Why have there been barely any manga threads?

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I'm more or less with Matthew here. I may just be narrow minded or culturally biased or some crap like that, but the vast majority of manga have that very similar look that I find singularly unappealing, and I have only very rarely (to date) been able to get past that. Most often, with work that looks very different from the prototypical norm. Most especially, "Lone Wolf and Cub" looks fantastic and has loads of great storytelling ideas, but even there the stories themselves got so repetitive that I gave up on it pretty quickly.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 28 October 2005 12:17 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm more likely to be okay with the art. It's the subject matter of the stories that bores the hell out of me. I've yet to find any manga with subject matter even remotely appealing to me.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 28 October 2005 12:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Get some Tezuka! Or Phoenix at least. The art is charming, and the stories are positively gripping -- if your regular meal (like me) is the usual DC gruel, then it'll be a treat.

Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 28 October 2005 13:29 (eighteen years ago) link

I can't say too many good things about the first 5 Phoenix books -- Actually, I'm so hungover, I can't say anything about them at all. Sorry.

Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 28 October 2005 13:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Is Phoenix being published as a series now? I did read that one "Story of the Future" trade-- that was pretty great (and yeah, Tezuka's cutie-pie characters are hella charming). Care to give some examples of what you're talking about, droid? The Push Man, the book about the author's prison experiences, Sexy Voice and Robo, Hideshi Hino's stuff... What else?

Chris F. (servoret), Saturday, 29 October 2005 08:05 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, 5 volumes of Phoenix are out now, and coming out every some months.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 29 October 2005 09:10 (eighteen years ago) link

In fairness, 98% of all comics are about subject matter that I find totally boring, so it's not exactly a problem with manga, per se.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Saturday, 29 October 2005 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I think manga cover a far wider range of stories than any other comics industry on the planet, and even the limited and necessarily commercially-oriented selection that have been translated give a pretty good idea of that. Just look at the best-known Osamu Tezuka works that have been translated:
Astro Boy - robot adventures for kids
Phoenix - perhaps the most profound and ambitious comic ever
Black Jack - surgical adventures
Buddha - the story of the Buddha
Adolf - the intertwined stories of people called Adolf (one of them Hitler)

And that's just a tiny fraction of one person's output! I was reading earlier of a fishing series that ran to over 60 volumes and sold something like 20 million copies, and I was quoting an artist who claims "At least half of manga tell stories of men and women and their everyday lives."

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 29 October 2005 14:44 (eighteen years ago) link

A sample:

http://koti.phnet.fi/otaku/historia/m_phoenix.jpg

Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Saturday, 29 October 2005 14:50 (eighteen years ago) link

the bloke who wrote Lone Wolf And Cub etc also does Golfing stories. the mind boggles.

have started buying Samurai Executioner (4 so far, 10 in total) and one volume of LW&C (i'd been putting this off because, well, it's 10,000 pages long and i've read the first 12 issues of the old (viz?) release and was scared that the first two or three books would just be things i'd already seen. thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case (because the americans shied away from the nudity?)) only 27 more (and 160 quid) to go!

have read all of akira in single issue form. have a complete set of individual issues of Nausicaa but have never got past series 2 (despite 3 attempts).

koogs (koogs), Monday, 31 October 2005 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I read all of Kenshin a long time ago, I recommend it, esp. the point where the anime branches off into silliness due to artistic disputes and the manga stays the course.
I just couldn't get into Buddha, I could never get past the style of the comic clashing with the style of Buddhist art that I've seen.
Not manga, but I'm currently watching Bleach and it's very very good. It has to do with ordinary teenagers becoming death gods (a bit like a Sin Eater) who must then battle hollows (damned souls) who seek to devour the souls of the newly dead. I also like the soundtrack quite a bit.

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 31 October 2005 19:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Can anyone explain some of the weirder manga conventions, like randomly depicting adult characters as child-size, flipper-armed versions of themselves?

Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 31 October 2005 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Doesn't that generally happen when they lose their temper? I've gathered that it's a sort of expressionistic approach to showing that what's happening is a childish tantrum.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 31 October 2005 21:16 (eighteen years ago) link

It's called super-chibi and I don't like it, generally.
They also have this convention that your blood type determines your personality (a bit like astrology) so if you look at character guides they'll often list the blood type. This puzzled me for the longest time.
http://www.issendai.com/rpgs/takemywings/bloodtypes.htm

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 31 October 2005 21:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Holy Batspank!
A bloodtype condom vending machine.
http://japanvisitor.com/jc/im/blood-type-1.jpg

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 31 October 2005 21:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Everything here is great:

http://ponentmon.com.hosting.domaindirect.com/new_pages/spanish/princ.html

Lodsa Spanish translations. More English stuff on the way.

droid, Tuesday, 1 November 2005 14:56 (eighteen years ago) link

People who are put off by spiky-haired kids and general jap silliness should check out Nodame Cantabile - the story of a classical music student who loses his drive and direction but rediscovers his love of music through an odd girl his piano teacher introduces him to. Very fresh setting, and quite a sweet love story.

Jacob (Jacob), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 04:23 (eighteen years ago) link

Tezuka was aiming at young boys with Buddha, so I've read, though the style seems no harder to access than something like Phoenix. But then, I am an unsophisticate.

Leeeeeeeeeee (Leee), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 04:28 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm surprised more hasn't been said about Hellsing... granted it's released with incredible slowness, but the art is fantastic. I used to buy it when I lived in Japan, even when I couldn't understand it. The anime is top notch too (though it diverges from the manga towards the end, and does not improve upon it), and it might be continued at some point (if the manga ever finishes).

