Rocky III Manga

[SK3]

This is kind of interesting; Thunderlips manga!

[tradewynd]

If the image was larger I may be able to translate the whole thing. The black spark on the first/right page says "It's a Guillotine Drop!" The sound effect on the right page is "boosh" and in the top left box is a long loud "gooong" sound.

[HULKAMANIA]

Hey, that is awesome. They should make an anime cartoon version of Hulk Hogan. ;D

Thanks for posting!

[tradewynd]

First and foremost, anime are not cartoons. Cartoons are what Disney makes. Anime is art. These is a big difference.

Secondly, people don't go from wrestling to anime. It's actually the opposite, wrestling gimmicks come from anime and manga. Tiger Mask for example, was highly successful manga and anime before Sayama had the gimmick. Established wrestlers did appear in Tiger Mask to try to make it feel more like real puroresu though. Jushin Thunder Liger (Zyushin Sundaa Raigaa in Japanese for those who care) likewise came from an anime by the same name. Unlike Tiger Mask, it bombed in a big way and was considered to suck by pretty much everyone who saw it. That was really an accomplishment, because anime in the "alien with super powers uses them to fight evil aliens" genre follow the Ultraman Formula and thus are really hard to screw up.

Even that aside, Hogan really wasn't over enough in Japan to justify the investment of cel animation. If anyone would have gotten their own anime, it would be Antonio Inoki. As off his rocker as he is now, they call him Kami-sama (God) for a reason. It's difficult to describe just how big he is to people who haven't done the research to follow his career. To say that he is 100 times as big in Japan as Hogan was at his peak in America is not an exaggeration.

[HULKAMANIA]

tradewynd said:

First and foremost, anime are not cartoons. Cartoons are what Disney makes. Anime is art. These is a big difference.

Secondly, people don't go from wrestling to anime. It's actually the opposite, wrestling gimmicks come from anime and manga. Tiger Mask for example, was highly successful manga and anime before Sayama had the gimmick. Established wrestlers did appear in Tiger Mask to try to make it feel more like real puroresu though. Jushin Thunder Liger (Zyushin Sundaa Raigaa in Japanese for those who care) likewise came from an anime by the same name. Unlike Tiger Mask, it bombed in a big way and was considered to suck by pretty much everyone who saw it. That was really an accomplishment, because anime in the "alien with super powers uses them to fight evil aliens" genre follow the Ultraman Formula and thus are really hard to screw up.

Even that aside, Hogan really wasn't over enough in Japan to justify the investment of cel animation. If anyone would have gotten their own anime, it would be Antonio Inoki. As off his rocker as he is now, they call him Kami-sama (God) for a reason. It's difficult to describe just how big he is to people who haven't done the research to follow his career. To say that he is 100 times as big in Japan as Hogan was at his peak in America is not an exaggeration.

Ummm.. I was joking. Hence the smiley. If I was serious, I would have said something along the lines of "After seeing this manga, I think some consderation should be given to making a Hulk Hogan anime."

It was humor not ignorance.

I merely said "cartoon" because not everyone knows the difference between Anime and Manga. Manga is to Comic Book as Anime is too Cartoon. I considred saying an animated Anime but that didn't sound right.
I have a great deal of respect for Anime. I'd probably watch more, but I simply don't have time for it. I have a set of Big O and am getting Big O II probably around Christmas, but I haven't finished watching the first Big O, because I never have the time to take it in fully and enjoy it.

Now I know that is sort of a main stream Anime in a U.S. do to its numerous plays on Adult Swim/CN but hey, I like what I saw. My other fave is one that I think it was called "Blood" that's got the little girl that's a vampire. One of my best friends is an Anime freak and wants me to go with him to one of those Cons where everybody dresses up. I told him I'll think about if I can get a suit like Roger Smith.

I apologize if my intial post offended you in some way.

[tradewynd]

I'm one of those sick people that cosplay at cons too. Anime and manga are why I'm fluent in Japanese, although kanji is really hard. Damn those Chinese and their impossible writing system.

Being what Americans call an otaku since I was 3, I'm rather touchy about the way outsiders portray the art, as Cartoon Network has done enough damage as it is. As someone who has taken bumps for 7 years, I'm also touchy about the way some outsiders portray the business.

