Thursday, September 22, 2005

Starting the Manga Reading Club!

My new Manga Reading Club is set to start meeting on Monday, November 28th, 2005. For our first foray into the world of Shoujo manga, we'll be reading Fruits Basket #1.

Fruits Basket is about a girl, Tohru Honda, who becomes involved with the Sohma Family. The Sohmas are a large, old-fashioned family with a hidden secret: they are cursed by the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Cursed how, you ask? Well, when embraced by a member of the opposite sex who isn't a member of their family, they turn into their animal from the zodiac. Tohru stumbles onto their secret, and agrees to keep the secret and also work as a housekeeper for Yuki, Shigure and Kyo.

Wacky Hijinks ensue, of course, and Tohru is torn between liking (and perhaps loving) both Yuki and Kyo. Yuki, being possessed by the spirit of the Rat, and Kyo, who is the Cat, dislike each other intensely, and Kyo continually challenges Yuki to fight mano a mano, and always ends up losing after losing control of his temper. And yet, each envies the other: Kyo envies Yuki his ability to interact with people, and Yuki envies Kyo his ability to live honestly. These are just some of the things we'll explore in the group meetings.

Friday, September 02, 2005

A New Job

Coming next month, I will be running something new at the library where I work. I am going to start a manga reading group for the teens. This is part of our library's goal to attract more patrons of all types, from children to adults.

We will be switching off each month, from reading shonen manga (boys) to Shoujo (girls). I am going to be starting with Fruits Basket, which is a Shoujo manga.

What I was somewhat surprised about was that the library won't let me use manga with what they term "inappropriate" jokes in it. So, anything that shows nudity or panty jokes is not allowed. Not that I am surprised about the restriction... it's pretty much par for the course. What I was surprised by is how *many* manga for boys have these sorts of jokes in them... even if it's a one or two-panel joke.

Shoujo manga don't have these sort of jokes in them, so I am on the lookout for Shonen manga without panty jokes in them,