. And if that still isn't enough to intrigue you, then you can always try the Azumanga Daioh anime DVD. The theme song to the anime is called "Fancy Hearing Cake" (空耳ケーキ). I'm actually studying Japanese, and have no idea what a fancy hearing cake might be. If anyone can figure out what it means, let me know.

Full Metal Panic!

That giant robot you saw earlier this week on the cover of Full Metal Panic - Mission 01 is actually called an Arm Slave, a deadly mechanical exoskeleton operated by a human soldier on the battlefield. War tactics and soldierly bravery make up the shōnen aspect of the series, which is supposed to appeal to guys. One of these soldiers, Sosuke Sagara, is taken out of his Arm Slave and charged to go undercover as a high school student in order to guard Kaname Chidori. The relationship that develops between these two provides fodder for the girl-pleasing shōjo audience.

So, why is a battle-hardened soldier guarding a Japanese high school student? That's where the science fiction comes in. Though Kaname doesn't know it, she's a Whispered, a young woman who can hear distant voices that speak of technology beyond anything previously dreamed by humans. Kaname isn't the only Whispered- we also meet Captain Tessa, a frail American teenager in charge of a futuristic submarine she designed and built with the help of the whispering voices. What I like about Full Metal Panic! is that advances in technology come with very realistic consequences. Anarchists and terrorists are drooling to get their hands on one of these young Whispereds so they can put them to work designing weapons. They are successful in getting their hands on some Black Technology, which allows them to soup up an Arm Slave with the Lambda Driver. I won't tell you what this nightmare weapon does- you'll have a lot of fun finding out. But I will say that the only way Sosuke can defend Kaname against the Lambda Driver it is to learn to use it, himself.

Full Metal Panic! digs into the psychology of the soldier, explores sense of duty in military organizations, gives an interesting twist on the child prodigy, and even offers insight into Japanese culture. But let's not forget that it's also got Sosuke booby trapping school lunches and blowing up shoe lockers. And, most important of all, it's got Kaname hitting hopeless Sosuke over the head with her fan every time he makes a civilian blunder- and falling deeper in love with every swat.

What is the Difference between Manga and Anime?

Before I began my foray into the world of manga, I was confused on this point, but it's really pretty simple. Manga are Japanese comic books in print. Anime is manga in motion, cartoon series on video media.

Fantasy and science fiction series are well-represented in manga and anime series, but mainstream romantic comedies and other genres are also quite popular. More important than genre distinction is the intended target audience of the series. There are many kinds of target audiences, but the main divisions are shōjo (intended for a female audience) and shōnen (intended for a male audience). Now, it isn't as though only boys can only read shōnen and girls abhor everything but shōjo. In fact, my favorite series is a blend of shōjo and shōnen combined with a good dose of science fiction. This week I'll be doing a review of the series, Full Metal Panic, in which I'll point out which elements appeal to spec fiction fans, which elements appeal to boys, which elements appeal to girls, and why this unique combination makes a fun series for everyone.

For now I'll leave you with the links to Full Metal Panic! Volume 1 (this is manga) and Full Metal Panic - Mission 01 (this is anime). Note the meeting of shōjo and shōnen on the cover of the manga, and the giant robot on the DVD of the anime.

Learning to Shudder

What do Jim Henson's the Storyteller and the Japanese anime series Full Metal Panic Fumoffu have in common? Well, not much- except that both of them have an episode based on my favorite Grimm's fairy tale: "The Story of the Youth who went forth to learn what Fear was." I first encountered this tale in Bergamo, Italy, where I picked up a book of local fairy tales and legends. I've since encountered a similar version in Grimm's.

It's not surprising that Jim Henson's the Storyteller,which pulls directly from German folk tales, used this tale which is, after all, the fourth of two hundred ten tales in The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales. Henson tells the story of a tailor's son who is a little too simple, a little too dumb, to have ever been afraid. At the urging of his father, the young man leaves family, home, and his true love behind and goes on an adventure to seek out his first fright- to learn, as it were, how to shudder. The journey leads our hero on a number of adventures that are supposed to frighten him, but do not. He finally ends up in a haunted house, where a ghoul comes tumbling down the chimney (in the Italian version, this ghoul falls down the chimney in many pieces, in Henson's version, he is separated in just two pieces, his legs scampering away from his upper half). The ghoul challenges the young hero to a game of nine pins, for which the prize is winning the hero's legs. The young man wins the game, survives the night, and finds great riches in the haunted house. He goes home a wealthy man, but he still hasn't learned to shudder. It's not until he returns home to tell his father his fortune that he learns his true love has fallen deathly ill. Summoned to her side, the young man is certain his true love will die, and fear of losing her makes him shiver in terror for the very first time.

Compare this traditional tale to the romantic comedy/sf war (yes, you read that correctly) manga and anime series from Japan, Full Metal Panic. In the Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu portion of the series, we have spunky Japanese high school girl, Kaname, showing the foreign-born soldier, Sosuke, the ropes of teenage life in Japan. Sosuke has learned that high school can be more challenging than the battlefield, where he spent most of his childhood and young adult life. In Episode 6, "The Patient of Darkness," Kaname is telling ghost stories to her friends. The only one she can't scare with her stories is the battle-hardened Sosuke. Kaname takes him to an abandoned hospital that the locals believe is haunted. Right away the duo sees an elderly patient who died at the hospital staring at them through a broken window. Inside, a defunct telephone line rings. The caller is trying to reach the hospital- but he's already dead. Bloodied children from the pediatric ward begin to chase them down the hallway with cleavers. Through all these increasingly scary situations, Kaname is jumping out of her skin, but Sosuke remains unmoved, pointing out at each juncture that old ladies and even small children with weapons are no match for his soldierly skills. The pair are about to discover the true nature of the hospital hauntings, when some old floor boards give way and Kaname falls through to the hospital's basement. The next scene shows her in a heap of rubble, unconscious. There is blood everywhere. Enter Sosuke, sweating and shaking, stuttering- in other words, he's terrified. Like the fairy tale hero, our level-headed soldier has learned what fear is.