Manga Mutiny - One Step Closer

As some of you may know, I (Scot) work as a proofreader/editor for NEXT Manga, publisher of the Manga Messiah series. I just wanted to put in a quick note for all who have been waiting for Manga Mutiny. The Japanese version has been out for quite some time now, and the English version is nearing completion. We finished the main bulk of the editing last night, and are now just waiting for Tyndale's (the US Publisher's) input. When that's done, we'll do some last-minute touch-ups, and then it will be ready for print!

For those who are new, back in 2006, New Life League Japan started it's branch called "NEXT Manga," publishing a book called "Manga Messiah." This was a 280-page full-color retelling of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the style of Japanese Manga (similar to American Comics). Last year, we released Manga Metamorphosis, giving the book of Acts the same treatment. This year, we are releasing Manga Mutiny, which tells the story all the way from the creation of the world to the parting of the Red Sea during the Exodus, spending a majority of its time on Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. This will be followed up with another volume next year which will tell the rest of the Exodus. Despite being a bit biased, let me say that these books just continue to get better with every release. In my opinion, Mutiny is the best yet, and is leagues above any other books of its kind.

Also, NEXT has just released a smaller, 64-page version of Manga Messiah simply known as "The Messiah." This was done as a low-cost way to meet the needs of pastors and missionaries who like to distribute these in bulk. Head over to the NEXT Website for more information. And be sure to check the "Testimonials" page for some inspiring stories.

Missional Art - Lamp Post Graphic Novels

Welcome to a new series entitled "Missional Art." In May, Paul (along with a group of facebook friends) created an article that defined and demonstrated Missional Art. You can access it HERE. This series will be written by both authors of this blog, plus a few other writers. This series will include a diverse array of examples that illuminate how God creatively communicates his love for the world through art.

We're really excited about it -- if you are interested in participating (as a writer) let us know by leaving a comment on this post.

Three weeks ago, I, Scot, was contacted out-of-the-blue by Brett Burner, owner and chief writer of Lamp Post, Inc.--a publication company based in San Diego that specializes in e-books and graphic novels. Some of their graphic novels show stylistic influences from Japanese manga, and easily fit into a new category that has arisen in the past few years: OEL (Original English Language) Manga. Though mainstream publisher Tokyopop is the leader in OEL Manga, a few Christians have added their voice to the mix. That's not surprising. Christian media has a long history of imitating mainstream media, though it's usually a few years behind and is usually a pale imitation.


That's where Lamp Post is so different. Their works surpass the "Christianized Imitation" paradigm and raise the bar for a new generation of graphic novel creators. It is no exaggeration to say that their products are the best Christian graphic novels I have ever read, and believe me, I have read a fair share of them. I can easily see Lamp Post, and Brett Burner in particular, as being for the Christian graphic novel industry what D.C. Talk was for the Christian music industry: a good product with promise of even better things to come.

[Edit (9/27/08): After talking it over with Paul, we agreed that the term "Christian Graphic Novel" and "Christian Music" were vague and potentially misleading, since the sacred/secular divide is more of a fallacy than anything. In this article, whenever I use "Christian" in regards to media, I simply mean media that is marketed towards a Christian subculture, rather than a mainstream audience. There are many reasons that many Christians choose to do this--sometimes spiritual and sometimes financial. We won't go into that here, but just to clear it up, neither Paul nor I believe that anything except people can be "Christian" in the truest sense of the word.]

When Brett contacted me, it was in regards to licensing and translating Japanese Christian manga. After establishing that such a thing doesn't exist (aside from the already-published Manga Messiah series), the focus of our conversations shifted, and I am now interested in reversing the process and bringing his products over to Japan. I think that something like this could spark a lot of interest and ideas among Japanese Christian Youth, who have no access to anything like this. A few weeks ago I finally received some copies of the Japanese versions of Manga Messiah and Manga Metamorphosis, and put them in my English School's lending library. We haven't been able to keep them on the shelves, and both students and parents have exclaimed how they finally understand the story of Jesus. We have had a lot of people asking questions about faith recently. Praise God! We need more examples of this.

In the following paragraphs, I am going to highlight three of Lamp Posts works, all written by Brett Burner. Please think about the possibilties of bringing such things to Japanese shores.

