HANGING BALLOONS BY JUNJI ITO: COMPLETE!

Hanging Balloons by Junji Ito is now completely posted on the Same Hat Tumblr! Many thanks again to Dave & Michael for sharing their fan translation with everyone!

Enjoy this madness, one of my favorite "short stories" by the dude! For your reading enjoyment, here are links to each of the 59 pages (thanks to ----comix):


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

HANGING BALLOONS BY JUNJI ITO: COMPLETE!

Hanging Balloons by Junji Ito is now completely posted on the Same Hat Tumblr! Many thanks again to Dave & Michael for sharing their fan translation with everyone!

Enjoy this madness, one of my favorite "short stories" by the dude! For your reading enjoyment, here are links to each of the 59 pages (thanks to ----comix):


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

HANGING BALLOONS BY JUNJI ITO

I just got back from a quick trip to Texas to visit my mom and aunts/cousins for the holiday. I'm working on some final posts of the year, after a pitiful lack of any posts on Same Hat in December! GUHHHH. SORRY GUYS!

I do have some exciting news about a posting experiment of sorts! Thanks to the generosity of Michael & Dave, I’m serializing their skillful and impressive fan translation of HANGING BALLOONS by Junji Ito over on the Same Hat TUMBLR. I've been posting 5 pages a day, and you can start at the beginning and read them in reverse order (if you aren't already)!



Hanging Balloons is a longer standalone story that would have been part of the Museum of Terror series had it not been killed off by Dark Horse after volume three. We're up to page 34 already, and shit is about to go down that will haunt your dreams! The entire story should be complete by Monday, January 3 if my mental math is on point.




GO CHECK IT OUT! (and subscribe to the Same Hat Tumblr if you like things that are awesome).

HANGING BALLOONS BY JUNJI ITO

I just got back from a quick trip to Texas to visit my mom and aunts/cousins for the holiday. I'm working on some final posts of the year, after a pitiful lack of any posts on Same Hat in December! GUHHHH. SORRY GUYS!

I do have some exciting news about a posting experiment of sorts! Thanks to the generosity of Michael & Dave, I’m serializing their skillful and impressive fan translation of HANGING BALLOONS by Junji Ito over on the Same Hat TUMBLR. I've been posting 5 pages a day, and you can start at the beginning and read them in reverse order (if you aren't already)!



Hanging Balloons is a longer standalone story that would have been part of the Museum of Terror series had it not been killed off by Dark Horse after volume three. We're up to page 34 already, and shit is about to go down that will haunt your dreams! The entire story should be complete by Monday, January 3 if my mental math is on point.




GO CHECK IT OUT! (and subscribe to the Same Hat Tumblr if you like things that are awesome).

TERRIFYING GYO FIGURINE BY ANDRÉ PETER

[RSS readers, this post features galleries using PictoBrowser; Please click through to the blog to view them!]

Today I received these photos of a horrifying and badass handmade figurine by longtime Same Hat reader, André Peter! He's painstakingly depicted the horrible fate of the female protagonist Kaori from Junji Ito's fishpocalypse manga, Gyo. You can check out some pages here on the Viz site, if you haven't already read it.

Enjoy the pictures and let him know what you think in the comments!


To see more of André's sculpture work, head over to this Conceptart.org forum thread. Thanks again for sharing this awesome piece of work, dude!

TERRIFYING GYO FIGURINE BY ANDRÉ PETER

[RSS readers, this post features galleries using PictoBrowser; Please click through to the blog to view them!]

Today I received these photos of a horrifying and badass handmade figurine by longtime Same Hat reader, André Peter! He's painstakingly depicted the horrible fate of the female protagonist Kaori from Junji Ito's fishpocalypse manga, Gyo. You can check out some pages here on the Viz site, if you haven't already read it.

Enjoy the pictures and let him know what you think in the comments!


To see more of André's sculpture work, head over to this Conceptart.org forum thread. Thanks again for sharing this awesome piece of work, dude!

FANTASTIC INTERVIEW WITH JUNJI ITO

My new friend Bharath Murthy emailed me this morning to inform me he's posted a 20 minute video interview with Junji Ito on his site! As mentioned in an earlier post, Bharath and his partner Alka Singh are documentarians (and comics nerds!) living in Tamil Nadu, and run the indian comics and film site, NUMBER21PIX.



