Anyone Reading Manga?

[Gail Simone]

I'm finding a weird thing happening...I started picking up some serials, and I was really enjoying them, but for all the talk about what a good reading value manga is, I'm dropping almost all of them. Because they don't move any...the glacial pace is really rough on my western brain.

IRON WOK JAN, started very interestingly and was really a favorite, but ten issues in, we've learned very little and the stories are deathly similar.

BATTLE ROYAL, filled in a lot of stuff the movie left out, and is an amazing series, really, but oh my god, I'm twelve issues into an adaptation of a ninety minute movie and spending 120 bucks for this is feeling less and less like a good deal.


However, I'm loving the shorter horror manga works, particularly those of Jinju Ito; Gyo, Uzumaki, Flesh Colored Horror, and the amazingly original TOMIE. Highly recommended.

Also getting a new series of horror books starting with THE RED SNAKE.

Didn't enjoy Sgt. Frog, though others seem to like it, and perversely, I like Nausicaa much better as a film than as anime.

Lone Wolf and Cub is terrific, but the 14 volumes I have pretty much have sated my desire to read about these characters forever.

Anyone else reading any?


Gail

[SydneyPerth]

Mangas never turned me on. They look exactly the same since I started collecting comics over thirty years ago. You would think the artwork would have changed a lot in that time.

120 bucks for an adaptation of a ninety-minute movie? Girl, we need to talk about your finances.

[Evadne]

Manga do move at a much slower pace than Western comics, but it really depends what you're into. I read mostly shojo manga, because those sort of stories just aren't available in Western comics, for the most part. I pick them up at a much more leisurely pace than I do my comics as well. Pick up a couple volumes here or there.

Boys over Flowers, Hot Gimmick, Hana-Kimi, and Tramps Like Us are what I've mostly been reading lately, but I haven't picked up new volumes for any of them in a few months because I just don't have the money. INVU was really good, but just stopped coming out after volume 3, which was not so great.

What Sydney Perth said about the art is also true, and that really affects what I pick up. Either the story has to be fabulous, or the art has to be really something. There are definitely different styles. Hot Gimmick is more "generic manga" style art, but Boys over Flowers looks significantly different to me, and Tramps Like Us is also pretty noteable. I actually picked up the first volume of Tramps Like Us on the basis of liking the interior art, which is rare for me and manga.

The problem with shoujo manga is that while they're sort of my way of getting romances in comic book form, some of the staples of the genre include some really sexist things that kind of ruin my enjoyment of the story. And that, more than the pacing or the art, is what makes me occasionally go, "no. it's just not worth it."

[SydneyPerth]

Actually, Evadne, the ones I read overseas had a much faster pace to them. But all of their characters looked like Speed Racer, the Secret Prince, Astro Boy, and other Japanese cartoon characters. Here we were taught not to say that Asians all look alike to me, but their mangas sure do. Just don't get that.

[Evadne]

Actually, Evadne, the ones I read overseas had a much faster pace to them.

SydneyPerth

Well, I think that all depends on what you're reading, really. I mean, by the basis of what I'm buying, those stories are more slow moving than your average superhero comic. But the genres I'm buying in are more character driven and less plot driven than my western comics, so for me, they are slower moving. Although they definitely don't have the "filler"/decompression problem certain comics I can name do!

As for the art style... There are definitely a lot of imitative styles, and I used to know the reason, but I've since forgotten it. For me, it's always depended on the quality of the manga. There's a lot of really awful stuff out there, because there is a glut of the stuff, and now that book companies have figured out the kind of money they can make selling the stuff in the US (and that the big players like DC & Marvel are getting in on the imprints), we're starting to see stuff in the US that's not so much "the classics" and is just "well... people like manga, right?" And there's sort of, in my experience, this opinion surrounding American otaku that all manga must be fabulous because they Came From Japan, when it's very clear that, no sir, this is No Good. Just like comics. Some serials are very, very good, and some of them are unbearable.

In any case, now that I've gotten myself off track, the artistic conventions of manga definitely differ from those of Western manga in such a way that the art can grate, and merely mediocre art can come across as Bad Art to someone who isn't particularly fond of those conventions.

