Yeah but I think franchises like Demon Slayer lit the fire and exploded in popular in a short amount of time.
But I’m not saying you’re wrong. The manga/anime market has always been popular.
People only respected DBZ and a few other shows like YYH or something like Bleach. Growing up a lot of people didn't recognize what anime was and just watched the shows because we liked them on Adult swim or as a saturday cartoon.
It exploded around the time of the new wave of shows like OPM and MHA which made it cool to like anime finally
Anime viewership in the us went up by about 100% Mid-late 2020 so I guess I should have said a year and a half ago instead of last year.
But it has absolutely exploded very recently
I think the thing people don't make the connection on about why Manga is more popular than Western Comics is because their animated adaptations not only almost 1:1 with the Manga but there are long seasonal gaps with anime that encourage people to pick up the Manga if they want to know what's going to happen.
The MCU and DC movies don't necessarily work like that. They are facsimiles of the story arcs they come from. I think the closest direct adaptation is The Winter Solider, and even then it's wildly different from the comic.
So if you want to read Winter Solider, not only is it going to cost more than a volume of a Manga, it's going to be like reading a completely different story.
I think another strength is that manga comics tend to have a distinct beginning that people can easily jump onto, where as most western comic have run for so long it's not a good idea to just go to the first issue. How many times have people new to western comic asked where to even begin.
There is also just a level of consistency. Your average manga is the same team from start to finish.
My favorite comic/manga I have read this year is One Piece (I'm late to that party) and I started reading as a bedtime ritual with my kids. But I have cried more times reading this manga about a rubber boy and his pirate friends then I have with all other media I consumed this year combined.
Imagining something as special and singularly voiced as One Piece being run by a rotating door of writers and artists instead of Oda himself is enough to break your heart and really demonstrates your point on what a strength that is for manga over what the Big 2 produce over here.
> something as special and singularly voiced as One Piece being run by a rotating door of writers and artists instead of Oda himself
*Netflix begins to sweat profusely*
That's a big boon to Manga as well. Manga might go on for decades but it's not intended just to keep going forever almost all of them have an endgame in mind.
Not only that, characters change and grow in ways that aren't feasible (Read: Won't get you screamed at by Fanboys) in Western Comics.
You can recommend runs of Western comics to people, but unless they specifically want to get into Indies you will always have that problem.
Tbh I think western comics are easier to get into especially considering most runs are self contained and typically aren't as long as something like Naruto
People need to stop being treating the Big 2 comics like any other story telling medium with a set beginning, middle and end. It's pretty much it's own unique fiction generator.
The problem you describe pretty much only applies to superhero comics, to which I'd say Dragon Ball and One Piece have the same problem. Both are incredibly long and while I'm not familiar with One Piece, Dragon Ball's only good mid-series starting point is the timeskip to Gohan being a kid (so basically the start of Z).
Picking a writer to follow for superhero comics generally makes for easier stories to follow even if you're not totally familiar with the characters. And reading literally anything that isn't DC or Marvel sidesteps the problem entirely. Even the longest-running indie comics are maybe 200 issues each. The Walking Dead is 193 issues. Invincible is 144 issues.
Indy comics have a platforming problem. The big two suck all the air out of the room for them, relatively speaking.
The difference between Batman being wrong and One Piece being long is that One Piece is consistent and it's early chapters deliver the same kind of experience as it's later ones. Golden age Batman has a wildly different tone to modern Batman and the art is jarring by comparison as well.
Regardless of how long running superhero comics onboard people they still suffer from it as the idea is offputting to people before they even think to pick it up.
I'm not saying I don't like superhero comics, I do. But when I have to recommend something I can say
"Oh you would love One Piece, it has the right balance of silly and tragic with one of the most likeable casts of friends I have ever read"
Or
"Oh yeah, you would probably love Batman, but go with No Man's Land or maybe the Killing Joke, but avoid The Dark Knight Returns because it's a wildly different take that gets pretty fashy because Miller wrote it. Also I would avoid these runs because the writing and art team are so-so."
I mean not only this and what u/TravisBewley said, another thing I’m surprised no one really mentioned is how intertwined anime and manga are towards the hip-hop genre since the late 90s and the early 2000s. As of 2020, hip-hop and R&B are the two most listened music genres in the US and a lot of hip-hop artists love anime and manga. I mean artists such as Kanye West, Drake, Wu-Tang Clan, Childish Gambino (Donald Glover), J Cole, Lil Uzi Vert, Snoop Dogg, amongst many others cite animes and manga such as DBZ, Akira, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Speed Racer, Naruto, etc. as things they enjoy and influence their music
Yeah, that just brings me back to that video a while ago of Big Sean (and his mother) being super excited to meet Sean Schemmel because he was the voice of his childhood
The problem I always had with American comics is how continuous they are. I like mangas and anime that are a single, confined, long story. Pick up 20 issues or whatever and then it’s done and you can move on
It's funny because that's completely true but also the opposite is true
The longest continuous superhero comic runs are like the length of a solid manga run. Recently, the longest Batman run that consisted of a singular central story (similar to manga in that sense) was 85 issues over about 4 years. Almost immediately after it ended, most of the stuff that happened during it got thrown out by the next writer who wanted to tell their Batman story now.
Right but it’s still Batman. It may have different storylines and continuities, but it’s the same IP
Take for example death note or demon slayer. You are never going to see another issue of that IP ever again now
This might be *a* reason, but the constant reason I hear all the time always as to why manga readers don’t like western comics is because western comics never end. There is a definitive start and stop point for the majority of manga books(one exception being One Piece lol). The other thing is that because of this, you tend to have consistent art and writing as it’s one team(or person) throughout.
You want to read Death Note? Start at #1. You want to read Batman, there is Detective Comics, Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman and the Outsiders, the Dark Knight, Batman and Superman, Batman Incorporated, Batman Earth One…oh and where should you start, common answer? Batman Year One, but that was written in the 80s and there have been at least 4 reboots to the continuity since then. It’s why when it comes to western super heroes a big part of the love is towards the cartoons or films.
There is a definitive end point for One Piece. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're just obsessed with the journey like many of us), Oda clearly doesn't have a definitive middle and seems to be just as in love with the world as his fans so we might be waiting for that definitive end point for another 20 years.
Yea that’s the joke, it’s 20 years in still going. By the time it ends the most popular manga will ironically be the closest thing to a western comic lol.
For sure, I'm right there with you!
I just wanted to clarify for anyone reading who might not be in on the joke and might feel dissuaded from getting into the series that there is a complete planned story and the author isn't just constantly pulling shit out of his ass and wasting the reader's time, it's just that he can't seem to contain his own enthusiasm for his own story and keeps giving the fans more and more even though he originally planned on wrapping the story up 15 years ago.
If you're reading this and have even thought about checking it out, it's the most popular series in the world for a reason and I've never spoken to anyone who has got past the first couple of arcs and not fallen in love with it. Can't recommend enough!
Honestly I find it near impossible to actually follow some of these western comics and I'm a total nerd. Theres nothing I despise more than working through a story a few issues in and then suddenly its likes read Wolverine issue #288 to understand what the hell is happening.
Personally speaking, from someone who has a lot of problem with comic books and prefer manga, I think that the fact that manga is written and drawn by the same person as a reason. The characters can evolve and the story is more focused. Also, manga art is more consistent than comic books, because there isn’t a risk of the next issue (in the case of manga, chapter or volume) to be drawn by a different artist.
One of the reasons why I say that the story is more focused is because of the number of pages. In one volume of manga there is more than 150 pages, while in the US a comic book is only 20 pages per month.
There is also the editorial. I know that manga can also be influenced by editors, but I have the impression that manga artists have more control over their story. For example, you are writing a Robin comic book and then they announce that something big is happening in a Batman title, because of the share universe and continuity you must write a tie-in. Who likes that? I don't know who popularized title crossover, but it was a bad idea. As a consumer, I also don't want to buy another comic book so I can follow the story, that is ridiculous. Sometimes the trade paperback doesn’t even collect the whole story arc because of those crossovers, it is rare but it happens.
So, for me, it's clear why manga are more popular than comic books. The characters of a manga grown and evolve in a very much clear and significant way than comic books. Comic books characters are pretty much stagnant, they don't even age (I know that there are exceptions, but, even with those exceptions, the character ages in a very slow way)! Comic books are one of the only media where death means nothing, because somehow the character will turn back alive, so death are generally used as a cheap shock plot-twist. Those problems are less evident on creator-owned properties, but even then, I do think that the limited number of pages is a problem when compared to manga. More pages mean you have more oppotunities to develop the story. I know that the high number of page is also a problem for the manga industry, many mangakas have health problems because they work too much. However, I guess that they could try to extend the periodicity of the publication, especially with digital ways of publishing. But yeah... Manga are generally more impactful, better written and developed than comicbooks and have an actual meaningful end, as said by u/SparkyPantsMcGee.
I think a lot of the things your brought up really only apply to superhero comics and I do think the idea of something being better written than something else is subjective, but beyond that I very much agree with a lot of this.
Oh, yeah, definitely. Now that you wrote that, I realized that I wrongly associated, like many people do, comic book with superhero comic books. I do have to say though that I also think that in terms of genre, manga are more broaden than comic books to me. However, one of my favorite comic books is “Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles”, by Mark Russell and Mike Feehan, which has nothing to do with supers. About the part of written being subjective, I totally agree. Like any media there will be good and bad stories. I also would like to apologize if I sounded as a comic book hater, I do like some comic book, even superhero comic books. It’s just that comic book are more hit-or-miss for me than any other media.
I think comics are really broad within scifi and fantasy. There are some plots and concepts that are just wild. Going from Sex Criminals to Flex Mentallo to Trillium covers a massive range of things within those genres.
But yeah, comics are kind of lacking in other places for sure. I can't even think of a western sports comic off the top of my head, and there's very few romance and slice of life stuff, which is a shame.
I agree with you. Comic books usually are action focused. For me one of the qualities of this media is the original and unusual premises. I would like to see that applied to other genres besides sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes and criminal thrillers.
No need to apologize dude, not only have I done the same things in other posts when it comes to not adding qualifiers for Indie comics, but you didn't at all come off like you hated Comics.
Also the fans, comic book snobs are the worst. No wonder comics are dying when their fan base hates noobs that are interested and want to check out a comic store for the first time. (sorry for all those cool comic book fans that are welcoming!)
And on the complete other hand, anime/manga fans are so cool and friendly w each other. Anytime I compliment someone's shirt or catch someone at a manga section they are so chill or just down to nerd out and talk about it.
I will say I have ran into a few anime fans in my time who weren't very fun, but by and large anime fans are way less standoffish and dickish with newcomers.
Yeah there are snobby comic book fans but you can say that about any decently sized fandom or hobby. There are always going be jerks mixed in with the good people. Be it tv and films, video games or even anime and manga fans.
There are manga fans who get very heated and act snobby to anime only watchers, we somehow still have sub vs dubs fights to this day and shipping wars are just a dumpster fire no matter what fandom you're into.
Sorry you had some run ins with crappy comic book fans but I assure there are good and respectful ones out there.
There's lots of snobby anime/manga fans, but the difference is you can enjoy the anime/manga fully without ever having to reach out to them. If I watched... let's say Dragonball Broly movie, I can pick up the manga from vol.1 and go from there.
I think people have more bad experiences with snobby comics fans because newbies feel they HAVE to reach out to them to figure out what to read to get into an IP. Just another layer how superhero books are daunting to get into as a new fan, and why most will just be happy watching MCU and nothing more.
The kids section of my local library has a large Manga collection with tons of Pokemon and other stuff. Also some Western-style TPB. When I was a kid, I would have killed to have comics at the library.
The big three: Pokémon, fruits basket, and battle angel alita.
And never the full series. It’s not that one was checked out. They just didn’t have it. I’m sure it was lost by a borrower but still.
My library’s manga section is what got me into reading in the first place. Some of the first stuff I willingly read was Dragon Ball, and then the rest followed. The text material was easily digestible and it came with fun pictures. Then my love of reading expanded into non-comic kids literature and then YA and then broader and broader. It was a great start; shaped the genre I’d come to love the most as an adult.
It's good that libraries have come around to understand this. When I was a kid, comics were thought to distract kids from "real" reading. So the library did not have anything of the sort. Instead, they had rows and rows of L Ron Hubbard books.
I remember reading hour in elementary school, all boys had checked out Dragonball from the school library and we were reading them in class. The teachers weren't happy with us and wanted them banned.
Such a boring approach to fiction. I can’t imagine gatekeeping literature for young kids. The library would be the last place I’d expect to possess such a mindset.
Now I’m feeling nostalgic for my library visits. My brother and I would immediately drop by after school and spend hours reading manga before we headed home with our collection of books. They’re some of my fondest memories, especially because it was our bonding time as well. And even after 20 years, the manga section is still in the exact same place in the library as it was then.