Holy Scrolls - The Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

This is a charming 36-page graphic novel about a boy who is stuck all day in a musuem with his parents. As he is about to pass out from boredom, a quirky old man sits down next to him and tells him the unlikely story of the Dead Sea scrolls. He awakens a love for history in the boy and tells the truth about documents whose existence has been used to make many false claims against Christianity. It's a well-drawn and cleverly written collaboration between Diego Candia (artist) Brett Burner (writer) and Dr. Pam Fox Kuhlken, a well-respected Dead Sea Scrolls scholar. But don't take my word for it. Head to this website to read the e-book version: http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=3287

This graphic novel series, currently up to Volume 4, details the portion of the Bible that tells of the Babylonian captivity through Nehemiah. Told through the point of view of the prophet Zechariah and his father and grandfather Berekiah and Iddo, it breathes life into a portion of the Bible that many people skip over. Of all of the graphic novels published by Lamp Post, it is the one that is closest to the Manga Messiah series, so those who liked Manga Messiah and Manga Metamorphosis should also be interested in this. I have included a video preview below:

Above anything else, I believe this to be the defining work of Lamp Post, and it is the one I am most interested in seeing brought over to Japan. The story is an incredibly engaging take on the Superhero genre. Throughout the Bible, the name "Morningstar" remains ambiguous. Sometimes it refers to Christ, though at other times it is used to refer to Satan. That ambiguity is at the heart of this series, as the concept of "hero" and "villain" get turned on end.

The series begins with a group called "Hand of the Morningstar" who have all been granted superpowers by "the Morningstar" in order to relieve suffering in the world and bring honor and glory to the name of the Morningstar. And they do many good things from healing overfarmed land to saving the president from terrorist attacks. In the course of the first book, they meet a superpowered eco-terrorist named "The Tempest," who uses the powers of a storm (rain, lightning, and wind) to violently attack oil rigs, deforestation projects, and other things around the world which exploit the earth. Nevermind that he often does more harm than good. Titan, the group leader of the Hand, defeats him and leaves him for dead. This, despite being at the end of Volume 1, is where the true story begins.

The Tempest, aka Michael Tempe, washes up on the coast of Argentina, near-dead and powerless, or so he thinks. He is nursed back to health by a missionary and his daughter, and in the process becomes a follower of Christ. During a hurricane, he rediscovers his powers and starts using them for good.

The thing that makes this series so good and so relevant is the two portrayals of "good." One, used by the Hand of the Morningstar, embodies countless Christian stereotypes. This is juxtaposed with the vey real and personal faith of Michael Tempe, and it makes for a striking contrast. The following is an excerpt from an interview that Burner did with The Christian Manifesto:

Mike [the artist] says, “We need a BibleMan!” I said, “No! We need the opposite!” Whenever I see a “Christian-Superhero” story, the premise is always (I will say “typically”, but to date I have never seen otherwise) that the main character is somehow endowed with super powers by God and sent off on a mission of righteousness with these powers. My view is that we ALL are given this mission—“…to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God,” Micah 6:8. So how does that translate to a superhero such as Spiderman, the Hulk, or the Fantastic Four? Take a guy that happens to have super powers, then make him a Christian. How does he act?

And the results are great. I cannot recomment it highly enough. It has honesty, it has humanity, and it has hook. This is a perfect example of Missional Art, and I look forward to more. The Hand of the Morningstar is currently 5/8 of the way through publication. Brett assures me that the climax of the story will cover the majority of books 6-8, which will be published within the next two years. Personally, I can't wait.

Below is another video promotional. If you follow the link above to the Christian Manifesto, you can also see some high-quality images from Volume 5. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments.

Anime/Manga 101: A "What's What" and "How To" Guide from a Christian Perspective - Manga Formats

In the last entry to this series, we looked at Anime Formats, where we talked about anime movies, OVAs, and TV Series. In this entry, we are going to look at Manga Formats. The series is going to be reordered and renamed to the following:

Anime/Manga 101 - A "What's What" and "How To" Guide From a Christian Perspective
I. Anime Formats
II. Manga Formats
III. Genres
IV. Vocabulary
V. Common Themes

The previous entry to this series has been updated accordingly.

