夏目房之介
Articles
Barbara: Tezuka Osamu’s Self-Denial
In this new translation of a 2020 essay, Natsume Fusanosuke holds forth on a God (of Manga) in crisis, as Tezuka Osamu attacks his own semiotics in the early ’70s serial Barbara, which was later adapted to film by Tezuka’s son, Macoto.
Yoshinaga Fumi: Those Gallant Girls’ Comics of Hers
In this new translation of a 2005 essay, Natsume Fusasnosuke details what he likes about the work of Yoshinaga Fumi, creator of Ōoku: The Inner Chambers – with a special emphasis on her self-contained works Garden Dreams and All My Darling Daughters.
Remembering Two Titans of Manga: Shirato Sanpei and Saitō Takao
Artist and scholar Natsume Fusanosuke remembers two authors of landmark manga in this compendium of recent newspaper writing, presented in English for the first time.
Takahashi Rumiko and the Turning Point in the History of Manga and Anime
In a 2019 essay, artist and scholar Natsume Fusanosuke considers the historical impact of manga icon Takahashi Rumiko and her Urusei Yatsura on the audience for Japanese comics and animation at the dawn of the otaku era.
Charlie Brown and Me
Charles Schulz’s Peanuts celebrated its 71st anniversary this weekend, and we are commemorating the occasion with a new perspective: the first-ever English translation of a 1999 essay on the strip by artist and scholar Natsume Fusanosuke, who compares the Schulz characters with those of the similarly massive Japanese media franchise Doraemon.
Making It Just in Time: Author-Creator Matsumoto Taiyō
Artist and scholar Natsume Fusanosuke returns with an expansive 2018 essay on Matsumoto Taiyō, translated by Jon Holt & Teppei Fukuda. The ever-popular Matsumoto is here positioned as the exemplar of a sea change in manga history, as the power of serial magazine editors just started to decline, making room for new ideas.
Time to Re-Evaluate Taniguchi Jirō’s Place in Manga
Author and scholar Natsume Fusanosuke considers one of the great crossover mangaka from a Japanese and European perspective in this 2018 essay translated from the Japanese by Jon Holt & Teppei Fukuda.
