Fred Schodt's latest book is a sequel to MANGA! MANGA!

If you're reading this magazine, you most likely don't need to be told what manga are. But that doesn't mean that you know everything there is to know about it, either. In fact, it has been my experience that even some of the most devout anime and manga fans know little of what the phenomenon of manga is like in Japan.
More than just a history lesson or a big book of statistics, DREAMLAND JAPAN is a collection of essays on a wide variety of manga-related topics--such as racism in comics, censorship and free speech in comics, girl's comics, doujinshi, and a chapter on various artists and their work, including the legendary Tezuka Osamu, the "god of comics."
When I was a graduate assistant, I used to use chapters of Mr. Schodt's previous book, MANGA! MANGA! THE WORLD OF JAPANESE COMICS in my classes to give students an idea of how powerful a medium they are in Japan. It worked well, but as time went on, I found that the material seemed to become dated. DREAMLAND is full of up-to-date material, and also a wider variety of topics than was covered in MANGA! MANGA!.
Of great interest to me personally was the section dealing with the comics of the Aum Shinrikyo. The Aum apparently had both a manga and anime studio that it was using to spread its ideas and beliefs. For the whole story, though, you will have to read the book, as Mr. Schodt's retelling of this story--and his attempt at trying to locate Aum manga--is fascinating.
The entire book has an almost rhythmic cadence, which is derived from Mr. Schodt's easygoing writing style. Although this is a nonfiction book, the voice is not a scholarly droning, but rather one of passion. And Mr. Schodt knows when to throw in a bit of humor to keep things in perspective and keep the reader turning pages.
There are also a large number of illustrations throughout the book. Nothing is more exasperating than reading a book about something very visual (such as comics) that has few or no illustrations. Mr. Schodt has included a very large sampling of covers, pages, and panels in his book to provide a wide variety of examples for the reader. The anime and manga fan will enjoy finding pictures of some familiar faces, and may also discover some new ones that look to be worth a read.
One section that will be of particular note to American fans is the section dealing with American anime and manga fandom. In a way, it is nice for us American fans to be given the same 'legitimacy' as our Japanese counterparts. I have to admit, though, that it's a little disconcerting reading about a group to which you belong. I felt, I imagine, rather like one of Jane Goodall's gorillas would have if they had been able to read any of her books. It will most certainly make you think twice before you get up to sing karaoke at the next anime convention you attend.
While perhaps not all of the topics covered will interest the average reader, this book is a solid background in manga as an industry, a component of popular culture, and an cross-cultural phenomenon. If you have any interest in manga outside of just reading it for its own sake, this is a book that I would highly recommend.

DREAMLAND JAPAN: WRITINGS ON MODERN MANGA
BY FREDERIK L. SCHODT
STONEBRIDGE PRESS
360 PAGES (PAPERBACK)
ISBN 1-880656-23-X
$16.95