Princess Ai

1. The Princess Ai manga and Courtney Love's life are very connected. First of all, "Ai" in Japanese means "love". So Courtny made herself as a main heroine. Kent, who was helping Ai in a new for her world, is Kurt Cobain - Courtney's husband. There is one more connection - heart-shaped box of Ai. Courtney gave a box like that to her husband Kurt. There is even a song about this present - "Heart-shaped box". Both of these women are singers with not an easy career. The society doesn't always accept them the way they want. Both Ai and Courtny are so different from the world.
2.All the women we read about during the semester seem to be so different but at the same time I can find some similarities. Both Princess Ai and Red Cap are young girls who have their goals in life: Red Cap wants to save granny's recipes and Princees Ai needs to remember her past. The authors talk a lot about their appearance: Red Cap has this cute cap (grandmother's gift) she always wear and Princess Ai wear different outfits, models her own style. cutting the holes in them. Most of the women we read about have strong personalities: Princess Ai fights for her place in this strange for her world in Tokyo, Red Cap fights with bandits, even Kumo from Tagore's vision has to fight with her fate and herself.
3.Costumes and body shape are very important in Manga. I have never met a fat character in manga. Most of the heroes have fancy, useful to us cloths because these are modern books. Princess even has extensions done in her hair (p.144) what is very popular today. A lot of the girls all over the world dresses like Ai. Through costumes we can find out about the character more. Princess Ai's fashion choices represent her independence.When she stayed over night at Kent's place, he let her take some cloths and she made some changes in it: "Just a little fashion redesign" (p.69)

Gotta "Love" the Princess!

1. After doing some research on Courtney Love, it seems that there are many similarities between her and Princess Ai’s character.  There are first the general similarities and there are more specific ones.

a. General Similarities:

Both ladies were rock stars.  They both were controversial figures – problems with the media.  They both had an uncanny sense of style.  They were both very misunderstood.

b. Specific Similarities:

They were both “mixed breeds,” the Princess was half alien/half human and Courtney was half Irish/half Italian.  Both girls were practically on their own from a young age.  Both had affairs with their employers in the early stages of their careers.  Both assaulted reporters, both were from broken homes, and the both worked at stripclubs.

2.            Although the earth women spoke up at times, in this text, they seemed to be generally, more subservient. This follows closely, the traditional Japanese culture, where women are taught to be reserved and the husband was the head of the home.  The men were the decision makers.  Most of the women were strippers, massage therapists or singers, and when they were not “love-struck,” they were fighting with each other. 

            These women were similar to Kumo, in “Vision” by Rabindranath Tagore.  This is not a great surprise as many eastern countries share similar beliefs (regarding women).  Other women, such as Maya Angelou, Rosario Castellanos and Gwendolyn Brooks, were against this type of treatment for women.  These women are all very powerful writers and advocates for women’s rights.

3.            Costume and body shape is very important in Manga; they give personality to the characters, making some more appealing than others to the readers.  Most of the men and women are slim-built and with “perfect” bodies, and when this is not the case, it is done intentionally to show some type of contrast.  On page 63 of Princess Ai (Vol. 1) both Hayabusa and Takeshi are getting massages.  Takeshi, the young, handsome and intelligent employee, who is believed to have his boss “like a puppet,” has two sexy girls in swimsuits fanning and massaging him.  Hayabusa, his boss, who does not see through the facade, is being massaged by a tough looking, overweight woman in a robe.

Princess Ai

1. Princess Ai is a fiction comic book about the adventure of a female rock star. The story is written by Courtney Love and Ai Yazawa which the plot in this comic encounter some of biographical element in Courtney Love’s life. First similarities of Love’s and Ai’s are the mixed heritages. Princess Ai is half-human and half-angel. Her human father is a king in Ai-land and her mother is a female angel. Furthermore, Courtney Love also have mixed heritage, she was born to a Jewish and Irish descent. Second similarities are the guy that they fall in love to. As most people know, Courtney Love was married to a rock musician from Nirvana, Kurt Cobain in the early 90s. They have one daughter from their relationship. Similarly, Princess Ai fall in love with a fellow rocker named Kent. Both of these men, Kurt and Kent, were similar in appearance despite their similar starting letter of the name. Moreover, both of these women face the ups and downs of being a rock star. They experienced the struggles in the music business. Many people love and hate both of these women. In Princess Ai story, Hikaru is one of the characters that have a strong jealousy over the princess. In reality, Love’s controversial behavior and music were not accepted in many societies.


