Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

I was PM'ing with one of the Adminimstrators here and we realized that there have been a whole bunch of new people signing up recently, which is just wonderful!

I mentioned that whenever I am the new guy anywhere I always feel shy and kind of hang at the edges for awhile (possibly forever) unless I am approached to introduce myself and say a bit about myself.

So, here is a thread where we encourage all new members, but by no means ask you to if you do not wish to, to say hello and share something, if you wish.

This is just a place that we will try to keep near the top of the Main Page Forum for all new members to visit, and if you would like to, you are highly encouraged to say hello and share a bit about yourself.

Truly no pressure but maybe it will help everyone to form friendships a bit more easily here in the Dojo.

But, bottom line, this is purely optional for any (new) member to participate in!

Mostly, WELCOME to the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo!!! We're glad to have you here and we'd love to know a bit more about you!

This is a nice thread for new members Buck!

I did a little intro in Ronin Ramblings so I will not duplicate my post.

I am glad that even old fans can find a place to connect!

Nice to feel welcome, though I would not be surprised given the nature of UY, Stan and his fans!

-Rosie

I would like to add my voice to those welcoming you, Rosie, to the Dojo. It is a really great place for anyone who enjoy the work of Stan Sakai and the adventures of the ronin rabbit to connect with others with similar interests.

And thank you Buck, for putting together a great introductory thread for the forum.

Well, I arrived here a few months ago, but never properly introduced myself, so now might be as good a time as ever.

I am a fairly new reader of Usagi Yojimbo.
I was a big fan of the TMNT cartoon when I was a kid (I had plenty of action figures, too), but I honestly don't remember Usagi at all from the TMNT, if I ever saw him there. I say this, because I've read several times people discovered Usagi with the turtles. In my case, I didn't.

I use to read quite a lot of comics. I grew up reading french/belgian comics (as is normal for a french person), discovered mangas when I was a teenager/young adult (mangas are veeeeery popular in France. It's the second country in the world with most mangas sold, after Japan), and kept going over the years. In my early 20's, I decided I wanted to expand my comics culture (as well as my litterature culture, I read a lot of litterature classics in that period) and decided to discover american comics, which, of the 3 main comics producing areas in the world, was the only one I didn't really know. So I looked on internet for north-american comics recommandations, and took upon me to read the comics classics, old and "new". Even though I also enjoy mainstream superheroes, I read also a lot of "independant" or non-SH related comics (Scott Pilgrim, Mouse Guard, The Wake... to name a few).

I can't remember the first time I heard about Usagi comics. I knew of its existence for a long time, but can't really pin when I first heard about it.
You know, when you look on comics dedicated websites and forum, browse through the news, and see a picture catches your eyes? You look at it for a few seconds, and then move on. And a few months later, the story repeats, you see a nice comics picture on internet, look at it, realize you have seen this character somewhere else before, but can't remember where or when. And so on, dozens of time, until you finally know the character and artist's name.
I guess it was like that for me.
I listed Usagi as a comics I should try to read one day, and kept the thought in the back of my head for several years. (I still have quite a long list in my head of books and comics to read one day ) As I said earlier, I read a lot of mangas, and admire the japanese culture very much (when I moved into my first place, I put a few japan-inspired decorative elements), so I guess it's kind of normal I was attracted to Usagi.

Years went by, until one day, I saw Stan was attending a convention I was visiting. He was alone at the booth, so I decided it was a good occasion to buy my first Usagi book, say hi, and discover the universe. I went to Stan, we spoke a bit (though I didn't dare to say I didn't really know Usagi yet ), and he made a nice sketch for me.
Unfortunately, I bought the book volume 3, and I wanted to read the books in chronological order, so I delayed again my reading (plus, it was a french book, and I usually prefer to read the original version), and several more months went by.
Finally, last summer, I decided it was time, and started reading the first Usagi books.

I was blown away.

The writing was so good, the storytelling so well-balanced and paced, the art perfectly fluid and able to represent all kind of scenes, including rapid action fights.
I got so much into it, I read the entire 28 books in 2 weeks (i borrowed them from a friend who also likes to read comics in english). I rarely discovered comics which truly blew me away, but Usagi is one of them. I think Stan is probably one of the best storytellers the comics industry has ever known.



So, here I am, signing to the Dojo board, to discover the community around this comics.
That was my comics reader history.
On other topic, I am french as previously mentioned, and currently live in Italy, but probably not for very much more. As I am not a native english speaker, and probably made many mistake in my long post, I apologize for them in advance (and for the long post )

I am a bit shy, as Buck it seems, so when I sign to a new forum I usually start by reading more than participating, until I feel confortable enough to write on a regular basis (and then, no one can get me to shut up. ), which explains my low number of messages until now.

Awesome post Eltanin on so many levels. And, do not worry, if you had not said that English was not your native language, I would not have been able to tell from your post!

