the Anime & Manga web page of the Griffin (part 1 of 6)

the Anime & Manga page of the Griffin
a.k.a. : My Anime & Manga page.
10th Anniversary
An informative page for the most hard core of fans, the novices & ones new to it, those who do not even know what A. & M. is, & those anywhere in the middle.

Click here to bypass the opening notes & comments. (But please do read them sometime so you will know why parts or all of the pages may show up strange & other jabber.)

Unless your browser handles Japanese or you have a J.I.S. code based generator or program running in the background, the Japanese on my web pages (& many others) will be "gibberish". (Shift J.I.S. is in use here, not J.I.S. or EUC)
Later versions of M. S. Internet Explorer & a few other browsers have a downloadable program for use with the browser for viewing pages in J.I.S. code. Even newer versions of M. S. I. E. have a program already in it. (Go to "View" on the menu bar, then go to "Encoding", & select the one you need. (You may need to go to "Other" or "More" to find the various Japanese codes.))
Later on I might put the Japanese as images so everyone can see it. I will be glad to tell you about the program I use to input Japanese ; just ask.

Much better versions (twice the quality) of the pictures on these pages are available from me ; just ask for the one(s) you want. (My e-mail address is near the end.)

This site is best viewed with the AOL browser.
With SPRY Mosaic the paragraphs & images will not line up as they are supposed to, plus the style & size of the letters may not be correct.
With Netscape the images may not line up as they are supposed to & style of the letters may not be correct.
With M. S. Internet Explorer it will appear as intended if none of the font size or type changes are selected & the full width of the screen is used.
With Firefox it depends on how it is set &/or setup (which I am not going to go into for now).
As far as with other browsers, I do not know.
I am aware of the "Best viewed with any browser" campaign & have nothing against it, but I gave a "be aware of this" for viewing these pages with whichever browser.
Also having the color resolution in both the browser program & Windows, Mac OS, or other system set to 16.7 million (or more) colors is best. (If the browser does not have that option, it goes on how the Windows, Mac OS, or other system is set.) Plus if your browser allows you to choose compressed or uncompressed graphics, setting it to uncompressed or best quality is recommended.

This page has an "easy on the eyes" gray background.

Advisory : If this site were a movie, it would be rated PG-13 or TV14 if it were a tv
show. This is due to certain things I mention & certain ways I talk about things.

Note : the following message & the page(s) it links to were posted a few years before the major happenings of Sept. 2001 & the procedures implemented at major airports thereafter.
Tired of crowds, long lines, parking hassles, having to arrive a few hours before the flight is scheduled to leave, delays, cancellations, strikes, annoying or unruly passengers, &/or lost or stolen baggage when traveling by air, or want to get your business or company ahead ? If so, > click here <. Note : the proceeding message & the page(s) it links to were posted a few years before the major happenings of Sept. 2001 & the procedures implemented at major airports thereafter.

My ÆAÆjÆÆ Æ• –ÆÆæÆiÆÜÆñÆªÆj (Anime &Manga) page

Escaflowne scene (& scenery)

Here are shortcuts to selected sections of the page, but please do read all of the pages.
Prelude (No, not a car Honda made) / Preface.
What is Anime & Manga ? (& what is it not)
A major misconception.
Why do the "people" in it look like that ?
Notable differences of Anime (& Manga) as compared to other animation (& comics), & why in most cases it is better. (still composing)
Other aspects of Anime & Manga. (still composing)
More serious than "cartoons". (still composing)
Formats & merchandise.
But where do I get that stuff (without going to Japan) ? But if you can, go to Japan !
Resources for finding places that have Anime & Manga.
Anime magazines.
Video / movie notes.
More information, some (more) resources, a few clubs, & a few more links.
My questions. Questions I have.
My babbling, other related sites of mine, & how to contact me. (Plus in search of a certain type of person.)
A message to all Anime fan subbers, fan sub. distributors, & those that have fan subs (to keep them).

from Saint Tail (Anime version) from Taiho Shite Mi-na

   I have always liked ÆAÆjÆÆ Æ• –ÆÆæÆiÆÜÆñÆªÆj (Anime & Manga) since 1980 (I was 11 yrs. old then), but in fall of 1995 I saw (& paid attention to) the North American version of Sailor Moon & went crazy ; it was like pouring gasoline on my low burning "I like Anime" fire.
   As far as ÆÖÆñÆÄÆ¢ (Hentai) & Æ¦Æ¦Æ¿ (Eechi) (the 'dirty' Anime & Manga), I only like it very little ; but I hate it when characters that were not meant for Hentai or Eechi wind up in it.
   I like Anime & Manga more so because it is Japanese. I love Japan & Japanese culture, language, people, & things (since 1978). (The story behind this & the reasons why are in a document / text I wrote & may be on another of my web pages. (or you could ask me))
I also like Korea & Korean culture, language, people, & things alot. But that is another story (, sort of). Well, there is something I like about all Oriental (plus Phillipine) cultures, languages, people, & things. But that still is another story (, sort of).

