I've been immersed in manga since I was a kid. I grew up with this culture. So I started to think about how to compare manga to contemporary art.
Manga is virtual. Manga is sentiment. Manga is resistance. Manga is bizarre. Manga is pathos. Manga is destruction. Manga is arrogance. Manga is love. Manga is kitsch. Manga is sense of wonder. Manga is … there is no conclusion yet.
My generation was a special generation. I was born in 1960 and in my childhood we were all big manga consumers that was the culture. We were brought up in manga. Manga evolved around what was being made to cater to kids. All children at that time read ridiculously thick manga books every week.
I've been around the surf culture since I was a kid. I grew up in a beach town in Rhode Island. Then eventually I lived in Dana Point, Calif., a real surf hotbed.
I grew up happily immersed in Jewish culture and community.
I've been interested in China ever since I was a kid. When I was a kid, I grew up in San Francisco about a mile from China Beach.
I was born in Japan and moved to L.A. when I was six, and I grew up with Japanese culture. I was reading manga, and I read 'Death Note' in real time in Japanese.
I'm part of the first generation who grew up with manga [comics] and anime [animation], you know, after 'Godzilla.' I was absorbed with Ultraman on TV and in manga. The profession of game designer was created really recently. If it didn't exist, I'd probably be making anime.
In Japan there is a lot of manga, but around manga there are video games, manga on cellphones, manga in card games... so people not only enjoy manga but also the products around it.
I've been wearing Vans since I was a little kid. I wear them on stage, and I grew up skateboarding and surfing.
Ever since I was a kid, I might have been eleven or twelve. I'd be telling anyone who would listen that when I grew up, I wanted to be an artist.
I think people assume that whatever kind of music you make is the music you listen to. Don't get me wrong, I listen to tons of pop music and all the music that really inspires Best Coast is very straightforward '50s and '60s pop music, but I've been listening to R&B and rap since I was a kid. I grew up in L.A. It's part of the culture. I listen to anything.
This kind of stuff, it wasn't the cool thing when I was growing up. Now, pop culture is comic books, super-hero movies, anime, manga, and I've been doing it for a long time.
I actually grew up break-dancing. When you break-dance you listen to hip-hop and rap, so I've been listening to that music since I was a kid.
Ever since I was a little kid, I always dreamed of being a Big City kid, because I grew up in a very small town up north in Canada. I have to say I just love the city lights at night.
I grew up on anime and manga. That's part of who I am.