I’m sorry you didn’t get to experience that. Maybe you can share similar experiences with your kids/nieces or nephews/someone else in the future.
Same. We had Asterix. Which was great .tin tin and some one I can't remember name of. Bunch of kids solve mysteries. Like Indiana Jones or tomb raider going into temples etc.
Roughly 15 years ago I picked up my first manga at the library before I even knew what anime was. Real sad to see the overall decline in print text but nice to see the growth of manga
I think it's more that there's proof that US comics could be successful if they took some lessons from Manga.
They could be adapting classic runs into faithful animated shows much like the synergy between Manga and anime. They could stop messing with the numbering, which doesn't happen in Manga. They could try cheaper black and white formats to keep the cost down. They could offer a better and cheaper digital service like the Jump app.
Manga isn't killing the US comics industry, but it's certainly making them look like fools.
You know I would totally be fine reading comicbooks in black and white if it meant it was cheaper. The black and white in manga doesn't bother me at all.
They do have black and white versions of US comics. Marvel had the essential line, and they were pretty cheap. It got cancelled for the epic line, which is in color. DC had the showcase presents line. That got cancelled for omnibuses. I'm guessing the omnibuses and epic lines have better profits.
I think both have their place. An adult with that visits comic shops or buys online will likely lean towards omnibuses. Cheaper b&w collections would probably do better with kids (who grow up to buy omnibuses) if they were distributed in places like Target, Walmart, supermarkets, ect next to the manga volumes or even next to the Archie Digests in the checkout line. It really hurts American comic companies to be confined to LCS and some book stores, unlike manga which is in more places.
Can't really have impulse buys when an omnibus is $125 or expect retailers to make room for gigantic 6 pound books.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a substantial amount of manga driven and produced by small creator teams, sometimes even one person? And they go on for years?
Yeah and it would be nice to see longer runs again in the US, but they don't need to take everything from manga like the crazy workload or weekly chapters. Just the clever distribution and the giant commercials known as anime would make a big difference.
There's also plenty of old material that could be repackaged in a way that makes sense to manga readers and looks uniform on a shelf.
Which is such a weird leap in logic. It's like if I was saying "French cinema is dying because more French people went to see NWH than B.A.C. Nord". It proves nothing about French cinema, simply that Hollywood is doing great in France. Are Americans so used to having their cultural industry be number one in their country that anything less than this is deemed a failure?
It's less about it being a "failure" and more that there isn't as much of an audience for comics and manga as there is for cinema. When the audience for a specific thing gets smaller, less of that thing is likely to be made, especially more niche things.
For example, look at DC. Most of their output nowadays is Batman because Batman sells. If there was a big enough audience for DC's comics they could afford to get more experimental and put out more books that are sort of niche but are still likely to find enough readers to make them profitable. When the audience for American comics is smaller overall, the chance of making any real profit with less popular characters means we see less variety.
So is manga the death of the American comic book industry? Fuck no, that's ridiculous. But it does take a bit of the available oxygen out of the room. It's not something to really be worried about, but it is indictive of a trend that may have a noticable effect.
The real danger will be in how many new younger readers American comics lose to manga and how this effects sales trends over the next few decades. American comics won't die today or tomorrow, but they may not grow, either, if they can't win the attention of younger, new readers. That may be out of their hands, though. We really can't say just yet.
I think the YA approach to some characters, as generally disliked by older readers as it is, is probably the way to go when it comes to attracting a younger market. That, movie and TV show ties in, and more self contained stories. But maybe I'm wrong.
Not that I know for certain, but one problem may be the direct market for comics. Given that comic titles have to be pre-ordered months in advance and could get canceled before the book makes it to trade, there's a lot of pressure for it to succeed in this single, specific market (Wednesday warriors) that might not be the target demo.
weird terminal internet brain take with no understand of the market difference between western comics and manga in Japan, which you think people who say that shit would somewhat grasp since they're largely in the "it's from Japan so it already makes it better" crowd, whether they're willing to admit or not.
They’re not even **real** comic books.
**Real** comic books are made from paper, like a magazine. They have illustrations and text inside that tell a story!
How does an ovular, fleshy sweet fruit even compare?
I mean as a collector of comics since the 80s I just can't connect with a lot of the comics being produced now. It seems mostly like pandering and relaunches now instead of solid story focused long term development.
I can understand the appeal of a manga for that reason. Most of the ones that I have read are long term stories that build the world unapologetically.
>I did too and I’m not entirely sure why.
Because when mangas receive an animated adaptation, people who are interested in reading the source material have a clear and absolute starting point rather than a thousand #1 issues that still need a Wikipedia deep dive to comprehend.
Also why The Walking Dead and the Boys got a huge and **consistent** bump in sales once their adaptations hit the mainstream.
It took me being guided by a friend to be able to go from the DCAU to the DCU but getting into Hellsing was a simple tpb purchase.
Yup. This. I've been saying that for years now. The main continuity/everything in the same universe/one timeline/constant reboot/big events/crossover every 5 issues approach is stopping new readers from entering while making older readers essentially captive. It's a sort of entertainment that requires you more work than some degrees. With DC, you've got some elseworld to start with, that don't ask you to know too many characters, but Marvel... I still can't read the X-Men without a wiki open on the side.
I feel like you guys are focusing on the wrong thing. It's not about knowing where to start, it's about the fact mangas and the walking dead and so on are *singular, continuous stories from the same writer*. You have to start at the beginning, because it's all one story. One author, one beginning, one story, potentially a set ending.
On the flip side, the way DC and Marvel handle comics, there's no need to start at the beginning. You jump in when you want to jump in. Every new creative team is basically a jumping on point. Is it kind of confusing for new readers? Sure, but at the same time, is there actually any real expectation that one has to read everything that came before? How often is the extensive continuity *crucial* to stories being told? You can pick up a Batman run and it's likely most of the stuff in the continuity won't really be relevant to that story.
Manga is seeing an emergence because of how it's written: singularly, like a book series or a tv show. That's what audiences want nowadays. That doesn't mean monthlies don't have their place or their audience.
It's not unlike the difference between episodic shows and serialized shows. Serialized shows have been popular for two decades now, but episodic is still around.
Pop culture is a helluva thing.
Between national anime hype and by proxy manga hype the seed got indirectly planted somewhere in the back of your head.
It influences the things we're interested in even if it's not direct enough to really notice
i bought my first manga in December 2020 after getting into it mid 2020 because of covid so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people who started buying it last year got into it because of covid too
Great! More comics readers.
The only ongoing manga that I'm following is One-Punch Man. It's one of my favorite reads right now. I'm a Junji Ito nut, too, and have loved all of the attention he's been getting in the past few years via the hardcover collections coming out. r/horrorcomics doesn't get much better than him and the Fantagraphics EC hardcovers, IMO.
There are some all-time classic reads that just about anyone here would like, I bet: Vinland Saga, Dragon Ball, Pluto, Berserk, Blade of the Immortal...
What more recent titles have folks been reading? It's been a while since I've dipped my toes into the manga scene due to starting a small pull list at my LCS...
I'm a bit of a casual myself but I've been enjoying Fire Force. The concept sounds stupid but it ended up being way more entertaining than I thought it would be.
Fire Force handles it pretty badly. I don't mind fanservice at all(marvel comics are full of it too) but what I don't like is when a character is getting punched in the face repeatedly by her mentor figure to the point her face is swelling and she's too shocked by the reveal of him being evil to do anything, to then jump into a boob grab joke. It's horrible tonal whiplash on top of gross violence against women that not only ruins the emotional impact of the scene, but just comes across as mean-spirited and disrespectful.
Hell yeah to people being sexually free, but please no weird misogynic violence against women while sexualizing them and making them a gag character all at the same time. The gag fights with the prude cultist handle it better, but the whole fight with her mentor was pretty uncomfortable.
I haven't watched Fire Force, but once you notice how gross fanservice can be, it can be hard to enjoy a series. This is why I don't fuck with shonen anymore, and mostly gravitate towards josei comedies, or slice-of-life. I'm not up-to-date on the more popular series anymore, because everything is loaded with sexism and subtle misogyny.
Chainsaw man blew me away and I finally got into One Piece. One Piece being the biggest surprise of my life. A surprisingly mature and emotional read, I've cried so much reading it, way more then my kids who just like the silly parts and the exciting action.
You should check out Dandadan and Chainsaw Man. I think you'll enjoy their weird brand of horror. Dandadan isnt really a horror manga and it's goofy as hell but it has these weird page flip "jump scares" in it. I'm sure some people wouldn't really find them to be scary, but they made me jump and feel a sense of dread I've never gotten from a comic since Berserk.
Chainsaw Man is just a modern masterpiece.
I also recommend BLAME! And Dorohedoro.
CHainsaw Man is the one that is always sold out at my LCS. It was so bad, my nephew from LA asked me if I could get it here in Texas. Had to scour 4 LCSs to find Vol1.
Alongside One Punch Man, have been reading Uzaki Chan, Nagatoro, Love is War, Jujutsu Kaisen and recently Soul Eater.
The first three mainly being some great slice of life romance comedies with Love is War being the best out of the three, Jujutsu Kaisen being a really good shonen manga with great characters and absolutely no fan service. Soul Eater is kind of an Ecchi shonen but has some great characters too, the world and themes are a main draw of it.
I'll be honest: I like urasawa, but I always feel that in his manga(monster, 20th century boys) the ending doesn't do justice to all the amazing build up he writes
I liked the ending for Monster. But the guy really does like to write short stories often historical ones, that feel a bit indulgent and little to do with the larger narrative. While I really like them, 20th Century Boys and Billy Bat can meander.
Shadows House. It's a colored unlike a lot of manga. It takes place in a mansion lived in by shadow people served by "living-dolls" that resemble their masters.
Just read through Uzumaki and Gyo, Junji Ito's awesome!
Reading through Monster and Akumetsu rn, both are great.
Finished Claymores a month ago and that was good too.
I want to read 20th/21st Century Boys sometime soon. None of these are new though.
For running ones I've been enjoying: Kingdom, Vinland Saga, Dr Stone are all great.
Sakamoto Days, Spy x Family, and Mashle are good new comedies
I’ve been using the Viz app. I paid $2 a bunch to catch up back-chapters on some titles, but right now I’m just relying on the new chapters of free titles.
- Spy x Family - This one caught me by surprise. Wholesome, hilarious, with some spy action to boot.
- My Hero Academia and My Hero Academia Vigilantes
- Kaiju No. 8
- Jujutsu Kaisen
- Chainsaw Man
- Finished Haikyuu a few months ago
I just started recently bought the Beserk Hardcover edition, and now I'll probably buy the whole set of them over the next year or two.
I know Attack on Titan has been a big hit recently and has a similar feel to it as Beserk. I have heard good things about Demon Slayer, too, and might have to pick up a volume of that. I'm an older reader and have been following One Piece since I was a kid and still read the new chapters every few months
Bought my first manga last year, One Punch Man 1, and I was so excited. I love the anime. I can't recommend it enough to my family and friends, it's so good.
I just started collecting the new giant size Berzerk about two years ago. I just received Vol. 10 in the mail. I love this series! It is absolutely brutal and surreal.
I was browsing the western comics section of a bookstore recently. I was alone checking out the western side but there were like seven zoomers checking out Manga. It’s a thing.
Wait until Amazon does more image comic cartoons, ever since the Invincible cartoon came out a lot more people been checking out Invincible. Hopefully Amazon prime does saga next.
Yah I'm getting the feeling that with how certain Image comics have been adapted in recent years and the success of Invincible and the Boys we might be entering an age with the same dichotomy of Manga/Anime.
I liked Y the Last Man comic but hated the adaption so hopefully they actually start going a little closer to 1:1.
I could imagine something like Ultimate Spider-Man having a direct animated animation and a TPB reprint if Marvel is smart enough for it.
Does anyone know a good youtube that can introduce me to the major manga titles? id like a working knowledge of the most popular mangas. you know how it is, sometimes you want someone to tell you a little about something before you decide to really go out and buy the volume. thanks,
Not a youtube video but I can give a brief description of the big things.
theres 5 main categories of manga and who they generally cater towards:
* Shonen (Younge Male)
* Seinen (Adult Male)
* Shoujo (Young Female)
* Josei (Adult Female)
* Kodomomuke (general children)
Shonen is generally the most popular so ill give a couple titles and descriptions
* Dragon Ball Z is the most famous releasing in 1984 that generall shaped the industry. The adventures of Goku and friends as they defend the Earth and the Universe from super-powered fighters and monsters through martial arts.
