Hey look, Wall Street Journal! Manga!

[nenena]

Great article, BUT.

Look at the picture at the top of the article.

Look at the way that they cropped it.

Um, yeah.

The text of the article, for mainstream coverage of manga, is pretty fantastic. The author has obviously done the research, and it shows. Shounen is manga targeted toward boys. Yay, they got the definition right! "Kids" (gender-neutral) read Bleach. That's right, too - the Bleach fandom draws in people from all over the gender spectrum, in both the English-speaking world and Japan.

But... that picture.

Why, oh why, would you cut off the heads of the two main girl characters in the series, so that we're left with just Ichigo scowling, while two beheaded women behind him?

That's just... weird.

Comments

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Orihime in Refrigerator perhaps? I have to admit, the first time I saw Orihime, I was like (she's going to be the fridge girl for this series)

[furikku.livejournal.com]

Because the girls don't matter, duh.

[ladykleo.livejournal.com]

Because someone is too lazy to clean a picture from unneeded details, I assume. The guy's head is also half-cropped...

[lost-angelwings.livejournal.com]

Wow.. :o That is SOME crop :O There wasn't a better image that was more crop friendly? (and now this sounds weird and S&Mish XDDDD)

[earthy-dreamer.livejournal.com]

Because who needs to see the girls' faces when all that really matters are the two body areas they show in that pic?

*cough*

[the-terrible.livejournal.com]

heh heh heh heh heh XD

[orthoflame.livejournal.com]

The way they beheaded the two female characters reminds me of how my father would take photographs. Someone's head had to get cut off in the photographs he would take.

The article is pretty decent, but I agree with your qualm - their cropping job leaves a bad aftertaste.