2. Manga Formats

Manga is a printed media, rather than its audiovisual counterpart, anime. Therefore, it doesn't suffer from the same time constraints. Though anime always has to be 23 minutes long and broken into chunks of 13, manga can really be as long or short as it needs to be. So, as we talk about manga formats, understand that the numbers are much more approximate than the numbers we used last time.

Manga exists in four major formats pertaining to when and how the manga is published. Most manga exists first in a magazine that can be bought at a convenience store. They are phonebook-sized, quite heavy, and very cheap (from 250-600 Yen apiece for a 300-700 page magazine). The ink that is used is low quality, and the paper is akin to newspaper. After a certain number of chapters are published, they will be collected into a tankoubon (aka. Trade Paperback, volume), which uses acid-free paper and high-quality ink. The number of chapters in each paperback depends on the publishing format. Let's take a look.

Unserialized/ Volumes - This is the rarest type of (popular) manga. It is not serialized in a magazine at all, but is released in whole volumes. Sometimes, these have chapters, and sometimes they just read straight through. Many non-Japanese manga (specifically Original English Language [OEL] manga from Tokyopop) use this format. New Life League Japan's manga series also uses this format.

There is a subsection of this format called doujinshi, or self-published works. This is a wide category that can include fan works from pre-existing series (akin to fan fiction), original manga from popular artists that they don't want to sell in the mainstream, and original works from non-professional authors. However, be careful searching for the word "doujinshi" on the internet. Though it isn't the case in the actual world, a majority of internet doujinshi that's posted is pornographic in nature.

How to Read: in general, series that are published this way tend to be much shorter, often less than five volumes. However, these volumes tend to be spaced very far apart; often up to a year or more. Therefore, it is good to read the volumes as they come out and then re-read the previous one before you move onto the new one. For me, a manga volume takes a little over an hour to read. I often read it in multiple sittings.

Monthly Mangas - These manga, as the title suggests, are published monthly. Many monthly manga magazines exist in Japan, including Shounen Ace, Shounen Gangan, and Jump S.Q. Monthly magazines, because of their release schedule, tend to have much longer chapters than weekly manga. Oftentimes, a chapter is between 30 and 50 pages, though I have seen some that go up to 60. This also means that there are less chapters in each paperback volume. Paperbacks from monthly mangas range between 4 and 6 chapters per volume, and are generally released about 2 months after the last chapter is finished, meaning that the magazines are often 6 months ahead of the books.

Similar to monthly mangas, but much rarer, are bi-monthly mangas. These are exactly the same except for their release schedule.

How to Read: unlike the mangas published in volumes, it is a little bit easier to remember the story from month to month. I would suggest reading these chapters as they come out, and then once every six months or once a year, re-read everything again.

Weekly Mangas - These are manga series that are published every week, with the exception of certain holiday weeks. Some of the most famous manga in history are weekly mangas, including Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Slam Dunk, Death Note, and far too many more to list. Many weekly magazines exist, but none of them come close to Weekly Shonen Jump, which sells 3 million copies a week in Japan, and is even published in America. Because of their frequent releases, weekly manga tend to be much shorter; usually 15-20 pages. This also means that in their bound form, there are more chapters per volume. Each trade paperback has about 8-12 chapters in it, and they are released much more frequently than the tankoubon for monthly mangas.

How to Read: Read these as they come out. There should be little reason to go back and re-read chapters, as the weekly releases keep your memory fresh. Even if you are only reading these in trade paperback format, the more frequent release schedule makes things much easier. Also, because of the frequent releases, weekly manga tend to be less "dense" in terms of story (with some notable exceptions).

One-Shots - One shots are manga stories that are contained within a single chapter. They appear in both weekly and monthly magazines on a regular basis, usually when one of the regular artists is taking a break. One-shot mangas sometimes operate as a standalone story, and sometimes they are simply pilot-chapters that an artist uses to sell a new idea; if it gets good ratings, they may get an offer to turn it into a series. One-shots are usually a first step into the business for young artists, though establish artists are also known to try out new ideas in this format. Some magazines even hold one-shot competitions. Unlike the other three formats, one-shots rarely make it into trade paperbacks, because of their size.