2. Courtney Love and Princess Ai have strong resemblance to one another, which leads to the similarities of the women portrayed in other reading throughout the semester. These women are very unique and have their own mind and way of thinking. Similar to the girls in the story “Moliere Pretentious Ladies”, they all have their own way to express their ideas and how to behave. Sometimes, people don’t understand them and think that they are crazy due to their distinctive way of thinking.

3.Colorful costumes have a significant role in Princess Ai comic book. The costumes here are very punk-rock looking, flashy, ripped stocking, and most noticeable: many laces in the outfits as well as plaids. The costumes integrate with cultural background, hence, it’s not surprising looking at these costumes in the comic book because in reality, Japanese culture also represent these costumes.

• Page 6: Princess Ai wondering around the streets with lot of people turning their heads watching her passes by. One of the bystanders even said, “Whoa! Check her out.” She wears ripped outfit which reveals half of her bosoms hanging. In Japan, most people are freely to express their sense of fashion.
• Page 70: I was very fascinated looking at the costumes of Princess Ai’s parents. Her mother wears a long puffy draped dress like a Victorian style. Also, her dad wears long half furry robe with mask that has pointy end. In Japan, people wear these kinds of clothes as everyday wear. The street of Harajuku is very popular for the funky and fresh styles of people.
• Page 138-139: Princess Ai likes to be different. Hence, when her friend Shinji lends her a dress, right away she cut the dress for her to be more comfortable wearing it. Princess Ai said, “I’m just particular about my fashion”. Most fashionable people in Japan like to make/ design their own clothing. They like to mix and match their own design with something that they bought from the store.
• Page 110: Princess Ai bares it all only wearing a black panty while getting complement by her friend, Jen, about her voice. Her figure is tall, thin, and slim. The body shape drawing is following the proportions of the real human body.

Source: http://www.style-arena.jp/harajuku/2008/05/e_w2.htm

For "Bleach" Sake

I.          Manga, a type of graphic novel that originated in Japan is quite different from the traditional literature we’ve read this semester.  These are a few reasons why: 1.) this is the only graphic novel we have read (it is very similar to a comic book).  It is generally printed in black and white and comes in a standard size.  2.) Manga is read the same way Japanese is read, it is read from back to front, right to left and top to bottom.  3.) Manga is all about art, drawings and pictures.  The stories are told through the artist’s eyes.  Words are mostly used for dialogue.  I get the impression that they are the closest things to “printed movies.”  They all have around the same number of pages (movies are all generally around the same length of time), they come in same range of subjects movie come in, action, drama, comedy etc.   And there is even an age rating on the back much like the type we see on DVD’s - teen, mature audience etc.  4.) The artist that put together the novel uses size for emphasis.  For example, when a character shouts or there is a loud noise the words are bigger.  5.) Manga incorporates the Japanese culture in its novels.  The stories all border on the line of fantasy.

 

II.        The words are important as they serve to express the character’s spoken thoughts.  Their actions, however, are depicted through the images.  On pages 61-53, there is a scene that takes place after Ichigo decided he has to allow Rukia to infuse him with her power as a “Soul Reaper” in order to defend his family and defeat a “Hollow.”  Using approximately twenty-one images the artist was able to slow down time to allow the reader to see the details of Ichigo becoming infused and then engaging in battle with the “Hollow” cutting off his (the Hollow) arm.  This also saves an author from writing out in great detail something that happened at an amazing speed (and is important to the story).  I also got a true sense of what happened without having to use my imagination.

 

III.       A.) In Christianity it is believed that, among other things, people are all sinners, but can be forgiven by God, offered salvation and the promise of eternal life.  After they pass on, the good go to heaven.  This is a plane of existence typically described as the holiest possible place (Wikipedia).  According to Christian beliefs God and his angels live in heaven.

            In Bleach, the Soul Society seems to be the equivalent of heaven and the Soul Reapers are similar to the angels in heaven.

            B.) Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions (Wikipedia).  According to these beliefs, beings can exist on different planes, for example the realm of Demigod, the realm of God and the realm of man (human).  In Bleach the souls also have different realms in which they could exist for example, the human world, the Soul society and Hueco Mundo.

 

IV.       It seems to me that the main lesson in this Manga was learned by Ichigo, and that lesson was to learn to accept responsibility.  In the first volume Ichigo was not too keen on helping anyone but his family, but later on he accepted the responsibility, fighting Hollow after Hollow to protect the helpless.  Between pp 74-83 Ichigo first really grasps the notion that saving souls is not done on a “if I am around” basis, but instead, it is the duty of the Soul Reaper.  By page 83 he has accepted this duty.