What is Anime [ah nee may] & Manga [mahn ga] (for those of you who do not know) ? It is Japanese pop art or pop culture style animation & comics (Manga is the comics & still drawings of Anime may also be called Manga due to the literal meaning of the word which is "lax drawing") (Well to be more precise, Manga (the Japanese style or way of lax drawing) is the style in which Manga style comics & most Anime are drawn in.) I sometimes call it modern traditional Japanese animation & comics, but I am not sure if that may be correct or not. In most cases, an Anime was a Manga style comic first. There are also video games (arcade, computer, or game system) that use the Manga or Anime style. These games may or may not have anything to do with a tv. or movie Anime or Manga (comic). In some cases, a game later on becomes a tv. series or movie.
Not all Japanese animation is Anime. There is animation done in Japan that is not of that pop art / pop culture style (Manga style) & most times is not a Japanese idea. Some examples of this would be : Disney (/ Eisner) productions where the animation was done by Disney Japan (that does NOT include true Anime stuff done by others that had nothing to do with Disney (/ Eisner), then Disney (/ Eisner) bought the rights to it later), (the animation part of) some of the episodes of "The Animaniacs" & "Tiny Toon Adventures", the animation in the latest cartoon versions of "Batman" & "Superman" (by W.B.), & the DIC production of "Dennis The Menace".
(note : "Sailor Moon" is a (commercially broadcast / released) dub by DIC (& now by Cloverway), but it is (originally) a true Anime, the same with the dub of "Dragon Ball" by Funimation (now distributed by Saban), "Pokémon" (original name is "Pocket Monsters") by 4Kids & W.B.), & other original true Anime that has been commercially broadcast / released in the U.S. & countries other than Japan (like Gundam Wing, Digimon, Outlaw Star, Cardcaptor (Cardcaptor Sakura), Jin Roh, Inuyasha, etc.).
There is also what I call "half Anime". This is where the idea was not Japanese but the animation is done in Japan & is of the Anime style. I had some examples of this but it turned out that they are (commercially broadcast / released) dubs of true Anime. But those versions of "Batman" & "Superman" I mentioned & "Gargoyles" (by Disney (/ Eisner)) can go here because more elements of Anime are used in the production. (Or are those series done by a Korean company ?)
A side note : I happened to see an episode of the version of "Batman" I mentioned earlier that had a character that was very Anime (Manga style) looking &/or drawn. (The one that aired 27 Mar. 1998 on station KTLA.)
Well, the Korean style is alot like Japan(ese) as far as some cultural aspects (not having to do with animation) (more similar than if either is compared to Chinese for example). The animation in "The Simpsons" is done by a Korean studio, yet the idea of the show & everything else is American. It is sure not Korean pop art or pop culture style animation (if such a thing exists). Is there a such thing as Korean pop art or pop culture style animation & comics ? ? If there is a such thing, is it like Anime & Manga ? If someone knows, please tell me. (I do not know if there was a such thing when I first asked this question in 1996, but in 2002, I started seeing a form of Korean pop art or pop culture comics that is very much like Manga.)
As far as professional &/or gone into production stuff (not counting subs or dubs of Japanese productions) that has a Manga &/or Anime style, but is not done in Japan, or by an outside Japan division of a Japanese company, or by a group of Japanese outside of Japan, I do not know what to call that. (At this time there is very little of that, but it is slowly growing.) Whatever you or I call it, it is not "true" Manga or Anime ; Manga & Anime is one of those things that is specific to a country (even though it is liked worldwide), in this case it is Japan.

(side note : I also like American (only up until the late mid 1990s, then it is very very little after then) & other animation / cartoons.)

A misconception of Anime (especially to those not familiar (enough) with it) is that most or (even) all of it is pornography (Hentai & Eechi) ; this is NOT true as far as Anime is concerned. Less than 20% of Anime is porn. (This is only counting work done by commercial producers & studios that have a license or are the creators of a series, not fan art & unlicensed works of those ; yet still a low percentage of fan art & unlicensed works are Hentai & Eechi.) With Manga, the percentage is higher, but it is still not most or all of it.

model of ASUKA from Evagelion Why do I use the term "commercially broadcast &/or commercially released" when I was talking about dubs earlier ? I assume you already know what dubbing & subtitling are, well I use the term to mean it was professionally dubbed or subtitled by some company & broadcast on regular, cable, or satellite tv., released (legally) on video, or both.
There are dubbed &/or subtitled versions (of other shows & movies) that are done by amateurs (& sometimes professionals) that are NOT commercially broadcast / released. These are usually called fansubs & fandubs. You have to know where to go to find or view them ; I have links to a few sources on part 5 of this page (like the one called Fansub Database). I can not be sure but I think it is legal as long as it is not for sell or rent, not broadcast, & if it is to be viewed publicly, the audience does not pay a fee to see it. I would like to hear from any lawyer or anyone else that knows the copyright laws as it pertains to this. At the Anime America convention they had a Dub Your Own Anime workshop so I guess it is legal but with limitations.