[Argent*]

I'm naughty so I read scanlations of Bleach and Naruto as soon as they hit the net. Both of those run weekly and are only somewhat padded, though Bleach is just about wrapping up an arc that took 100 chapters to show 12 days of "screen time".

Most mangas are produced on a weekly schedule for the various manga magazines and they are written the same as Soap Operas - loads of internal monologues and people repeating themselves.

[CanaryNoir]

I'm finding a weird thing happening...I started picking up some serials, and I was really enjoying them, but for all the talk about what a good reading value manga is, I'm dropping almost all of them. Because they don't move any...the glacial pace is really rough on my western brain. *snip* Anyone else reading any?

I've had that happen a lot, too. Depends what you like, and most of your listings are action or horror which rarely work for me. There are all these conventions that I think sometimes get in the way of just TELLING THE STORY.

However, I've been pushing FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST -- anime and manga (Viz) -- on Words of Prey like I'm getting a cut of the profits. Anime-wise, it is not just my favorite anime, it is my favorite TV SHOW I'm currently watching and probably second only to BUFFY as my favorite all-time.

The manga has just started to be published in the US, and it's very good, too though the two versions diverge from each other fairly quickly as the anime went into production early in the manga's existence so the anime-makers had to write their own stories after a little bit.

I adore, adore, adore FRUITS BASKET -- both the anime and the manga (TokyoPop) there, too. I tend to prefer shojo manga to shonen (though FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST is technically shojo).

Also love CMX's GALS! which is wacky and fun and has a great female lead and LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED -- a high school-based manga with fantastic elements.

That being said, I'm not really a manga/anime fan. I like good stories, and I really do like the more modern manga art style very much (the old RANMA 1/2 stuff doesn't do a thing for me) so if the story is there, I'll love it. Which is why I'm a big Miyazaki fan (HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE! HOORAH!)

Try GANTZ (anime) for a really mindblowing experience. Just jaw-dropping, gorgeous, amazing story, scary, intense and truly shocking. Terrific and the pacing is very good. Don't know if there's a manga yet. Don't think there is.

Bird is the word,
Jennifer

[avathar476]

I do read mangga of all kinds. Shoujo, shounen, what have you. I just dig the simplistic quality that it utilizes and definitely some of the best mangga can give American comicbooks a run for their money. Fact.

[majflash]

My wife reads the Inuyasha series. Im glad she does cause now when I want to spend more than usual on my comics I just get her a Inuyasha book as a gift so she wont realize I spent more on myself.

[avathar476]

My wife reads the Inuyasha series. Im glad she does cause now when I want to spend more than usual on my comics I just get her a Inuyasha book as a gift so she wont realize I spent more on myself.

majflash

Good for you, my friend. Happy reading.

[Heather M Jordan]

Might i suggest the translated versions of "Pet Shop of Horrors" by Matsuri Akino, put out by TokyoPop? It's a horror manga, but all in black and white. only the covers are in color. The plot is focused on a particular, peculiar pet shop in China Town, in some major US city (it's never specified, but could be LA), where pets were sold from. THis information is learned by the star detective when he investigates strange homicides. The stories are often tragic, but very well done, even in the translated version. The entire series went only to 10 volumes, each with 4 stories in them. There's a new series/version of this title, but i haven't read it so i cant vouch for it.

There's even a dvd/vcd/vhs out with 4 of these stories put to anime. I suggest the DVD because it has extras. I got the DVD on a unbiased whim, trying out something new, and it turned out that i absolutely fell in love with the entire series. The anime is very well drawn and colored. You can see where the artists put their money to work. IE: D (the other main character) wears these silk "cheongsams" which look a bit like dresses, but they're made for men. His are very ornate and heavily decorated, and they dont cheap on drawing this either.

The manga/anime has very brief nudity, such as a view of a woman's breast or something, but it's tasteful and not done for carnal showcasing. There's also a little graphic language at "emotional times" in the stories. The manga's rated for Older Teens (16+) and i believe the dvd is rated/recommended rated at R.

