Manga for Me! Manga for You!
There are a lot of people in the US or Canada or the UK who read comics who hate manga. They despise it, mostly, I think, because it's not what they're used to. It's not men in spandex and women with huge boobs. It's nothing like what they grew up with or expect comics to be.
Manga is the Japanese word for comics (and, for our purpose here, I speak of them as either comics created in Japan or, increasingly, inspired by it). There are plenty of defenders of manga who say that comics are very popular in Japan, that everyone reads it, not just the post-pubescent males that dominate the US market. They also have to constantly challenge the notion (just like American comics are all super-heroes) that manga isn't only giant robots (mecha) or stuff for kids (ie, Pokemon, Dragonball).
I don't hate manga; I just haven't read enough of it.
When translated manga first started making its way to the US in the late-80s (Lone Wolf and Cub, Area 88, Mai, the Psychic Girl, et al.), I read it all. As I mentioned before, I worked in a comic book store, so I had the time and discount to read whatever I wanted. Slowly, Viz (which was doing much of the packaging and translating of the comics) went out on its own and started to publish English-editions on their own, and I bought much of that (especially Ranma 1/2, Lum, and Nausicaa).
By the time I went to college, however, I didn't have the a) disposable income or b) time to read these comics, and I stuck with those that I had either grown up on (standard super-hero stuff) or the indie comics that I thought would make me seem less geeky ("Sure I read comics, but look at this stuff by Dan Clowes!"). I stopped buying manga.
I picked up a few titles here and there (I bought Eagle, the Making of an Asian-American President, and thought it was one of the dumbest things I've read, and I bought the Astro Boy
and Lone Wolf and Cub reprints from Dark Horse), but I missed out on the manga boom, which seemed to have started around the time of the influx of anime on TV (from Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Dragonball) and has only gotten bigger.
I go into Borders and I see a couple of shelves of "standard" US trade paperbacks and graphic novels next to piles and piles of manga reprints, with teenagers (many of them girls) all sitting down reading them. Bookscan (which is like the Billboard of books) notes that in most months, manga titles are 8 or 9 out of the top 10 graphic novels sold.
They're everywhere.
But I don't know where to start. It seems obvious to me that manga is the new romance comic. That what teenage girls were reading in the 50s (romance comics) are now manga.
So that's where you come in. There has to be one or two of you out there who read manga or know about manga that can tell me where to start. Is Fruits Basket
a romance comic? Boys Over Flowers? Are these standard romance comics, or are they more along the lines of teen-humor titles like Archie or Pasty and Hedy?
I've never asked for your help before (nor have I even asked for comments, even though I really would like to see a few now and then, to know that people are actually reading this), but I come to you today.
Enlighten me. Educate me.
Manga is the Japanese word for comics (and, for our purpose here, I speak of them as either comics created in Japan or, increasingly, inspired by it). There are plenty of defenders of manga who say that comics are very popular in Japan, that everyone reads it, not just the post-pubescent males that dominate the US market. They also have to constantly challenge the notion (just like American comics are all super-heroes) that manga isn't only giant robots (mecha) or stuff for kids (ie, Pokemon, Dragonball).
I don't hate manga; I just haven't read enough of it.
When translated manga first started making its way to the US in the late-80s (Lone Wolf and Cub, Area 88, Mai, the Psychic Girl, et al.), I read it all. As I mentioned before, I worked in a comic book store, so I had the time and discount to read whatever I wanted. Slowly, Viz (which was doing much of the packaging and translating of the comics) went out on its own and started to publish English-editions on their own, and I bought much of that (especially Ranma 1/2, Lum, and Nausicaa).
By the time I went to college, however, I didn't have the a) disposable income or b) time to read these comics, and I stuck with those that I had either grown up on (standard super-hero stuff) or the indie comics that I thought would make me seem less geeky ("Sure I read comics, but look at this stuff by Dan Clowes!"). I stopped buying manga.
I picked up a few titles here and there (I bought Eagle, the Making of an Asian-American President, and thought it was one of the dumbest things I've read, and I bought the Astro Boy
and Lone Wolf and Cub reprints from Dark Horse), but I missed out on the manga boom, which seemed to have started around the time of the influx of anime on TV (from Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Dragonball) and has only gotten bigger.I go into Borders and I see a couple of shelves of "standard" US trade paperbacks and graphic novels next to piles and piles of manga reprints, with teenagers (many of them girls) all sitting down reading them. Bookscan (which is like the Billboard of books) notes that in most months, manga titles are 8 or 9 out of the top 10 graphic novels sold.
