4.05.2012

Task 6

  Now you seem to be ready for our last task. Please, go to these sites and draw your own character. It will be easy for you.
If you want to make a boy:
If you want to make a girl:
Send me the pictures of your heros. if you can't save the picture, push the printscreen button.
Attach the description of your hero to the picture. Use all information you have had. Remember all new words and terms you have lernt. 
Do your best.

3.31.2012

Task 5

  Take the text about your hero and do some kind of a picture with the help of this site:
 You should receive something like that:

3.26.2012

Task 4

 You have seen two movies. One of them was about drawing an anime character, the other - about several heroes. Write out the words you don't know and translate them. Imagine your own hero in anime style. Think about your ways of describing him or her. Try to write a small text about your hero.

Good luck! 

3.21.2012


Gestures and Body Language

When Americans are indicating themselves, they generally gesture towards their chest. Japanese point at their noses instead. Here, Egawa is trying to get his old friend Aoki to recognize him. (Aquarium #4, Tomoko Taniguchi, pg 105)
To signify embarassment, people will put one hand to their head; scratching is optional. Here Koko has made an error while playing snow soccer, causing her teammates to be irritated. (Aquarium #6, Tomoko Taniguchi, pg. 166)
The "OK" gesture, the thumb and first finger touched together with the other three fingers spread out, has come to mean the same thing in Japan. Here, Sakura indicates to her friend Tomoyo that everything's going well. (Card Captor Sakura #3, CLAMP, pg. 24) However, the same gesture has traditionally referred to money and has only recently been associated with "good."
Quickly waving one's hand is a gesture used to mean "no," with connotations of embarassment. In this case, Sakura is trying to deflect attention from her unladylike behavior two panels back. (Card Captor Sakura #14, CLAMP, pg. 8)
Having one's mouth open is considered rude, so women especially will cover their mouths while laughing. Here Hazel is shown being overly protective of Almond, on whom she has a crush. (Magical Pokemon Journey vol. 3 num. 3, Yumi Tsukirino, pg 8)
People bow when they meet each other. Here, Sakura is meeting a friend of her mother's. (Card Captor Sakura#6, CLAMP, pg 16) In many anime and manga scenes, bowing is part of a very heartfelt apology. Here, the author of Magical Pokemon Journey apologizes for not getting to her fanmail quickly enough. (Magical Pokemon Journey vol. 2 num. 4, Yumi Tsukirino, pg 35)
  
The V sign Americans asssociate with "victory" is widely used in manga, generally associated with success or good fortune. Here Haruki is happy because he's run into Maoka again (Aquarium #1, Tomoko Taniguchi, pg. 29). It's also used just to strike a cool pose, as Brock does in this sequence (Magical Pokemon Journeyvol. 2 num. 4, Yumi Tsukirino, pg 36.)
   

3.16.2012

Task 3

  Today your homework is really easy and interesting. I give you the pictires - you give me all character traits of the man in the picture. Please, use all the ajectives you can remember and find. 
man of decision — решительный человек
kind-hearted  добросердечный
self-seeking  действующий из соображений своей выгоды 
open-handed  щедрый, великодушный
weak-willed  бесхарактерный
absent-minded  рассеянный
hot-tempered  вспыльчивый














3.15.2012


Anime hair color

Hair color in anime is a different beast altogether. Even traditionally Japanese anime characters can have hair of any color, even colors that don't traditionally appear on any real human! Like with manga, assigning different hair colors to different characters allows the viewer to recognize which character is which. Hair color has also traditionally been used to indicate some part of the character's personality. A character who is feisty and hotheaded may be given red hair to emphasize these aspects of his or her personality; red hair can also indicate spirit possession, as it does with Ranma's female form. Many male main-characters will have black hair to emphasize their traditional nature, distinguishing them from their friends who have many colors of hair; Tenchi, Ranma and Ash are good examples of this. Many blondes are either vain and conniving or completely airheaded. Serena from Sailor Moon would reflect the air-headed part of this, while Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena is completely spoiled and whiny. Characters with special powers or origins may have the oddest hair colors of all to reflect their extraordinary nature. Many of the women in Tenchi Muyo are powerful aliens; it would be odd for Ryoko, a bizarre and powerful character, to have hair like that of any real woman on Earth!
Ranma is normally a black-haired male; in his enchanted female form, his hair is bright red.
  
