Hi~ I have an interest in reading essays for some reason. Anyone know of any good manga/anime/otaku essays or articles?

For example, someone arguing that shoujo isn't plotless fluff, or the impact manga has on society, or a contrast between yaoi and porn...I think I once read one that defended lolicon manga against child pornography laws.

My favorite, if it counts as an essay, is Scott McCloud's writings on how manga, rather than treating the reader as a spectator (common in American comics), puts more focus on connecting the readers with the characters, thus letting them experience the events almost firsthand.

So, got any good stuff? Feel free to chat about the topic as well. What is manga's purpose in life I wonder~

Well you could check this out: [url]http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/article.php?id=633[/url]
It's not so much about manga as it is about scanlation, though.

"Monkey man in Japan" has some good articles, may it be about subjects that only a manga fan would understand (such as the origin of the characters Jiraya, Tsunade and Orichimaru from Naruto) to any thoughts Japan-related. Not the most profound and easy to read, but interesting.
[url]http://monkeymaninjapan.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/gaijin-obnoxious-photo-taking-louts-here-to-steal-womenz/[/url]

[url]http://shokubutsujin.wordpress.com/[/url]
[img]http://s27.postimg.org/6mcbvktib/kmk.png[/img]
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Itō, Kimio: "When a “male” reads shōjo manga" - a paper on the dynamics of Japanese consumer culture in regard to the growth of female-oriented publications.
“Girls are dancin’” by Emily Jane Wakeling - a feminist discourse on the social conventions and gender issues in shoujo.

If you're at all interested in the early history of manga, you should check out The Comics Journal articles by Ryan Holmberg - I particularly recommend his two articles on New Treasure Island, a thorough analysis on the Western influences for the series that kicked off the manga boom.

Matt Thorn's The Face of the Other discusses the question "Do manga characters look 'white'?", and rebuffs the suggestion that they do due to Japanese people's subconscious envy of the West. Fascinating argument, IMHO. And check out Matt Thorn's blog if you have the time, too.

I also love Shaenon K. Garrity's bit on Chobits.

Here's a random thing on the manga review website Sleep Is for the Weak, She Was Asking for It, about pseudo rape fantasy shoujo manga, listing dangerous macho and dominant/submissive themes found in them. The post sparked an ongoing discussion of "risque" shoujo manga.

But the fastest way to find academic essays on manga without having to click around from blog to blog is to just plug manga into ebscohost or something. TCJ and comixology are also good jumping off points.

“You know what makes humans different from other animals? We’re the only species on earth that observes shark week. Sharks don’t even observe shark week. But we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, tell you it’s name is Steve and snap it in half and part of you dies, just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with anything. We can sympathize with a pencil. We can forgive a shark. People can find the good in just about anything but themselves. You are all better than you think you are.”
— Jeff Winger, Community