Question 1

One of the most popular genres that has been trending recently is dark fantasy/adventure manga. Demon slayer (鬼滅の刃) belongs to that cateogry. I have never read it before but the anime is definitely on my all-time favorites list.

Question 2

Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most renowned manga artists in Japan. He has successfully made manga and movies that became internationally known. One of his most popular works of manga is Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ). He is a very imaginative person who knows how to capture people's attention.

Question 3

I can't answer this question without talking about Demon Slayer! The manga of Demon Slayer was written by Koyoharu Gotoge back in 2016. The anime became an international sensation after Netflix made an adaptation of the manga. I have never read the manga, but I heard that it is more detailed than the anime and movie that was just released last month.

Question 4

I can't remember why I particularly liked this manga but I used to read a lot of Crayon Shin-chan. It was written by Yoshito Usui back in the early 1990s. It's about a little boy named "Shin" who lives with his family. Apparently, it is based on a true story of a 5-year-old, Shinnosuke Nohara, who died in a car accident when he was just 5.

Question 5

Shin-chan is a very well known character in the manga world. He has a unique personality and sometimes interact in a funny way with his family members. He also has a speech pattern that many kids still follow up until today.

Question 6

I think it is one of the many ways for people to escape reality. Some of my Japanese friends told me that they're enduring a lot of stress from school (or work) and they need some sort of stress-relieve. Graphic novel is one of the ways for people to temporarily "escape" from their current world and "live" in the author's imagination.

Tough Vocabulary

Question 1

Seinen. I like reading dark manga stories such as "Death Note". They have interesting stories and characters. They are also written and animated for adults.

Question 2

Osamu Tezuka. He is famous for "Astro Boy". In addition to creating the popular Astroboy series, he also penned the unfinished Phoenix series before he passed away in 1989. His art has an iconic cartoonish style that almost resembles the style of his idol, Walt Disney. He has been dubbed "the father of manga" as he spurred the manga revolution in Japan.

Question 3

"Death Note" has been adapted to a live action movie with real-life actors. It was released on Netflix a few years ago. It was ok. It doesn't compare to reading the real story though. I think that live acting is not a good medium for manga stories.

Question 4

I didn't read manga until I moved to Japan eight years ago. I'm not sure what manga existed when I was a child. I probably would have read "Dragon Ball", if it had existed then.

Question 5

Son Goku is a fictional character and main protagonist of the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is based on Sun Wukong, a main character in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. His origin story also shares some similarities with that of Superman. Goku first made his debut in very first Dragon Ball chapter titled Bulma and Son Goku, originally published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on June 19, 1984 as an eccentric, monkey-tailed boy who practices martial arts and possesses superhuman strength. He meets Bulma and joins her on a journey to find the wish-granting Dragon Balls. Along the way, he finds new friends who follow him on his journey.

Question 6

I think that graphic novels are more popular in Japan, because they are a quick read. You can finish a manga book in minutes. Japanese people work long hours and don't have a long time to read long written novels. I also believe that there are so many talented artists in Japan producing interesting characters for their stories.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
penned	書きました
adapted	適合しました
protagonist	主人公
similarities	類似点
superhuman	超人的

Question 1

I do not know much about manga, but I think a lot of people like adventure stories.

Question 2

I know One Piece is popular and the author is Eiichiro Oda. I think One Piece is popular because of the story and the illustrations are cool.

Question 3

I think Death Note was remade into a Hollywood movie. I have not seen it. The movie review website called Rotten Tomatos gave it a poor rating.

Question 4

When I was a child there was no manga as it only started to become popular when I was finishing high school. I was not into it.

Question 5

I think Chopper is famous although I do not know what his role is in One Piece.

Question 6

I am not sure why it is so popular here in Japan. Maybe it is because Japanese culture is very unique?

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
Not into it	それではない
unique	特殊
poor rating	悪い評価