I LOVE France! I fell in love with it (her) when I went to live there for three weeks when I was 17 years old (1989). I got to see the prologue of the cycling race Paris-Nice (Sean Kelly, Pedro Delgado, etc) and visited all over Paris. Changed my life forever as I was raised on a small dairy farm in northern, very rural Vermont and it was my first time out of the country. I went back to France in 2012 with my wife and five kids and we stayed in Paris for a week, in Lille for three days and in Mont Saint Michel for a week and I was able to ride the Paris-Roubaix cyclo (a lifelong dream of mine as I have raced road bicycles since I was 14 years old). Just an amazing trip for all of us.

I agree that Usagi is sooooo different from any other comic. It almost trascends "comics" as it is so magnificent and, to me, it is true literature. Just love it.

Thanks for sharing!

By the way, what does non-SH related comic mean?

BuckRogers wrote:By the way, what does non-SH related comic mean?

I was talking about non superhero comics. I spelled it short to not be too redundant with the first part of the sentence. I'm not sure what does and does not qualify as "independant", so it wanted to explain better what I had in mind. For example, V for Vendetta or The Walking Dead are not superhero comics, but I am not sure they fit in the "independant" label.

Glad you love France.
I never did bicyles races, but I used to move by bicycle the last year I was living in Paris. It was cheaper than the subway, about as convenient, and I wanted to do more exercize. Moving by bicyle was a good way to do that. And since the bicycle didn't fit in the elevator, bringing it to the 8th floor by stairs everyday was also a good source of exercize.

I would love to visit the US one day, but it's so vast, I am not sure where I would begin (probably New-York at some point, but there is more to the US than just this city).

This is a great idea Captain Buck Rogers! Thanks for getting it started.

I agree it is always nice to 'meet' new members (and old ones too), so a big welcome to pleiades3 (Rosie) and Eltanin!

Eltanin, what were some of the Japanese Manga that you were first attracted to?

In case anyone would like to know a little more about me, I found my old introduction here > Moshi Moshi?!.
Some of you might be asking, "What's Moshi Moshi?" Well, that's how you answer the phone in Japan! It's a way of saying "Hello"

Abayo!

I read the intro thread there Maichan, and wondered why I never wrote in it. Then I saw the date, and it was during a two week period in 2011 I was otherwise indisposed. Probably explains why

Welcome Eltanin, and thank you for the insight into your beginnings. And don't worry, you're not the only person who isn't really into superhero comics either, neither am I. Sure, I watch the Marvel films at the cinema, but the only comics I read regularly are Usagi, TMNT and Mouse Guard. Maybe you can answer something. What's the reason(s) for the connection between France and Japanese culture? I've never really been able to find out how that came about. Manga itself, anime on TV (which I saw a lot when on holiday in France in the early 1990s), actual imported Japanese videogames (especially Super Famicom) being sold in shops, and much more.

Mayhem wrote:Maybe you can answer something. What's the reason(s) for the connection between France and Japanese culture? I've never really been able to find out how that came about. Manga itself, anime on TV (which I saw a lot when on holiday in France in the early 1990s), actual imported Japanese videogames (especially Super Famicom) being sold in shops, and much more.

I've been curious about this for a long time also. There seems to be a lot of translations of both manga and anime from Japanese to French ...

Hello Eltanin,

In what part of Italy do you live? I am tentatively scheduled to be a guest of Renoir Publishing at the Lucca Comics and Games Festival in October. Of course, I really enjoy going to Angouleme, France and to Paris.

Thank you all
I can see everyone is very warm, I already like it here.

maichan wrote: Eltanin, what were some of the Japanese Manga that you were first attracted to?

I read in general mostly Shonen. I later started to read also some Seinen, and I even occasionnally read some Shojo.
For those not familiar with the terms (I use them because that's how they are classified in french bookshops, and I guess in Japan too):
Shonen: Manga targeted to boys.
Shojo: Manga targeted to girls.
Seinen: Manga targeted to adults (not the kinky ones ).
Some of the first manga I read were: Rurouni Kenshin, Love Hina (it's a comedy about the love life of a teenage guy and plenty of girls ), Samurai Deeper Kyo.
When I have more time, I'll try to put some reviews of my favorite mangas in the dedicated topic.

Mayhem wrote:And don't worry, you're not the only person who isn't really into superhero comics either, neither am I. Sure, I watch the Marvel films at the cinema, but the only comics I read regularly are Usagi, TMNT and Mouse Guard.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy superhero comics. I just wanted to stress that they are not the major part of what I read, even when limiting the discussion only to American comics. But I also enjoy reading some Superhero runs (I just pick them carefully, the quality being very inconstant).
I see we read at least the same 3 comics , even though I still have a lot of catching to do on TMNT (actually, it's reading Usagi that made me want to read TMNT).

