More about manga
- Anime News Network One of the best resources on the web for anime and manga fans, this site includes news and reviews about both anime and manga.
- manga style! For those who wonder "How did they come up with all those cute Sailor Moon drawings?" This site includes scans of the art and comments by the artist.
- matt-thorn.com Matt Thorn is a cultural anthropologist who has spent way too much time reading comic books. With articles like "Do manga characters really look 'white'?" his page is an interesting read for grownups who are curious about the cultural implications of manga.
Japanese language
Japanese uses three different alphabets: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is a phonetic alphabet that is mainly used for sound effects and words borrowed from foreign languages, i.e. "hannabaga" for "hamburger." Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet used for Japanese words. Kanji is not phonetic; it's a set of ideograms, each of which represents a single word. There are about 10,000 of these, so learning them is more complicated.
- The Kanji Site An informally written but informative introduction to kanji, with several sets of characters grouped by meaning.