How to Read: Read it straight through. If you like it, you may want to physically cut it out of the magazine you read it from and keep it in a file.

Anime/Manga 101 - A "What's What" and "How To" Guide From a Christian Perspective: Anime Formats

In conjunction with the Spiritual Bridges series, I've decided to give a little introduction to the Japanese mediums of Anime and Manga. Why? Because Spiritual Bridges is not simply meant for people who are already fans of anime and manga; it's meant for people who are actively sharing Christ's Gospel with Japanese youth. So some of the people I am targeting with this series might not know how to approach these mediums. I don't know exactly how many entries there will be to the Anime/Manga 101 series, since I plan to alter it based on feedback, but here is what I am envisioning right now:

I. Anime Formats
II. Manga Formats
III. Genres
IV. Vocabulary
V. Common Themes

Let's begin.

1. Anime Formats

Anime exists in three basic formats: Movies, OVAs (Original Video Animations), and Television Shows. Each of these formats is paced differently and needs to be approached differently, just as you would read a short story and a novel in different ways.

Movies - These are the most easily accessible format for anime newcomers. Movies sometimes are released in Japanese theaters, and they always come to DVD. These movies have similar pacing to Western movies; all of the characters and plot points are introduced, developed, and resolved within one to two and a half hours. There are many famous anime movies in existence. Studio Ghibli is the most famous anime movie producer by far, having given us films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Gedo Senki: Tales from Earthsea. Other famous anime films include Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Beyond the Clouds - The Promised Place, Evangelion 1.0 - You Are (not) Alone, and most recently, Paprika and Tekonkinkreet.

Some anime movies are not as they seem though. Oftentimes, a movie is tied to a television show. Sometimes the movie is a prequel or sequel, sometimes the movie is a gaiden (side story that takes place during the timeframe of the original), and sometimes the movie is an abridged retelling of the show. For the prequels, sequels, and gaidens, you will probably not understand the movie without seeing the original work first. The abridged retellings, though rare, are a good way to preview a series.

How to Watch: Watch anime movies in one sitting. Pay special attention to any flashbacks that are shown, as they almost always are directly related to the conclusion.

OVAs (Original Video Animations) - sometimes called OAVs (Original Animated Videos). These are short series of an undefined number of episodes that are meant to tell a story. However, rather than a movie, which tells the story at the same time, the OVAs are released incrementaly. They often include higher production values than television anime, and they are often much shorter. These are also fairly accessible, since the episode format allows you to take the story in small sections. Recently, there have been some variant and hybrid formats that would fall under the category of OVA. The first is the ONA, or Original Net Animation, which is a series of short episodes streamed online. The second is is a hybrid between the movie format and the OVA format where a series of movies are released to theaters, each following the previous one. Kara no Kyoukai is one example of this. It is a series of 7 hour-long movies that is currently about halfway finished in the Japanese cinemas.

I also want to give a special note here. Oftentimes, OVAs include material that is inappropriate for television, including gratuitous violence and sex. This is not true for all OVAs, as it is simply a format, not a genre, but do be careful when renting OVAs, as it is the preferred format for "adult" series.

And, as before, OVAs are sometimes a prequel or a sequel to a television series. This isn't true for most OVAs, but there are rare exceptions. You should be able to tell these from the back of the box.

How to Watch: It depends on the OVA. If it is a 3-6 episode standalone story, I'd suggest watching one episode a day for 3-6 days. If it is only three episodes, you may even want to watch it all at once. If you are watching the OVA as it is currently being published, your timeframe will obviously be determined by the release schedule.

Television Shows - this comprises the main "meat" of the anime industry. Of the four Spritual Bridges posts that have been done so far, three are from television shows. Anime shows are not like sitcoms or American cartoons, where each episode is separate and can be viewed in any order. Instead, anime shows follow a continuous story from their first episode to their last. When the story finishes, so does the anime (unless a sequel is made). There are benefits and disadvantages to this. The main disadvantage is that anime shows MUST be viewed in order; skipping an episode or two will likely make the story incomprehensible. It would be the same as skipping a chapter or two in a novel. As a compensation, many anime will have recap episodes where a character will review all of the recent events and give their personal interpretation of them. This can help greatly if you happen to miss an episode.

