Let's talk about something I'm totally crazy about : MANGA ^^ Well, I'll start with a short definition (it's always good to know bout it). As most of us know, "manga" is the noun for japanese comics and print cartoons. Literally translated it means "random pictures". Manga became very popular from 20th century when laws prohibiting their publication were lifted. When they become very famous, they get adapted into animes.

There are five different target audience:

1- Shônen :young and teenage boy's manga, it is usually action packed and humorous
2- Shôjo : young and teenage girl's manga it is often more lighthearted and involves romance
3- Seinen : men's manga , it has more adult themes with some containing graphic violence and sexually explicit material.
4- Josei : woman's manga
5- Kodomo : children's manga

There are also different kinds of manga the main ones are:

Gekiga (dramatic pictures)
Semi-alternative (popular publication individualistic style)
Dōjinshi Fan-art or self-published manga
Magical girl (mahō shōjo)
Robot/Mecha (giant robots)
Moé (also mahō kanojo or magical girlfriend)
Shōjo-ai or Yuri, lesbian romance
Shōnen-ai or Yaoi, gay romance
Hentai, pornography

Of course we can not talk about manga without refering to the one, widely acknowledged to be the father of story-based manga (I'm sure you know who I'm talking about) it is ... Osamu Tazuka! He is the author of very successfull manga as Astro Boy, Black Jack, Kimba the white lion and so on.

The manga style is very rich in other words , it can range from realistic to super deformed. (By super deformed, i mean those alien like faces with eyes that takes about 2/3 of the face...)I find it very pretty =).

Some very famous manga that you MUST know about are Love Hina, Naruto, Dragon Ball (and all the other ones), Gunsmith Cats, Sailor Moon, Akira, Fruit Basket , GTO etc...

My favourite ones are Banana Fish, Hana Yori Dango, Model(this is a Manhwa), Full Metal Alchemist, Gakuen Alice, Death Note, Naruto, Hana Kimi, Kare First Love... that's all I can remember at the moment =). What I like about mangas are the drawings (even if they are not always realistic, they are pretty good in general), and also the scenarios (i'm not talking about the crappy ones like in Crazy Love Story or Un flic à Tokyo) that i often find breathtakingly brilliant (Where the heck do mangakas find all their inspiration ??!!)

What about you? What Do you like about mangas? And what do you hate about them? Oh and also which ones do you prefer? Maybe you could advise me some ^^.                                                                                         



 Guess who it is ^^ (this is one is not very difficult)