TEACHER OF DARKNESS Meet the most melancholy high school teacher in Japan: Nozomu Itoshiki, whose fashion sense is strictly nineteenth-century, whose personal goal is self-annihilation, and whose signature phrase is "I'm in despair!" He's similar to Franz Kafka and Jean-Paul Sartre-if Kafka and Sartre had had to deal with a classroom of short-skirted, lovesick students. And to make matters worse, Itoshiki's family wants him to get married. Forget the bride, here comes the gloom! The first translated work by Japan's most savage satirist, Koji Kumeta! Includes special extras after the story!

Teachers are supposed to inspire the younger generation to follow their dreams and achieve great things. However, our hero, Nozomu is not that teacher. Nozomu's probably the most depressive man in Japan--so depressive, in fact, that every little setback in life inspires yet another suicide attempt! But then why is being in Nozomu's class such a blast? Is it his quirky and endearing students? The bizarre adventures he leads them on? Or is there something after all to "the Power of Negative Thinking"? DOES HE KNOW IT'S CRISTMAS TIME AT ALL? Itoshiki Nozomu, the world's most negative person, is about to suffer an ironic twist of fate. His 32 students, who each have their own weird problems, have ocnstantly foiled his continual suicide attemtps. With Christmas right around the corner, will Nozomu finally discover joy this holiday, or will he be granted the ultimate gift? Includes special extras after the story!

Teachers are supposed to inspire the younger generation to follow their dreams and achieve great things. However, our hero, Nozomu is not that teacher. Nozomu's probably the most depressive man in Japan--so depressive, in fact, that every little setback in life inspires yet another suicide attempt! But then why is being in Nozomu's class such a blast? Is it his quirky and endearing students? The bizarre adventures he leads them on? Or is there something after all to "the Power of Negative Thinking"? DOES HE KNOW IT'S CRISTMAS TIME AT ALL? Itoshiki Nozomu, the world's most negative person, is about to suffer an ironic twist of fate. His 32 students, who each have their own weird problems, have ocnstantly foiled his continual suicide attemtps. With Christmas right around the corner, will Nozomu finally discover joy this holiday, or will he be granted the ultimate gift? Includes special extras after the story!

Unlocking the technosocial implications of global geek cultures Why has anime, a “low-tech” medium from last century, suddenly become the cultural “new cool” in the information age? Through the lens of anime and its transnational fandom, Jinying Li explores the meanings and logics of “geekdom” as one of the most significant sociocultural groups of our time. In Anime’s Knowledge Cultures, Li shifts the center of global geography in knowledge culture from the computer boys in Silicon Valley to the anime fandom in East Asia. Drawing from film studies, animation studies, media theories, fan studies, and area studies, she provides broad cultural and theoretical explanations of anime’s appeal to a new body of tech-savvy knowledge workers and consumers commonly known as geeks, otaku, or zhai. Examining the forms, techniques, and aesthetics of anime, as well as the organization, practices, and sensibilities of its fandom, Anime’s Knowledge Cultures is at once a theorization of anime as a media environment as well as a historical and cultural study of transnational geekdom as a knowledge culture. Li analyzes anime culture beyond the national and subcultural frameworks of Japan or Japanese otaku, instead theorizing anime’s transnational, transmedial network as the epitome of the postindustrial knowledge culture of global geekdom. By interrogating the connection between the anime boom and global geekdom, Li reshapes how we understand the meanings and significance of anime culture in relation to changing social and technological environments.

Kakushi Gotou is a single father with a secret: He’s a top-selling manga artist of a raunchy series that perhaps isn’t suitable reading material for his young daughter, Hime. So he does what any doting father would do—he hides it all from her, no matter the hijinks that ensue!

Appropriate for any public library collection, this book provides a comprehensive readers' advisory guide for Japanese manga and anime, Korean manhwa, and Chinese manhua. Japanese manga and anime, Korean manhwa, and Chinese manhua are Asian graphic novels and animated films that have gained great popularity in the last ten years and now are found in most public library collections. Mostly Manga: A Genre Guide to Popular Manga, Manhwa, Manhua, and Anime is the first readers' advisory guide to focus on this important body of literature. This guide provides information on all of the major manga and anime formats and genres, covering publications from the early 1990s to the present. It identifies important titles historically and provides a broad representation of what is available in each format. Selected major titles are described in detail, covering the general plot as well as grade level and pertinent awards. The author also discusses common issues related to manga and anime, such as terminology, content and ratings, and censorship.

• Reviews of more than 900 manga series • Ratings from 0 to 4 stars • Guidelines for age-appropriateness • Number of series volumes • Background info on series and artists THE ONE-STOP RESOURCE FOR CHOOSING BETWEEN THE BEST AND THE REST! Whether you’re new to the world of manga-style graphic novels or a longtime reader on the lookout for the next hot series, here’s a comprehensive guide to the wide, wonderful world of Japanese comics! • Incisive, full-length reviews of stories and artwork • Titles rated from zero to four stars–skip the clunkers, but don’t miss the hidden gems • Guidelines for age-appropriateness–from strictly mature to kid-friendly • Profiles of the biggest names in manga, including CLAMP, Osamu Tezuka, Rumiko Takahashi, and many others • The facts on the many kinds of manga–know your shôjo from your shônen • An overview of the manga industry and its history • A detailed bibliography and a glossary of manga terms LOOK NO FURTHER, YOU’VE FOUND YOUR IDEAL MANGA COMPANION!