I'd also like to note that on the DVD, the english voice overs are done extremely well. I have yet to spot a missed mouth movement. If you turn on the subtitles with the english track, you'll notice slight differences in the content, but it all amounts to the same stuff. the dvd also has a commentary with the english voice-over actors.

And if anyone's interested in scanlations, i can redirect them to a yahoo-group (or two) dedicated to Pet Shop of Horrors, where others have done scanlations for others to read.

[Argent*]

One of the best Manga series is the very funny What's Michael? There are some Dark Horse collections and it is also found in Super Manga Blast.

It is about a tabby cat named Michael. Actually it is about several tabby cats named Michael. And cat owners. And people who deal with cats. And cats in general. And sometimes dogs.

It is a funny strip. Sometimes it is smile and nod funny and other times it is pass-your-cola-through-your-nose funny.

[rooboy666]

Manga do move at a much slower pace than Western comics, but it really depends what you're into. I read mostly shojo manga, because those sort of stories just aren't available in Western comics, for the most part. I pick them up at a much more leisurely pace than I do my comics as well. Pick up a couple volumes here or there.

Evadne

This is pretty much what I do also. The great thing about manga is that there's a whole lot of it that taps into genres that aren't used that much in western comics, particularly the shojo varieties.
The bad thing about Manga is that there's so much of it, I find you have to be really discriminating in what you're getting. Yeah, it's a lot cheaper than western comics, but you've gotta go with what you like rather than just picking up anything and everything.

[Chris Hansbrough]

I'm finding a weird thing happening...I started picking up some serials, and I was really enjoying them, but for all the talk about what a good reading value manga is, I'm dropping almost all of them. Because they don't move any...the glacial pace is really rough on my western brain. IRON WOK JAN, started very interestingly and was really a favorite, but ten issues in, we've learned very little and the stories are deathly similar. BATTLE ROYAL, filled in a lot of stuff the movie left out, and is an amazing series, really, but oh my god, I'm twelve issues into an adaptation of a ninety minute movie and spending 120 bucks for this is feeling less and less like a good deal. However, I'm loving the shorter horror manga works, particularly those of Jinju Ito; Gyo, Uzumaki, Flesh Colored Horror, and the amazingly original TOMIE. Highly recommended. Also getting a new series of horror books starting with THE RED SNAKE. Didn't enjoy Sgt. Frog, though others seem to like it, and perversely, I like Nausicaa much better as a film than as anime. Lone Wolf and Cub is terrific, but the 14 volumes I have pretty much have sated my desire to read about these characters forever. Anyone else reading any? Gail

Gail Simone

I'm getting it from Grimey as well. Battle Royale is fantastic. The movie almsot made me sick but I've been following the manga for a while. Actually I think the 2 of us may be the only ones with any manga on their pull outside of the creeepy weird porn stuff a couple people get......But yeah....battle Royale.....sick twisted but I'll be damned if it isn't a great read.

I also have fun With JoJo's bizzare adventure.....my god that a funny one.

[BJD*]

I read a number of manga. First and foremost is GTO:Great Teacher Onizuka. August will see the 24th and final chapter (yep, that's $240!) and I have loved every volume.
I agree with Gail about Battle Royale in that it is running longer than necessary. I wonder, however, if the story is being padded because it sells so well? I thought that when it was originally announced it was only going to run for 9 or 10 volumes, but the sales might have convinced the publishers to stretch out the story because they found a cash cow. Perhaps Gail could ask Keith Giffen about that?
If you want to read a good, short series then I highly suggest Azumanga Daioh. The series is only 4 volumes long and it is one of the funniest comics I have ever read. Just thinking about some of the scenes brings a smile to my face. The anime is also very good.
Because I love Azumanga Daioh, I am looking forward to the series Yotsuba@! which is by the same creator. Comicon.com had a review by someone who wasn't familiar with A.D. and loved it. I have high hopes for this.
Some of the other series than I am reading are Planetes (good science fiction), .Remote and Gunsmith Cats but I pick these up based on extra money I have available.

[BJD*]

A slight mistake on my part, the series is Yotsuba&! and you can read a review here.