This week Seamus is looking into the history of post-World War 2 Japan with Shigeru Mizuki's Showa and Yoshihiro Tatsumi's Abandon the Old in Tokyo and Good-Bye, we discuss the representations of racial stereotypes in Japanese culture, darfox is enjoys the use of back lighting in Chi no Wadachi, and dakazu ponders if Inio Asano's new series Reiraku, about a depressed manga-author, is autobiographical! Then our deliberations over the upcoming stage-version of Inuyasha and adaptations of manga into other media leads us to our Saikyo Selection on Patlabor! We explain it's origins as a media mix project and get into what we like about the series!!!(covers volumes 1-2)