American Manga equals CRAP (Part 1)
Over the last maybe five plus years there has been a rise in Female comic book creators. Back around anywhere before probably the mid-90's comics (at least in the states) were a "Boys Thing", very few, if any, girls were into comics--much less writing or drawing them.
With the introduction of Manga however around 1982 and the rise in popularity has not only gotten boys but also girls of all ages from five years old to adults into comics. ( and no, not just fat men living in their mothers basements)
Back when I was still in elementary school was when I think manga/anime REALLY started to get noticed here. I remember when I first started watching things like DBZ and Gundam Wing on Toonami and then started watching things like YuyuHakusho and from there Inuyasha on Toonami's big brother Adult Swim. (this being before I knew the glories of the internet and Emerald City comics mind you)
With probably only a few short years did Tokyopop (one of the top leading manga industries ever) come out with their "Rising Stars of Manga" contest which seemed to spark a sensation.
I know for myself as a younger kid, reading Ranma1/2 or even around the time I got into things like Paradise Kiss, One Piece or Kare Kano that I would love to be able to make manga for a living. I had artistic ability, a weird imagination for a kid and an even weirder, if not stronger, sensation to create manga. But because places like Marvel were ( or so I'd heard ) very anal about the Japanese ways of making comics I didn't see it happening.
But then by some miracle, Tokyopop realized a way to let people achieve their goals and started the "Rising Stars of Manga" competition which has led to many new authors (SEVERAL female) as well as titles in the industry. Everything seemed great.
But wait...maybe not.
Because I don't wanna step on too many peoples toes, I'm going to make this as vague as possible:
Tokyopop for all their hard work, is quite impressive, they've scored a lot of good if not excellent series, and they know how to market. They're not a bad company in the least. However, I'm disappointed with several of the titles they chose (through the Rising Stars gig or not) to publish and slap their logo on.
My first complaint of course is their over all lack of imagination. And no, I am not just referring to the stories. The stories are all aimed at the same audience! Not too much they can do about that considering of course, Tokyopop needs something they can market. And as we all know it tends to get a bit tricky to market to several audiences with mature themed stories.
The stories are cute sure, I mean let's face it, who doesn't like something with some slap stick humor or something in the daily life of a "stereotyped" character? They're not all bad but most of the stories feel forced.
Which brings me to the art issue ( and again, this does not apply to every comic out there) a lot of this "manga" is not manga-like at all. Lots of it looks like American comics with a few manga-like undertones. What a joke.
Another thing with the art, is that many of these artists who are fortune enough to win looked like they learned "manga" from the "How to draw Manga" books. Which is fine, if that's how you were taught but isn't one of the deciding factors for becoming an artist of ANY kind having at least a slightly original style???? Their art looks like nothing more then an advertising vehicle! Jesus.......
And finally plot:
Let's be honest, having a good idea for a story is a lot harder then it looks and just because you have a good story does NOT mean your story will be good. For many of these stories, the idea behind it....sucked and was written even shittier. I can understand not wanting to give your story that you've been working on for years to Tokyopop out of fear of having your baby be branded, logod and raped up the ass by money-slut of a company. But that is no excuse for shit writing and a crap story, I'm sorry.
The characters dialogue (a huge personal pet peeve of mine) was weak and made it sound like the author either a) did not know her characters or the most likely, b) crap writing.
I can not stress enough that not ALL American Manga is crap but I can say that lots, if not most is.
It's frustrating and seemingly nothing but a huge joke. These stories play off Manga as basically nothing more then Sunday morning cartoons with a slightly longer plot line and a slightly manga-themed feel. The characters are weak, the plots are weak and there are few exceptions.
As an artist and as a hardcore Manga/Anime fan, I am insulted by the crap coming into the American Market.
Like you're going to see in Part 2 of this rant with a review of the Manga/Web comic "Aoi House" sometimes there are reasons why people hate anime fans so much......Have fun--the worst has yet to come.
++ See you all in Part 2 ++
With the introduction of Manga however around 1982 and the rise in popularity has not only gotten boys but also girls of all ages from five years old to adults into comics. ( and no, not just fat men living in their mothers basements)
Back when I was still in elementary school was when I think manga/anime REALLY started to get noticed here. I remember when I first started watching things like DBZ and Gundam Wing on Toonami and then started watching things like YuyuHakusho and from there Inuyasha on Toonami's big brother Adult Swim. (this being before I knew the glories of the internet and Emerald City comics mind you)
With probably only a few short years did Tokyopop (one of the top leading manga industries ever) come out with their "Rising Stars of Manga" contest which seemed to spark a sensation.
I know for myself as a younger kid, reading Ranma1/2 or even around the time I got into things like Paradise Kiss, One Piece or Kare Kano that I would love to be able to make manga for a living. I had artistic ability, a weird imagination for a kid and an even weirder, if not stronger, sensation to create manga. But because places like Marvel were ( or so I'd heard ) very anal about the Japanese ways of making comics I didn't see it happening.
But then by some miracle, Tokyopop realized a way to let people achieve their goals and started the "Rising Stars of Manga" competition which has led to many new authors (SEVERAL female) as well as titles in the industry. Everything seemed great.
But wait...maybe not.
Because I don't wanna step on too many peoples toes, I'm going to make this as vague as possible:
Tokyopop for all their hard work, is quite impressive, they've scored a lot of good if not excellent series, and they know how to market. They're not a bad company in the least. However, I'm disappointed with several of the titles they chose (through the Rising Stars gig or not) to publish and slap their logo on.
My first complaint of course is their over all lack of imagination. And no, I am not just referring to the stories. The stories are all aimed at the same audience! Not too much they can do about that considering of course, Tokyopop needs something they can market. And as we all know it tends to get a bit tricky to market to several audiences with mature themed stories.
The stories are cute sure, I mean let's face it, who doesn't like something with some slap stick humor or something in the daily life of a "stereotyped" character? They're not all bad but most of the stories feel forced.
Which brings me to the art issue ( and again, this does not apply to every comic out there) a lot of this "manga" is not manga-like at all. Lots of it looks like American comics with a few manga-like undertones. What a joke.
Another thing with the art, is that many of these artists who are fortune enough to win looked like they learned "manga" from the "How to draw Manga" books. Which is fine, if that's how you were taught but isn't one of the deciding factors for becoming an artist of ANY kind having at least a slightly original style???? Their art looks like nothing more then an advertising vehicle! Jesus.......
And finally plot:
Let's be honest, having a good idea for a story is a lot harder then it looks and just because you have a good story does NOT mean your story will be good. For many of these stories, the idea behind it....sucked and was written even shittier. I can understand not wanting to give your story that you've been working on for years to Tokyopop out of fear of having your baby be branded, logod and raped up the ass by money-slut of a company. But that is no excuse for shit writing and a crap story, I'm sorry.
The characters dialogue (a huge personal pet peeve of mine) was weak and made it sound like the author either a) did not know her characters or the most likely, b) crap writing.
I can not stress enough that not ALL American Manga is crap but I can say that lots, if not most is.
It's frustrating and seemingly nothing but a huge joke. These stories play off Manga as basically nothing more then Sunday morning cartoons with a slightly longer plot line and a slightly manga-themed feel. The characters are weak, the plots are weak and there are few exceptions.
As an artist and as a hardcore Manga/Anime fan, I am insulted by the crap coming into the American Market.
Like you're going to see in Part 2 of this rant with a review of the Manga/Web comic "Aoi House" sometimes there are reasons why people hate anime fans so much......Have fun--the worst has yet to come.
++ See you all in Part 2 ++