Manga (Bleach)

In Japan, anime and cartoons are very popular and read among people with different ages. According to Wikipedia.com, “Manga” is the Japanese word for comic and print cartoons. There are many topics and issues happening in manga such as, romance, comedy, horror, and more. With that reason, manga readers are not limited by their ages because they may read various subject matters. Furthermore, Japanese government supports the production and publication of manga, hence, influencing other countries like US and France to produce their own creation of manga. Altough the US already known for its literature, however the US versions of manga are very popular as well. Moreover, manga and US traditional literature are very different in many ways.

1. The readers: The readers for traditional literatures are very narrow compare to people who read manga. From kindergarten children to the elders, they enjoy reading manga because of the broad range of topics.
2. The structure: Lots of pictures make the readers easily comprehend about a story. That’s why reading manga is much more enjoyable rather than reading literature with multitude usage of words.
3. The way of reading: Reading manga can be very tricky for people who don’t know how to read it. Traditionally, reading manga is from top to bottom and from right side to left side. On the other hand, English literatures are written from left to right like universe customary reading.
4. The topics: Manga covers topics and issues nearly almost about everything. The stories include love theme, action theme, political theme, and more whereas literature focuses on more serious style of writing.
5. The point: Readers may agree to the fact that reading manga is more enjoyable than reading literature. Literature reading often requires critical thinking in order to get the point of the stories. In contrast, Manga is easy to read and understand because of its pictures and the less usage of words because the pictures itself already center the stories.

One of examples of manga is the comic “Bleach”. The story is about the adventure of a high-school boy who has the ability to see and interact with ghost. With his power, Ichigo (the high school boy) tried to save the people around him. Readers can easily follow the story because of the excessive use of pictures. Readers may feel different vibe each time they turn the page and each time the story developed. The advantage of images form is that the reader should not think or try to picture the setting on their head because it simply drawn already. Conversely, words create extra work for imagining setting and condition purpose. In page 32 until 34 of Bleach (Death and Strawberry), the pictures deeply emphasize the fighting between the hallow and the shinigami. There are mainly pictures in the page and the reader may feel the intense action-fighting through the pictures.

“Bleach” relates in religious and mythical concepts of Christianity and Japanese mysticism. In “Bleach”, Rukia (Female Death God) transferred some of her power to Ichigo with the intention to help her defeat the evil spirits. Instead, Ichigo soul’s took nearly all of her power and combine the power with his own. That is why it is easy for him to destroy the hollow and make him a “Death-God” like Rukia. Similarly to Christian believes, Jesus was once also a human then he becomes God who is eternal. Both “Bleach” and Christian believes share the knowledge of transformation from human to fully divine God. Furthermore, “Bleach” also relates with Japanese mysticism concept which principally derives from Shinto and Buddhism religion. The story stretches the notion of good and evil spirits. Ichigo fights the evil spirits (Hallow) and become a shinigami (good character) which helping soul spirit from hallow attack is the main job. Similarly to the manga, Japanese religion also practices the good deeds and very spiritual. It focuses on how humans are fundamentally good and the bad deeds caused by evil spirit.

In my opinion, one of “Bleach” main lesson is about the good deeds of helping others who need helps. In the second chapter, Ichigo were tested for his “helping others” ability by Rukia. Previously, he stated that he doesn’t want “to help strangers” but later he was helping a kid-spirit who was get attacked by the hallow with his own sword (page 12-20). In addition, as the story developed, Ichigo fought numerous hallows to protect others. However, the story also tells us about the viciousness that the world faced. Ichigo encounter the other fact of his duties of not only fighting hallows but also fighting other shinigamis in soul-society, who try to test his skill and ability of his new profession. With this, it says that human also face betrayal and disloyalty by the one who they think is their good friends or good spirits.

