MARC klingon & NPR on Manga

MARC supports Klingon books

Talk of the Nation on Manga and Anime {via},

Man that Peter Carey talks a lot about how Japanese people are inscrutable. I wonder what his kid feels about being the subject of a book. A caller references Astro Boy and Speed Racer.. they play a clip of Yugioh, caller also mentions Hikaru No Go, and tried to make a point about leaning Go by reading manga, but the host really wants to talk about robots. Now they’re talking about Gundam.
Comics editor (Calvin Reid) for Publisher’s Weekly is asked about caracters crossing over from/to video games. He talks about the growing bookstore market. Wow, girls like manga and are driving the bookstore market! How amazing! Reid says that the american comic book industry gave up on girls. I think that’s true, if you are looking at the big publishers. Mentions that comic shops are off-putting to girls. Manga is bringing other comics into the book trade.

Caller who owns an anime store mentions that people in their mid to late 20s buy tons of this stuff and 50% of her customers are women. She talks about Fruits Basket.
Host is mystified that manga reads right to left. Reid explains, and discusses Tokyopop’s decision to stop reversing the art back in the day when most of the art was flipped.

Young caller reads manga because he loves purple & green hair, fight scenes and giant swords. Who doesn’t love those things, really?

Viz editor Elizabeth Kawasaki talks about the beginning of manga translation in the 80’s, Current generation grew up with Sailor Moon and Pokemon, so they are conditioned to like manga
Caller who used to live in Japan was horrified by violent and sexual manga. Reid points out that is a stereotype and goes on to describe the many varieties of manga. Good.
Host: Manga isn’t for kids? Elizabeth: Indeed! And she describes the various genres of manga, pointing out the variety in contrast to superhero comics of the US.

A Librarian e-mails the host and says that “Manga is a Librarians Dream!” — the materials fly off the shelves in the library. And that’s the end of the program!