Japanese comic books are the topic of new book club

"Unless you've been living under a rock," says the Online World of Anime and Manga's book review page, "you've no doubt heard of City Hunter, Hojo Tsukasa's tale of a six-gun-slinging professional with a penchant for women and a heart of gold."

Wow. It's dark under these rocks.

Anime is roughly the Japanese version of Disney movies combined with Saturday morning cartoons - animated stories often featuring stylistically drawn heroes and villains who are often children and teens. An amine movie, "Spirited Away," won a 2003 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, beating American entries such as "Ice Age" and "Lilo & Stitch." Manga are comic books, often based on anime characters, that are read like all Japanese printed material - from right to left. That's backwards.

Needless to say, reading manga is "difficult but cute," said Cathy Kyle, the Youth Services Librarian at the Parma Public Library. It's a challenge she's been willing to take on, however, because teens are clamoring for it.

"Every time I talk to the kids about what they want to read it's 'anime, anime, anime,' " Kyle said. " I had to find out more about it because it's such a growing trend."

In response to their younger patrons, the Parma Library is offering an Anime/Manga Discussion Club for middle and high school students facilitated by Kyle, starting on January 13 and continuing every second Tuesday of each month. The group will meet from 4 to 5 p.m. at the library, 7 West Avenue, Hilton.

That's good news for teens like Chanel Sinanan, 14, of Hilton, an anime and manga fan who plans to join the new discussion group. "I started getting interested when I saw Sailor Moon (an anime cartoon) on the Cartoon Network," she said. "Then I found the comic books." The appeal of the genre, according to Chanel, is the way the characters are drawn along with the things that they can do, "things that regular people can't do," she said.

That, of course, is the appeal of much of literature, said Sue Witter, a reading specialist at the Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES in Spencerport. "People read to be entertained, to think about and experience adventures that they will most likely never have. The backwards reading required by manga is a little extra challenge, a twist that makes it even more interesting for some," she added.

"I'll be learning about these characters and their adventures along with the kids," Kyle said. "It is exciting to see kids interested in books, even if they're comic books. As long as teens are coming into the library and exploring what we have to offer, I'm happy."

For information about the Anime Discussion Club at the Parma Public Library call 392-8350.