coinlockerbaby.org
This blog is a storage space for various thoughts, observations and musings centering on shōjo manga (少女漫画, Japanese comics for girls), josei-oriented manga (Japanese comics for women) and manga created by women (in the widest sense). Topics from other fields of relevance, such as music, art, literature and film may be discussed here as well.

PLEASE NOTE:
For the most part, Japanese names appear in their original order - surname first, followed by the given name.

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Author: Dia



Coin Locker Babies movie?

Last week’s biggest news:
Coin Locker Babies is going to be made into a movie!

There was that quote by Oliver Stone (I think) on the back of the English edition of Murakami’s book and I thought ‘Fuck no, take your hands of that book >_< '. I was hoping no one from the USA would ever touch it and turn it into a movie. I always thought Coin Locker Babies could be to Japan what Trainspotting was to Britain. Both are shocking, dirty, bizarre and obscene, violent and grotesque. But of course, they are also powerful mirrors of their respective generations. Both have that fresh feeling because they don't fit into mainstream categories as they don't want to appeal to the masses. That's why I really hoped the Japanese would make a movie out of, and not the Americans. I don't want some half-assed Hollywood crap, not with that book! The Japanese can handle bizarreness quite well in film, I'm not sure what a mainly American team is going to make out of it. Sean Lennon has co-written the script though. Also, the production's gonna start later this year so there is no definite cast yet but Asano Tadanobu might be in it which means it won't be your typical Hollywood production and there will be a few (half-) Japanese people involved. (Other actors who might be in the film are Liv Tyler, Val Kilmer, Vincent Gallo and Asia Argento - all good to great actors who have proved their talent in smaller productions; plus they are all rather charismatic. So there is still some hope!

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Categories: Books/Literature/Writing, Film/TV, Japanese Literature, Personal, Various.
Tags: , , , .
Posted on Mar 20, 2005 (Sun, 12:15 am). .

Itsuki Natsumi

I read volumes 3 and 4 of Itsuki Natsumi’s Demon Sakuriido and I’m starting to become very very fond of this manga. I really liked the first volume, was hooked by the second and now I’m just loving it :)

I cannot praise Itsuki Natsumi enough for being such a versatile mangaka. Whereas Yakumotatsu is a dark historic horror epic, Demon Sakuriido appears to be much lighter on the surface but damn, those characters with all their dark pasts and their secret angst are breaking my shoujo manga fangirl heart! Also, her character designs are getting more and more gorgeous with every new installment. The male characters are irresistibly handsome!

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Categories: Manga, Various.
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Posted on Mar 4, 2005 (Fri, 1:21 am). .

Melancholy And The Infinite Sadness – Aikawa Natsu quitting

I got a manga order yesterday which included the 3rd and last volume of Happy End, a wonderful series by Aikawa Natsu whose manga are usually very melancholic but beautiful. The first part of the series ran in Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma) but later it was moved to The Margaret (also published by Shueisha, a sister mag of Betsuma). I was quite sad about this because I really liked the manga as it wasn’t just average, shallow romance stuff. I thought it was really interesting to read about the life of an aspiring mangaka because it’s that side of manga you rarely get to read about – the life of the creators. It’s a truly moving story about adolescence, realising one’s dreams and finding one’s place in the world.

I sort of expected that the majority of the readers of the magazine would find it too quiet and melancholic and I was probably right. On the last few pages of the book, Aikawa writes about how she struggled to create that title she’d always dreamed of but how she encountered a lot of problems during the serialization.
She knew Happy End was a bit different than her previous titles (which are all short stories) and I feel the same about it: It is so much more like real life, it’s incredibly moving and touching and beautiful and serious without ever being cheesy at all. It’s so mature. And that’s probably what the majority of the Betsuma readers couldn’t get used to.

I’m a bit disappointed in both the magazine editors and the readers. It’s the readers who decide which manga keep running in the mag because there are enquete cards in every issue of it. I have the impression that shoujo manga that’s poetic and meaningful and disturbingly shocking or cheesy is just not as popular as the romance stuff that’s mainly running in Betsuma. But hey, let’s face it, to most people manga is just entertainment, and I can’t blame them for that…

The worst part of it all is, though, that Aikawa Natsu writes in the last paragraph of the last page that she is not drawing/writing any manga at the moment and that she never will do so again in the future. It was such a shock to read that. I really love all of her works and that makes me a very very sad Aikawa fan ;_; I hope she finds the right way for herself to express her creativity and to live a very happy, satisfied life. She really deserves it. ♥

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Categories: Manga, Various.
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Posted on Feb 18, 2005 (Fri, 12:37 am). .




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