Mayhem wrote:Maybe you can answer something. What's the reason(s) for the connection between France and Japanese culture? I've never really been able to find out how that came about. Manga itself, anime on TV (which I saw a lot when on holiday in France in the early 1990s), actual imported Japanese videogames (especially Super Famicom) being sold in shops, and much more.

Hum. I'm no expert on the topic, but I'll do my best.
The first animes on TV arrived in France in the late 70's, and TV programs bought a lot of japanese cartoons rights throughout the 80's and 90's, because it was cheaper than producing their own cartoons. There was a TV kids program in the beginning of the 90's that was very popular, and famous for having only (or almost only) japanese cartoons : that's likely the program you watched, it was called "Club Dorothée".
Basically, most people born since the late 70's grew up with about half or more of the cartoons being japanese. Japanese anime were criticized a lot, some people were saying it was stupid/subculture/too violent for kids, and so on (the same thing happens with everything new. Role playing games and video-games had/have the same critics. I find this particularly annoying). The fact that some of these cartoons were indeed a bit more violent thant the average french cartoon explains also why they were so successful among kids .
So, by the end of the 90's, most teenagers/youngs adults were used to japanese culture through cartoons. That, and the fact comics have always been a big part of french culture explains the success of manga which arrived at that period: You grew up with the Dragon Ball cartoon, you are used to be surrounded by (and read) comics, and someone presents you the Dragon Ball comics, which is the original material. Of course, you'll want to read it!
Nowadays, anime and manga seem to be quite well accepted among the population. Maybe not to the point where you would read a comic during your break at work, but most people won't judge you badly if you say you enjoy reading them (It may be slightly less true if you are an adult watching anime, though.).

Stan Sakai wrote:Hello Eltanin,

In what part of Italy do you live? I am tentatively scheduled to be a guest of Renoir Publishing at the Lucca Comics and Games Festival in October. Of course, I really enjoy going to Angouleme, France and to Paris.

Hello Stan,

I live in Trieste, which is a city is the North-East of Italy, at the slovenian border. I met you in Angoulême (the last time you went there, I think it was 1 or 2 year ago).
I went to Lucca last fall, where I met David Petersen. The festival seemed even more crowded than Angoulême, and the phenomenon was amplified by the fact Lucca has very narrow streets, contrary to Angoulême. It once took me about 1h to move from one part of the festival to another one about 1km away.
Here are some pictures I took for those interested (sorry, I don't have pictures from Angoulême for comparison).
The streets:


In one of the tents, in front of David Petersen's booth. Not everyone was there for him , but it was hard to move and arrive at his booth:

Even though the festival is a bit bigger than Angoulême in terms of attendance (though it seems it depends which year we look at), Lucca is about both comics and games (board games, video-games, RPGs...) while Angoulême is (almost) only about comics. So it seemed to me the content dedicated to comics was actually a bit more important in Angoulême (in terms of exhibitions and comics related events/panels).
Lucca is a nice city to visit, and I hope you'll enjoy your time there.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I will be able to make it to Lucca festival this year. My working contract in Italy ends this summer, and I don't know where I will be next. (It could be almost anywhere in the world, really).

Those crowds are ridiculous.

This is a really nice thread. Thanks sharing!

Here's a very old thread "how did you discover Usagi" from 2005: http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/forum3/view ... over+usagi+

You may see some familiar names there.

Peace, maka

Eltanin wrote:The first animes on TV arrived in France in the late 70's, and TV programs bought a lot of japanese cartoons rights throughout the 80's and 90's, because it was cheaper than producing their own cartoons. There was a TV kids program in the beginning of the 90's that was very popular, and famous for having only (or almost only) japanese cartoons : that's likely the program you watched, it was called "Club Dorothée".

That sounds about right. I wrote some of the (French language) show names down in a notebook somewhere, to reference when I got home, but never did heh. No real internet back then heh. I do recall some of the shows broadcast were "Cat's Eye", the infamous "City Hunter" (I'd recently seen the Jackie Chan movie so I knew what to expect here!), and I believe "Rose of Versailles". Plenty more that escape me currently.

All we really got in the UK in that vein was Gatchaman (aka Battle of the Planets), and just series one. We had a reasonably thriving animation industry here (witness "Dangermouse" for example!) and pretty much most of the imports came from the US, for obvious language reasons.

I guess the last question really is... why did the French TV stations import Japanese cartoons and not the American ones? Maybe the Japanese cartoons were cheaper still than the US imports of the 80s.

Mayhem wrote: I guess the last question really is... why did the French TV stations import Japanese cartoons and not the American ones? Maybe the Japanese cartoons were cheaper still than the US imports of the 80s.

I did a little more digging on the topic, and found that japanese cartoons were indeed cheaper than american and european ones in the 80s, which is why french TV was so eager to buy the japanese animes.
I guess since the UK TV didn't have to pay for the dubbing of american cartoons, it may have been cheaper (and also simpler) to just buy american ones.