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Lord, What fools these Otaku be...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:58 pm
by EricTheFred
Cliffsnotes goes 'OEL Manga' all over Shakespeare:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-02-12/cliffsnotes-sells-manga-inspired-shakespeare-guides

And the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune get just a wee bit nastier for poor old Will...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:25 pm
by minakichan
I totally facefaulted at this, and I can't figure out if it's more because a) there's the whole "big eyes and swooshy hair a manga make" or b) they're coming out with illustrated CliffNotes. Illustrated Cliffnotes! WHAT?

PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:27 pm
by uc pseudonym
I have no problem with manga, obviously. I have no problem with adaptations of classic literature. But this seems a bit bizarre. Though Shakespeare is very low on my list of classic authors, even I want to keep the integrity of the text itself. Where did the iambic pentameter go, I ask you?*

Secondly, I really don't see how this will help (except for classes where you need to know nothing but a basic synopsis of the story). Coming from the "SAT-prep OEL manga" people, though, I should expect this kind of thing.

minakichan wrote:Illustrated Cliffnotes! WHAT?

As I see it, this is a step toward removing words entirely so that lazy students won't have to read at all.

*If they didn't change the dialogue and kept it formatted such, I retract the comment with my apologies.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:00 pm
by ShiroiHikari
Is it just me, or does the art look like a very, very pale imitation of "manga-style"? It didn't really look that good at all from the pictures of the covers.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:23 pm
by LadyRushia
ShiroiHikari wrote:Is it just me, or does the art look like a very, very pale imitation of "manga-style"? It didn't really look that good at all from the pictures of the covers.

Yeah, I thought so as well. "Manga-style" cliffnotes, what is the world coming to?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:50 pm
by Kanerou
I agree. If it was the full play, fine. But what the heck? *hopes someone else will illustrate full versions*

Just as a random thought, I wonder how many people that call anime filthy are avid readers of/liked Shakespearean plays.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:40 pm
by LadyRushia
Kanerou wrote:Just as a random thought, I wonder how many people that call anime filthy are avid readers of/liked Shakespearean plays.

I wonder that as well; but I guess Shakespeare is excused because it's literature and anime is just a bunch of "silly cartoons."

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:47 am
by rocklobster
LadyRushia (post: 1199074) wrote:Yeah, I thought so as well. "Manga-style" cliffnotes, what is the world coming to?


I take it you never heard of Classics Illustrated? This was a series of graphic novels that were adaptations of classic works. I doubt seriously the manga version of Shakespeare will differ much from that idea.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:51 pm
by LadyRushia
I was half-joking when I said that, XD. I know that other people have done this sort of thing before.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:27 pm
by whisperingloon
As a former English teacher (I resigned last year to write full time -- hardest decision of my life), I can say I've always wanted to have a full length Manga Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is meant to be watched. Period. As with any good drama. A good drama can be in any language and almost anyone will be able to follow it, if the characters do their job.

"That blonde guy is angry at that bald dude because they both love the same woman."

Unfortunately, English classrooms too often focus on the "WORDS WORDS WORDS" and lose the students, until they pop in the movie at the end of the unit. We can complain about lazy students, but let's face facts: kids have hated Shakespeare for centuries.

Because it's meant to be SEEN. Not READ.

So, a manga Shakespeare would work INCREDIBLY by allowing the students to see the visual cues they were meant to see, while being able to at the same time focus on the words. So when all these minor characters show up, they have the visual cue of the face and costuming and KNOW it's so-and-so. And they can also get the visual cue of the person's emotional state before plowing into the soliloquy.

Unfortunately, while I tried to get a couple of my publishers to consider such a thing, and a couple of them agreed it would be something they could sell . . . now we've got everyone and their brother doing it. (And most not doing it well -- I couldn't use any of the ones that I have seen in a classroom setting.)

So Ben Avery's Romeo and Juliet has become a pipe dream.

Some day . . .

Some day . . .

~ Ben

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:35 pm
by Maledicte
But...they already came out with graphic novel versions of Shakespeare. I saw them at Barnes & Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sparknotes/nofear-shakespeare/index.asp?bnit=H&bnrefer=CMEC by Sparknotes, no less...

But they're not manga... alright...

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:42 pm
by Cognitive Gear
SirThinks2Much (post: 1207926) wrote:But...they already came out with graphic novel versions of Shakespeare. I saw them at Barnes & Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sparknotes/nofear-shakespeare/index.asp?bnit=H&bnrefer=CMEC by Sparknotes, no less...

But they're not manga... alright...


I had no idea that my distaste for the arbitrary separation of "manga" from "comics" could grow worse. Apparently it just did.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:33 am
by whisperingloon
SirThinks2Much (post: 1207926) wrote:But...they already came out with graphic novel versions of Shakespeare. I saw them at Barnes & Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sparknotes/nofear-shakespeare/index.asp?bnit=H&bnrefer=CMEC by Sparknotes, no less...


That's the closest I've seen to anything that could be used in a classroom.

~ Ben

PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:25 pm
by Maledicte
Cognitive Gear (post: 1207929) wrote:I had no idea that my distaste for the arbitrary separation of "manga" from "comics" could grow worse. Apparently it just did.

Not sure if you're commenting on my distinction or the publishers/general public's distinction of the two, but I'll go with the latter.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:47 pm
by Tsukuyomi
That cover needs better arts u_u/