Sunday Telegraph 

April 11, 1993, Sunday 

SECTION: Pg. 4 

LENGTH: 376 words 

HEADLINE: Japan's cruelty comics move in 

BYLINE: By Sally Malcolm-Smith 

BODY: 
   CRYING FREEMAN is a martial arts expert who slashes his victims' faces with a 
knife held between his toes and screams when he kills. In the rival Fist of the 
North Star cartoon series, the villain is so strong he can squeeze the eyes out 
of his victims with a "sklunch" and absorb within his fatty body whatever is 
thrown at him. It is a far cry from the Beano or even Superman but just what 
many youngsters want to read. Japanese comics are becoming increasingly popular 
with teenagers and their violent and sexual content is often more graphic than 
anything in American comics. A year ago, no teenager would have looked at a 
Japanese comic. The London comic shop Forbidden Planet was about to give up 
attempts to interest customers in them. But then Japanese video games featuring 
the comic characters soared in popularity. Then there was the explosion in 
anime, Japanese cartoon videos. For as little as £1.50, many teenagers realised 
they could see in comics the sort of scenes they were forbidden by 18 
certificates to see in films. They now flock to Forbidden Planet demanding the 
latest horror comic to be translated into English and besiege the Japan Centre 
in London's Piccadilly, which stocks thousands of comics. Next weekend Britain's 
first manga, or comic, convention takes place in Sheffield. About 10,000 people 
have joined the newly formed manga club, and Japanese comics account for some 20 
per cent of the sales at Forbidden Planet. The expert on Japanese comics in 
Britain is Helen McCarthy, once a medieval historian, who runs the cult magazine 
for fans of manga and anime. She is critical of the fact that most of the comics 
and films which are released in this country are of a violent or sexual nature, 
while in Japan comics cover everything from housewives' tips to hard core porn, 
to innocent children's stories. The culture, she argues, is very different - 
obsessed with apocalyptic visions - a hangover from Hiroshima which a westerner 
can hardly understand. "The real difference between what is here and in Japan is 
the diversity of material. The importers are aiming at the 13 to 19 market and 
as a result, the manga that get brought over here tend to be the ones which have 
an emphasis on sex and violence," she said.