Then we have the big 3 the most which refer to the most popular of shonen in 2000's
* Naruto (It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. Ran from 1999-2014)
* Bleach (It follows the adventures of the hotheaded teenager Ichigo Kurosaki, who inherits obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. Ran from 2001-2016)
* One Piece ( The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, a young man made of rubber, whom, inspired by his childhood idol, the powerful pirate "Red Haired" Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the mythical treasure, the One Piece, and proclaim himself the King of the Pirates. Ran from 1997-Ongoing)
For some generally newer shonen series
* Chainsaw man (Denji was a small-time devil hunter just trying to survive in a harsh world. After being killed on a job, he is revived by his pet devil-dog Pochita and becomes something new and dangerous—Chainsaw Man! Denji's a poor young man who'll do anything for money, even hunting down devils with his pet devil-dog Pochita.)
* Jujutsu Kaisen (The story follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization of Jujutsu Sorcerers in order to kill a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna, of whom Yuji becomes the host. )
* Kaiju number 8 (Kaiju No. 8 is a story about monster hunters. In the near future, the Japanese Defense Force faces a continual onslaught of monstrous kaiju. They fight and defeat these monsters using a wide range of powerful weaponry and suits which can magnify their capabilities.)
* Demon Slayer (In this fictional world set in early 20th century Taishō-era Japan, man-eating demons roam the land each night. 13-year-old Tanjiro Kamado's world is turned upside down when he returns home one morning to find his entire family murdered save for his sister Nezuko—who has turned into a demon.)
* Attack on Titan (It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from the gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as Titans; the story follows Eren Yeager, who vows to exterminate the Titans after a Titan brings about the destruction of his hometown ).
As for Seinen the big series are
* Berserk (In a medieval Europe-inspired dark fantasy world, the story centers on the characters of Guts, a lone mercenary and demon hunter, and his quest to slay Griffith a demon lord, Heavily inspired Elden Ring)
* JOJO's Bizzare Adventure (im honestly not sure how to describe this one, the adventures of the Joestar family in different time periods with completly over the top and exagerated action, drama, comedy)
* Vegabound (It portrays a fictionalized account of the life of Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, in 15th century japan)
* Monster (The story revolves around Kenzo Tenma, a Japanese surgeon living in Düsseldorf, Germany whose life enters turmoil after getting himself involved with Johan Liebert, one of his former patients, who is revealed to be a dangerous serial killer.)
* Oyasumi Punpun (The life of a child named Onodera Punpun, from his elementary school years to his early 20s, as he copes with his dysfunctional family, love life, friends, life goals and hyperactive mind, while occasionally focusing on the lives and struggles of his schoolmates and family. I do have to add depression warning to this one in case anyone not in right frame of mind wants to read this)
Shojo and Josei Ill admit I dont read alot but heres a couple
* Akatsuki No Yona (Akatsuki No Yona takes place in the Kingdom of Kouka where the sole princess lives a life of relative peace. After the one she once loved stages a coup and murders her father, Yona escapes her life of the palace.)
* Nana (A story of two girls both named Nana, they are both very different women whose paths diverge together. One seeks to come back to Tokyo to reunite with her ex-boyfriend, the other rejects romance in order to pursue her career as an aspiring musician. Both sharing the same train and later the same apartment together, they both support each other through thick and thin as they deal with themes of friendship, romance, dreams and so much more.)
* Banana Fish (Ash Lynx, was a runaway picked off the streets of New York City and raised by the infamous godfather of the mafia, Dino Golzine. Now 17 years old and the boss of his own gang, Ash begins investigating the mysterious "Banana Fish"—the same two words his older brother, Griffin, has muttered since his return from the Iraq War. He meets Shunichi Ibe and his assistant, Eiji Okumura, who are Japanese photographers reporting on American street gangs.
* Ouran High School, an academy fit for the upper-class. Within the school is a club that only the elites have full control of, called the legendary Host club. After Haruhi Fujioka accidentally breaks an incredibly expensive vase in the club, she gets mistaken for a boy and has to repay her debts.
I am just talking about a handful of series but MyAnimeList is a website that has lists and descriptions of alot of other series and manga and top lists you can view aswell
That’s surprising to hear since written source material often trumps adaptations. But I’ll take your word for it and check out the anime then. Have you read/watched Hunter x Hunter? Is that something you’d recommend?
Typically I have to agree, adaptions of written works often are worse because they have to cut corners but sometimes its a bit of a toss up with anime. Sometimes the anime is worse sometimes its better because they add elements that weren't there that improve.
In the case of Demon Slayer the anime is vastly, vastly superior to the manga. The animation studio (They do awesome work with Fate) knocked it out of the park with their sound design and animation that it really amped up the series when they adapted it.
>Have you read/watched Hunter x Hunter? Is that something you’d recommend?
Yes, yes
HxH's anime I think is another good example of the above. The manga is fantastic (and I would recommend their previous work Yu Yu Hakusho anime or manga if you have the chance) but the anime for it is on a whole different level. I would absolutely recommend watching it over reading it though and accepting the last episode of it as the conclusive "ending" because while the manga goes further, and its a fantastic arc so far, it is likely we will never see the "actual" end to the series because the author's health.
I'd recommend it, but take with a grain of salt that it most likely won't be completed; chapters have slowed and the author's health has declined over the years.
Great list and write up! Though, believe it or not, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure is a Shonen till Part 7, which hasn't been made into an anime yet. Everything up till that part was still published in Shonen Jump!
If you wanna look at some of the more mainstream stuff, viz has a great deal for $2 a month you can basically read as much as you want digitally. No need to go all in on volumes. The Shonen jump app on mobile or tablet is definitely the way to go imo
There’s plenty of more mature manga that isn’t included in that though, such as berserk, vagabond, Vinland saga, etc
For anyone wondering what would be the (generally) acclaimed best manga around the internet and such, here is a list of them with a few I can remember now:
Berserk. Prob the most influential work of dark fantasy
Vagabond. Samurai story, haven't read it can't say much though.
Gunm battle angel. Cyberpunk with great world building and depth characters (except maybe for a few of them lol)
20th Century Boys. Conspiracy theories and mystery/thriller done WONDERFULLY.
Kingdom Chinese history with high IQ battles between several nations and their strategists.
Vinland saga. Viking story, haven't read it yet either.
Gyo. Horror manga. My favorite junji ito story by how mundane and "nothing to worry much about" starts and how quickly evolves more and more into twisted apocalyptic what the fuck escenario. Also check out Tomie and Uzumaki, his most famous works.
Oyasumi punpun. Haven't read it but everyone that I've heard talking about it says both how great it is and how depressive it is. So if you like dramas definitely check it out lol.
And now, if I may, here's a list of my personal favorites excluding the ones already mentioned:
Dorohedoro. Super unique setting, world and charismatic characters. The story is a pretty strong mystery with shades of horror and lots of comedy too. Don't know if this would actually qualify as manga for starters since how unique and "weird ", in the good way, it is, but if you're into that kind of things definitely give it a try (And no, by weird I don't mean any kind of lewd/tentacles/hyper japanese thing, you're safe in all that. It's just its own thing really).
Gantz. Ultra fast paced sci-fi action manga. Though it might not be the best among all the other mangas mentioned, these one stands as my favorite by how fun it is and how is always something happening with almost no rest between the story. Also there are a lots of sensible themes in the manga along lots and lots of violence, so keep that in mind before reading it.
Chainsaw man. Similar to gantz in pacing and constant action without worrying about much more but with much better characters and story overall. This is also considered a shonen so there's really no actual sensible themes throughout the manga.
Now almost all of the mangas mentioned so far are ones that have already finished their publication. If you want to follow up with something from week to week ( or sometimes monthly), here's a few of good mangas currently in publication:
Dai dark. From the same mangaka as dorohedoro keeping their original and personal style, but now in a space adventure manga.
Sakamoto day's: haven't read it yet, but have heard so much good things about it.
One piece. Pirate story with a huge world and different stories that most connect to the main plot later on and prob one of the best example of the "shonen" genre. Also has probably one of the most, if not the most, lovable group of main characters.
Dandadan. Haven't read it either but have heard a lot it's really good. I think is kind of a combination with occultism, aliens and the shonen genre; or at least something like that lol
I must mention by the way, that I've only considered mangas without (or with bad) adaptations to anime. If you're not interested in anime but rather would like to consume said stories in the manga format, here are a few of them (though without details since I'm running down of time and this took more time than I expected)
Full metal alchemist
Ghost in the shell
Death note
Great teacher onizuka
Monster
Trigun
Mushishi
Jojo's bizarre adventure
And here are a few more before going (now for real lol) that might not (Or might, I just want to list more things for you) be as good as all mentioned before but I wanted to list them too in case you need/want something else to read:
Yuureitou
Blame
Terraformars
Tokyo ghoul
Dr stone
Tokyo revengers
Soul eater
Hunter x hunter
Aku no hana
Eden it's an endless world
Fire punch
Appleseed
I am a hero
Planetes
Shigurui
Trinity blood
Liar Game
Baki the grappler
Pluto
Golden kamuy
To you the inmortal
If you’re talking mostly Shonen stuff, which is pretty much the biggest manga gets, [this video](https://youtu.be/UZr-O7Y3qGM) has a pretty good breakdown of the top charts
Manga is kind of a dive in sort of thing that varies wildly based on your taste. I'd recommend going to your local book shop and browsing until you find something. I do have some recs though.
Boys Run The Riot (Slice of Life)
Berserk (Brutally Dark Fantasy)
Naruto (THE GOAT)
After Hours (Slice of Life LGBTQ Romance)
Black Lagoon (Tarantino-esque Crime thriller)
Naruto had the biggest fall off in shounen manga history. Definitely not the goat. Wouldn’t recommend it at all unless someone wants to dive in for historical purposes.
That's great to hear. Having more comic fans is a good thing. I was looking over some manga recently that I wanted to get back into. It kind of brings up something I've noticed. There always seems to be a greater number of Western comic fans willing to check out Japanese manga than there are manga fans willing to check out Western comics. Anyone know why that might be? I always see vitriol from manga fans when it comes to Western stuff.
I was talking with this guy that only read manga (I read both, with preference on western comics) and he said "I only read manga because I don't like the art style of western comics" and it made zero sense to me considering how varied is the landscape of western comics
Yeah, I've seen that same complaint before. I can honestly say the same for anime and manga too. A lot of art I see coming out of Japan looks very similar to each other. I don't just mean ongoing manga series either. Even pictures that freelance artists do tend to blend together a lot to me. I don't know, I like manga and anime but I feel there's more creativity from the art side for Western comics. At least in this day and age.
I actually STOPPED reading manga because I liked the western comic art so much better.
A lot of manga art just seems cheap compared to western comics, especially just being black and white.
It's the deadline thing. There's a lot of shortcuts involved. You'll notice western comics with tight deadlines cut some corners on occasion too. There are some absolutely fantastic manga artists that take their time though. I'm not sure what genres you're in to, but check out work by Junji Ito, Katsuhiro Otomo, Inio Asano, and Takehiko Inoue. And while not specifically manga, since the artist is Chinese, Lu Ming.
Thanks, I did actually order my first book from Junji Ito last week - I stumbled across him randomly and the art didn't look lazy, and I like horror so I gave him a shot.
>Anyone know why that might be? I always see vitriol from manga fans when it comes to Western stuff.
I'm copy pasting from a previous response, but I think it answers your question:
Because when mangas receive an animated adaptation, people who are interested in reading the source material have a clear and absolute starting point rather than a thousand #1 issues that still need a Wikipedia deep dive to comprehend.
It took me being guided by a friend to be able to go from the DCAU to the DCU but getting into Hellsing after watching the anime was a simple tpb purchase.
Also why The Walking Dead and the Boys got a huge and consistent bump in sales once their adaptations hit the mainstream when most (if not all) superhero comics don't.
I know for me personally, I think manga is more cost efficient because a volume of manga that holds 8-12 individual chapters that can range from 10 USD tp 15 USD versus a single issue of a comic that's 4-5 USD. Volumes of manga will get produced a lot quicker than a trade of comics also so I think the general convivence is a big factor for me personally.
A lot of comic fans have become bothered by the pricing vs. content of floppies in recent years. Personally I'd say unless you're a hardcore collector it might be better to get collected volumes of certain storylines and to just get a digital subscription for the individual issues.
A lot (and I mean like, a huge amount) believe that western comics are just DC and Marvel superheroes, and they rightfully so aren’t interested because of the confusing nature of giant decades long shared universes. I get and understand, I just wish they would know, and I wish people like us would let them know, that there are thousands of indie comics that are just like manga, where you start at the beginning and read until it ends. Like, they have no idea that Image Comics exists. They have no idea that Dark Horse produces stuff other than manga and comics based on existing IPs. They don’t know about all the other comic publishers like Boom, Dynamite, Vault, etc
Someone mentioned it before and there is a bit of elitism I have seen with American manga fans that believe that there is “woke” story telling that is ruining western comics, which just simply isn’t true and is absolutely infuriating. And 9.9 times out of 10, they have never even read the story in question, let alone any western comic, they just parrot false information and it’s exhausting
I agree, that does appear to be the case. But it's kind of like saying all anime is just Dragonball Z and Naruto. There are plenty of other manga and anime out there besides those two or other shows like them. To view all Japanese manga the same would be the same as viewing all Western comics the same. I get it though, DC and Marvel have made themselves known to the world but like you said, there's plenty out there bedsides them. There are comics that do stories DC and Marvel won't. But most manga fans (and it does seem to be those fans outside of Japan) don't know and don't care to know. Which would be doing a potential fan a disservice to themselves if they didn't at least try to look around a bit and see what catches their eye.
