Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Treasures of the Collection - Manga

Stressed out studying for finals, need some light entertainment? Take a break this during the busy end-of-semester time and de-stress with some manga.  For the few of you who might not know, manga is a Japanese style of illustrated story or film containing characters with “.. distinctive large, staring eyes, and typically having a science-fiction or fantasy theme.”  (definition from OED).  

The origin of manga in its current form is the subject of much debate with some people claiming that the roots of the art form can be traced back to the 12th century, with others arguing that it was influenced by the American comic strips of the late 19thand early 20th centuries and still others arguing for a blending of the two.   Whatever its origins, it has become a very popular form of story-telling in both Japan and America.  Hewes library’s collection of Manga is all a result of donations by the Anime club at Monmouth College. 

These books are a growing collection first established in 2009 when the Anime club at Monmouth College donated a collection of manga to the library.  They have added to the collection over time and it currently consists of over 30 paperback titles by such author/illustrators as Koge-Donbo, Rumiko Takahashi and others.  Monmouth’s collection consists of English translations of Japanese books.  A few of the titles were originally written in English by non-Japanese authors.

However, the majority of the library’s manga collection is not in book format, but is visual.  The club donated over 100 DVD’s to the library that are all available to be charged out to people holding a MC or I-Share library card.  Included are films made of famous comics by Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) and animated TV series such as Desert Punk, Steam Detectives and others

So if you need some light reading or viewing during the upcoming exam season, check out either the book collection found on the second floor of the library at call number PN6790 or our DVD collection at call number PN1992.8 for some light entertainment.

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