"THIS is MANGA!"
Someone on my friend list encountered one of them at the bookstore, and I wanted to share. The following is an excerpt. For the full tale follow the link.
[...] Here's the story; I was in Barnes & Noble in the graphic novel section (oh wait, the manga section). I was looking at the latest volume of BLEACH I think and a co-worker of mine was in the store too on her break. She came over lik,e "Oh what's up? On your way to work?". I'm like "Yeah, skimming the graphic novel section a little. Seeing what's new." This was me assuming the girl didn't know much about comics. I was right. If I'd said manga she'd probably have given "A what?" response. Wasn't in the mood for a history lesson. Most people know what a graphic novel is (the non porn kind ;p). There was this probably 15 year old girl sitting in the corner within hearing distance of us. I saw her perk up like she'd been hit or stung. I ignored her, thinking it was a coincidence. I had a feeling she'd reacted to what I said though.
I was right. Okay, she's suddenly all, "Manga." My co-worker turns to her in this curious expression and asks, "Huh? What'd you call it?". The girl huffs, "It's called MANGA!" For the record she was saying it wrong too. "Man-ga" (how it looks) instead of "Mahn-guh" or however. Ya know, the right way. I smirked, she was talking to me obviously. So I said, "Comic, manga, graphic novel, OEL, it's a book with pictures and words. Chill." Now my co-worker laughs because she's like "Yeah, seriously. Does it matter?"
Well apparently it did and we were being highly offensive to the Japanese culture. The girl stood up, slamming her copy of Fruits Basket volume 9 closed in the process. "YES it matters! Comic is English. Manga is Japanese. *thrusts FB9 in my direction* THIS is MANGA!" I could see my co-worker getting steadily confused and kinda wary. It's always fun to have someone with no interest in this kinda stuff around. A neutral view on the situation is always nice. She goes "...Ooooh is that why you were reading it backwards... I thought... well never mind *nervous laugh*. So like is it in Japanese then? You can read it?"
The manga-addict seemed taken aback. "NO! It's in English!" She was almost yelling now, stamping her feet, that were in sandals no less. It was 30 degrees out mind you. Now in true quick witted fashion I woulda been like, "Yup! It's in Japanese and I can read it *smug smile*. So yeah it's manga." And in my wrongness would have walked off before I embarrassed myself further. But no, no, no. Not all people are... smart and know when to quit. I wanted to just crack up at my friend from work though. She was seriously like, confused and so curious at this girls reaction.
Read More
Another tactic when encountering this spastic creature, the Manga Purist, is to repeatedly use the words "comic" and "graphic novel" until they spontanteously combust.
[...] Here's the story; I was in Barnes & Noble in the graphic novel section (oh wait, the manga section). I was looking at the latest volume of BLEACH I think and a co-worker of mine was in the store too on her break. She came over lik,e "Oh what's up? On your way to work?". I'm like "Yeah, skimming the graphic novel section a little. Seeing what's new." This was me assuming the girl didn't know much about comics. I was right. If I'd said manga she'd probably have given "A what?" response. Wasn't in the mood for a history lesson. Most people know what a graphic novel is (the non porn kind ;p). There was this probably 15 year old girl sitting in the corner within hearing distance of us. I saw her perk up like she'd been hit or stung. I ignored her, thinking it was a coincidence. I had a feeling she'd reacted to what I said though.
I was right. Okay, she's suddenly all, "Manga." My co-worker turns to her in this curious expression and asks, "Huh? What'd you call it?". The girl huffs, "It's called MANGA!" For the record she was saying it wrong too. "Man-ga" (how it looks) instead of "Mahn-guh" or however. Ya know, the right way. I smirked, she was talking to me obviously. So I said, "Comic, manga, graphic novel, OEL, it's a book with pictures and words. Chill." Now my co-worker laughs because she's like "Yeah, seriously. Does it matter?"
Well apparently it did and we were being highly offensive to the Japanese culture. The girl stood up, slamming her copy of Fruits Basket volume 9 closed in the process. "YES it matters! Comic is English. Manga is Japanese. *thrusts FB9 in my direction* THIS is MANGA!" I could see my co-worker getting steadily confused and kinda wary. It's always fun to have someone with no interest in this kinda stuff around. A neutral view on the situation is always nice. She goes "...Ooooh is that why you were reading it backwards... I thought... well never mind *nervous laugh*. So like is it in Japanese then? You can read it?"
The manga-addict seemed taken aback. "NO! It's in English!" She was almost yelling now, stamping her feet, that were in sandals no less. It was 30 degrees out mind you. Now in true quick witted fashion I woulda been like, "Yup! It's in Japanese and I can read it *smug smile*. So yeah it's manga." And in my wrongness would have walked off before I embarrassed myself further. But no, no, no. Not all people are... smart and know when to quit. I wanted to just crack up at my friend from work though. She was seriously like, confused and so curious at this girls reaction.
Read More
Another tactic when encountering this spastic creature, the Manga Purist, is to repeatedly use the words "comic" and "graphic novel" until they spontanteously combust.