Manga Activities

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

MANGA ACTIVITIES
Background Information
The student activities complement the section of Hanabi dealing with manga. Most of the activities could also be used independently, provided students have some familiarity with Japanese manga. The student worksheet can be printed.

Manga (and the related animation, anime) are an important element of Japanese culture and are texts worthy of study in Australian schools. At the same time, some teachers will be concerned that manga Internet sites might contain inappropriate images of violence or pornography.

It is true that some manga do contain such images. It is also true that many do not. The materials accessed in the student worksheet are either commentaries about manga or deal with the popular Sailor Moon series. They contain no offensive material.

Teachers should be aware, however, that here are vast numbers of other manga and anime sites on the Internet. Some do include offensive material and care should be taken with student access.

An academic article which will be of interest to teachers (and some senior secondary students) is 'Anime Otaku: Japanese Animation Fans Outside japan' located at:

http://eserver.org/bs/13/Newitz.html

The article deals with a survey of American fans of anime. There are also some comments about the way anime might influence a Western audience.

Curriculum Corporation and the University of Melbourne