Laura H. (laurah), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 18:44 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
Tezuka is so great. I just finished this mini-series called "Barbara" about a hippie girl finidng refuge with a hip young author who subsequently turns mad after being put through weird satanist rituals.

Baaderonixx weaves a daisy chain for... SATAN!! (baaderonixx), Thursday, 24 November 2005 14:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Ooh, not just an excuse but an obligation to hype the new section of my Japanese arts site, about manga. It's small (43 pages, I think) and not terribly impressive, but this is just a first draft of course. http://www.japanese-arts.net/comics/comics_index.htm

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 24 November 2005 19:25 (eighteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...
In an effort to overcome my prejudices, I took "Phoenix" and the first three volumes of Astro Boy out of the library today. I will read them as soon as I'm done with the booky-novel I'm reading. Ironically, that is Murakami's "Dance Dance Dance."

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 9 December 2005 02:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Haha - you are me! I am just starting 'Dance, Dance, Dance', while reading Tezuka stuff on the side!

Baaderonixx weaves a daisy chain for... SATAN!! (baaderonixx), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:59 (eighteen years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

Can anyone recommend some not-too-obscure manga, well-drawn, for an 11-year-old? She’s into Harry Potter (obviously) so something adventurey would be good. Thanks!

Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 24 January 2020 15:17 (four years ago) link

(I say well-drawn because she’s interested in copying the illustrations and sketching herself…)

Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 24 January 2020 15:19 (four years ago) link

Phoenix? Astro Boy? Buddha? Basically Tezuka is what I'm saying.

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 24 January 2020 15:37 (four years ago) link

It's not adventurey at all but Yotsuba is fantastic - it's about a 5-year old girl trying to understand things

Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Friday, 24 January 2020 16:03 (four years ago) link

That sounds intriguing! In the end my local store had a well shit selection so I ended up getting Lumberjanes and Adventure time

Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 24 January 2020 21:36 (four years ago) link

both very good!

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 24 January 2020 21:58 (four years ago) link

I read Paradise Kiss - which i would say is a bit too mature for an 11 year old, but it’s good for an older teenager. It’s very well known but I’d never heard of it, ended up buying it after a glowing recommendation from the friend who got me into Kyoko Okazaki. Similar focus on fashion, but different plotwise - it’s all about a young woman’s coming of age and deciding who she wants to be in the world. The collected edition (by Vertical) clocks in at over 800 pages (!) but I read it over maybe five days. Really liked it, will almost certainly reread plenty over the years. What the fuck is that ending though?

steer karma (gyac), Sunday, 26 January 2020 21:57 (four years ago) link

following. my 8yo has gotten really into graphic novels but she finishes them so quickly. mangas seem longer generally? so far she loves the Hereville books, Zita Spacegirl, the old Sfar Sardine books, the Shanower/Skottie Young Oz books, the Wings of Fire books, but those are all Western graphic novel style and they take about a minute and a half to read.

Mordy, Sunday, 26 January 2020 22:18 (four years ago) link

Some manga my 9-year-old is into:
Little Witch Academia
Witch Hat Atelier
My Neighbor Seki
Yotsuba

na (NA), Sunday, 26 January 2020 23:26 (four years ago) link

My Neighbor Seki is more comedic and episodic but it’s pretty funny. Witch Hat Atelier is a strong recommendation, the art is great. They’re into My Hero Academia as well but I’m not sure how I feel about that one.

na (NA), Sunday, 26 January 2020 23:27 (four years ago) link

I don’t have kids so can’t speak to age appropriateness but two series that comes to mind are Planetes and A Bride’s Story

rob, Sunday, 26 January 2020 23:57 (four years ago) link

also try Amulet
https://kids.scholastic.com/kids/books/amulet/

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 27 January 2020 03:08 (four years ago) link

four months pass...

Is Beck worth the final tier price?
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/award-winning-manga-by-kodansha-books

I like what I've read of Parasyte but I'm pretty sure goes waaaay beyond 8 volumes

Nhex, Friday, 29 May 2020 19:55 (three years ago) link

no it's just 8. there are some spin offs. it's by far the best of that collection, though i will ride for space brothers and have never tried beck.

I'm about a quarter of the way into Bakuman right now; it's a lot of fun, very meta.
https://www.viz.com/bakuman

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 29 May 2020 22:44 (three years ago) link

oh ok! i don't know why i thought Parasyte was much longer. i'll def bite then

Nhex, Friday, 29 May 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link

two years pass...

Chainsaw Man just started Part II and is becoming digitally published simultaneously on Shonen Jump's digital service, which I thought was interesting. Are most new series like that now?

The first part (11 volumes) was pretty great, and I assume when the anime comes out it'll be another massive success ala Jujutsu Kaisen, MHA, Demon Slayer, etc. There was also a great one-shot the same author put out this past year called "Goodbye, Eri".

So I figured, what the hell, I'll try Fujimoto's first series that made him famous, "Fire Punch". God, what a mistake. It's the most dire, edgelord-y shit that I guess I can't tolerate anymore - just as many offensive shock moments as possible in a fantasy apocalypse world featuring the absolute worst of humanity. Like The Walking Dead or Berserk, with even less hope. First volume alone has evil superhumans, child rape, slavery, "heroic" cannibalism, torture, and ends with some attempted bestiality. I'm eBaying this immediately just to get it out of my home because it's too late to return it.

Just wanted to rant into the ether in case someone else here also has had this experience...

Nhex, Saturday, 16 July 2022 01:06 (one year ago) link


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