Comments on: More on thinking person’s manga

by: Sunnyside-up « boiled egg

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:30:51 +0000

[...] Heidi wrote a post about readers of comics being the same as readers of books - not everyone develops “sophisticated literary tastes”. And for me, that’s where the frustration sets in. Because I’m not talking gekiga or Tatsumi or Tezuka’s MW or anything that today’s manga reader would shy away from because the themes are too foreign to them. I’m talking about Slam Dunk. I’m talking about Parasyte. I’m talking about books that don’t subscribe to the current manga aesthetic. I’m talking about stories, stories that are phenomenal, that would win over anyone who likes movies, comics, fiction, but that will likely miss the manga boat. (Or more accurately, will be on the slow boat from Japan.) [...]

by: Simon Jones who is blogless

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:47:27 +0000

A question I really have to ask is why is that manga will forever be a mostly teen/YA adult based audience such a bad thing? I mean, it’d be nice if more stuff for older audiences came out. Or even just some older stuff that’s important to the medium. But as long as it doesn’t get trapped pursuing that same aging fanboy audience as american comics have lumbered itself with, why exactly is it an issue?

by: Stefan Pannor

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:51:06 +0000

@Steve: As far as I know, there is no or almost no western comics material available in Japan. I once talked to Stan Sakai, who told me, that not even “Usagi Yojimbo” has ever been published there.

Besides … most of the Japanese manga reader are teens. According to this statistic - “How many manga do you read per month?”:

Older Teenager: 2.4

20-30 Years: 1.1

30-40 Years: 0.4

40-50 Years: 0.3

50-60 Years: 0.1

60-70 Years: -

> 70 Years: -

(Source: Japanese Book News Spring 1996)

While those numbers aren’t new and can be criticized for this, they show an overall trend for manga as mostly youth culture even in Japan. If anybody has newer numbers, I’d be grateful.

by: Elektra

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:33:17 +0000

No one is saying that manga for kids are bad, they are saying that this narrow focus on kiddy big eyed shallow manga is as bad as the narrow focus on superheroes for boys in Western comics.

It devalues the art form and doesn’t allow the medium and industry to grow.

Poor Jeff Smith doesn’t seem to have failed to make a Western comic for kids, so it’s been done and all that, even by whiny Western creators who want to do their dream jobs while not deserving the privilege.

He’s sold millions, by the way, and so have many other Western comics, in case you don’t know…and apparently, you don’t.

It is disappointing that none of the mature manga are catching on with manga fans in the US, no matter what age they are. I guess those mature manga artists need to man up and go get different jobs!

I am disappointed because none of the josei manga I enjoy are doing well, and it is unlikely many more will be translated at this rate. They don’t sell. As a manga fan, that is bad news to me, even if you don’t care and don’t think anyone else should.

Who cares?

People who care about the medium do.

And you’re right, yes, everyone thinks you miss the point.

by: Steve Taylor

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:07:56 +0000

My impression is that kids get caught up in the novelty of manga and anime early on and then become bored with it and move on,…to Metal Gear Solid.
By the way,…what’s the story on American comics in Japan? Do they sell there? Are there Japanese publishers doing reprints or whatever of U.S. comics? I’ve seen manga versions of Spider-Man and Star Wars,…but, those were adaptations,…especially the Spider-Man stuff. What about reprinted translations with the original western art? Does that happen over there? I’d be interested to hear something about that.

by: Kenny

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:28:23 +0000

I don’t know…. I mean, I know everyone thinks I miss the point, but what the Hell is wrong with manga being popular with kids and only kids??? Who cares? Anime-franchised manga is selling by the boatload and no American comic can even touch it.

I guess to me, all this just reads like sour grapes. “The kids aren’t buying our American comic books! This is terrible! Kids must be stupid!”

To any American comic book creator - the gauntlet has been thrown. Either man up - or woman up - or give up and go get a different job.

A buddy of mine was talking about this - not everyone gets to do their dream job. Like I wanted to be - Hell, I still want to be - an astronaut. But I’m not whining that there’s other people being successful astronauts and I’m not one of them. Instead, I tried other things and found stuff I like just as much.

by: michael

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:20:02 +0000

apparently the Beat LOVES this book!! this is like the fifth post about it!

by: Anne Ishii

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:28:02 +0000

Manga’s inversely proportioned popularity::literary acumen is no different from American publishing, but one key characteristic of the market for Japanese content is that die-hard American fans can find much more manga in original Japanese, VERY EASILY. For the hard-core Taiyo Matsumoto fan, it’s so much more satisfying to buy an original Japanese copy and talk about it online than to wait YEARS for its American adaptation.

Case in point: Though I love Kinokuniya, it’s unfathomable that any other non-English bookstore could keep up with midtown rents when something like Coliseum couldn’t (maybe Spanish…maybe). It’s the double-edged sword of our fascination with things “authentically” Japanese. And so what if Kodansha has their own people doing American work? It may be cannibalizing some of the already small market, but that manga fan looking for some ephemeral literary masterpiece is not going to wait around.

Trust me, an ex-Vertical-marketer knows.

And so it makes sense that “low brow” manga sells via branding and translation — younger readers want the narratives (can’t blame ‘em). “High brow” stuff is selling via Kinokuniya in original Japanese because “more mature” readers want the experience, even if only through the lens of a year of beginner’s Japanese or a year abroad on the JET program.

And when all else fails you can get the T-shirt at Uniqlo.

by: Katherine F.

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:09:48 +0000

I seem to recall reading that Murakami had to leave the country after Norwegian Wood because his popularity was making his life unbearable. But that doesn’t invalidate the general point; some people write as if “growing up” from, say, Naruto to, say, The Push Man was a normal process, but I don’t see most prose readers making that kind of progression. (If it is a progression and not merely a change.)

by: Jake Forbes

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:09:08 +0000

Great roundup, Heidi.

Have to be take your bait and respond that, yes, Haruki Murakami has been the most popular author in Japan. Norwegian Wood was a publishing phenomenon (especially with young women), the popularity of which left the author snubbed by the “serious lit” community for years. His #1 status has been surpassed, but he’s still very much popular art.