CLICK TO WATCH:





This interview was filmed in September 2007, in the top-floor studio of Junji Ito's home in Gifu Prefecture. Like me, Bharath holds Ito-san as one of his all-time favorite mangaka, and took the time to visit him and conduct this interview while filming for he & Alka's forthcoming manga documentary.







Highlights from this fantastic and casual look into Junji Ito's life & work include:

• Ito-san showing off his original script outlines and rough panel layouts, with descriptions of his process when creating manga.



• A long discussion of the influence of urban legends on Ito's manga, how he got the idea and visual inspiration for Tomie, and how he became a manga artist.



• A tour of Junji Ito's studio and art desk, process using mirrors and photo-references in his work, and much more!

After watching the video, please head over to NUMBER21PIX, and say thanks to Bharath for sharing this interview with us!

FANTASTIC INTERVIEW WITH JUNJI ITO

My new friend Bharath Murthy emailed me this morning to inform me he's posted a 20 minute video interview with Junji Ito on his site! As mentioned in an earlier post, Bharath and his partner Alka Singh are documentarians (and comics nerds!) living in Tamil Nadu, and run the indian comics and film site, NUMBER21PIX.



CLICK TO WATCH:





This interview was filmed in September 2007, in the top-floor studio of Junji Ito's home in Gifu Prefecture. Like me, Bharath holds Ito-san as one of his all-time favorite mangaka, and took the time to visit him and conduct this interview while filming for he & Alka's forthcoming manga documentary.







Highlights from this fantastic and casual look into Junji Ito's life & work include:

• Ito-san showing off his original script outlines and rough panel layouts, with descriptions of his process when creating manga.



• A long discussion of the influence of urban legends on Ito's manga, how he got the idea and visual inspiration for Tomie, and how he became a manga artist.



• A tour of Junji Ito's studio and art desk, process using mirrors and photo-references in his work, and much more!

After watching the video, please head over to NUMBER21PIX, and say thanks to Bharath for sharing this interview with us!

NUMBER21PIX HAS MET ALL YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS

I have't yet met Bharath Murthy of the unique media site, NUMBER21PIX, but I can already tell he is a man after my own heart. Bharath, with his partner Alka Singh, runs a video production company that's made a number of documentary shorts about amateur pornography in India for the NHK, and about call centers in Kolkata (among others).

Bharath also writes about Indian comics and culture on his blog, dabbles in drawing 4koma strips and (from what I can gather) is working on a documentary about manga!

You will be jealous and excited (like I was) to learn that in the course of their trip to Japan, they met a handful of our favorite mangaka. Here are some photos:

MOTO HAGIO

Details in this post.

SHINTARO KAGO

Details in this post.

And finally..... Bharath's favorite manga artist:
JUNJI ITO


Details in this post.

They also visited COMIKET in August:

NUMBER21PIX HAS MET ALL YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS

I have't yet met Bharath Murthy of the unique media site, NUMBER21PIX, but I can already tell he is a man after my own heart. Bharath, with his partner Alka Singh, runs a video production company that's made a number of documentary shorts about amateur pornography in India for the NHK, and about call centers in Kolkata (among others).

Bharath also writes about Indian comics and culture on his blog, dabbles in drawing 4koma strips and (from what I can gather) is working on a documentary about manga!

You will be jealous and excited (like I was) to learn that in the course of their trip to Japan, they met a handful of our favorite mangaka. Here are some photos:

MOTO HAGIO

Details in this post.

SHINTARO KAGO

Details in this post.

And finally..... Bharath's favorite manga artist:
JUNJI ITO


Details in this post.

They also visited COMIKET in August:

JUNJI ITO interview clip from BBC3's Japanorama

This clip features a short interview with Junji Ito, conducted by British japanophile Christopher Jonathan Ross. I've heard of his show Japanorama previously when he interviewed Junko Mizuno, but I've never seen it. Despite being sort of lamely "ISN'T JAPAN STRANGE AND UNUSUAL!?" in tone, the show (over its three series to date) covers pretty interesting stuff, usually before it's become played out in western media.

This interview comes from the Kaidan episode (which also features an interview with Takashi Shimizu)and was posted on YouTube earlier this year. Ito's pretty taciturn but it's still a rare chance to see a video of one of my absolute favorites online. Check it out!



And since we're on the subject, here is a picture from a year or two ago of Junji Ito's wedding! I can't remember her name, but his wife (right) is a manga artist too, I hear.