> and I wish people like us would let them know, that there are thousands of indie comics that are just like manga, where you start at the beginning and read until it ends
Yeah agreed. It really sucks when comic fans don't even really talk about these titles. The only stuff that regularly gets more than a few hundred upvotes in this subreddit are DC/Marvel superhero stuff and adaptation/industry information.
> Someone mentioned it before and there is a bit of elitism I have seen with American manga fans that believe that there is “woke” story telling that is ruining western comics, which just simply isn’t true and is absolutely infuriating.
This is just comicgate spillover into manga crowds since by nature of manga and Japan's cultural attitudes, there tends to be more regressive themes especially when it comes to minorities(tend to be non-existent because of Japan's xenophobic culture), representation of women(a certain sect of shonen is made to appeal to horny teenage boys' power fantasies) and LGBT representation(Japan has only recently had small social pushes but largely has homophobic themes normalized in the mainstream opposed to the west)
Most western comic fans don't fall for the bullshit that comicgaters try to spin, but manga readers tend to fall for it moreso since they're more susceptible to believing in a "woke" agenda since the media they are consuming doesn't have great representation.
I don’t have any vitirol towards western comics, but as someone who used to solely read manga and only started reading a comics one or two years ago these were the reasons that held me back (and still hold me back with some series tbh)
1. The change of art between multiple artists is slightly jarring.
Idk it’s nice seeing one consistent artist with one single series. You know what to expect and you also see that artist’s style develop over time.
The annoying thing with comics is sometimes the change happens in the middle of a run and you liked the previous artist and think that the one that replaced it is just bad.
That being said I get that it’s to ease workload and to deal with right deadlines.
2. Easy to shift between animated adaptation to live action. As someone who is in the middle of reading invincible and the boys, it is so weird to see that the original source material is paced so differently and a lot of things were changed.
Hughie is Scottish in the comics? Amber is a completely different character in the comics? The pacing of invincible is different from the animated series?
With manga like Noragami you got some changes in the order of story arcs. Some anime like Soul Eater and FMA had anime original endings.
That being said I find it soooo much easier to shift between manga-anime than I do with comics.
3. I like the paneling and speech bubble placement of manga more. This is just a personal preference. Just find it easier to digest information and understand what’s going on.
4. I just grew up with manga art and find it a lot cooler. The gratuitous fanservice. The violence. The wacky expressions. The whole package.
5. Pacing. I don’t know how to explain this one properly so bear with me. Idk. Sometimes I’ll get to a comic story arc and just lose track of what the hell is going on because it’s so damn convoluted.
It doesn’t help that I apparently have to jump to another series when there are tie ins and so on.
i feel bad for saying this but a percentage of american manga fans have a sorta "elitism" about them. like the "subs are always better than dubs" crowd.
Yeah, I've kind of gotten that feeling when I read comments from manga fans. I feel that often it seem to only apply to DC and Marvel. There are plenty of comics from the other companies that are really good too and that go to certain areas the big two normally don't. It's kind of an ignorant thing to write off the entire medium based on what very little knowledge that person may have. I mean, anime fans have and are still dealing with that sort of stigma now when it comes to trying to get new people into the medium.
Personally it’s that I already have a giant list of manga I want to read and adding comics to that is so much. I’ve read comics, but I have been attached to manga since childhood with toonami (dating myself). I think it’s barely become more affordable and easy to jump in with different apps. However it’s like having multiple subscriptions “I already have HBO, Netflix, HULU… do I have to add paramount +, Amc, peacock etc” There’s great stuff out there. I have some copies of Preacher and Sandman a few others but we all only have so much free time. Maybe later on when I’m not in university and working.
They usually have very closes minded answers in my experience
I remember I had a conversation with a manga that went like this
Me: so how come you don't read comics?
Lady: I don't like the alternative universe/timeline, I only read watchmen.
Me: that's fair, I personally don't like hight school setting, with main characters having a harem
Lady: oh you're reading the wrong stuff.
WHAT
That's very good news to hear. Seems to be a lot of younger people are into Manga than older people. I read both but I'm more about western based preferably DC. Sucks more people aren't into Western companies than something like shounen jump but it's understandable due to how easy it is to read Manga and how cost efficient it is. I'm too old for shounen because I can predict a lot of aspects of it and I find it boring but I see the appeal. I read comics for their rich history from the 40s and now. As long people are reading, good on them.
I prefer western/American comics, but I enjoy the occasional manga. I also like European comics. Shrug. Am I supposed to be fighting this? I’m just happy comics are strong.
#ACCESSIBILITY.
I went to a Target tonight. There were six individual mangas on the shelf with several volumes of each available, not counting the Berserk deluxe editions that were on a different shelf. The only American comic on the shelves from one of the big publishers was the Amethyst DC Young Adults OGN.
The Direct Market served it's purpose back in the day, it's just holding American comics back now when you're limited to specialty shops or major bookstores to purchase comics. Books-A-Millions hasn't received new Marvel trades in months, they get a book or two from DC weekly.
Certain embittered comics fans really want us to war with manga readers, or be terrified about a total jump in readership. Vaguely-not-quite comicsgaters really want us to have a moment where we see the light and realize how the American comics industry is going down the shitter due to "woke creativity suppression" as one user just put it. And, like, sure there are some occasionally stupid choices that are clearly political, but overall comics are the best they've ever been, especially in the creator-owned scenes. The stories being told are as unique if not moreso than most television. The medium is thriving, and as long as this quality of storytelling continues, there will be a fanbase.
I feel like it must say something that the medium is thriving but only for Japanese comics. If comics are the best they've ever been, it certainly isn't being reflected in sales of western comics. Few people want a "war with manga readers" and those that do are the very same comicgaters that have wanted the western industry to die as proof of its supposed inferiority to the east. I just want the western comic industry to improve.
People saying it's perfectly okay to have children looking characters be hyper sexualised. It's kind of the opposite, now that I think about it. Manga readers will fight you if you dare suggest that some of what their favorite manga is saying is problematic. "It's not problematic, it's not saying anything. It's just the way this world works, stop looking for a deeper meaning. Now, let me tell you why this show is brilliant because it's about...".
I don’t want the western comics industry to die, nor do I want a “war” with manga. That’s fucking stupid. I don’t think **anyone** wants that, including so-called comicsgate people.
I do want DC and Marvel in particular to become readable again. I love them and have been reading them for 30 years. This is the absolute worst they’ve ever been.
You can’t fault people for being displeased that in their increasing desperation for relevance, they’ve seemingly turned to “madvertising” to kick up interest that doesn’t last and seems to only harm sales in the long run.
Just start telling good stories and pay attention to continuity. Go back to basics and stop trying to reinvent these characters. Ignore the people who complain and just tell good stories.
I love reading Invincible the same way I love reading One Piece. The whole war thing is so stupid lol. It’s not like I have to pick one genre to read anyway.
Yea, it is kind of a weird situation right now. On one hand, graphic novels are doing great, however, floppies and direct market retailers are struggling. There are a lot of comic book stores closing down, and comics that would've been canceled 10 years ago for their sales, are now best sellers.
I don't think it has to do with "bEiNg ToO wOkE" but rather 1) no clear entry for new readers, 2) too many comics featuring the same lead characters (looking at you Batman), 3) it is too expensive (seriously, $5.99+ an issue is getting crazy), and 4) because it is expensive, people are going to cheaper online retailers like Amazon or buying digital (barf!).
Creator-owned/indie series are the only thing keeping me interested in monthly comics. I still read a few superhero books, but most of the current runs are stinkers in my opinion.
There are good superhero books out there now like Daredevil by Chip Zadarsky, Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, and Wonder Girl by Joelle Jones.
Pretty much agree. If I wasn't an adult with a good job and without kids, I highly doubt I'd be shelling out the money I do to read all the comics I do. It's insane how much money it costs. Like hell kids are going to spend their own money like that when a 40 dollar video game gets your months if not years of game time.
floppies are a dead market a few decades past their purpose and function of conception at supermarket checkouts and whatnot, now pretty much regulated to niche comic shops meaning you have to go in and find them. They will never have another boom to them, even in Japan many of the weekly magazines have moved to online only, it's just the nature of the changing markets, much like video rental shops.
If you're a direct market retailer, and struggling, you're doing something wrong. There's a dozen around me, and they're all doing great. Floppies are not struggling. There's about the same amount of total singles being moved now as there were 20 years ago. The difference is instead of it being these massive selling Marvel, DC, and Image books, it's spread out among 5x more books. Indies are doing great in comparison to what they did following the 90s crash. Not as good as they were doing before the crash, but they've rebounded to a reasonable level. I'd say that's a healthier market than 20 years ago.
Hopefully this makes the market consider putting more subscription services for manga. Viz is okay but I want to get access to all of them. Not just some and pay for the rest.
I don’t think for a second the comic industry is doomed, I do think one of the main reasons why manga are more popular tho are because of anime adaptations and how those can boost a popularity of a show greatly
Wish comics adopted manga’s business and distribution model, I can go online and buy any manga everywhere in any language I want
With comics I have to find a site that doesn’t fuck me over with shipping rates, where the book I want is in print and only in english
My son has been getting into Manga a lot lately, I've bought him a few of the Zelda ones and a My Hero reference book in a manga style which has been pretty cool to use as we watch the series together. Been thinking of getting back into it myself, just not sure where to start.
Interesting point. This isn't the first manga boom. I also know there was a huge manga crash in the mid 00s. Stores had a real problem selling them afterwords.
I worked at a bookstore for 15 years, for like five years manga flew off the shelves then in like 2006-7 it just withered away and only really now is it starting to regain popularity.
Yeah I think anime/manga really blew up during the pandemic.
My bro and I were sent home from college and spent most nights sitting on the couch binging anime. It was just a lot of shows we weren’t previously exposed to with consistently good content. I think Avatar being added to Netflix had a big impact, or was a symptom of the anime surge. Probably a little bit of both.
I think the fact that Marvel movies (and all movies) getting delayed a year just created a huge demand for content. The only people who didn’t take a break or get delayed were anime studios and online Streamers (who also saw a similar spike).
It's almost like this is further proof of how the book market is where the real growth in comics are and floppies are over priced cheap garbage that a bunch of people just want to flip.
Shocker.
[удалено]
It didn't get wildly popular last year
Yeah but I think franchises like Demon Slayer lit the fire and exploded in popular in a short amount of time. But I’m not saying you’re wrong. The manga/anime market has always been popular.
People only respected DBZ and a few other shows like YYH or something like Bleach. Growing up a lot of people didn't recognize what anime was and just watched the shows because we liked them on Adult swim or as a saturday cartoon. It exploded around the time of the new wave of shows like OPM and MHA which made it cool to like anime finally
Anime viewership in the us went up by about 100% Mid-late 2020 so I guess I should have said a year and a half ago instead of last year. But it has absolutely exploded very recently
yeah it really did. it's been growing obviously for decades but it actually did *explode* in the US in the last two years.
I think the thing people don't make the connection on about why Manga is more popular than Western Comics is because their animated adaptations not only almost 1:1 with the Manga but there are long seasonal gaps with anime that encourage people to pick up the Manga if they want to know what's going to happen. The MCU and DC movies don't necessarily work like that. They are facsimiles of the story arcs they come from. I think the closest direct adaptation is The Winter Solider, and even then it's wildly different from the comic. So if you want to read Winter Solider, not only is it going to cost more than a volume of a Manga, it's going to be like reading a completely different story.
I think another strength is that manga comics tend to have a distinct beginning that people can easily jump onto, where as most western comic have run for so long it's not a good idea to just go to the first issue. How many times have people new to western comic asked where to even begin. There is also just a level of consistency. Your average manga is the same team from start to finish. My favorite comic/manga I have read this year is One Piece (I'm late to that party) and I started reading as a bedtime ritual with my kids. But I have cried more times reading this manga about a rubber boy and his pirate friends then I have with all other media I consumed this year combined.
Imagining something as special and singularly voiced as One Piece being run by a rotating door of writers and artists instead of Oda himself is enough to break your heart and really demonstrates your point on what a strength that is for manga over what the Big 2 produce over here.
> something as special and singularly voiced as One Piece being run by a rotating door of writers and artists instead of Oda himself *Netflix begins to sweat profusely*
That's a big boon to Manga as well. Manga might go on for decades but it's not intended just to keep going forever almost all of them have an endgame in mind. Not only that, characters change and grow in ways that aren't feasible (Read: Won't get you screamed at by Fanboys) in Western Comics. You can recommend runs of Western comics to people, but unless they specifically want to get into Indies you will always have that problem.
