How To Write Manga Best Books Storytelling

Manga: the all-time medium for storytelling? January eighteen, 2009

Posted past pacejmiller in On Writing.
Tags: books, comic books, comics, death note, movie, manga, naruto, Novel, one piece, prince of lawn tennis, slam dunk, storytelling, Writing
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I think so.  Potentially, anyway.

I'k not saying that reading manga is necessarily a more enjoyable experience than say, watching a moving picture or reading a novel.  Only information technology tin can be.

A lot of people still don't become manga or why it is and then pop.  Just as a medium of visual expression, manga is correct up there, because it possesses advantageous elements of both film and literature, without some of the limitations.  In my opinion, it tin can exist just as visually thrilling as an activity film, and every bit emotionally powerful as reading a good volume, if not more and so.  Allow me to explain.

A bit about Manga

First of all, what exactly do I hateful by "manga"?

"Manga" literally just means "comics" in Japanese.  But for nigh people (and me in this post), manga refers to a particular style of comics popularized past Japan and originated from Japan.  It is not possible to define or categorize exactly what that fashion is with any degree of precision – the artistic representation is stylized, but can vary from simple and exaggerated to highly detailed and realistic; the stories can be either immersed in fantasy or grounded in reality, or a mixture; the subjects are incredibly broad, and can embrace anything from take chances, romance and mystery to sports, history and erotica.   You go the indicate.

Typically, the xv-l pages per result are in black-and-white (though in that location are coloured manga I still prefer the powerful contrast of the sometime black-and-white) and are published together with a number of other titles either on a weekly or monthly ground in magazines (similar Shonen Spring).  One time enough unmarried bug of a particular championship take been published, they are collated into single volumes and sold separately for fans to collect.  Furthermore, unlike traditional American comics (produced with teams comprising members with different roles), each manga title is essentially the production of a unmarried author (with administration), who is responsible for every aspect of the manga, including both artwork and storyline – though information technology is at present not uncommon to see professional manga artists teaming up with a author to co-produce a championship.

Nowadays, in that location are manga artists all over the world and manga is drawn in many unlike languages, just the style, for the most part, stays truthful to what it was originally.  Until recent years, manga has been a miracle confined essentially to Japan and other parts of Asia.  According to Wikipedia'south page on manga, in 2006, manga represented a 481 billion yen market place in Japan alone.  Nevertheless, for many years, manga failed to penetrate the Western market.  Most Westerners had viewed manga as largely an "Asian" thing, also weird, as well culturally unlike.

These days, all the same, y'all tin can find translated versions of originally-Japanese manga in about big book stores across the US and Europe.  English-speaking fans who can't await for the tiresome distribution of officially translated versions have as well been scanning and translating manga from Japan themselves and offering them for download on the Internet (they are chosen "scanlations").  Together with the meteoric rising of anime on Western boob tube, manga has begun to find a wider marketplace in the W.  In 2006, the value of the manga marketplace in the US was approximately $175-200 million.

Manga as a medium for storytelling

When well executed, any medium tin can be a wonderful form of storytelling that generates an emotional connection with its audience.

The advantage of film is that the visual paradigm is conveyed directly to the audience.  Images can be powerful things.  The visceral impact of an prototype can be hard, if not impossible, to replicate with words.  On the other mitt, even though novels don't evidence you any images visually, they allow the reader to utilize their imagination to evoke mental images, which can sometimes be more costless and exciting than actually seeing it with your eyes.  Manga has the ability to apply the advantages of both.

While films convey their stories through images and books through words, manga conveys through still images complemented by words, either as dialogue, thoughts or narration (and even witty little side-remarks, like editor'south notes).  Every bit such, it has the ability to combine the the power of images and words into a single medium.

Yep, it is truthful that as a combined medium, manga has its limitations.  Equally the story is conveyed in singular frames, it lacks the continuity of a film.  Moreover, equally the storytelling relies predominantly on the images, the potential to utilise words to generate emotional impact is also limited.  However, manga also has some other qualities that are perfect for storytelling.

While it is true that manga conveys simply one paradigm at a a time, it is extremely capable of demonstrating movement.  This tin be done within a single frame using a variety of artistic techniques (think of a photograph which captures a moving object), or by linking several frames together (similar a slide show).  Manga is also capable of displaying the thoughts of multiple characters.  You tin can likewise show one graphic symbol'south speech communication and another's thoughts simultaneously in a unmarried frame.  You tin can even throw in an omnipresent narrator on elevation of that to explicate things to the reader when yous need to.  These are things which are extremely difficult to pull off together in other mediums.

