Manganese
A question I never get asked is "why don't you ever talk about manga? You live in Japan." I wonder why I never get asked that question...
Regardless, I asked myself the question today on that long, mind-numbing bus ride that I take every day to work. So I think I deserve an answer. Here goes:
I just don't like manga.
Not the answering you were expecting, I take it? After all, how can someone who lives in Japan and really likes Japanese things not like manga? I mean, I like anime. And some of my favorite anime is based off of manga. How exactly does that work?
It's actually pretty simple when you get down to it. I'm a student of superheroics. I live and breathe superhero comics. With the occasional exception (such as Fables) that's all I read. There are almost no "proper" superhero comics under the manga umbrella.
There are concepts I like in manga, though. Such as giant robots. I'm nuts for mecha. But here's the thing: most Japanese mecha tales start in animation and then move to comics. Because giant robot fighting is highly conducive to bright, colorful motion.
All the anime I enjoy is stuff that includes a lot of action. It's all movement and motion that works beautifully animated. And when you compare an anime like that to its black and white static counterpart, well... It pales in comparison.
So now you're wondering how I can read Western comics. Because they don't move either. Which is true. But there is something about the Western style that seems to lend more motion -- more life -- to the artwork. I know many would disagree, but I feel most manga lacks that liveliness.
So there you have it, folks. It's a bit incoherent, I know. But that's the reason why I tend to steer clear of manga. Sure, I read it to keep my Japanese on the up and up. But when I want to be entertained?
Nothing compares to a home-cooked meal...
Labels: Manga
posted by Diamondrock @ 6:11 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
mmmm...like biscuits and gravy!
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Thank you. I don't like Manga either. And being of the female persuasion, I am occasionally asked WHY I don't like Manga.
I just don't.
I agree with you so much it makes my teeth hurt.
I don't think any Westerner really likes manga, they mostly affect it to seem worldly or just different.
It's fine to dislike manga. Different strokes for different folks, and all.
But I often wonder why so many super-hero fans are threatened by its success.
I've worked at a book store the past year and to be quite honest I see a lot more kids and teenagers reading Dragon Ball, One Piece and Fruits Basket instead of the collected 52.
(And perhaps its different at Scipio's comic book store, but kids aren't even really welcome at the LCS in my town ... )
My own son loves DragonBall, and he says its because the stories are full of action and neat characters - unlike super-hero comics which are either too gory or too depressing to be of much interest.
(In fact, the only DC comic he enjoyed this past year was Jeff Smith's Shazam. He does find the Marvel adventures line more entertaining and "grown up" than Johnny DC ... )
I wonder if Scipio's pronouncement above includes kids who like manga for the same reason a lot of us liked super-heroes when we were young?
I wouldn't count them as part of an audience affecting interest to seem worldly or different.
I'm not super into manga, but I just disagree with Scipio on this. There is nothing worldy or cultured about why I like Kohta Hirano's Hellsing:
*A British secret service section, based in the "Protestant Church", devoted to killing vampires
*A rival Catholic organization
*The invasion of Britain by Nazi Vampires
*The Catholic reconquest of Britain by said Catholic organization
This work is genius on so many levels that I'm not even going to both getting into. Although, I'm pretty sure Fortress Keeper would not be down for his son to read it because it's pretty grim and morally ambiguous.
Aside from that, I think a lot of the more younger age-targeted manga and anime are well liked because they're cool coming of age stories.
I will begrudge exactly *nobody* for liking manga. I enjoy a great many of the concepts, characters, and stories that exist in manga. I just enjoy them in bright, colorful, subtitled animation.
It's not the stories that make me not like manga... It's the style. Black and white is a strike against it, but that's not the whole deal. There's just something "static" about images that are supposed to move.
But again, I don't see a problem with anybody else enjoying it. It's just not my cup of tea.
I was just thinking how odd it is that I live in Japan, speak/read Japanese, LOVE comics, yet *not* like manga...
I didn't think you were attacking people who liked manga. My response was based more on what was said in the comments section.
Like I say, to each his own. You've got a right to dislike manga, and you've shown respect to people who do.
No harm, no foul.
As someone who likes some manga, I have to agree that I've never read one with giant robots that worked for me on that level. In terms of character development, yes, but in terms of robot fighting action? Not so much.
What's interesting is I think I have a different complaint about the art than you. For me the problem has never been a feeling of lack of motion, but that the motion wasn't clearly depicted, and I couldn't tell what was going on. That drove me nuts when I used to read Trigun Maximum, all these fight scenes between awesome characters, and I couldn't tell what was happening.
I always thought maybe they needed larger pages, so they could have bigger panels.
I think it's the pacing of Manga that gets me, or maybe what Calvin said, but I've tried several times and I've never been able to get into it. And yet, I like Adam Warren's stuff, particularly "Empowered." It was "Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone" that got me to give Manga a real try in the first place, in fact.
"There's just something "static" about images that are supposed to move."
Most Japanese art shares that characteristic.
Scipio,
You're spot on about that. I've studied a lot of Japanese art, and I can say that making things that are suppose to be moving look like they're *not* moving is the point of a lot of Japanese art.
Just look at "The Great Wave of Kanagawa"...
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