I had the vague notion of following up last week’s query with a similarly themed one: what professions would you like to read about in manga form? As is so often the cast, I found out that my answer – wedding planner – already exists and sounds even more awesome than I could have imagined. Erica (Okazu) Friedman pointed me to it in her answer last week’s question:

The women of Renai Joshikka, all of whome work as hard as they can to create the most perfect weddings for the kinds of heterosexual couples that they themselves will never be a part of. It’s a lovely, girly series about lesbian love at a wedding planning company, with lots of modeling wedding dresses and worrying about flowers and rings and other totally femme stuff.

So that would be my answer, and there’s a manga ready made to slake my curiosity. What are your dream jobs, at least in terms of watching other people do them?

(And yes, I’m aware that Banri Hidaka’s excellent V.B. Rose from Tokyopop takes place in a bridal salon, which is a good start, but I want to see the full event planning process.)

I’ve ticked off a gruesome number of errands and chores this morning, from rolling change to bathing dogs, and it got me to thinking: while many manga characters are known for their domestic sloth, there are some who seem to live by the motto “If you can lean, you can clean.” (I’m more partial to “Why stand when you can sit, and why sit when you can lie down?”)

One of my favorites from this category has to be Yukari from Sakura Tsukuba’s Penguin Revolution (CMX). Her career goal — “I want to be… a CIVIL SERVANT!” — remains one of the funniest dream declarations I can recall in manga.

Who are some of your favorite, fictional worker bees?

I’m seriously considering selling my copy of Osamu Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth (DMP). Copies are going for a small fortune on Amazon, and opportunism may overcome my tendency to hoard. This leads me to ask which books you’d like to see back in print from the sad limbo of licensed titles that have faded from active publication.

I’d have to go with Viz’s Four Shôjo Stories, a collection featuring the work of Moto Hagio, Keiko Nishi, and Shio Satô. Copies are expensive, and it seems like something that should be more readily available. In fact, there are a fair number of really interesting, old Viz books that I’d like to see make a comeback, but this one tops my list.

What’s your choice?

I’m having a very classic-manga weekend. I just finished drafting a post on Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen (Last Gasp) for this week’s Manga Moveable Feast. I’m due to participate in a podcast on Osamu Tezuka’s Ayako (Vertical) this afternoon. And I’ve been catching up on recent volumes of Tezuka’s excellent Black Jack (Vertical).

So I’m curious: what are your favorite manga classics that have been published in English? My list would probably be topped by Tezuka’s Dororo (Vertical), Susumu Katsumata’s Red Snow (Drawn & Quarterly), and Kyoko Ariyoshi’s Swan (CMX).

And what classics would you like to see published in English? Now that Tezuka’s Princess Knight is in the pipeline courtesy of Vertical, my most feverishly anticipated property would have to be Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles.

I’ve just polished off the Seinen Alphabet, and I finished the Shôjo-Sunjeong Alphabet ages ago, so I’m gearing up for the next, and I would appreciate some advice as I map out the Josei Alphabet in my head. Since the category is taking a while to establish itself in English, I’m inclined to focus on unlicensed properties, maybe about three per letter. Of course, I’d also like to at least list josei titles that have been published in English, just so people know what’s commercially available. I’m always curious about Japanese manga magazines, so I’ll probably at least list those as well.

But I’d love to hear what you’d like out of the Josei Alphabet. Any thoughts or preferences come to mind? (A big part of the fun of doing these alphabets is reading comments about things I’ve omitted in the comments, so I’m not going to kill myself in the name of thoroughness.)

I’m thrilled to be a part of the Manga Bookshelf consortium, and just looking at the front page makes me happy. The only down side is that the nicely organized home site makes my individual blog feel kind of dowdy and difficult to navigate. It feels like I should find some better way to display regular features and new content. So for this random weekend question, I’d love to get your suggestions on how my blog can be improved from a design perspective. I’m leaning towards a magazine-style layout, but I’m absolutely open to any ideas you may offer.