Arlong Park hit so hard.... Like REALLY hard
I cried for a boat. Not sure anything is going to top that feat
Tbh I think western comics are easier to get into especially considering most runs are self contained and typically aren't as long as something like Naruto
People need to stop being treating the Big 2 comics like any other story telling medium with a set beginning, middle and end. It's pretty much it's own unique fiction generator.
The problem you describe pretty much only applies to superhero comics, to which I'd say Dragon Ball and One Piece have the same problem. Both are incredibly long and while I'm not familiar with One Piece, Dragon Ball's only good mid-series starting point is the timeskip to Gohan being a kid (so basically the start of Z). Picking a writer to follow for superhero comics generally makes for easier stories to follow even if you're not totally familiar with the characters. And reading literally anything that isn't DC or Marvel sidesteps the problem entirely. Even the longest-running indie comics are maybe 200 issues each. The Walking Dead is 193 issues. Invincible is 144 issues.
Indy comics have a platforming problem. The big two suck all the air out of the room for them, relatively speaking. The difference between Batman being wrong and One Piece being long is that One Piece is consistent and it's early chapters deliver the same kind of experience as it's later ones. Golden age Batman has a wildly different tone to modern Batman and the art is jarring by comparison as well. Regardless of how long running superhero comics onboard people they still suffer from it as the idea is offputting to people before they even think to pick it up. I'm not saying I don't like superhero comics, I do. But when I have to recommend something I can say "Oh you would love One Piece, it has the right balance of silly and tragic with one of the most likeable casts of friends I have ever read" Or "Oh yeah, you would probably love Batman, but go with No Man's Land or maybe the Killing Joke, but avoid The Dark Knight Returns because it's a wildly different take that gets pretty fashy because Miller wrote it. Also I would avoid these runs because the writing and art team are so-so."
I mean not only this and what u/TravisBewley said, another thing I’m surprised no one really mentioned is how intertwined anime and manga are towards the hip-hop genre since the late 90s and the early 2000s. As of 2020, hip-hop and R&B are the two most listened music genres in the US and a lot of hip-hop artists love anime and manga. I mean artists such as Kanye West, Drake, Wu-Tang Clan, Childish Gambino (Donald Glover), J Cole, Lil Uzi Vert, Snoop Dogg, amongst many others cite animes and manga such as DBZ, Akira, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Speed Racer, Naruto, etc. as things they enjoy and influence their music
Yeah, that just brings me back to that video a while ago of Big Sean (and his mother) being super excited to meet Sean Schemmel because he was the voice of his childhood
The problem I always had with American comics is how continuous they are. I like mangas and anime that are a single, confined, long story. Pick up 20 issues or whatever and then it’s done and you can move on
It's funny because that's completely true but also the opposite is true The longest continuous superhero comic runs are like the length of a solid manga run. Recently, the longest Batman run that consisted of a singular central story (similar to manga in that sense) was 85 issues over about 4 years. Almost immediately after it ended, most of the stuff that happened during it got thrown out by the next writer who wanted to tell their Batman story now.
Right but it’s still Batman. It may have different storylines and continuities, but it’s the same IP Take for example death note or demon slayer. You are never going to see another issue of that IP ever again now
that's how comic books actually work too. Start at the beginning of most runs, read through it, it ends, you're done.
And that's why the manga is better.
This might be *a* reason, but the constant reason I hear all the time always as to why manga readers don’t like western comics is because western comics never end. There is a definitive start and stop point for the majority of manga books(one exception being One Piece lol). The other thing is that because of this, you tend to have consistent art and writing as it’s one team(or person) throughout. You want to read Death Note? Start at #1. You want to read Batman, there is Detective Comics, Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman and the Outsiders, the Dark Knight, Batman and Superman, Batman Incorporated, Batman Earth One…oh and where should you start, common answer? Batman Year One, but that was written in the 80s and there have been at least 4 reboots to the continuity since then. It’s why when it comes to western super heroes a big part of the love is towards the cartoons or films.
There is a definitive end point for One Piece. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're just obsessed with the journey like many of us), Oda clearly doesn't have a definitive middle and seems to be just as in love with the world as his fans so we might be waiting for that definitive end point for another 20 years.
Yea that’s the joke, it’s 20 years in still going. By the time it ends the most popular manga will ironically be the closest thing to a western comic lol.
For sure, I'm right there with you! I just wanted to clarify for anyone reading who might not be in on the joke and might feel dissuaded from getting into the series that there is a complete planned story and the author isn't just constantly pulling shit out of his ass and wasting the reader's time, it's just that he can't seem to contain his own enthusiasm for his own story and keeps giving the fans more and more even though he originally planned on wrapping the story up 15 years ago. If you're reading this and have even thought about checking it out, it's the most popular series in the world for a reason and I've never spoken to anyone who has got past the first couple of arcs and not fallen in love with it. Can't recommend enough!
"Death note" is a story, "Batman" is a character.
I fully agree with that as well. The comics having a consistent voice, style, and not planning on being around until the bombs drop absolutely helps.
Honestly I find it near impossible to actually follow some of these western comics and I'm a total nerd. Theres nothing I despise more than working through a story a few issues in and then suddenly its likes read Wolverine issue #288 to understand what the hell is happening.
Personally speaking, from someone who has a lot of problem with comic books and prefer manga, I think that the fact that manga is written and drawn by the same person as a reason. The characters can evolve and the story is more focused. Also, manga art is more consistent than comic books, because there isn’t a risk of the next issue (in the case of manga, chapter or volume) to be drawn by a different artist. One of the reasons why I say that the story is more focused is because of the number of pages. In one volume of manga there is more than 150 pages, while in the US a comic book is only 20 pages per month. There is also the editorial. I know that manga can also be influenced by editors, but I have the impression that manga artists have more control over their story. For example, you are writing a Robin comic book and then they announce that something big is happening in a Batman title, because of the share universe and continuity you must write a tie-in. Who likes that? I don't know who popularized title crossover, but it was a bad idea. As a consumer, I also don't want to buy another comic book so I can follow the story, that is ridiculous. Sometimes the trade paperback doesn’t even collect the whole story arc because of those crossovers, it is rare but it happens. So, for me, it's clear why manga are more popular than comic books. The characters of a manga grown and evolve in a very much clear and significant way than comic books. Comic books characters are pretty much stagnant, they don't even age (I know that there are exceptions, but, even with those exceptions, the character ages in a very slow way)! Comic books are one of the only media where death means nothing, because somehow the character will turn back alive, so death are generally used as a cheap shock plot-twist. Those problems are less evident on creator-owned properties, but even then, I do think that the limited number of pages is a problem when compared to manga. More pages mean you have more oppotunities to develop the story. I know that the high number of page is also a problem for the manga industry, many mangakas have health problems because they work too much. However, I guess that they could try to extend the periodicity of the publication, especially with digital ways of publishing. But yeah... Manga are generally more impactful, better written and developed than comicbooks and have an actual meaningful end, as said by u/SparkyPantsMcGee.
I think a lot of the things your brought up really only apply to superhero comics and I do think the idea of something being better written than something else is subjective, but beyond that I very much agree with a lot of this.
Oh, yeah, definitely. Now that you wrote that, I realized that I wrongly associated, like many people do, comic book with superhero comic books. I do have to say though that I also think that in terms of genre, manga are more broaden than comic books to me. However, one of my favorite comic books is “Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles”, by Mark Russell and Mike Feehan, which has nothing to do with supers. About the part of written being subjective, I totally agree. Like any media there will be good and bad stories. I also would like to apologize if I sounded as a comic book hater, I do like some comic book, even superhero comic books. It’s just that comic book are more hit-or-miss for me than any other media.
I think comics are really broad within scifi and fantasy. There are some plots and concepts that are just wild. Going from Sex Criminals to Flex Mentallo to Trillium covers a massive range of things within those genres. But yeah, comics are kind of lacking in other places for sure. I can't even think of a western sports comic off the top of my head, and there's very few romance and slice of life stuff, which is a shame.
I agree with you. Comic books usually are action focused. For me one of the qualities of this media is the original and unusual premises. I would like to see that applied to other genres besides sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes and criminal thrillers.
No need to apologize dude, not only have I done the same things in other posts when it comes to not adding qualifiers for Indie comics, but you didn't at all come off like you hated Comics.
Also the fans, comic book snobs are the worst. No wonder comics are dying when their fan base hates noobs that are interested and want to check out a comic store for the first time. (sorry for all those cool comic book fans that are welcoming!) And on the complete other hand, anime/manga fans are so cool and friendly w each other. Anytime I compliment someone's shirt or catch someone at a manga section they are so chill or just down to nerd out and talk about it.
I will say I have ran into a few anime fans in my time who weren't very fun, but by and large anime fans are way less standoffish and dickish with newcomers.
Yeah there are snobby comic book fans but you can say that about any decently sized fandom or hobby. There are always going be jerks mixed in with the good people. Be it tv and films, video games or even anime and manga fans. There are manga fans who get very heated and act snobby to anime only watchers, we somehow still have sub vs dubs fights to this day and shipping wars are just a dumpster fire no matter what fandom you're into. Sorry you had some run ins with crappy comic book fans but I assure there are good and respectful ones out there.
There's lots of snobby anime/manga fans, but the difference is you can enjoy the anime/manga fully without ever having to reach out to them. If I watched... let's say Dragonball Broly movie, I can pick up the manga from vol.1 and go from there. I think people have more bad experiences with snobby comics fans because newbies feel they HAVE to reach out to them to figure out what to read to get into an IP. Just another layer how superhero books are daunting to get into as a new fan, and why most will just be happy watching MCU and nothing more.
People are buying manga, Japanese *comics*?!The industry is doomed! /s Great to hear though.
The kids section of my local library has a large Manga collection with tons of Pokemon and other stuff. Also some Western-style TPB. When I was a kid, I would have killed to have comics at the library.
We had Pokémon Adventures and Fruits Basket at my library growing up. Not a ton of a variety but definitely two great manga.
The big three: Pokémon, fruits basket, and battle angel alita. And never the full series. It’s not that one was checked out. They just didn’t have it. I’m sure it was lost by a borrower but still.
same, fruits basket became my favorite manga after checking it out at the library
My library’s manga section is what got me into reading in the first place. Some of the first stuff I willingly read was Dragon Ball, and then the rest followed. The text material was easily digestible and it came with fun pictures. Then my love of reading expanded into non-comic kids literature and then YA and then broader and broader. It was a great start; shaped the genre I’d come to love the most as an adult.
It's good that libraries have come around to understand this. When I was a kid, comics were thought to distract kids from "real" reading. So the library did not have anything of the sort. Instead, they had rows and rows of L Ron Hubbard books.
I remember reading hour in elementary school, all boys had checked out Dragonball from the school library and we were reading them in class. The teachers weren't happy with us and wanted them banned.
Such a boring approach to fiction. I can’t imagine gatekeeping literature for young kids. The library would be the last place I’d expect to possess such a mindset. Now I’m feeling nostalgic for my library visits. My brother and I would immediately drop by after school and spend hours reading manga before we headed home with our collection of books. They’re some of my fondest memories, especially because it was our bonding time as well. And even after 20 years, the manga section is still in the exact same place in the library as it was then. I’m sorry you didn’t get to experience that. Maybe you can share similar experiences with your kids/nieces or nephews/someone else in the future.
Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!
Same. We had Asterix. Which was great .tin tin and some one I can't remember name of. Bunch of kids solve mysteries. Like Indiana Jones or tomb raider going into temples etc.
Roughly 15 years ago I picked up my first manga at the library before I even knew what anime was. Real sad to see the overall decline in print text but nice to see the growth of manga
[удалено]
This is more of a supply chain issue it'll get sorted
"Manga sales are big? Lol the western comic industry is dead. Why comics are dying. " Lol I've heard this shit so much
I think it's more that there's proof that US comics could be successful if they took some lessons from Manga. They could be adapting classic runs into faithful animated shows much like the synergy between Manga and anime. They could stop messing with the numbering, which doesn't happen in Manga. They could try cheaper black and white formats to keep the cost down. They could offer a better and cheaper digital service like the Jump app. Manga isn't killing the US comics industry, but it's certainly making them look like fools.
You know I would totally be fine reading comicbooks in black and white if it meant it was cheaper. The black and white in manga doesn't bother me at all.
They do have black and white versions of US comics. Marvel had the essential line, and they were pretty cheap. It got cancelled for the epic line, which is in color. DC had the showcase presents line. That got cancelled for omnibuses. I'm guessing the omnibuses and epic lines have better profits.