Despite the disadvantages, this format gives a lot of benefits. The reason anime is so popular and powerful is that it becomes like a visual book, with each episode serving as a chapter. Rather than movies, where everything is resolved rather quickly, you may see a character slowly develop in a specific area over the course of ten or twelve episodes. This allows you to really get into their heads and feel each event with them. This relaxed pace makes it so that character development rarely feels rushed. It also allows the directors to throw in small details that create a fleshed-out world.

Television shows, which are aired weekly for their original broadcasts, vary greatly in their length, but there is usually a mathematical format that they follow. Everything is broken down into seasons and half-seasons. A full season is somewhere between 24 and 26 episodes. This is half a year, and allows for one or two breaks so that the network can be flexible with the schedule. Some anime comprise only a half season with 12-13 episodes. Still others go for two seasons, which is 48-52 episodes. Usually, the half-season and season markers (ie - Episode 13, 26, 39) are special episodes with a climax. These episodes also have higher production values, much like a "Season Finale" in the West. Also, if there are any recap episodes, they are likely to occur in the episode after the half-season or season finale (ie - Episode 14 or 27). It's helpful to keep this in mind in case you miss an episode or two. Then, when the final episode rolls around, you know that the storyline is finished. In contrast to American shows, where the show is only really "finished" if it is cancelled, anime usually has it's endpoint in mind from the very beginning of the production.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. I like to call these exceptions "Interminable Anime", or anime which seem like they will never end. Famous examples of this include Pokémon, Detective Conan (aka. Case Closed), Dragonball, One Piece, Bleach, Inuyasha, and Naruto. For example, at the time that I am writing this, Naruto has 287 episodes, 4 OVAs, and 5 movies. The story isn't anywhere close to being finished yet. (Special Note: I will probably never cover an Interminable Anime in Spiritual Bridges. I just don't like dealing with them)

That being said, many great anime exist in Television Show format. DVDs usually include 2-4 episodes, though in America, boxsets are becoming increasingly popular.

How to Watch: It really depends on the show, whether you are watching it as it is aired or whether you are watching it on DVD, and how long the show is. If you are watching it as it airs, then you will obviously watch one episode every week. If you are watching it on DVD, approach it like you would approach a book. Very few people that I know read a book through in one sitting, or even in a few dedicated sittings. They usually take a chapter at a time and slowly work through the book until they are at the end. Treat anime the same way. Watch an episode (23 minutes long) and then go about the rest of your day. Over time, you'll eventually get to the end. If it helps, think of half-seasons like novels in a series. Watch 13 episodes, move on to something else for a while, and then come back. Unless your viewings are so far apart that you can't remember the previous episode, the more time you spend with an anime, the more you'll grow to appreciate it.

[With Interminable Anime, you really have to watch it as it comes out. Otherwise, your backlog becomes too large.]

That's all for today. In our next episode we'll look at genres (update: this will be part 3). I'll help you to understand why one show has pink cat-dogs and the next has 20-meter-tall robots hacking at each other with swords.

Manga Messiah: Expanding Around the Globe II

As a follow up to a previous post on this blog called "Manga Messiah: Expanding Around the Globe," here are cover photos of various language editions, will add more when I get them.

The first photo is of the Japanese Version of Manga Messiah. The left half of the second photo (middle row) is actually the yet to be published Japanese version of Manga Metamorphosis, while the right side is (I think) the Spanish version of Manga Messiah.

The last photo (bottom row) I am not sure of -- can anyone identify it?

Manga Messiah: Expanding Around the Globe

New Life League Japan's director, Roald Lidal, just sent me the following exciting news about Messiah Manga's spreading global influence:

1. As of the end of this week we have printed a total of 760,000 copies in six languages -- English, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Indonesian and Tagalog.

2. Twelve more languages are in process, most of them being close to completed. These are: French, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Khmer and Arabic.

This is amazing... a wonderful example of what can happen when Japanese Christians express their faith with authenticity and originality, with art that reflects the beauty of the culture.

PHOTO: The recently published Spanish version.

I would like to post a cover photo of all the published versions of Messiah Manga -- if you can send me a photo, post a comment with your eMail address and I will write you back (we will not divulge your eMail address to the public unless you specifically say that is what you want).

