Afghanis-tan

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Afghanis-tan (Afghanistan)

あふがにすタン
Genre	Comedy, History, Moé
Manga
Authored by	Timaking (ちまきing)
Publisher	SansaiBooks
Serialized in	Online
Original run	October 2004 – February 2005
No. of volumes	1

Afghanis-tan (あふがにすタン, Afuganisu-tan^?, see note on name below) or Afghanistan is a Japanese yonkoma manga, originally published as a webcomic, by Timaking (ちまきing). It is also the name of the heroine of the manga. The manga is nicknamed Afgan (あふがん, Afugan^?)

1 Background
2 Characters
3 Critical reception as a comic
4 Collections
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Background

Afghanis-tan illustrates the modern history of Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, starting from the imperialist era in the 19th century, through moe anthropomorphism. The title character, a short and clumsy bishōjo, is a national personification of Afghanistan. Other female characters personify the nearby nations of Central Asia, such as Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Nations that have fought wars in Afghanistan at various times, such as Britain, Russia and the United States also make apearances. The Taliban government and Al-Qaeda terrorist group are also represented in the comic.

Each 4-koma strip is accompanied by an "Afghan Memo" that explains in prose some of the background and history of the nations depicted. Additional pages give short biographies of the characters.

The fact that it is a moe manga depicting international conflict, and the fact that it personifies countries have drawn a little criticism. However, it has also drawn attention for its attempt to blend an appropriate depiction of the history and background of each country with the personality of its characters.

Afghanis-tan has finished, and work on its sequel, "Pakis-tan", was suspended after four editions.

At the end of June 2005, it was discovered that the PC used by the writer had been infected by a computer virus spread through the P2P software "Winny". This created much discussion on the internet.

On July 26, 2005, after several delays, the series went on sale as a comic book, "Afghanis-tan" (ISBN 4-86199-009-2).

Since it was discovered that personal information had leaked out due to the above virus, no further updates were made to the official webside (apart from the removal of several links). No statement has been made in response to questions surrounding the events related to the leak. The writer has not appeared at the comic market events he was scheduled to attend as part of a club activity, and current information about him is unavailable. Since April 6, 2006, the website has been unreachable.

[edit] Characters

Note that most of the character names are written in Japanese the same way the country they represent is written, only with hiragana instead of katakana. The "tan" present in every character representing a Central Asian country, however, uses katakana. "Tan" is a diminutive form of "-chan".

Afghanis-tan (あふがにすタン, Afuganisu-tan^?, represents Afghanistan): The protagonist of the series, an unfortunate girl surrounded by neighbors with strong personalities. According to her character description "she trips and falls a lot."

Pakis-tan (ぱきすタン, Pakisu-tan^?, represents Pakistan)

Boastful, and often feels lonely, especially without Kashmir. Likes Afghanis-tan.

Uzbekis-tan (うずべきすタン, Uzubekisu-tan^?, represents Uzbekistan)

Stubborn, and a sore loser. Often quarrels with Pakis-tan. Idolizes "Russia onee-sama".

Tajikis-tan (たじきすタン, Tajikisu-tan^?, represents Tajikistan)

A salt-of-the-earth Edokko type, quick to argue and quick to make up. Has girlish tastes.

Kyrgyzs-tan (きるぎすタン, Kirugisu-tan^?, represents Kyrgyzstan)

Quick-thinking and sharp-tongued. Always riding on a wooden horse.

Turkmenis-tan (とるくめにすタン, Torukumenisu-tan^?, represents Turkmenistan)

A girl with a mysterious personality - you never know what she's thinking.

Meriken (めりけん, represents the United States^?)

The richest person in the neighborhood. Good in a fight, and never doubts her own sense of justice.

Al-Nyaida (あるにゃいだ, Arunyaida^?, represents Al-Qaeda)

A group of feral cats causing trouble in the neighborhood. Come to live in Afghanis-tan's house while she is out.

[edit] Critical reception as a comic

As it makes it easy for readers to learn about the history and geography of Central Asia, topics which Japanese people are not very familiar with, it could be thought of as an educational text. In fact, when the writer's official website was in operation, comments such as "Easy to understand" and "Made me interested in the subject" could be seen on the message board. Around the time when the book was published by Sansai Books, again, part of the intention was to provide information about the current state of Afghanistan.

However, at the same time, there is criticism that using the style of "moe" to express this harsh reality is trivializing it, or at least simplifying a complex situation. In particular, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an actual tragedy in which many died, were depicted as "an incident where a cat called Al-Qaeda bit America", a fact which was severely criticized in the secondary work, "Introduction to the Kashmir conflict (カシミール紛争入門, Introduction to the Kashmir conflict^?)".

Nevertheless, taking it an educational book, the facts that it breaks down complex historical facts to explain them simply, and that the characters are easy to get to know and like, speak in its favor. The above criticism, that it "over-simplifies" events, could be applied to any explanation aimed at a general audience, and cannot necessarily be said to be a shortcoming.