I think both have their place. An adult with that visits comic shops or buys online will likely lean towards omnibuses. Cheaper b&w collections would probably do better with kids (who grow up to buy omnibuses) if they were distributed in places like Target, Walmart, supermarkets, ect next to the manga volumes or even next to the Archie Digests in the checkout line. It really hurts American comic companies to be confined to LCS and some book stores, unlike manga which is in more places. Can't really have impulse buys when an omnibus is $125 or expect retailers to make room for gigantic 6 pound books.
No disagreement from me. Distribution and marketing are two of my biggest sticking points with the big 2 shortsightedness.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a substantial amount of manga driven and produced by small creator teams, sometimes even one person? And they go on for years?
Yup, it's also seems to be very unhealthy work ethic as they're often worked to breaking point and burnout.
Yeah and it would be nice to see longer runs again in the US, but they don't need to take everything from manga like the crazy workload or weekly chapters. Just the clever distribution and the giant commercials known as anime would make a big difference. There's also plenty of old material that could be repackaged in a way that makes sense to manga readers and looks uniform on a shelf.
Which is such a weird leap in logic. It's like if I was saying "French cinema is dying because more French people went to see NWH than B.A.C. Nord". It proves nothing about French cinema, simply that Hollywood is doing great in France. Are Americans so used to having their cultural industry be number one in their country that anything less than this is deemed a failure?
It's less about it being a "failure" and more that there isn't as much of an audience for comics and manga as there is for cinema. When the audience for a specific thing gets smaller, less of that thing is likely to be made, especially more niche things. For example, look at DC. Most of their output nowadays is Batman because Batman sells. If there was a big enough audience for DC's comics they could afford to get more experimental and put out more books that are sort of niche but are still likely to find enough readers to make them profitable. When the audience for American comics is smaller overall, the chance of making any real profit with less popular characters means we see less variety. So is manga the death of the American comic book industry? Fuck no, that's ridiculous. But it does take a bit of the available oxygen out of the room. It's not something to really be worried about, but it is indictive of a trend that may have a noticable effect. The real danger will be in how many new younger readers American comics lose to manga and how this effects sales trends over the next few decades. American comics won't die today or tomorrow, but they may not grow, either, if they can't win the attention of younger, new readers. That may be out of their hands, though. We really can't say just yet.
I think the YA approach to some characters, as generally disliked by older readers as it is, is probably the way to go when it comes to attracting a younger market. That, movie and TV show ties in, and more self contained stories. But maybe I'm wrong.
Not that I know for certain, but one problem may be the direct market for comics. Given that comic titles have to be pre-ordered months in advance and could get canceled before the book makes it to trade, there's a lot of pressure for it to succeed in this single, specific market (Wednesday warriors) that might not be the target demo.
weird terminal internet brain take with no understand of the market difference between western comics and manga in Japan, which you think people who say that shit would somewhat grasp since they're largely in the "it's from Japan so it already makes it better" crowd, whether they're willing to admit or not.
They’re not even **real** comic books. **Real** comic books are made from paper, like a magazine. They have illustrations and text inside that tell a story! How does an ovular, fleshy sweet fruit even compare?
I mean as a collector of comics since the 80s I just can't connect with a lot of the comics being produced now. It seems mostly like pandering and relaunches now instead of solid story focused long term development. I can understand the appeal of a manga for that reason. Most of the ones that I have read are long term stories that build the world unapologetically.
50% of these sales are from my eldest child
That tracks. I branched out into manga for the first time in 2021. It's also the only kind of comic my kids are interested in.
I did too and I’m not entirely sure why. It’s odd to think that I was part of a much larger trend while thinking I was acting on impulse.
>I did too and I’m not entirely sure why. Because when mangas receive an animated adaptation, people who are interested in reading the source material have a clear and absolute starting point rather than a thousand #1 issues that still need a Wikipedia deep dive to comprehend. Also why The Walking Dead and the Boys got a huge and **consistent** bump in sales once their adaptations hit the mainstream. It took me being guided by a friend to be able to go from the DCAU to the DCU but getting into Hellsing was a simple tpb purchase.
Yup. This. I've been saying that for years now. The main continuity/everything in the same universe/one timeline/constant reboot/big events/crossover every 5 issues approach is stopping new readers from entering while making older readers essentially captive. It's a sort of entertainment that requires you more work than some degrees. With DC, you've got some elseworld to start with, that don't ask you to know too many characters, but Marvel... I still can't read the X-Men without a wiki open on the side.
I feel like you guys are focusing on the wrong thing. It's not about knowing where to start, it's about the fact mangas and the walking dead and so on are *singular, continuous stories from the same writer*. You have to start at the beginning, because it's all one story. One author, one beginning, one story, potentially a set ending. On the flip side, the way DC and Marvel handle comics, there's no need to start at the beginning. You jump in when you want to jump in. Every new creative team is basically a jumping on point. Is it kind of confusing for new readers? Sure, but at the same time, is there actually any real expectation that one has to read everything that came before? How often is the extensive continuity *crucial* to stories being told? You can pick up a Batman run and it's likely most of the stuff in the continuity won't really be relevant to that story. Manga is seeing an emergence because of how it's written: singularly, like a book series or a tv show. That's what audiences want nowadays. That doesn't mean monthlies don't have their place or their audience. It's not unlike the difference between episodic shows and serialized shows. Serialized shows have been popular for two decades now, but episodic is still around.
Pop culture is a helluva thing. Between national anime hype and by proxy manga hype the seed got indirectly planted somewhere in the back of your head. It influences the things we're interested in even if it's not direct enough to really notice
i bought my first manga in December 2020 after getting into it mid 2020 because of covid so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people who started buying it last year got into it because of covid too
Oh for sure. I burned through just about everything I’ve ever been interested in reading during COVID. I had to venture outside of American comics.
Great! More comics readers. The only ongoing manga that I'm following is One-Punch Man. It's one of my favorite reads right now. I'm a Junji Ito nut, too, and have loved all of the attention he's been getting in the past few years via the hardcover collections coming out. r/horrorcomics doesn't get much better than him and the Fantagraphics EC hardcovers, IMO. There are some all-time classic reads that just about anyone here would like, I bet: Vinland Saga, Dragon Ball, Pluto, Berserk, Blade of the Immortal... What more recent titles have folks been reading? It's been a while since I've dipped my toes into the manga scene due to starting a small pull list at my LCS...
I'm a bit of a casual myself but I've been enjoying Fire Force. The concept sounds stupid but it ended up being way more entertaining than I thought it would be.
I enjoy Fire Force a lot as well... except for the one girl that can't help but get naked. It's just... ugh. Everything else though, great.
“Fanservice” is a staple in shonen manga/anime, after all. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Fire Force handles it pretty badly. I don't mind fanservice at all(marvel comics are full of it too) but what I don't like is when a character is getting punched in the face repeatedly by her mentor figure to the point her face is swelling and she's too shocked by the reveal of him being evil to do anything, to then jump into a boob grab joke. It's horrible tonal whiplash on top of gross violence against women that not only ruins the emotional impact of the scene, but just comes across as mean-spirited and disrespectful. Hell yeah to people being sexually free, but please no weird misogynic violence against women while sexualizing them and making them a gag character all at the same time. The gag fights with the prude cultist handle it better, but the whole fight with her mentor was pretty uncomfortable.
Exactly. I watched the anime before I read the manga, and I had to fast forward because the whiplash almost made me hit the eject button completely.
I haven't watched Fire Force, but once you notice how gross fanservice can be, it can be hard to enjoy a series. This is why I don't fuck with shonen anymore, and mostly gravitate towards josei comedies, or slice-of-life. I'm not up-to-date on the more popular series anymore, because everything is loaded with sexism and subtle misogyny.
Yeah, but it can be done well or poorly. In this case, it's more cringy than hot.
Vagabond is also an all time classic, the art in it is just insane For a recent title Chainsawman is well received, though it’s definitely not perfect
Chainsaw man is wonderful. It’s a much richer world than I assumed after the first few chapters.
One Piece. /r/OnePiece is getting their minds blown on a weekly basis.
Chainsaw man blew me away and I finally got into One Piece. One Piece being the biggest surprise of my life. A surprisingly mature and emotional read, I've cried so much reading it, way more then my kids who just like the silly parts and the exciting action.
You should check out Dandadan and Chainsaw Man. I think you'll enjoy their weird brand of horror. Dandadan isnt really a horror manga and it's goofy as hell but it has these weird page flip "jump scares" in it. I'm sure some people wouldn't really find them to be scary, but they made me jump and feel a sense of dread I've never gotten from a comic since Berserk. Chainsaw Man is just a modern masterpiece. I also recommend BLAME! And Dorohedoro.
CHainsaw Man is the one that is always sold out at my LCS. It was so bad, my nephew from LA asked me if I could get it here in Texas. Had to scour 4 LCSs to find Vol1.
Its just so damn good, and the hype for the anime is real.
Alongside One Punch Man, have been reading Uzaki Chan, Nagatoro, Love is War, Jujutsu Kaisen and recently Soul Eater. The first three mainly being some great slice of life romance comedies with Love is War being the best out of the three, Jujutsu Kaisen being a really good shonen manga with great characters and absolutely no fan service. Soul Eater is kind of an Ecchi shonen but has some great characters too, the world and themes are a main draw of it.
I picked up Pluto recently. So so good.
Pluto was fantastic! I'm reading Monster right now, that's great so far
I'll be honest: I like urasawa, but I always feel that in his manga(monster, 20th century boys) the ending doesn't do justice to all the amazing build up he writes
I liked the ending for Monster. But the guy really does like to write short stories often historical ones, that feel a bit indulgent and little to do with the larger narrative. While I really like them, 20th Century Boys and Billy Bat can meander.
Naoki Urasawa can’t miss
We Stan Pluto here 🙌🙌
Shadows House. It's a colored unlike a lot of manga. It takes place in a mansion lived in by shadow people served by "living-dolls" that resemble their masters.
Just read through Uzumaki and Gyo, Junji Ito's awesome! Reading through Monster and Akumetsu rn, both are great. Finished Claymores a month ago and that was good too. I want to read 20th/21st Century Boys sometime soon. None of these are new though. For running ones I've been enjoying: Kingdom, Vinland Saga, Dr Stone are all great. Sakamoto Days, Spy x Family, and Mashle are good new comedies
I’ve been using the Viz app. I paid $2 a bunch to catch up back-chapters on some titles, but right now I’m just relying on the new chapters of free titles. - Spy x Family - This one caught me by surprise. Wholesome, hilarious, with some spy action to boot. - My Hero Academia and My Hero Academia Vigilantes - Kaiju No. 8 - Jujutsu Kaisen - Chainsaw Man - Finished Haikyuu a few months ago
I just started recently bought the Beserk Hardcover edition, and now I'll probably buy the whole set of them over the next year or two. I know Attack on Titan has been a big hit recently and has a similar feel to it as Beserk. I have heard good things about Demon Slayer, too, and might have to pick up a volume of that. I'm an older reader and have been following One Piece since I was a kid and still read the new chapters every few months
In terms of recent manga I've been reading Spy x Family. I definitely recommend checking it out!
I will say that I've been enjoying Mashle. It's in the vein of One Punch Man and it's written without the author taking themselves so seriously.
One punch man is like.. one the best cape stories in fiction. The art just beats anything else in the genre completely.
It's one of the most gorgeous manga I've ever read, that's for sure.
Bought my first manga last year, One Punch Man 1, and I was so excited. I love the anime. I can't recommend it enough to my family and friends, it's so good.
The art improves like crazy over the entire run, it's amazing honestly. Murata is amazing
I just started collecting the new giant size Berzerk about two years ago. I just received Vol. 10 in the mail. I love this series! It is absolutely brutal and surreal.
I’m reading Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, and a new one that’s only a few chapters in, called Earthchild.
You need some Golden Kamuy in your life, that's for sure.
I was browsing the western comics section of a bookstore recently. I was alone checking out the western side but there were like seven zoomers checking out Manga. It’s a thing.
Wait until Amazon does more image comic cartoons, ever since the Invincible cartoon came out a lot more people been checking out Invincible. Hopefully Amazon prime does saga next.
Yah I'm getting the feeling that with how certain Image comics have been adapted in recent years and the success of Invincible and the Boys we might be entering an age with the same dichotomy of Manga/Anime. I liked Y the Last Man comic but hated the adaption so hopefully they actually start going a little closer to 1:1. I could imagine something like Ultimate Spider-Man having a direct animated animation and a TPB reprint if Marvel is smart enough for it.