[via Daul]

UPDATE! Here is the Junko Mizuno interview, from an earlier episode of Japanorama:

JUNJI ITO interview clip from BBC3's Japanorama

This clip features a short interview with Junji Ito, conducted by British japanophile Christopher Jonathan Ross. I've heard of his show Japanorama previously when he interviewed Junko Mizuno, but I've never seen it. Despite being sort of lamely "ISN'T JAPAN STRANGE AND UNUSUAL!?" in tone, the show (over its three series to date) covers pretty interesting stuff, usually before it's become played out in western media.

This interview comes from the Kaidan episode (which also features an interview with Takashi Shimizu)and was posted on YouTube earlier this year. Ito's pretty taciturn but it's still a rare chance to see a video of one of my absolute favorites online. Check it out!



And since we're on the subject, here is a picture from a year or two ago of Junji Ito's wedding! I can't remember her name, but his wife (right) is a manga artist too, I hear.


[via Daul]

UPDATE! Here is the Junko Mizuno interview, from an earlier episode of Japanorama:

ITO PARODY: The Enigma of SquarePants Fault?

This is a quick post before the weekend starts. Most of you have probably read volume two of Junji Ito's Gyo, and would agree that the bonus story The Enigma of Amigara Fault is absolutely horrifying and great. If you haven't read it, you can click here and/or pick up a copy of the Viz re-release of Gyo this Fall.

On 4chan and other imageboards, the haunting DRR DRR DRR sound effect became a faddish meme for a while, and someone created this parody; I just found it on someone's LJ this week and wanted to share the wealth.



HAHAHAHA

ITO PARODY: The Enigma of SquarePants Fault?

This is a quick post before the weekend starts. Most of you have probably read volume two of Junji Ito's Gyo, and would agree that the bonus story The Enigma of Amigara Fault is absolutely horrifying and great. If you haven't read it, you can click here and/or pick up a copy of the Viz re-release of Gyo this Fall.

On 4chan and other imageboards, the haunting DRR DRR DRR sound effect became a faddish meme for a while, and someone created this parody; I just found it on someone's LJ this week and wanted to share the wealth.



HAHAHAHA

TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS 2.1: Follow-up on Dark Horse & Frankfurt!

"There are thousands of horror manga and hundreds of creators — it’s just a shame that given our finite lifetimes, we won’t have a chance to expose English-language audiences to everthing that’s out there!"
-Dark Horse Licensing Director Michael Gombos



There have been some really cool responses lately to the Dark Horse/Frankfurt Book Fair post we put up last week. Before diving into the next installments of the TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS posts (Maruo next!) I wanted to post some of the cooler things:

# Tina Anderson's blog Gynocrat posted some commentary on my Dark Horse post.

# There is also a lively thread about our post/Museum of Terror on the Dark Horse boards. I recommend everyone check it out (hey, some of you may already be posting there!).

# The MOST INTERESTING thing to come of this is a fascinating interview with Dark Horse Licensing Director Michael Gombos over at the horror/sf/comics mega-site Dark, But Shining. Sounds like he's (Rightfully) optimistic about Horror and Dark Horse in the coming year, but no specific mentions of Museum of Terror here. He talks about how titles by one creator get released by a number of english publishers (as with Ito, Tezuka and Umezu) and talks about the second-wave of horror titles from Dark Horse by less-famous names (Mail, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, etc). He also talks about DH's take on scanlations(!) and we found this exchange especially interesting:

Q: MPD Psycho has something of a reputation among horror fans, partly thanks to the Takashi Miike miniseries, I’d bet, but also due to its scanlation, where’s it’s been available for some time. Now Dark Horse is releasing an officially licensed version. Scanlation groups are usually good about removing their work from the web once it’s been licensed, but there are bound to be files kicking around out there. What’s your view of scanlation?

A: Strictly speaking, I am aware that there are scanlations of MPD Psycho about, and I am happy to know that there is such a strong following to this wonderful property; it is certainly one that is devout to the property, and we appreciate their devotion.

However, Dark Horse has taken the steps to acquire the rights (as you have pointed out) to publish this in English through licensed, legal means. The only indicator that the Japanese would have about how much Americans/English-speaking audiences like the properties are by sales numbers. If scanlations would adversely affect sales numbers, how can we expect to have more great manga here for us to read? This is also the way that the creators get paid, and lets them know that English-speaking audiences love the work, and to give us more! So, if you like the series, buy the book and let everyone know! This will ensure a steady flow of fantastic manga coming in for us to enjoy for years to come.