Manga Outreach + A Sneak Peak at Manga Metamorphosis and Manga Mutiny

I [Scot] don't know how many of you who frequent this site read the comments, but I'd highly recommend doing so. We don't get many of them, but the ones that we do get almost always add something really important to our ongoing discussion of Worship and the Arts in Japan. Anyway, I found this following cartoon in a link from Paul's February posting about the Channel of Hope. It shows, in a sardonic way, the potential for "New Media" outreach in Japan (New Media includes, well, new media, like youtube, animation, manga, or whatever was just released yesterday).

Anyway, it was taken from the "Internet Evangelism Day" website, and the article as a whole is so good I'm tempted to quote it verbatim. But, as it is, I'll just give you the link:
http://ied.gospelcom.net/japan-web-evangelism.php

Manga outreach is something that I am personally very interested in. Manga became popular in the USA during my college years, and to this day, there are six separate series that I follow in their weekly and monthly incarnations (this doesn't include series that are already finished that I have read through or am reading). I think this, in a way, is directly related to my childhood dream of becoming a comic book artist. I realize now that God has given me a different skill set, and that I will probably never become an artist, but my love of the medium has never waned. And every time I step outside of my house, I'm reminded of how widespread this interest is in Japan. I mean, even Lawsons and 7-11 sell the latest volume of several manga series. Think about that for a moment and let it sink in. First, that the manga series have several volumes. Second, that these volumes are sold in convenience stores. A few years ago in America, graphic novels took up a fifth of a bookshelf in smaller stores, and whole shelf in larger stores. Finding the graphic novel that you actually wanted was a near impossibility. I'm STILL searching for Spiderman's "Maximum Carnage" arc--a search I started in Middle School. If you lucked out and the graphic novel was still in print, your only option was to special-order it from a big chain like Barnes and Noble or Borders.

And last month, in Japan, I picked up Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 19 in a convenience store in Yonomori--a town which doesn't even have its own post office.

So I am very glad that people are starting to do manga outreach in Japan. We have posted many times on this blog about Next, a division of New Life League Japan, who is publishing manga based on the Bible. They released Manga Messiah last year, which covered the gospels, and they will be releasing Manga Metamorphosis later this year, which will cover Acts.

Back in December, Next hired me as an English proofreader/ Quality Checker. As such, I have seen and edited the first 150 pages of Manga Metamorphosis, and I can tell you that it is quite a bit better than Manga Messiah. Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite. Posted with permission of course. Click on the images to see a higher resolution.

The Great Comission


















Pentacost











I also had the chance to visit Next and New Life League Japan about three weeks ago. I was very impressed with what I saw. Manga may be a new step for them, but printing is not. They print Bibles for so many languages that I stopped counting after 20. They also print calendars, books, and pretty much anything else that combines paper and ink. In their staff of about 50, eight different nationalities are represented. The highlight of my visit though was the chance to preview the art of Manga Mutiny, the tentatively-titled third volume in the series that covers the book of Genesis. Next had decided from the very beginning that they were going to have different artists for the Old and New Testament, and it shows. My two main concerns for the art in Manga Messiah and Manga Metamorphosis were that the art seemed to be aimed at young children, and that there were way too many panels on every page, which made it feel cramped and rushed at times. I understand the reason for this, as they are trying to fit a whole book into one manga volume, but I miss the full-page splash images that are so prevalent in manga. It just so happens that both of my concerns were addressed. The art feels much more mature in the third volume, bearing a slight shojo style, and there are some BEAUTIFUL splash pages. They are without any text right now, but I think these pictures will speak for themselves. Click for a higher resolution (my apologies that the only camera I had on me was my cellphone camera).

Creation


The Garden of Eden


Babel Tower and Abram


Lot's Wife


So, things are looking good. Thanks for reading and thinking about this New Media outreach. It could have profound effects.

Bible Manga: How Will the Church Respond?

A Report on the Bible Manga Meeting:

We held a "Bible Manga Informational Meeting" in Tokyo on October 27th, 2007. At the meeting Roald Lidal, director of New Life League Japan, announced that the Japanese version of Manga Messiah (the first book in a series of five) will be released early in 2008 and sold in mainstream bookstores in Japan for between 800 and 1,000 yen per copy.

