Sunday, May 30, 2010

A huge manga linkspolsion.

Should manga branch out to more mature books? I think so. Nobody can keep reading stories about teens who freak out about their first kiss forever.

Although by mature, I don't mean like this disguting Justice League comic. Look, kids! Comics, now with more sex and violence! isn't a good look. Sex and violence can be legitimate story telling devices, but you can't just slap it in. By the way, people complain about the price of manga, but $4 for 30 pages is a much worse deal than any manga I've seen.

This dude says nobody likes manga! I don't see any capes and tights in the hands of the middle schoolers today, dude. But the youth issue is important. Young people aren't used to paying for entertainment. You can have a hit that leaves you broke.

This lady talks about the issue of piracy, which folks tiptoe around, but it's a real issue. I also like how she didn't dismiss the fact that yes, teens like manga with girls and boys with superpowers. It's a perennial topic. The strength of manga is that it's full of variety-there are recurring themes- girls trapped in other worlds, shy high school romances, boys fighting against titanic forces, but within those boundaries you can create tons of different stories. You're not locked into 40 years of stories about Batman and his various foes or the Xmen. Every new series starts fresh, and has the opportunity to shine or fail on its own.

On the history of the manga boom and bust.

I also think this article about games also has resonance for manga fans. Although we don't have the divide between 'real' manly manga and 'fake' girly manga- it's a mystery that clicking frantically to get the crops in before time runs out isn't a real game but pushing A frantically to kill the zombies before your life runs out is.

The point about entitlement is important though- many of us forget that we are not entitled in any way shape or form to manga. It doesn't matter if we're broke, we spent all our money at the casino, or whatever.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home