No offense was taken. I was merely clarifying to avoid confusion as there are enough misperceptions among outsiders as it is. It also gave me an opportunity to show off my knowledge about obscure 70s and 80s wreslting-related anime. (^_^)V

For your own sake, I would avoid watching anything on Cartoon Network. Not only do they show English dubs, which feature voice talent of very low quality and highly inaccurate translations, but they edit the hell out of everything they show on top of that. For the pittance I sell things for, and how easily accessible anime DVD rentals and DVD burners are, there's no reason to eat the scraps they throw you. Not to mention that 99.999% of the really good stuff, like Azumanga Daioh, Macross, Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma Ichi no Hanbun, Nadesico, Comic Party, Comic Party Revolution, Full Metal Panic, Taiho Schicyauzo, GTO and so many more will never appear on American TV. And they will never EEEEEVER show hentai on free TV.

[Sir Auron]

tradewynd, how did you learn to read Kanji? Did you attend any classes, or did you manage to learn it all by yourself? I mean did you study Japanese on your own?

[tradewynd]

I'm not sure what you've tried in the past to learn Japanese, but I'm answering assuming that you have not extensively tried any specific class or method, and that you do not presently speak Japanese.

I am self-taught, although consensus opinion seems to be that most people cannot teach themselves Japanese due to elements that exist in Japanese which do not exist in English. In some ways it is similar to English, and in other ways very different. For example, there are many different ways to say "I" in Japanese. Which one you use can say a lot about your personality, and some can be rude in some circumstances. A man using the feminine "atashi" is not only hilarious, but quite embarrassing from what I've been told. I typically use "ore" to refer to myself, which I can get away with only because I am a wrestler. It is generally considered a rude way of referring to oneself, although many athletes and almost all male wrestlers use it. Some books will erroneously say it is simply the masculine form of I, which is highly inaccurate. Just one of the many things you have to adjust to when speaking Japanese that do not exist in English. It is really not as difficult as it sounds, and the honorific system (-san, -chan, -senshi, -sensei, -kun, etc.) is a lot easier to get used to than you might think.

If you watch fansubbed anime, many times fansubbers will take the time to explain the idiosyncrasies of the language. I find it easy to pick up this way, since I am seeing it used in a practical situation. It’s also easy to pick up how to say certain English expressions in Japanese. For example, if someone asks you to meet him at 7 and you can’t be there at seven, you would say “Seven is a little…” The “that don’t work for me brother” part is implied.

You have to learn to speak before you learn how to read, or do both at the same time. If you don't understand the syntax of the language it isn't going to do any good to translate a convoluted sentence that doesn't make sense to you.

For getting the basics on speaking, I recommend Pimsleur's Japanese. If you're not oozing money I can hook you up. More info on it here:
www.pimsleurapproach.com/learn-japanese.asp?
If by chance someone has Pimsleur's Cantonese, Korean, Thai or Mandarin I would love to trade.

Reading is more challenging. I learned kana (hiragana and katakana) from looking at charts I found online, although that was a mistake in the long run since I never learned the stroke order that way. For kanji I've been using the 60s Harvard textbook called Learning Japanese. I don't remember who the author was off the top of my head, but it has a green cover and the title in white block letters. It should be less than 10 bucks. I can get the ISBN if you're interested in tracking down a copy. The translation it gives for the kanji into English isn't always the way it would be normally used, and it gives you all readings that a given kanji has at once, so having some basic understanding of the language before using the book to learn kanji would be helpful. Many readings noted in the book were obscure in the 60s and have become more obscure since, but are present for completeness. You don’t have to kill yourself learning every reading for every kanji right from the get go.

Something that can help is reading manga that puts hiragana over kanji so when you come to words you don't know you can sound them out and learn them that way. From what I've seen this is present in most manga which have strong readership among children. Every issue of Sailor Moon I have does this, while only 1 of 12 Ranma Ichi no Hanbun books do.

The main problem I have with the kanji is remembering the stroke order, writing legibly (my handwriting is horrible) and keeping all of those kanji in my brain when I don't use them all of the time. You need to know just under 2,000 well to be considered legally literate. Most people know about 5,000. You don’t have the be fully literate in kanji to get around in Tokyo, and there are four testing levels to determine your level of Japanese literacy. Not all jobs will require you to be fully literate.

I would also recommend using hypnosis products geared at improving your learning speed when trying to learn a language. There are some products out there which can unlock the part of your brain that learned your native language when you were a child, which would let you pick up foreign languages as easily as you did English. On the other hand, if you use a general learning enhancer the benefits will apply to anything you do in life. Or better yet, use both. In order to get the maximum benefit listen to any hypnosis product at least once a day everyday for 28 days. The way the subconscious mind is wired it will generally accept permanent change after 28 days. Continuing to listen after 28 days will bring greater results.

If I can be of further assistance just let me know.