They're everywhere.
But I don't know where to start. It seems obvious to me that manga is the new romance comic. That what teenage girls were reading in the 50s (romance comics) are now manga.
So that's where you come in. There has to be one or two of you out there who read manga or know about manga that can tell me where to start. Is Fruits Basket
a romance comic? Boys Over Flowers? Are these standard romance comics, or are they more along the lines of teen-humor titles like Archie or Pasty and Hedy?I've never asked for your help before (nor have I even asked for comments, even though I really would like to see a few now and then, to know that people are actually reading this), but I come to you today.
Enlighten me. Educate me.
posted by Raphe at Thursday, August 11, 2005
6 Comments:
I can tell you exactly where to start with manga. Maison Ikkoku is by far my favorite comic series EVER, and I've read a bazillion of 'em since 1969. My favorite genre is romantic comedy, and Maison Ikkoku does it better than any book, movie or TV show I've experienced.
Try it. You'll love it.
Thanks, norrin -- I will try it.
I love being ejucated!
I hope you will post your reaction when you do. I'd be interested to see what you think of it.
Just finding this blog and reading through it and thought I'd post a few manga suggestions. There's a lot of romance in manga - many of the shoujo series have that as their primary theme, althugh manga tends to specialize in dysfunctional people and their dysfunctional relationships.
MARS is one of the best out there at the moment - your standard good girl/bad boy thing. PEACH GIRL and PEACH GIRL CHANGE OF HEART is all about the romance and the love triangle between the three main characters, but is right smack in the middle of dysfunctional-land, and I stopped reading it after a while, when I realised that I wanted to slap all of the main characters while screaming "GROW UP ALREADY!" HOT GIMMICK is the canonical dysfunctional-relationship manga, but it tends to be as addictive as crack, even though you hate yourself for reading it and the creator for making it.
FRUITS BASKET isn't really about the romance - it's hinted at and the reader is teased by it, but its focus is more on family relationships and dynamics. Other shoujo have romance as a large part of the elements, even when it's not the thing driving the plot - Yuu Watase's manga FUSHIGI YUUGI, FUUSHIGI YUUGI GAIDEN, CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND and ALICE 19 have romantic subplots and themes (although they're not my favorite). CLAMP's WISH is about the romantic relationships between humans, angels, and demons, and part of their CLOVER has a tragic relationship as its focus. I like CLOVER more than any of their other work, because they tried some innovative storytelling (it's not in chronological order) and graphic-design-inspired artwork in that. THE DEMON ORORON is another demon/human relationship story, although the layout and pacing is a bit crowded and confusing.
And of course all the shounen-ai/boys-love (BL) and yaoi titles out there focus on relationships, albeit m/m. GRAVITATION (I quit reading 8 books in), EERIE QUEERIE (fluffy but enjoyable), SKYSCRAPERS OF OZ (yaoi, semi-explicit), and so on are examples of that. I think HANDS OFF is another in the BL genre, but I haven't read it. ANTIQUE BAKERY is another one that's marketed as BL but that's really only part of it - it's about the three employees as a bakery and the customers who come in, and is a sweet, gently-paced story with some focus on relationships (m/m, m/f, and f/f) and some focus on the histories of the customers, and is well worth reading.
telophase -- thanks for your suggestions, as well. I've bought a few manga collections recently and I hope to sit down and read and review some this weekend.
It seems that so much of the romance in manga is tied to something "extra" (angels/demons, mystic powers, etc.), and it's the same fear I have with American genre comics.
Hopefully Monday I'll have a new post up concerning all the things I now love about manga!
Raphe
I can't believe I forgot about Erica Sakurazawa - there's 5 or so books out containing short stories by her. They're mostly in the "chick flick" genre, with a big focus on relationships.
There's also HAPPY MANIA, which is ... well, a screwball R-rated comedy about a girl who is overly focused on finding her perfect man. And TRAMPS LIKE US, which concerns a career woman who's always held herself above a lot of other people, who takes in a young man and treats him like a pet (er, well, it sounds strange, and it is, but that's manga for you) while trying to figure out what she's doing with her life, and not admitting to herself that she's falling in love with him.
PARADISE KISS and FORBIDDEN DANCE both tend to be girl-trying-to-make-her-way, with elements of romance.
I think the focus on fantasy and science ficiton and other genres is mostly a function of what the American companies importing manga think will sell; from what I understand there's no lack of contemporary romance in Japan.
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