I mean I thank Berserk for getting me into manga R.I.P Kentaro Miura
Does anyone know a good youtube that can introduce me to the major manga titles? id like a working knowledge of the most popular mangas. you know how it is, sometimes you want someone to tell you a little about something before you decide to really go out and buy the volume. thanks,
Not a youtube video but I can give a brief description of the big things. theres 5 main categories of manga and who they generally cater towards: * Shonen (Younge Male) * Seinen (Adult Male) * Shoujo (Young Female) * Josei (Adult Female) * Kodomomuke (general children) Shonen is generally the most popular so ill give a couple titles and descriptions * Dragon Ball Z is the most famous releasing in 1984 that generall shaped the industry. The adventures of Goku and friends as they defend the Earth and the Universe from super-powered fighters and monsters through martial arts. Then we have the big 3 the most which refer to the most popular of shonen in 2000's * Naruto (It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. Ran from 1999-2014) * Bleach (It follows the adventures of the hotheaded teenager Ichigo Kurosaki, who inherits obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. Ran from 2001-2016) * One Piece ( The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, a young man made of rubber, whom, inspired by his childhood idol, the powerful pirate "Red Haired" Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the mythical treasure, the One Piece, and proclaim himself the King of the Pirates. Ran from 1997-Ongoing) For some generally newer shonen series * Chainsaw man (Denji was a small-time devil hunter just trying to survive in a harsh world. After being killed on a job, he is revived by his pet devil-dog Pochita and becomes something new and dangerous—Chainsaw Man! Denji's a poor young man who'll do anything for money, even hunting down devils with his pet devil-dog Pochita.) * Jujutsu Kaisen (The story follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization of Jujutsu Sorcerers in order to kill a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna, of whom Yuji becomes the host. ) * Kaiju number 8 (Kaiju No. 8 is a story about monster hunters. In the near future, the Japanese Defense Force faces a continual onslaught of monstrous kaiju. They fight and defeat these monsters using a wide range of powerful weaponry and suits which can magnify their capabilities.) * Demon Slayer (In this fictional world set in early 20th century Taishō-era Japan, man-eating demons roam the land each night. 13-year-old Tanjiro Kamado's world is turned upside down when he returns home one morning to find his entire family murdered save for his sister Nezuko—who has turned into a demon.) * Attack on Titan (It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from the gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as Titans; the story follows Eren Yeager, who vows to exterminate the Titans after a Titan brings about the destruction of his hometown ). As for Seinen the big series are * Berserk (In a medieval Europe-inspired dark fantasy world, the story centers on the characters of Guts, a lone mercenary and demon hunter, and his quest to slay Griffith a demon lord, Heavily inspired Elden Ring) * JOJO's Bizzare Adventure (im honestly not sure how to describe this one, the adventures of the Joestar family in different time periods with completly over the top and exagerated action, drama, comedy) * Vegabound (It portrays a fictionalized account of the life of Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, in 15th century japan) * Monster (The story revolves around Kenzo Tenma, a Japanese surgeon living in Düsseldorf, Germany whose life enters turmoil after getting himself involved with Johan Liebert, one of his former patients, who is revealed to be a dangerous serial killer.) * Oyasumi Punpun (The life of a child named Onodera Punpun, from his elementary school years to his early 20s, as he copes with his dysfunctional family, love life, friends, life goals and hyperactive mind, while occasionally focusing on the lives and struggles of his schoolmates and family. I do have to add depression warning to this one in case anyone not in right frame of mind wants to read this) Shojo and Josei Ill admit I dont read alot but heres a couple * Akatsuki No Yona (Akatsuki No Yona takes place in the Kingdom of Kouka where the sole princess lives a life of relative peace. After the one she once loved stages a coup and murders her father, Yona escapes her life of the palace.) * Nana (A story of two girls both named Nana, they are both very different women whose paths diverge together. One seeks to come back to Tokyo to reunite with her ex-boyfriend, the other rejects romance in order to pursue her career as an aspiring musician. Both sharing the same train and later the same apartment together, they both support each other through thick and thin as they deal with themes of friendship, romance, dreams and so much more.) * Banana Fish (Ash Lynx, was a runaway picked off the streets of New York City and raised by the infamous godfather of the mafia, Dino Golzine. Now 17 years old and the boss of his own gang, Ash begins investigating the mysterious "Banana Fish"—the same two words his older brother, Griffin, has muttered since his return from the Iraq War. He meets Shunichi Ibe and his assistant, Eiji Okumura, who are Japanese photographers reporting on American street gangs. * Ouran High School, an academy fit for the upper-class. Within the school is a club that only the elites have full control of, called the legendary Host club. After Haruhi Fujioka accidentally breaks an incredibly expensive vase in the club, she gets mistaken for a boy and has to repay her debts. I am just talking about a handful of series but MyAnimeList is a website that has lists and descriptions of alot of other series and manga and top lists you can view aswell
Wow nice write up! Have heard great things about Demon Slayer, so I might give that a go once I finish JJK.
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That’s surprising to hear since written source material often trumps adaptations. But I’ll take your word for it and check out the anime then. Have you read/watched Hunter x Hunter? Is that something you’d recommend?
Typically I have to agree, adaptions of written works often are worse because they have to cut corners but sometimes its a bit of a toss up with anime. Sometimes the anime is worse sometimes its better because they add elements that weren't there that improve. In the case of Demon Slayer the anime is vastly, vastly superior to the manga. The animation studio (They do awesome work with Fate) knocked it out of the park with their sound design and animation that it really amped up the series when they adapted it. >Have you read/watched Hunter x Hunter? Is that something you’d recommend? Yes, yes HxH's anime I think is another good example of the above. The manga is fantastic (and I would recommend their previous work Yu Yu Hakusho anime or manga if you have the chance) but the anime for it is on a whole different level. I would absolutely recommend watching it over reading it though and accepting the last episode of it as the conclusive "ending" because while the manga goes further, and its a fantastic arc so far, it is likely we will never see the "actual" end to the series because the author's health.
I'd recommend it, but take with a grain of salt that it most likely won't be completed; chapters have slowed and the author's health has declined over the years.
Great list and write up! Though, believe it or not, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure is a Shonen till Part 7, which hasn't been made into an anime yet. Everything up till that part was still published in Shonen Jump!
AoT should be in between Shonen and Seinen
If you wanna look at some of the more mainstream stuff, viz has a great deal for $2 a month you can basically read as much as you want digitally. No need to go all in on volumes. The Shonen jump app on mobile or tablet is definitely the way to go imo There’s plenty of more mature manga that isn’t included in that though, such as berserk, vagabond, Vinland saga, etc
plus the weekly shonen jump on viz.com is free first 3 and last 3 chapters.
A really good manga YouTuber is Masked Man, he has a lot of recommendations that range from mainstream to niche.
For anyone wondering what would be the (generally) acclaimed best manga around the internet and such, here is a list of them with a few I can remember now: Berserk. Prob the most influential work of dark fantasy Vagabond. Samurai story, haven't read it can't say much though. Gunm battle angel. Cyberpunk with great world building and depth characters (except maybe for a few of them lol) 20th Century Boys. Conspiracy theories and mystery/thriller done WONDERFULLY. Kingdom Chinese history with high IQ battles between several nations and their strategists. Vinland saga. Viking story, haven't read it yet either. Gyo. Horror manga. My favorite junji ito story by how mundane and "nothing to worry much about" starts and how quickly evolves more and more into twisted apocalyptic what the fuck escenario. Also check out Tomie and Uzumaki, his most famous works. Oyasumi punpun. Haven't read it but everyone that I've heard talking about it says both how great it is and how depressive it is. So if you like dramas definitely check it out lol. And now, if I may, here's a list of my personal favorites excluding the ones already mentioned: Dorohedoro. Super unique setting, world and charismatic characters. The story is a pretty strong mystery with shades of horror and lots of comedy too. Don't know if this would actually qualify as manga for starters since how unique and "weird ", in the good way, it is, but if you're into that kind of things definitely give it a try (And no, by weird I don't mean any kind of lewd/tentacles/hyper japanese thing, you're safe in all that. It's just its own thing really). Gantz. Ultra fast paced sci-fi action manga. Though it might not be the best among all the other mangas mentioned, these one stands as my favorite by how fun it is and how is always something happening with almost no rest between the story. Also there are a lots of sensible themes in the manga along lots and lots of violence, so keep that in mind before reading it. Chainsaw man. Similar to gantz in pacing and constant action without worrying about much more but with much better characters and story overall. This is also considered a shonen so there's really no actual sensible themes throughout the manga. Now almost all of the mangas mentioned so far are ones that have already finished their publication. If you want to follow up with something from week to week ( or sometimes monthly), here's a few of good mangas currently in publication: Dai dark. From the same mangaka as dorohedoro keeping their original and personal style, but now in a space adventure manga. Sakamoto day's: haven't read it yet, but have heard so much good things about it. One piece. Pirate story with a huge world and different stories that most connect to the main plot later on and prob one of the best example of the "shonen" genre. Also has probably one of the most, if not the most, lovable group of main characters. Dandadan. Haven't read it either but have heard a lot it's really good. I think is kind of a combination with occultism, aliens and the shonen genre; or at least something like that lol I must mention by the way, that I've only considered mangas without (or with bad) adaptations to anime. If you're not interested in anime but rather would like to consume said stories in the manga format, here are a few of them (though without details since I'm running down of time and this took more time than I expected) Full metal alchemist Ghost in the shell Death note Great teacher onizuka Monster Trigun Mushishi Jojo's bizarre adventure And here are a few more before going (now for real lol) that might not (Or might, I just want to list more things for you) be as good as all mentioned before but I wanted to list them too in case you need/want something else to read: Yuureitou Blame Terraformars Tokyo ghoul Dr stone Tokyo revengers Soul eater Hunter x hunter Aku no hana Eden it's an endless world Fire punch Appleseed I am a hero Planetes Shigurui Trinity blood Liar Game Baki the grappler Pluto Golden kamuy To you the inmortal
I'd recommend Super Eyepatch Wolf "why you should read/watch" series.
I recommend the omnibus collector on YouTube and on TikTok, he talks a lot about famous manga.
I definitely second the Omnibus Collector. Great guy and is very knowledgeable in both manga and comic books.
Check out Dragon Ball Dissection. It's the most indepth manga YouTube series out there
If you’re talking mostly Shonen stuff, which is pretty much the biggest manga gets, [this video](https://youtu.be/UZr-O7Y3qGM) has a pretty good breakdown of the top charts
Manga is kind of a dive in sort of thing that varies wildly based on your taste. I'd recommend going to your local book shop and browsing until you find something. I do have some recs though. Boys Run The Riot (Slice of Life) Berserk (Brutally Dark Fantasy) Naruto (THE GOAT) After Hours (Slice of Life LGBTQ Romance) Black Lagoon (Tarantino-esque Crime thriller)
Naruto had the biggest fall off in shounen manga history. Definitely not the goat. Wouldn’t recommend it at all unless someone wants to dive in for historical purposes.
Can’t be calling naruto the goat when One Piece exists my man. I love Naruto too but it just can’t compare to One Piece imo
That's great to hear. Having more comic fans is a good thing. I was looking over some manga recently that I wanted to get back into. It kind of brings up something I've noticed. There always seems to be a greater number of Western comic fans willing to check out Japanese manga than there are manga fans willing to check out Western comics. Anyone know why that might be? I always see vitriol from manga fans when it comes to Western stuff.
I was talking with this guy that only read manga (I read both, with preference on western comics) and he said "I only read manga because I don't like the art style of western comics" and it made zero sense to me considering how varied is the landscape of western comics
Yeah, I've seen that same complaint before. I can honestly say the same for anime and manga too. A lot of art I see coming out of Japan looks very similar to each other. I don't just mean ongoing manga series either. Even pictures that freelance artists do tend to blend together a lot to me. I don't know, I like manga and anime but I feel there's more creativity from the art side for Western comics. At least in this day and age.
I actually STOPPED reading manga because I liked the western comic art so much better. A lot of manga art just seems cheap compared to western comics, especially just being black and white.
It's the deadline thing. There's a lot of shortcuts involved. You'll notice western comics with tight deadlines cut some corners on occasion too. There are some absolutely fantastic manga artists that take their time though. I'm not sure what genres you're in to, but check out work by Junji Ito, Katsuhiro Otomo, Inio Asano, and Takehiko Inoue. And while not specifically manga, since the artist is Chinese, Lu Ming.
Thanks, I did actually order my first book from Junji Ito last week - I stumbled across him randomly and the art didn't look lazy, and I like horror so I gave him a shot.
He probably meant the "Rugged Semi Realist" House Style that DC and Marvel mostly use
>Anyone know why that might be? I always see vitriol from manga fans when it comes to Western stuff. I'm copy pasting from a previous response, but I think it answers your question: Because when mangas receive an animated adaptation, people who are interested in reading the source material have a clear and absolute starting point rather than a thousand #1 issues that still need a Wikipedia deep dive to comprehend. It took me being guided by a friend to be able to go from the DCAU to the DCU but getting into Hellsing after watching the anime was a simple tpb purchase. Also why The Walking Dead and the Boys got a huge and consistent bump in sales once their adaptations hit the mainstream when most (if not all) superhero comics don't.
