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 Mission Statement
Written by Park Cooper
Yesterday a MangaLife staffer contacted me. She's working on an article about a comic and why she feels that certain cultural things about it were not done with enough attention to detail on the part of the creators. However, the work in question isn't a manga, so she asked my advice about how to fit it into our site. It was natural that she'd ask me, since having this thing she's working on on MangaLife was my idea in the first place.
I started to answer, and then backed up a bit. The explanation for why I encouraged her to put her thoughts on the subject on MangaLife even though the work she's examining isn't a manga as such involves thoughts I'd been thinking about what exactly MangaLife as a site is, anyway.
I didn't pick the title of this site, but now that I run the site, I find it an appropriate one and don't wish to change it-- but it's because it fits my vision of what the site should be, not what the site was before I got here (aside from the three "Profiles in Manga" installments and one interview with Queenie Chan I was allowed to do before I took over-- I can't deflect responsibility for things I did myself).
The key word, if you will, is "MangaLife." (Shut up. I know that's two words: I'm sort of making a compound out of it.) The whole focus, as I see it, is:
What's the attraction here?
The bottom line, in my opinion, is culture. The article my staffer is working on is about transposing cultural artifacts, and things containing them, from over there to over here. Because we love this stuff. We're like the Jesuits when they first got to Japan: "They've got a lot of their culture invested in their concepts about the military, but otherwise-- no, not otherwise, INCLUDING the military stuff-- these people have got some serious CULTURE!" We eat it up, the culture. And not just Japan-- I just happen to know the story about them and the Jesuits. China, Korea, manhua, manhwa, everything else... the Shaolin temple, ninjas, five-fingered dragons, foxwomen, giant mecha, sailor-suits-as-school-uniforms... we can't get enough, now that we've been introduced.
The Eisner Awards are North America's annual awards for the comics industry, and there are more properties from, and properties influenced by, what's coming to us from the other side of the Pacific in this year's Eisner nominations than any year I'm aware of. They've even split a category: Best Foreign Material, and then Best Foreign Material: Japan. Which is quite a lot like saying "Best Foreign Material: Japan, and then Best Foreign Material: Everybody Else."
But it's not just the sequential storytelling. We'll now cover anime here at MangaLife, too... as soon as I can interest any of my staffers in doing so.
Which brings me to my next point. I need more staffers. If you are interested in writing for us, please let me know!
Now, the bulk of what we do here at MangaLife is reviews. We want to make sure everyone knows what stories are out there, in book-like-form or tv-type-form, to experience, and how good they are (or, occasionally, sadly, aren't, just so people avoid a tired rehash of cliches [these do exist, even in manga, they just make it across the ocean to us less often] and go straight to something fantastic). So if you want to write for us, it'd be handy if you were interested in writing reviews, although if you have special knowledge (or if you speak and read fluent Japanese and want to do some interviews of creators for us), and want to write some features for us, please let me know.
Let me talk some more for a moment about that "special knowledge." Besides being completely fluent in speaking and writing Japanese (living in Japan or Korea would help a LOT), here are some possibilities on what could make for good features:
--an article on the Asian Horror movie genre
--an article on the Samurai movie genre
--an article on toys and/or model-making kits in Japan
--if you are a very articulate chef of the cuisine in question
--if you go to LOTS of anime cons and want to do con reports
--an article or series of articles on cosplay (especially if the one right above this applies to you)
...As well as various things I'm not thinking of right now. Be creative! I might like what you're offering me!
On writing reviews:
--What you review can be old or new, manga or anime, but I can't provide you with a million free comp copies (or money, either), just maybe a small amount of review copies now and then if you promise to review them promptly. It's much, much better if you already have a manga-and/or-anime-buying habit that you're supporting, or if you have a library near you (or that you work at) that has a lot of manga.
--If that last one didn't stop you, and you still want to write for us, then read a few of our reviews by our most prolific reviewers, and copy the length and general style in a review of something.
--Then, send it to me, and we'll talk.
That's it.
Whether you want to write with us or just read what we have to say, welcome! I hope you're as happy about our new direction as I am.
--Dr. Park Cooper
--Editor-in-Chief, www.mangalife.com
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