MM (Japanese version) will also be available in Japan to churches and other ministries for the deeply discounted price of 250 yen per book -- if ordered by the case directly from the publisher.

Lidal emphasized that the Japanese used in this series of books will be genuine "street Japanese" in typical manga style. Participants speculated that many, if not most, Christians in Japan will not appreciate the Bible being published as manga. But, Lidal is deeply committed to his almost forty-year-old dream of producing genuine Bible based manga that will connect with mainstream Japanese.

We got to see a full color draft of "Manga Mutiny," the first of the five Bible Manga books. No details but I can assure readers that NLLJ is taking a bold and exciting approach to depicting the early chapters of Genesis.

The attendance at this meeting was low, only a dozen. It could have been one of those days when lots of people had other things going on. But, my feeling is that it indicates the established church is not very interested in Bible Manga. This is because Japanese pop culture is feared, ignored and/or rejected by a large percentage of Christians. This is a huge blind spot but people can't see that because, well, because it IS a blind spot.

How important is pop-culture in Japan?

Lidal told the group that a few years ago a Japanese manga series called Shyonen Jump, was publishing 6 million copies per week. One of the well known series published in the weekly Shyonen Jump magazine is a series called Bleach. The manga called "Bleach" is an amazing depiction of a cosmic battle between good and evil spirits. The story is squarely based on widely held Japanese beliefs about the spirit world. Bleach has also been produced as an anime series.

This kind of story is part of pop culture in a country where people are said to be "secular" and "not interested in spiritual things!"

Both "Shonen Jump" and Bleach are popular in the US market as well.

Note: "Shyonen" is the standard way to spell this word and also better reflects Japanese pronunciation, apparently the publishers decided to use "shonen" to make it shorter.

This photo is a montage of images from "Bleach"

Announcing an Informational Meeting Regarding "Bible Manga"

New Life League Japan (NLLJ) is publishing a very important and exciting series of books called “Bible Manga.” Japanese artists are creating five genuine manga books based on the Bible (three Old Testament and two New Testament). The original art and text is in Japanese but Manga Messiah has already been released in English and is available at Amazon. According to Roald Lidal, NLLJ will publish the original Japanese version of Manga Messiah in Japan in early 2008.

“Bible Manga” is probably the most contextualized mass media presentation of the gospel in the history of Christianity in Japan. Remarkably, it is already being translated into at least twenty different languages.

The purpose of this meeting is to build vision for and provide information about the “Bible Manga” project. We want the Christian community in Japan to be prepared to make the most of this tremendous opportunity to communicate the gospel to the millions of mainstream Japanese who are manga readers.

Program: Roald Lidal (Director of NLLJ) and his associate, Toshi Iwaoka (Assistant General Director of NLLJ), will make a presentation. They will also bring samples of Manga Messiah for attendees and a copy of the artwork for the next book in the series. Finally, we will have about an hour for Q & A. This meeting will be conducted in English.

When: Thursday, September 27, 2007 10:00 AM to Noon

Where: Harvest Hall, Matsukawa Place, Higashi Kurume, Tokyo
(Matsukawa Place is located next to Christian Academy in Japan)

Cost: 500-yen donation

Registration: None needed – just come

Sponsor: CAN (Christians in the Arts Network)

Questions? Contact Paul Nethercott at info@japancan.com or call 090-9845-0091 (in Japan)

English Version of Manga Messiah now available at Amazon

The English version of Manga Messiah, distributed in the US by Tyndale, is now on-sale at Amazon.com

Press Release from Tyndale:
"We're thrilled to offer the greatest story ever told, about the most controversial man who ever lived, in the most popular graphic novel format on earth," explains Kevin O'Brien, Director of Bibles and Bible Reference at Tyndale House Publishers.

Four additional titles in Tyndale's manga series will roll out in four consecutive years. Fans can look forward to Manga Mutiny (Fall 2008), Manga Metamorphosis (Fall 2009), Manga Malech (Fall 2010), and Manga Messengers (Fall 2011).