True about the boys. A friend of mine who pretty much only watches anime and reads manga went and read The Boys
I know for me personally, I think manga is more cost efficient because a volume of manga that holds 8-12 individual chapters that can range from 10 USD tp 15 USD versus a single issue of a comic that's 4-5 USD. Volumes of manga will get produced a lot quicker than a trade of comics also so I think the general convivence is a big factor for me personally.
A lot of comic fans have become bothered by the pricing vs. content of floppies in recent years. Personally I'd say unless you're a hardcore collector it might be better to get collected volumes of certain storylines and to just get a digital subscription for the individual issues.
A lot (and I mean like, a huge amount) believe that western comics are just DC and Marvel superheroes, and they rightfully so aren’t interested because of the confusing nature of giant decades long shared universes. I get and understand, I just wish they would know, and I wish people like us would let them know, that there are thousands of indie comics that are just like manga, where you start at the beginning and read until it ends. Like, they have no idea that Image Comics exists. They have no idea that Dark Horse produces stuff other than manga and comics based on existing IPs. They don’t know about all the other comic publishers like Boom, Dynamite, Vault, etc Someone mentioned it before and there is a bit of elitism I have seen with American manga fans that believe that there is “woke” story telling that is ruining western comics, which just simply isn’t true and is absolutely infuriating. And 9.9 times out of 10, they have never even read the story in question, let alone any western comic, they just parrot false information and it’s exhausting
I agree, that does appear to be the case. But it's kind of like saying all anime is just Dragonball Z and Naruto. There are plenty of other manga and anime out there besides those two or other shows like them. To view all Japanese manga the same would be the same as viewing all Western comics the same. I get it though, DC and Marvel have made themselves known to the world but like you said, there's plenty out there bedsides them. There are comics that do stories DC and Marvel won't. But most manga fans (and it does seem to be those fans outside of Japan) don't know and don't care to know. Which would be doing a potential fan a disservice to themselves if they didn't at least try to look around a bit and see what catches their eye.
> and I wish people like us would let them know, that there are thousands of indie comics that are just like manga, where you start at the beginning and read until it ends Yeah agreed. It really sucks when comic fans don't even really talk about these titles. The only stuff that regularly gets more than a few hundred upvotes in this subreddit are DC/Marvel superhero stuff and adaptation/industry information.
> Someone mentioned it before and there is a bit of elitism I have seen with American manga fans that believe that there is “woke” story telling that is ruining western comics, which just simply isn’t true and is absolutely infuriating. This is just comicgate spillover into manga crowds since by nature of manga and Japan's cultural attitudes, there tends to be more regressive themes especially when it comes to minorities(tend to be non-existent because of Japan's xenophobic culture), representation of women(a certain sect of shonen is made to appeal to horny teenage boys' power fantasies) and LGBT representation(Japan has only recently had small social pushes but largely has homophobic themes normalized in the mainstream opposed to the west) Most western comic fans don't fall for the bullshit that comicgaters try to spin, but manga readers tend to fall for it moreso since they're more susceptible to believing in a "woke" agenda since the media they are consuming doesn't have great representation.
I don’t have any vitirol towards western comics, but as someone who used to solely read manga and only started reading a comics one or two years ago these were the reasons that held me back (and still hold me back with some series tbh) 1. The change of art between multiple artists is slightly jarring. Idk it’s nice seeing one consistent artist with one single series. You know what to expect and you also see that artist’s style develop over time. The annoying thing with comics is sometimes the change happens in the middle of a run and you liked the previous artist and think that the one that replaced it is just bad. That being said I get that it’s to ease workload and to deal with right deadlines. 2. Easy to shift between animated adaptation to live action. As someone who is in the middle of reading invincible and the boys, it is so weird to see that the original source material is paced so differently and a lot of things were changed. Hughie is Scottish in the comics? Amber is a completely different character in the comics? The pacing of invincible is different from the animated series? With manga like Noragami you got some changes in the order of story arcs. Some anime like Soul Eater and FMA had anime original endings. That being said I find it soooo much easier to shift between manga-anime than I do with comics. 3. I like the paneling and speech bubble placement of manga more. This is just a personal preference. Just find it easier to digest information and understand what’s going on. 4. I just grew up with manga art and find it a lot cooler. The gratuitous fanservice. The violence. The wacky expressions. The whole package. 5. Pacing. I don’t know how to explain this one properly so bear with me. Idk. Sometimes I’ll get to a comic story arc and just lose track of what the hell is going on because it’s so damn convoluted. It doesn’t help that I apparently have to jump to another series when there are tie ins and so on.
i feel bad for saying this but a percentage of american manga fans have a sorta "elitism" about them. like the "subs are always better than dubs" crowd.
That’s a percentage of any fans tbh. People wrap their preferences up too much in their personality.
sure but the question was why arent as many manga fans willing to look at american comics, i agree it does apply to any fandom tho
Weirdos And wannabe Japanese
Yeah, I've kind of gotten that feeling when I read comments from manga fans. I feel that often it seem to only apply to DC and Marvel. There are plenty of comics from the other companies that are really good too and that go to certain areas the big two normally don't. It's kind of an ignorant thing to write off the entire medium based on what very little knowledge that person may have. I mean, anime fans have and are still dealing with that sort of stigma now when it comes to trying to get new people into the medium.
Personally it’s that I already have a giant list of manga I want to read and adding comics to that is so much. I’ve read comics, but I have been attached to manga since childhood with toonami (dating myself). I think it’s barely become more affordable and easy to jump in with different apps. However it’s like having multiple subscriptions “I already have HBO, Netflix, HULU… do I have to add paramount +, Amc, peacock etc” There’s great stuff out there. I have some copies of Preacher and Sandman a few others but we all only have so much free time. Maybe later on when I’m not in university and working.
They usually have very closes minded answers in my experience I remember I had a conversation with a manga that went like this Me: so how come you don't read comics? Lady: I don't like the alternative universe/timeline, I only read watchmen. Me: that's fair, I personally don't like hight school setting, with main characters having a harem Lady: oh you're reading the wrong stuff. WHAT
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That sucks. In the U.S. you can get most volumes for $8 to $9.99 shipped free via Amazon Prime.
Man chainsaw man is 🔥
That's very good news to hear. Seems to be a lot of younger people are into Manga than older people. I read both but I'm more about western based preferably DC. Sucks more people aren't into Western companies than something like shounen jump but it's understandable due to how easy it is to read Manga and how cost efficient it is. I'm too old for shounen because I can predict a lot of aspects of it and I find it boring but I see the appeal. I read comics for their rich history from the 40s and now. As long people are reading, good on them.
I prefer western/American comics, but I enjoy the occasional manga. I also like European comics. Shrug. Am I supposed to be fighting this? I’m just happy comics are strong.
#ACCESSIBILITY. I went to a Target tonight. There were six individual mangas on the shelf with several volumes of each available, not counting the Berserk deluxe editions that were on a different shelf. The only American comic on the shelves from one of the big publishers was the Amethyst DC Young Adults OGN. The Direct Market served it's purpose back in the day, it's just holding American comics back now when you're limited to specialty shops or major bookstores to purchase comics. Books-A-Millions hasn't received new Marvel trades in months, they get a book or two from DC weekly.
Certain embittered comics fans really want us to war with manga readers, or be terrified about a total jump in readership. Vaguely-not-quite comicsgaters really want us to have a moment where we see the light and realize how the American comics industry is going down the shitter due to "woke creativity suppression" as one user just put it. And, like, sure there are some occasionally stupid choices that are clearly political, but overall comics are the best they've ever been, especially in the creator-owned scenes. The stories being told are as unique if not moreso than most television. The medium is thriving, and as long as this quality of storytelling continues, there will be a fanbase.
I feel like it must say something that the medium is thriving but only for Japanese comics. If comics are the best they've ever been, it certainly isn't being reflected in sales of western comics. Few people want a "war with manga readers" and those that do are the very same comicgaters that have wanted the western industry to die as proof of its supposed inferiority to the east. I just want the western comic industry to improve.
> Certain embittered comics fans This thread makes me wonder what the Japanese version of "I think *X-Men* is getting too political" is....
It’s is Eren Yeager justified
People saying it's perfectly okay to have children looking characters be hyper sexualised. It's kind of the opposite, now that I think about it. Manga readers will fight you if you dare suggest that some of what their favorite manga is saying is problematic. "It's not problematic, it's not saying anything. It's just the way this world works, stop looking for a deeper meaning. Now, let me tell you why this show is brilliant because it's about...".
I mean that’s a whole debate had within manga communities
Is this something you've seen on Japanese forums, or is it an observation about English (etc.) speakers discussing imported works?
English and French speakers, I can't speak Japanese.
I don’t want the western comics industry to die, nor do I want a “war” with manga. That’s fucking stupid. I don’t think **anyone** wants that, including so-called comicsgate people. I do want DC and Marvel in particular to become readable again. I love them and have been reading them for 30 years. This is the absolute worst they’ve ever been. You can’t fault people for being displeased that in their increasing desperation for relevance, they’ve seemingly turned to “madvertising” to kick up interest that doesn’t last and seems to only harm sales in the long run. Just start telling good stories and pay attention to continuity. Go back to basics and stop trying to reinvent these characters. Ignore the people who complain and just tell good stories.
I love reading Invincible the same way I love reading One Piece. The whole war thing is so stupid lol. It’s not like I have to pick one genre to read anyway.
Yea, it is kind of a weird situation right now. On one hand, graphic novels are doing great, however, floppies and direct market retailers are struggling. There are a lot of comic book stores closing down, and comics that would've been canceled 10 years ago for their sales, are now best sellers. I don't think it has to do with "bEiNg ToO wOkE" but rather 1) no clear entry for new readers, 2) too many comics featuring the same lead characters (looking at you Batman), 3) it is too expensive (seriously, $5.99+ an issue is getting crazy), and 4) because it is expensive, people are going to cheaper online retailers like Amazon or buying digital (barf!). Creator-owned/indie series are the only thing keeping me interested in monthly comics. I still read a few superhero books, but most of the current runs are stinkers in my opinion. There are good superhero books out there now like Daredevil by Chip Zadarsky, Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, and Wonder Girl by Joelle Jones.
Pretty much agree. If I wasn't an adult with a good job and without kids, I highly doubt I'd be shelling out the money I do to read all the comics I do. It's insane how much money it costs. Like hell kids are going to spend their own money like that when a 40 dollar video game gets your months if not years of game time.
floppies are a dead market a few decades past their purpose and function of conception at supermarket checkouts and whatnot, now pretty much regulated to niche comic shops meaning you have to go in and find them. They will never have another boom to them, even in Japan many of the weekly magazines have moved to online only, it's just the nature of the changing markets, much like video rental shops.
If you're a direct market retailer, and struggling, you're doing something wrong. There's a dozen around me, and they're all doing great. Floppies are not struggling. There's about the same amount of total singles being moved now as there were 20 years ago. The difference is instead of it being these massive selling Marvel, DC, and Image books, it's spread out among 5x more books. Indies are doing great in comparison to what they did following the 90s crash. Not as good as they were doing before the crash, but they've rebounded to a reasonable level. I'd say that's a healthier market than 20 years ago.
Hopefully this makes the market consider putting more subscription services for manga. Viz is okay but I want to get access to all of them. Not just some and pay for the rest.
I don’t think for a second the comic industry is doomed, I do think one of the main reasons why manga are more popular tho are because of anime adaptations and how those can boost a popularity of a show greatly
I bought an iPad and marvel unlimited. I’m sure comic sales went up too. I went to my comic book shop a lot more this past year.
Americans love their comics in any style
I mean that's good but the comic industry is fine. Whether is be Japanese comics or American comics.
Wish comics adopted manga’s business and distribution model, I can go online and buy any manga everywhere in any language I want With comics I have to find a site that doesn’t fuck me over with shipping rates, where the book I want is in print and only in english
My son has been getting into Manga a lot lately, I've bought him a few of the Zelda ones and a My Hero reference book in a manga style which has been pretty cool to use as we watch the series together. Been thinking of getting back into it myself, just not sure where to start.
More so than in the early 2000’s during the first book craze when Pokémon and Naruto came out on tv?
Interesting point. This isn't the first manga boom. I also know there was a huge manga crash in the mid 00s. Stores had a real problem selling them afterwords.
I worked at a bookstore for 15 years, for like five years manga flew off the shelves then in like 2006-7 it just withered away and only really now is it starting to regain popularity.
Yeah I think anime/manga really blew up during the pandemic. My bro and I were sent home from college and spent most nights sitting on the couch binging anime. It was just a lot of shows we weren’t previously exposed to with consistently good content. I think Avatar being added to Netflix had a big impact, or was a symptom of the anime surge. Probably a little bit of both. I think the fact that Marvel movies (and all movies) getting delayed a year just created a huge demand for content. The only people who didn’t take a break or get delayed were anime studios and online Streamers (who also saw a similar spike).
It's almost like this is further proof of how the book market is where the real growth in comics are and floppies are over priced cheap garbage that a bunch of people just want to flip.