Some manga education please

H

harkins

Adventurer
Following my new found interest in anime I now have the urge to delve into manga. But I’m not exactly sure how manga works. And instead of looking into it myself I thought I’d ask you informed people for a novice’s guide.

My only experience of manga so far is from the three books(?) I got with the DVD’s of Najica that I won at auction. These are novel sized paper backs in black and white print with an rrp of about £5.99 each. Tankoubon perhaps?

Is that the standard format of manga as is available in the UK and is that different from how they are in Japan? I got the impression that in Japan they are not dissimilar in style to western comics.
 
In Japan most manga are serialised either weekly or monthly in disposable anthologies which have ultra-cheap quality paper (sometimes the paper is coloured). The series are later re-published in better quality compiled volumes for fans to keep. These bigger volumes are currently the most popular form of getting manga in the west, but there are a a couple of exceptions. (Viz's Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat are monthlies with several stories serialized and then done as whole volumes later just like in the East)

Not sure about the Japanese names for the types of books, but Tankoubon sounds about right for the standard 200-ish page manga. Older, more popular series are sometimes later re-printed in thicker volumes as well. (current western examples of this are Crying Freeman and the GTO prequel series of which are around 400-pages thick!)

Was that the kind of thing you were asking about? Sorry if I misunderstood the question...
 
Okay I’ll break this down into pieces (easier to do in-between pretending to work)
Size- most manga is printed in those novel sized books you mentioned, however you sometimes get A4 sized manga, just not that often.
Colour- while the majority is in black and white (and greyscale) there is often a few pages at the start of each volume which are in colour, but they are not always in colour in UK publications.
Reading direction- Japanese people read right to left, so manga starts ‘at the back’ then reads towards the front. Western made manga reads the other way, and occasionally they reverse the Japanese pictures, but is only happens rarely now
Omakes- think of them as ‘extra features’ of manga and are generally at the end of a volume, often poking fun at the character or mangakan (writer/artists)
Hope that helps
 
Okay, cheers both.

I understand now. So if I buy manga from Amazon (for example) I’d be getting the Tankoubon type manga which are kind of omnibus editions of the original comics.

It did take me a few pages to get used to the right to left aspect but I like the fact that they retain that feature.

Seems quite a pricey past time though because the one I’ve read so far didn’t take very long at all and at even a fiver a piece you could end up spending a small fortune.

But that’s fine cos I love spending money. Think I’ll have a mooch round Amazon right now.
 
harkins said:
Is that the standard format of manga as is available in the UK and is that different from how they are in Japan? I got the impression that in Japan they are not dissimilar in style to western comics.
Click to expand...

They are in fact almost totally different. The primary distribution of manga in Japan is the anthology. A large magasine, released regularly, that has many different stories being serialised at the same time on a chapter by chapter basis.

The secondary distribution method is the collected form, the Tankobun that you mention, which collect multiple chapters in a ~200 page small book. This is what we get when manga is licensed.
 
I’ve just started reading Anne Freaks and have noticed that often throughout the story that the artist has changed from a detailed style of drawing characters to what looks like something from Pokemon. It doesn’t seem to necessarily relate to comedy moments as I would have expected.

Can anyone explain if there is any significance in this? Or did Yua Kotegawa just have problems meeting deadlines?!

There’s a picture below just in case my description isn’t any good.


AnneFreaks.jpg
 
No its got a lot of names; typically chibi-style or super-deformed style. Or a number of others. Generally the characters are drawn in a stunted caricatures of themselves for comic or dramatic effect.

If you don't like it, blame Osamu Tezuka. While the technique wasn't unknown when he was on the scene, his repeated use of it in his most famous works means that it is readily adopted nowadays.

Its one of those things that culturally is fine to japanese readers, western readers typically hate that kind of stuff - basically stay serious or stay comedy.
 
It's done to keep the artwork varied and create character depth. It's often been noted Japanese character designs often don't leave a lot of room for expression (this can also apply to anime designs).

Instead of just the character's physical expression changing like in Western comics, the entire drawing style is altered to let us know of changes in tone - it's not just used to comedic effect as there are cases when the style intensifies at more serious moments. It's not a good or bad thing, it's just how things are often done over there.

There are other things like speed lines which aren't literal representations of anything, but act to display the plot in the way the creator wants.

There are exceptions of course, but it can become apparent that you're just getting the same character in the same mood just from a variety of different angles and poses. (Fist of the North Star manga is a good example, though I like it despite that)

Am I making sense? I'll just summarize in case I've made it confused:

Western style - focuses on technical ability and making good images.
Japanese style - focuses on telling a story in the most effective way possible, reality be damned.

(compare to animation where westerners focus on the quality of the animation while the Japanese prefer an effective story over its technical execution)

At least this is how I kind of see it I think, lol...
 
I understand. Not really sure whether it bothers me or not yet but it does just strike me as kind of dumbing down at first. I have noticed it being used once or twice in anime too. Think it’s worse there as there seems no excuse for it given that the music and voices are more than adequate for conveying the mood of a scene.

I do like the fact that it’s known as ‘Super Deformed Style’ though. Very mecha.

Thanks again for the informed answers. I wouldn’t go anywhere else to get my anime/manga questions answered!
 
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