Review

Manga has conquered America. Or so declares the November issue of the U.S. tech magazine Wired, which carries a 10-page manga story describing how manga is reshaping American pop culture. Booming manga sales which, according to the magazine, account for almost two-thirds of the $330-million graphic novel market in the U.S. also mean much of the traditional American comics are doomed. Charles Danziger, a New York lawyer with Japanese clients and a keen cartoonist, has been inspired by the reversal of fortunes between the two forms. That’s why he teamed up with manga artist Mimei Sakamoto on a cultural guide to Japan titled “Harvey & Etsuko’s Manga Guide to Japan.” The book, which mixes manga illustrations with American comic strips, features four characters Danziger and Sakamoto, as well as their alter-egos: Harvey, a New York mouse drawn by Danziger in a Garfield-esque, traditional cartoon style, and Etsuko, a sexy manga cat drawn by Sakamoto. Harvey, originally not interested in Japan, comes to the country looking for work. There he meets Etsuko, and the two discover Japan together and become great friends. The 192-page paperback covers aspects of Japanese society that many Western visitors find odd or amusing, such as the common sight of men practicing golf swings on train platforms. It also contains “Harvey’s Little Extra Guide to Japan” Danziger’s short, witty essays on various Japanese customs and cultures, ranging from tea ceremony and society’s tolerance for the yakuza to the kawaii (cute) phenomenon and plastic food samples seen in restaurant windows. Like many of the female characters in Japanese manga and anime, Sakamoto’s drawings of herself and Etsuko are cute but also busty and seductive, often pouting their thick and glossy lips. Sakamoto, who rose to fame drawing “ladies’ comics,” a manga genre for the adult female audience rich with graphic sex scenes, insists that these are badly needed features to give the book an “edge.” –The Japan Times, Dec. 4, 2007

Product Description

Charles Danziger and Mimei Sakamoto team up for a zany “West Meets East” look at what happens when a cartoon mouse from Manhattan asks a cartoon cat from Tokyo to help him find the keys to fame and fortune Japan. Etsuko offers to introduce Harvey to the country’s most famous manga artist, but only if he can first pass a test about all things Japanese. Meanwhile, Harvey is on another, equally important misson — to track down a kidnapped cartoonist known as “The Big Cheez.” Thus begins Harvey’s adventure into the wonderful world of capsule hotels, public baths, pachinko parlors, karaoke clubs… and more!