Manga invades the library

Kameko · Post by **Kameko** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 1:12 pm

I was at the local library just browsing around seeing what I could find when I saw it. The library had mangas. They had a manga by the same guy who did Love Hina (can't remember the name but it began with an N), something with samurai in the title, one that had to do with battle angel called Alita and Magic Knight Rayearth. They didn't have the full series but they were there. One of the librarians said they just started getting them that month.

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 5:05 pm

The manga from the creator of Love Hina starting with "N" you're thinking of is Negima!. I think it's all right.

Dinozore · Post by **Dinozore** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:04 pm

Both the library in my town and the library in the town we used to live in have manga. Neither's got much, though...

SailorSpace · Post by **SailorSpace** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:26 pm

No fair, you guys have cool libraries!!! >.<

When I lived in Kansas, though, the library had a manga called "Japan Inc.". I haven't found it ever since though...and that was, what, 1997?

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:32 pm

I don't borrow mangas from the library. They always censor any nudity or violent scenes. You'll see images colored over with magic marker, or cut out entirely with an exacto-knife. I think it's a shame.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 8:25 pm

Roasted Twinkies

I don't borrow mangas from the library. They always censor any nudity or violent scenes. You'll see images colored over with magic marker, or cut out entirely with an exacto-knife. I think it's a shame.

Really? My library has a bunch of Ranma 1/2 novels and they kept all the nudity shots, although some pages were ripped out, but it was probably done by stupid teens wanting topless Ranma 1/2. I don't really borrow manga from their because their's always a six month waiting list T_T

Although my library does have some manga in Japanese in the foren language section.

NameGoesHere · Post by **NameGoesHere** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 8:58 pm

You'd never find any manga at the library here. But of course, the library here doesn't even carry Homer's Iliad, so manga is pretty much out of the question. And if they did have manga, I'm sure they'd censor the hell out of it. The basic mentality of my town:
"We can have horse and bull riding competitions, where people get thrown across the arena and break every bone in their body, but violence in books is a dangerous influence to our kids!"

They just now started carrying manga, in very limited quantities, at Hastings. Which is the best, and almost only, source for books in this town. -_-;

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 10:07 pm

They don't have any manga at our local library here, either. I personally prefer owning my own books rather than checking them out, but I think it's good for people with a limited source of money who want to read manga. However, the library censoring the manga is pretty stupid, though. That should count as damaging the books, and they should have to pay for them or something.

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 10:30 pm

In Goldsboro, we had manga in my high school's library, but I'm not sure about the public library. I worked as a Librarian's Assistant my senior year, and was responsible for processing much of our manga. Though we actually started getting it in my junior year, and a couple of my friends and I volunteered to help. It didn't last long, though, since we didn't have much time, and the librarian was queen of the bitch-tribe.

Also, we didn't censor the books. I come from a very conservative, too. But our high school did not edit books. The only thing we did was stamp on certain pages (which is unrelated to censoring, merely a way of protecting the books). The manga we had in stock: Real Bout High School, Initial D, Mars, Astroboy, Batman, and Peanuts collections. There were probably a few others, but I can't remember what I did for breakfast this morning, let alone what books I saw last year.

Post by **Tiff** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 10:51 pm

O_O;

I've never seen manga in a library, high school or public. That's really cool.

Although, I'd really be ticked off if I went to check it out, and it was edited. That's just idiotic. Shall we block out all the sex scenes in Danielle Steel's novels, too? -_- Oh wait, I forgot. ALL manga are for children.

sailor53 · Post by **sailor53** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 12:38 am

The library near me also has some manga (They just started last month). They haven't edited anything out (As far as I know they won't). The titles they have so far are: Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, MARS, Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, & Shaman King. I'm hoping they get some different series such as Tokyo Mew Mew too.

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 2:52 am

Funny, there was an article about this in a sunday newspaper this weekend. If I've still got it, I'll scan it for you guys...

Basically, they were complaining about manga being stocked in school libraries, saying they are violent and unsuitable for children. 0.o All I can guess is that the school didn't know what they were picking and didn't realise that not all manga was suitable for teenagers, or maybe because they think comics shouldn't have deep stories to them. *shrugs* Oh well, it came from a tabloid newspaper, so don't take it too much to heart. *sigh* manga and anime never get a good reputation over here...

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 11:21 am

I never had any manga in my libraries when I was in school, but I did see a volume of Slam Dunk at a free public library once.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 7:34 pm

Mine has one rack, mostly filled with Dragonball manga. I can't say if it's censored or not since I'm not really interested in that series. It's in the heart of the children's section, too, and I always feel awkward going there.

DreamEmpress · Post by **DreamEmpress** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 10:47 am

You're telling me that a lot of places don't have manga in their libraries??? Here I thought that most did. We've had manga in the Seattle Public and King County library systems now for almost 6 or 7 years now. Possibly a little longer. They carry everything from Ranma 1/2 to Love Hina. In fact, that's how I get to read Peach Girl and any other series that I'm not sure of at first. I just read it there and can decide if it's worth my money to invest in.

There are still a lot of titles that they don't have, but the list of what they do get is constantly enlarging. And if one system doesn't carry it, the other does, so I'm always set. And lately the anime sections have been starting to grow too. I'm just so grateful that they don't censor any of the manga.

Umino · Post by **Umino** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:47 pm

They had Shonen Jump at my old Middle School library, but that's about it. One library over at Ocean had a poster that said 'teen night' with a poorly drawn, spiky haired girl with giant eyes.

Not a library, but my Dentist used to get Shonen Jump every month, but they stopped getting it. It's a shame, I used to borrow them alot.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:28 pm

Howver, he added after visiting the library mentioned above, they have a quite healthy collection of anime DVDs, including 40 Ranma discs, the complete Chobits series, and the first Pretear.