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Forums - General Discussion - Why are manga and anime more diverse than American animation and comics?

For mainstream anime and manga there are several different genres that have a mainstream series. Compare that to American comics which is dominated by superheroes and animation which is dominated by comedy.



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Just a different evolutionary path. As someone who loves all the diversity in manga, it's really a shame. In Japan, manga is directed at many different demographics. It hits so many genres that almost anyone can find something that corresponds to their tastes.

I kind of wonder if the biggest difference was that Western comic books were never able to appeal to girls in great numbers. Shoujo manga goes back a long ways and it began to really gain popularity in the late 1960s. This provided a counterbalance to shounen manga and it's not rare to see them take elements from one another.

As for animation, it hasn't been that long since it carried a pronounced stigma in the US. I remember a friend of mine once saying something like, "animation is just for little kids," and it really, really bothered me because I'd always loved the unlimited potential of animation as a medium.



American comics are plenty diverse. All you gotta do is look outside of DC and Marvel and you will find PLENTY.



For Comics; take at look at companies outside of the big 2 (Marvel and DC) like Image or IDW for comics, a lot oftheir work is outside the superhero genre.

For animation; its a bit more complicated, for kids shows they often need to sell toys if its an action series and for adults they often get ignored if aren't some kind of comedy and to top it off comedy series tend to be cheaper and easier to make and get more ratings.



Because the audience is much wider and there is about 1000 times more anime and manga than there is cartoons and comics? Also because the stigma attached to that hobby is much worse in the west than it is in Japan so most people won't even try to get into it, which leads to a very narrow audience with very narrow genres.



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I feel it's just as diverse, but the diverse japanese manga are as popular as the mainstream ones which isn't the case in america



HomokHarcos said:

For mainstream anime and manga there are several different genres that have a mainstream series. Compare that to American comics which is dominated by superheroes and animation which is dominated by comedy.

Mainstream Japanese anime is diverse? No offense, but you're talking out of your ass. Anime isn't "diverse", nor has it evolved since it entered pop culture in the late 80's/early 90's. Infact, the "anime" business has been in decline for years now...

 

https://kotaku.com/evangelion-creator-predicts-the-death-of-anime-1706738732

 

http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/miyazaki-blames-otaku-animators-for-anime-decline/

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124894486860193163

 

https://kotaku.com/5966163/japanese-anime-fans-are-growing-tired-of-these-tropes

 

I don't know about Manga - but the animation industry has a cloud of doom lingering over it's head, and Japan only has itself to blame. When you cater to one audience (Japanese viewers) and capitalize on tropey cliche'd bullshit material year after year - oversaturation and disinterest is bound to happen. Which it clearly is.

 

Diverse? Don't make me laugh - Japan has largely been making the same shit since anime caught fire in the early 90's.



TranceformerFX said:
HomokHarcos said:

For mainstream anime and manga there are several different genres that have a mainstream series. Compare that to American comics which is dominated by superheroes and animation which is dominated by comedy.

Mainstream Japanese anime is diverse? No offense, but you're talking out of your ass. Anime isn't "diverse", nor has it evolved since it entered pop culture in the late 80's/early 90's. Infact, the "anime" business has been in decline for years now...

 

https://kotaku.com/evangelion-creator-predicts-the-death-of-anime-1706738732

 

http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/miyazaki-blames-otaku-animators-for-anime-decline/

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124894486860193163

 

https://kotaku.com/5966163/japanese-anime-fans-are-growing-tired-of-these-tropes

 

I don't know about Manga - but the animation industry has a cloud of doom lingering over it's head, and Japan only has itself to blame. When you cater to one audience (Japanese viewers) and capitalize on tropey cliche'd bullshit material year after year - oversaturation and disinterest is bound to happen. Which it clearly is.

 

Diverse? Don't make me laugh - Japan has largely been making the same shit since anime caught fire in the early 90's.

That sounds like a similar situation as the Japanese gaming scene in the 2000s.



Diverse? The mainstream japonese comics is battle shounen and comedy haren shounen, basicaly.  Is no more diverse, it's more popularized among the people.



Some people talking about Manga seem to not read them.

For me the great difference between manga and comics is that the first have a story it wants to tell and once it is finished it ends. So a mangaka will create his unique story (that certainly will share similarities and inspirations from other works as any entertainment) and for 5 to 30 years he will write it. Once he finish he may create another story, but very very rarely someone else will take over his story (some spin-off happens though).

For Comics, we have had the same superheroes for like 100 years and they just keep cycling the begin develop finish every so 5-10 years retelling the same stories. And each new cycle may change how he hero begin, what are his companions and whatnot. So you'll never have the true story of that hero.

Japan manga have as many different stories as you can have tastes. They have manga about chess, swimming, ski climbing, fight, cooking, romance, sex, horror, etc.



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