Tyndale House Publishers has purchased exclusive English language rights for all of the titles in the manga series from NEXT Inc., a nonprofit corporation formed in 2006 to produce and distribute biblically based manga materials worldwide. Behind NEXT is a group of dedicated professionals with years of experience in Japanese printing and publishing. For additional information, please see www.nextmanga.com

Anime News Network -- Report on Manga Messiah

A contact in Minnesota sent me the following information:
"Anime News Network, a highly popular US-based anime web site, did a news article about Manga Messiah. The message boards (on this site) will give you an indication of what people in America are thinking about it."

The "Manga Messiah" Cometh -- The Gospel Story Through Japanese Eyes

“Bible Manga,” a series of five books by Japanese artists, is reaching an international audience. Published by New Life League, Japan (NLLJ) the English version of "The Manga Messiah" is available now. The Japanese version will be published sometime in 2008.

BIBLE MANGA SITE

An interview with Roald Lidal, General Director of New Life League, Japan (NLLJ)

By Paul Nethercott

PN: Why "Bible Manga" and why now?
RL: The original vision for our manga project was to reach Japanese youth for Christ. This has since been expanded. Our goal now is to use the extremely popular Japanese manga genre to reach youth worldwide with the Gospel. Our plan is to publish five books in the Manga Bible series – three from the OT and two from the NT. We wanted to start with what we consider the most important part – the Gospel story so “Manga Messiah” is our first publication in the series. We believe young people today are open to questions about why they are here, what is the meaning of it all, and where they are going. The manga books give them the answers in a form they will read and understand.

PN: What do you mean by “youth?”
RL: The target audience is middle and high school students. However, we believe our manga books will be read by university students, by younger kids, and by their parents.

PN: How long have you been working on this project?
RL: We started working on this project over two years ago, and the English version of (the first book) “Manga Messiah” was completed a few months ago. The first 100,000 have been distributed in the Philippines. Translation is going on in at least 15 languages and more are being added. We are very excited over the tremendous response we are receiving and we are looking forward with great anticipation as to how the Lord will use this unique tool of evangelism.

PN: Is it correct that the original language is Japanese?
Yes, everything was first written in Japanese and then translated into English, which then became the base for all other languages.

PN: When will the Japanese version be published?
RL: The Japanese version of Manga Messiah will be out by late summer of 2007, and the next book from the NT as well as the first book from the OT by the beginning of 2008.

PN: Who are the artists, how did you find them?
RL: God led us to the artists through a series of events. Shinozawa San (main artist) became a Christian while attending art school in New York. She returned to Japan and didn’t want to continue drawing the kind of materials she had worked on as a non-Christian. That is when we heard of her and she was delighted to start working with us. In fact, she said it was an answer to prayer. Kumai San is a professional scriptwriter with whom we got in contact through a friend of a friend. Likewise, God really led us to the OT artist, Azumi San.

PN: What challenges are you facing?
RL: We face the issue of financial support for substantial development cost. Next, we have the challenge of biblical and historical accuracy, avoiding religiosity, and centering on THE STORY of the Bible. We desire to make an evangelistic tool, not simply to tell Bible stories. Since we are talking of worldwide distribution, we are facing numerous challenges, like which publishers to choose, translator issues, and cultural differences. Finally, we have the question of marketing to publishers, organizations, and readers.

PN: How do you plan to market/distribute NEXT in Japan?
RL: The marketing plan in Japan is still in the development stage. While we naturally want to sell the books through both Christian and mainstream channels, we are also working with mission and outreach organizations with the goal of them using the Bible-based manga books in their programs. In addition, we want to make use of the Internet and any possible channels (it provides) to get these books into the hands of young people.

PN: How about the response of mainstream Japanese youth, do you have any indication of how they receive Manga Messiah?
RL: We really don’t know at this stage what the response will be like in Japan. Japanese youth are naturally somewhat spoiled when it comes to manga, but we believe these books have great potential.

The English edition of “Manga Messiah” (retail price: ¥850) can be ordered directly from NLLJ. The price of the Japanese version is undecided, but NLLJ will be selling it in bulk for very close to the production cost.

New Life League, Japan
170 Kumai, Hatoyama Machi,
Saitama Ken 350-0397 Japan
Tel.: 049 296 0727
Fax: 049 296 6515
Web: New Life League Japan Home Page