Simply manga is capable of much more than but that – a character'southward appearance can frequently be exaggerated to convey their personality or other personal characteristics.  Their expressions can be exaggerated to convey stiff emotions.  Even the manner a speech communication is drawn can indicate whether a character is whispering or shouting or speaking with a shaky voice.  The aforementioned tin be said for thought bubbles.  The reader doesn't need to be told these things – the messages conveyed by the artwork speak for themselves.

Almost importantly, manga notwithstanding maintains the potential for readers to use their imagination to link up or fill in the gaps between frames, to create the story in their minds.  Readers can employ their own colours and voices to the characters.  It'southward an ideal combination of visual storytelling and reader imagination.

The majority of manga artists (and particularly the corking ones) develop their own unique visual flair.  Some are incredibly realistic and detailed, some are cutish or cartoonish, and some extremely unusual (JoJo'due south Bizarre Take chances comes to mind).  More ofttimes than not, y'all can instantly tell who the creator/artist of a particular manga is without even looking at the cover.  Similar skillful movie directors, great manga artists oft put big personal stamps on their work – through unique artistic styles, use of humour, even the use of frame sequencing and delivery – the multifariousness of ways to limited themselves and their characters are endless.

Another amazing quality is that a manga can go on for many years – information technology's not unusual for a manga serial to go along for 10 or twenty years.  This equates to a lot of voluminous works.  Take the long-running boxing serial, Hajime no Ippo for case – so far it has over 830 capacity, which equates roughly to effectually xv,000 pages.  And it's still going strong.  Only successful soap operas have this kind of longevity.  This also means that readers take the chapters to exist a lot more emotionally fastened to a manga than other mediums – because in some cases, readers take literally grown up every week with information technology and its characters.

At the end of the day, information technology comes down to a matter of personal preference.  Just those who accept not had the opportunity to experience the power of manga – I urge you lot to give it a attempt.  You may find it a more than rewarding experience than y'all ever thought it would be.

What about Anime?

Anime to manga is similar what a film is to a novel.  It has its advantages and disadvantages.  Information technology can be easier to view than manga – you lookout man and heed rather than read.  Information technology's lively and colourful.  But conversely, the ability to use your imagination to fill in the gaps is too significantly limited.  Some people may adopt that.  Some don't.

There are enough of terrific original anime films out there, similar most of Hayao Miyazaki's works.  However, if an anime is based on a manga, I almost always think the original source material (ie the manga) is better.  The quality of the artwork is generally of higher quality and more consistent.  Farther, anime based on manga are frequently modified or censored to better suit the typically younger audience.  Hence the terminate result tends to be a lot less gritty and more kittenish.  With manga, the reader gets to dictate the pace of the action with their imagination – you cannot exercise that with anime.

Postscript: why Manga and not Comics?

In this post, I refer nigh exclusively to manga and non comics.  Why "manga" and not "comics"?  Is at that place fifty-fifty a deviation (anymore)?

To me, manga and comics are dissimilar animals.  "Manga" refers to the Japanese-style of comics referred to in this post.  On the other hand, "comics"  tend to connote the style popularized by American publications, usually in colour – and traditionally depicting superheroes (though much more varied now).  Y'all know the blazon.  These days the term besides encompasses "graphic novels".

Comic book fans volition no dubiousness vigorously defend the superiority of the comic volume (and I have such friends) – but personally, I prefer manga any mean solar day.

I just detect manga so much more artistic, fashionable, visually and emotionally encaptivating and intellectually satisfying than comics.  Granted, the gap has been narrowing over for quite some time – there are some genuinely original and interesting graphic novels out there which blast the old mould of superheroes, but the breadth of topics and issues covered by manga still outweighs comics quite significantly.  You'll notice manga most cooking (like Fe Wok January), basketball game (like Slam Dunk or Dear Boys), boxing (like Hajime no Ippo), tennis (like The Prince of Tennis), detectives (similar Meitantei Konan) – fifty-fifty high school delinquents (similar my favourite, Rokudenashi Blues) and Japanese chess (like Hikaru no Go).  There's likewise an abundance of highly original intellectual works, like Decease Note.   Such depth and variety do not exist in the comic world.

The primary reason for this disparity is probably due to the fact that comics have not received mainstream credence like manga has in Japan.  Comics have historically been associated with nerds and geeks in the Due west, and indeed has a rather niche market.  Conversely, manga is read by people of all ages and from all walks of life in the East.

I must say my bias is not unexpected – after all, I did grow up on manga and take probably learnt more than from manga than any other medium.  I owe a lot to manga – reading skills, language skils, social skills, sporting skills, artistic skills, no to to mention a great deal of knowledge nigh everything from history to scientific discipline to politics.  The list goes on and on.

What practice you think nearly manga?

Source: https://pacejmiller.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/manga-the-best-medium-for-storytelling/

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