New York Times Best Seller Ending 10/17/09

New York Times Manga Best Seller List for the week ending October 17th includes three shojo titles. Here are the week's shojo rankings:

#4
Chibi Vampire 14

#5
Vampire Kisses:
Blood Relatives 3#7

Skip Beat 19

New York Times Best Seller Ending 10/10/09

New York Times Manga Best Seller List for the week ending October 10th includes five shojo titles. Here are the week's shojo rankings.

#3
Chibi Vampire 14

#5

Vampire Kisses, Blood Relatives 3#6
Skip Beat 19

#8

Shugo Chara! 7

#9
Wild Ones 8

Shōjo Sensei: Secondary School Class Structures

Undoubtedly, those who have read manga or watched anime for quite some time will have determined that Japanese school systems are organized somewhat different than in native English speaking countries. The most marked difference is the fact that upper secondary education (high school) is not mandatory in Japan. Public education can be completed at 15 years of age. Despite that, most students do choose to attend upper secondary, and it is a rigorous process to study and take entrance exams for schools in high demand. Their families must save the money to pay for the education as well, since it is not publicly funded like in America.

If you are familiar with Nakamura's Skip Beat!, main heroine Kyoko decides not to go to high school in order to work and support her best guy, Sho. She later resents him for depriving her of a "fun high school life", and treasures getting to wear a high school uniform for a commercial shoot.
Japanese upper secondary schools consist of three grade levels, equivalent to American grades 10-12. I've noticed in different translations terms such as freshman and senior are used, but more commonly the class translations have been changed to first, second or third years.

In the published translation of Hatori's Ouran High School Host Club, the character introductions include the students' year of school.


In comparison, most American and native English secondary schools are structured so that there are 4 to 5 years of upper secondary instruction, mandatory until students are 17 to 18 years of age.

Mangas of the Month (Yes, a tie vote!) - July 2009

I asked and you responded. Our mangas for the month of July are...

From Eroica With Love

By YASUKO AOIKE

&

Skip Beat!
By YOSHIKI NAKAMURA

Both series have extremely devout fan bases, and are produced by very talented mangakas. If you haven't already, find a copy of either of these titles and find out what you've been missing!

From CMX:
"FROM EROICA WITH LOVE is the masterwork manga of Yasuko Aoike serialized in Akita Shoten's Princess magazine since 1976! Set in Continental Europe, it depicts the adventures of British aristocrat Dorian Red Gloria and his alter ego Eroica, Europe's most wanted international art thief. His nemesis — Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, a German NATO intelligence officer — has tried for years to catch the man who claims each crime scene with a card signed "From Eroica with Love." Things are just getting started when a trio of telepathically linked teenagers becomes aware of Dorian's identity and plans to capture him. But their plot goes awry as the master thief branches out — no longer content with stealing great art, he's moving on. Now the trio must foil his attempts to kidnap their leader, Caesar, as they try to save the great art treasures of Europe!"

CMX will be releasing the newest chapters of From Eroica with Love in volume 14, on July 15, 2009.

From Viz Media:
SKIP BEAT!
"Kyoko Mogami followed her true love Sho to Tokyo to support him while he made it big as an idol. But he's casting her out now that he's famous! Kyoko won't suffer in silence--she's going to get her sweet revenge by beating Sho in show biz!"

Volume 18, the most recent release of Skip Beat! was available in May 2009. The next volume, 19, will be released by Viz media on October 6, 2009.

Shōjo Sensei: Senpai and Kōhai

If you've watched anime or read manga long enough you've undoubtedly come across the term senpai. Even without a dictionary it was pretty easy to figure out that a senpai was someone with more experience and was looked up to. In shōjo manga it is most commonly seen in a school setting, when an underclassman refers to an upperclassman, however it can also be seen in work settings when a new hire refers to a co-worker with more experience. Senpai and kōhai have a reciprocal relationship in that the senpai are obligated to lead and train the kōhai, while the kōhai help the senpai with their tasks in order to learn from them.

For a long time I knew the honorific of senpai, but didn't realize that the "underclassman" also has the honorific of kōhai. There's only been one instance in which I've seen kōhai used, and it was in a scanlation. This made me wonder why the English publishing companies don't keep ALL the honorifics. You see senpai commonly enough, so why not kōhai? Usually it's replaced with the term freshman or first year.

Senpai and kōhai relationships are very common in shōjo manga since many are in a school setting. Some examples are Haruna and Yoh from High School Debut, Chiaki and Nodame in Nodame Cantabile, Ren and Kyoko from Skip Beat, and Mayama and Takemoto in Honey and Clover.

If you want to add any more senpai-kōhai relationships to the list, please feel free to comment.

Until next time - Arigatō!

M³ - Memorable Manga Moments: Skip Beat

This week's is from a fairly recent release, Skip Beat vol. 18, by Yoshiki Nakamura. It's technically two different moments, but I really like the reactions shown by the two men. Koo, whom Kyoko is assisting for LME, assigns her to act like a young boy, Kuon, who was once his son. The man's reaction on the first day she comes as Kuon is great! He's half-asleep and was really expecting his son since Kyoko was talking in English, then he looks and realizes it's Kyoko.

But what's even better is when Ren sees Kyoko when they both end up at the same site during the work day. Kyoko is acting her role as Kuon when she runs past Ren in a hallway.

Oh, such good stuff! Ren's reaction is heartstopping. If you've read the story then you know the connections between Koo, Ren, and Kuon. The fact that Kyoko nails the role just shows how well she understands "Kuon". The two guys' reactions are priceless. Two very memorable Skip Beat moments. Great plot, Nakamura!