Prince A1

1.First, Ai means “Love” in Japanese, this name is a reference to both Courtney Love and Ai Yazawa. The Princess Ai in Manga is a loose adaptation of Courtney Love's life story, with Ai as Love's fantasy alter ego. It is also generally believed that Kent, the sensitive, blonde guitar player who becomes Ai's love interest, is based on Courtney Love's late husband, Kurt Cobain. Another connection to the real-life Love is Princess Ai's heart-shaped box, which figures prominently in the story. "Heart-Shaped Box" was a hit song by Nirvana, and was inspired by a heart-shaped box Courtney Love gave Cobain as a present.
Courtney Love is a rock music star, and Princess Ai makes her living as a rock star at Clue Cupid; many of Courtney Love’s friends are musicians, so as Princess Ai…
The history of Ai is resemblance to Love's life
2.Compare with the little red cap we have read this semester: Princess Ai is a doll-face and lovely appearance, I think the appearance of little red cap might not as beautiful as Princess Ai, and also the dressing of little red cap is not as fashion as Princess Ai. In a word, from the appearance and the dressing, may be in the modern view, we like Princess Ai much more than little red cap.
Second, compare the personalities of these two characters: princess Ai a voice like an angel but with petulant--mix of trash, flash, and punk; in my point of view, little red cap is naïve and cute and goodness and innocent. They are quite different.
And also Princess Ai suffers a lot, for example, she is amnesiac. Because of the battle of Ai-land, she is escape from her own land to a newly and strange place—Tokyo, she suffers from many troubles and has to find her real identity… and little red cap do not have such kind of complex sufferings…
Princess Ai is homeless on earth and little red cap has her family and people around her love her so much…
And also there are many women in the Manga of Princess Ai I did not mention. Each of them has the individual characteristics…
Here, I want to say the women was portrayed more complexity, modern, and more relate to the modern live than we have encountered this semester.
3.I agree that costume and body shape plays an important role in Manga. As I know, many people may firstly attracted by the costume and body plays when they meet a new Manga, then they would like to read this Manga. That is to say, a new Mange with good, fashion and personality costume and good body shape will be easily recognized.
The costume and body shape in each time are different. From the costume and body shape of Princess Ai, we could easily know it is happened in modern society, and the characters with the invariable but fashionable and free from vulgarity costume--boys are long haired, and looks so cool, and girls with sexy and fashion clothes, they have big eyes, looks so beautiful and they are so individuality…
And also with a good body shape that attractive by both man and women. We could know the place of this Manga happened for its obvious impression of the buildings…We could see when Princess Ai is mysteriously transported to Tokyo, Japan. The buildings, signboard of the shop are almost with Japanese character, it is undoubted that it must happen in Japan.
What I mean here is we could know when this Manga created and know the culture of this age just from the Mange itself just by the costume and body shapes and also the environment of this Manga.

Princess AI

1.

Well after reading both the Book and the Biography there are some similarities but its no exact copy. At the beginning of the book you see the main character wake up in the Garbage place, in my opinion, that’s how Courtney Love described her early childhood (Love's biological family broke apart rapidly while she was still very young). Then in the Manga we find out that the character has huge talent at singing and she peruses it by joining a night club at which she sings. Love is a singer too, so there is another biographical connection. Character is strong as well, with all the man out there trying to get her she strongly fights back and does not follow their rules and creates her own. Love is strong as well because surviving through her childhood and coming up as a singer, is an achievement only strong can do. There are other things that are similar so it’s partly biographical in my opinion.


2.

IN the book most of the women portrayed in the worst way possible. It can be easily understood as the events take place in the big City of Tokyo. Women seen as stripers, whores, hookers and this are main environmental adversary our main character has to face. But our main character even though looks weak and vulnerable in first couple of pages of the book, later on we can see that she is completely opposite and that she is a strong character indeed. IN other reading we did women are seen as strong beings that stand for themselves still retaining their feminine fashion.


3.

I think all Mangas are tied very much to Japanese culture. We can see that the costumes that characters as well as main and secondary always have specific style, that is either directed only to them or has similarities between each other. We can see that young characters or characters with specific professions will always have tight, wildly open and cleavage clothing or high mini skirts or exotic clothing for women and formal or bulky look for men (Pages 2,3,6). And in my opinion, such outfits are really popular in Japanese metropolises such as Tokyo because many young women wear clothing close to what we see in the comics or in cartoons created in Japan. As well as Clothing body of the character can say many things in Mangas body can say all the things. It can describe what the person is like or give us an idea what other characters in the book may think of the character with a good body, but in my opinion its for the reader because a reader rather look at a pretty girl then a 65 year old man as a main character. When you combine both the body and the costume you can figure out the side that the character is. At most of the time if the character is in bright or shredded in a certain way clothing he/she might be on a good side but if we see a character with dark evil looking clothing with spikes and demon wings on them you can easily see it will be a evil person.