Females in Disguise
~Others~

Since: Jan 9, 2003
Last Update: Apr 21, 2003

*This text is written in JIS-Code (Japanese)*

1 Comparison between comics

1) Japanese Comics (thank Mr. Paldios for providing the answers)

Q: How many Manga magazines are published in Japan every month?
A: About 882 magazines.

for boys & men (involving R & X-rated)
   http://www.propel.ne.jp/~hisatomi/comic/manga_m.cgi
for girls & women (involving R & X-rated)
   http://www.propel.ne.jp/~hisatomi/comic/manga_f.cgi
It's a magazine list, but some suspension-of-publication magazines are
 also contained.
The webmaster of these websites says there are 882(459+423) magazines.

Q How many Manga Books (単行本) are published in Japan every month?
A: a few hundrend.

For example...
   http://www.manganomori.net/cl2003.04.htm

It's a comic list of sale schedules in April 2003 in Japan, involving for boys, girls, young-adults and adults.
Every month, such a number of comics are published.

Q: How much does a manga magazine cost? And how much is a manga book?
A: For magazines: about 300-600Yen; the exact price is as the above link.
   http://www.propel.ne.jp/~hisatomi/comic/manga_m.cgi
   http://www.propel.ne.jp/~hisatomi/comic/manga_f.cgi
For books, the price is different according to a kind, but If it generally says...
for boys & girls : about 400Yen
for young-adults : about 500-600Yen
for adults(X-rated) :    >700Yen
Also, the price may be based on circulation.

2) Diabolik (thank Luke for the info)

2 Comparison between different languages (thank Mr. Yosioka for Japanese translation, Luke for French & German translation)

*ec'dysis [from Greek: ekdusis (ekduo), put off)]

 n. (pl. -ses), Casting off (esp. of slough in serpents etc.; also fig.); slough. 

3 The first oriental story with unmasking scene? 

    In late 17th century, a Chinese man named Pu Song-Ling (蒲松齡, 1640-1715) wrote "Liao-Jai-Ji-Yi" (聊齋誌異), a classic collecting 431 short stories about foxes and flowers that can transform into humans, monsters, zombies and ghosts. One short story titled "Hwa-Pee" (畫皮, which literally means drawing skin, but actually a face mask drawing by the female monster.) described a young man is enchanted in a very beautiful woman, who later peels off her life-like "drawing skin" and reveals her true identity: a dreadful, ugly monster.

4 Main type of disguise in HK/Taiwan comics and novels 

    Near all Hong Kong or Taiwan Comics with mask-off scenes are adopted from martial arts novels, in which a technique called "change face technique" (易容術) is frequently used for heroes/heroines to become someone else. I think it is illogical that the authors always claim that the disguises is simply achieved by wearing a so-called "human-skin masks" or putting some medicines on the faces. 

    The most impressive character should be a teenage girl named "Red" (阿朱) in the masterpiece of martial arts novel "Tien Long Ba Bu" (天龍八部, which literally means "Sky Dragon Eight Section"). In her debut, she disguises herself as a male servant, a butler, and an old matron of a famous family. Later, she disguises herself as two heroes in this novel consecutively.  At last, she disguises herself as her own father and is beaten to death by her boy friend, who thinks her father has killed his parents. 

    Besides, some Taiwan romance novels have female masker in disguise. According to my observation, most characters are most burglars/thieves or martial arts heroines.  

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