# Finally, we received some interesting comments we received from Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh of Next Generation in the comments of our previous post. He writes:

>Yeah, Dark Horse has initially only committed to the first three volumes. I've not heard a word about volumes four and on -- and given the lead time between localization and printing of these volumes, that means that even should Dark Horse decide tomorrow to continue the line, they probably won't get around to publishing the rest until next fall.

Weird thing is, the first volume at least was the best-selling manga for several weeks in various third world countries that carry Englis manga translations; it's just over here that it's been having difficulty.

A reason for that might be that nobody carries the darned thing! Seriously, I went to every book store and comic shop in San Francisco looking for the first volume, for weeks after its release -- and nobody had even heard of it. Not Borders; not the small indie shops. The only place I was able to find a copy was in Japantown -- which on a level almost feels like it defeats the purpose of the localization.

Interesting stuff across the board. Please continue to send us links and posts comments!

TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS 2.1: Follow-up on Dark Horse & Frankfurt!

"There are thousands of horror manga and hundreds of creators — it’s just a shame that given our finite lifetimes, we won’t have a chance to expose English-language audiences to everthing that’s out there!"
-Dark Horse Licensing Director Michael Gombos



There have been some really cool responses lately to the Dark Horse/Frankfurt Book Fair post we put up last week. Before diving into the next installments of the TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS posts (Maruo next!) I wanted to post some of the cooler things:

# Tina Anderson's blog Gynocrat posted some commentary on my Dark Horse post.

# There is also a lively thread about our post/Museum of Terror on the Dark Horse boards. I recommend everyone check it out (hey, some of you may already be posting there!).

# The MOST INTERESTING thing to come of this is a fascinating interview with Dark Horse Licensing Director Michael Gombos over at the horror/sf/comics mega-site Dark, But Shining. Sounds like he's (Rightfully) optimistic about Horror and Dark Horse in the coming year, but no specific mentions of Museum of Terror here. He talks about how titles by one creator get released by a number of english publishers (as with Ito, Tezuka and Umezu) and talks about the second-wave of horror titles from Dark Horse by less-famous names (Mail, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, etc). He also talks about DH's take on scanlations(!) and we found this exchange especially interesting:

Q: MPD Psycho has something of a reputation among horror fans, partly thanks to the Takashi Miike miniseries, I’d bet, but also due to its scanlation, where’s it’s been available for some time. Now Dark Horse is releasing an officially licensed version. Scanlation groups are usually good about removing their work from the web once it’s been licensed, but there are bound to be files kicking around out there. What’s your view of scanlation?

A: Strictly speaking, I am aware that there are scanlations of MPD Psycho about, and I am happy to know that there is such a strong following to this wonderful property; it is certainly one that is devout to the property, and we appreciate their devotion.

However, Dark Horse has taken the steps to acquire the rights (as you have pointed out) to publish this in English through licensed, legal means. The only indicator that the Japanese would have about how much Americans/English-speaking audiences like the properties are by sales numbers. If scanlations would adversely affect sales numbers, how can we expect to have more great manga here for us to read? This is also the way that the creators get paid, and lets them know that English-speaking audiences love the work, and to give us more! So, if you like the series, buy the book and let everyone know! This will ensure a steady flow of fantastic manga coming in for us to enjoy for years to come.

# Finally, we received some interesting comments we received from Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh of Next Generation in the comments of our previous post. He writes:

>Yeah, Dark Horse has initially only committed to the first three volumes. I've not heard a word about volumes four and on -- and given the lead time between localization and printing of these volumes, that means that even should Dark Horse decide tomorrow to continue the line, they probably won't get around to publishing the rest until next fall.

Weird thing is, the first volume at least was the best-selling manga for several weeks in various third world countries that carry Englis manga translations; it's just over here that it's been having difficulty.

A reason for that might be that nobody carries the darned thing! Seriously, I went to every book store and comic shop in San Francisco looking for the first volume, for weeks after its release -- and nobody had even heard of it. Not Borders; not the small indie shops. The only place I was able to find a copy was in Japantown -- which on a level almost feels like it defeats the purpose of the localization.

Interesting stuff across the board. Please continue to send us links and posts comments!