Thousands of young Pokemon trainers can identify with Ash.
  Serena shows off her playful and ditzy side.  Nanami is a very scheming, controlling character.  Ryoko's oddly colored hair reflects her supernatural nature.


One of the more unusual traits of Anime and Manga is the varied and often unnatural hair colors. While the trend was probably introduced one day by a bored colorist, it's taken on an casual symbolism in its own right, informed by the culture it developed in. While I think the symbolism is still fairly consistent, there are certainly no hard and fast rules. Take my interpretations with grain of salt.
Here is a summary of what I've gleaned from browsing the web, extensive conversations with other fans, and by own brief career in fandom:
colornotes
"naturalistic" colorsblackneutral. generally positive connotations -- keep in mind that this is the normal hair color in Japan; all other hair colors are "unnatural" in that culture, and consequently somewhat suspicious.
blondethis hair color has two diametrically opposite interpreations, although which one applies in a particular case should be relatively clear.
  1. obvious power and intelligence. often calculating and self-serving.
  2. ditzy and immature. accident-prone.
in either case, blonde-haired characters usually mean trouble.
brownnothing screams "I'm a stock character" like having brown hair. there are of course exceptions.
redin women, red hair generally connotes a brazen, confident character -- often having special abilities. male characters with red hair tend to be quiet and humble, but skilled fighters.
greygrey hair usually connotes a character with a hidden power that will be revealed later in the series. these characters are usually very intelligent and often (although not always) evil.
whiteon younger characters, full, white hair gives a sense of dignity and style. on older characters, it may just mean they're ... well, old.
"exotic" colorsbluelikable characters. shy, sweet, smart, funny. one notable exception is the Kento of Samurai Troopers (sometimes translated Ronin Warriors), who is the exact opposite. Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion might be another example. She's shy, but at least outwardly doesn't display most of the other characteristics.
green
these characters are usually good at heart, but misguided. Seen in an antagonist, it often means the character will defect to the side of the "good guys" by the end of the series. Sympathetic characters (good guys) tend to be rogueish but good-hearted.
Mononoke Hime didn't really divide most of the characters into a "good guys" and "bad guys" (with some exceptions), but I think this interpretation can still be applied to San in an oblique sense.
pinkgenerally only seen in female characters, girls with pink hair are cheerfully cute, often to the point of being downright obnoxious (as if you needed hair color to pick up on that).
purpleyour guess is as good as mine; there just aren't that many examples to work from. characters tend to be upbeat, but other than that, it's hard to generalize.



It must be emphasized that the color of a character's hair doesn't necessarily mean that they will always behave like other characters with the same color of hair, or that they won't have completely contradictory aspects of their personality. Assigning Touga fromRevolutionary Girl Utena the same personality as Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion would be a very simplistic mistake, even though they both have long, bright red hair. Hair color is not an accurate reflection of the person - it just indicates what color the creator thought best suited the character. Also, as the general cliches regarding hair color have settled and become more common, many anime creators have played with the sterotypes, using them to confuse and surprise viewers. For example, Tomoyo from Card Captor Sakurawould seem to be a very traditional character; her hair is long and black, and she is unfailingly proper and polite. It would seem that there is nothing about her that would keep her from being a model young Japanese lady. However, she is in love with her friend Sakura - a very non-traditional feeling!
Touga from Utenais a very cold, calculating character...
  
...while Askua from Neon Genesis Evangelion is a very emotional, outgoing character.
  Tomoyo fromCard Captor Sakura seems very traditional, but has a few very unexpected qualities.

There is no one set of rules for each color of hair, despite the valiant efforts of many fans to categorize them. Yet though there are no set meanings for each color of hair, it does have symbolic value and should be recognized as such.