By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

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

HomokHarcos said:

Compare that to American comics which is dominated by superheroes and animation which is dominated by comedy.

I don't think this is accurate.  As other have mentioned, you just have to look beyond DC and Marvel to find non-super hero comics.  There is tons of stuff.  

Animation - the stuff marketed to adults tends to be comedy, yes.  But, the stuff focused on kids is much more diverse.  



Around the Network
VAMatt said:
HomokHarcos said:

Compare that to American comics which is dominated by superheroes and animation which is dominated by comedy.

I don't think this is accurate.  As other have mentioned, you just have to look beyond DC and Marvel to find non-super hero comics.  There is tons of stuff.  

Animation - the stuff marketed to adults tends to be comedy, yes.  But, the stuff focused on kids is much more diverse.  

And we are waiting for the sales rank showing how these non DC and Marvel, non-Super Heroes comics are doing.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

DonFerrari said:

Hey, I'm a man and love SD, know other men that like it (it even increase basketball practice in Japan several fold)... but yes, perhaps there are a lot of women fan...

But to call SD battle shonen is bizarre.

Quite honestly, tags like "shounen" don't necessarily mean that much, since they refer to the magazine where the manga appears, not the individual manga itself.  In the current environment, where publications are looking to expand their audiences, it's not rare to find quality manga that doesn't really match that traditional model.  



pokoko said:
DonFerrari said:

Hey, I'm a man and love SD, know other men that like it (it even increase basketball practice in Japan several fold)... but yes, perhaps there are a lot of women fan...

But to call SD battle shonen is bizarre.

Quite honestly, tags like "shounen" don't necessarily mean that much, since they refer to the magazine where the manga appears, not the individual manga itself.  In the current environment, where publications are looking to expand their audiences, it's not rare to find quality manga that doesn't really match that traditional model.  

I have read plenty of Manga that doesn't have anything similar to Dragon Ball or the like. And I'm not one that looks after new manga, usually someone indicate or when I finish one appears a related or similar manga as indication on the place.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

DonFerrari said:
pokoko said:

One of your links is from 2009, another is an old man grumbling about animators, and another actually begins with the line, "The anime industry, while not as strong as it was back in 2004-2006, is still booming."

The simple fact is that anime is growing, mainly due to overseas interest.  

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-04-30/anime-industry-report-shows-continued-growth-in-overseas-market/.130302

"Total revenue from overseas sales, which includes broadcast rights, box office, DVD/Blu-ray sales and merchandising, jumped almost a third to $6.79 billion (¥768 billion) over the previous year. Sales to China increased, an AJA spokesperson confirmed, but figures for individual countries aren't compiled for the report."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/japans-anime-industry-grows-record-177b-boosted-by-your-name-exports-1058463

The decline you're talking about doesn't exist.  There certainly are problems but there have always been problems.  The outlook, however, is positive.

As far as your idea that Japan needs to change anime to suit the rest of the world, we've already seen that with the gaming industry and it was a failure.  The Japanese gaming industry only began to recover when they stopped trying to copy western trends and returned to doing what they knew best.

Regarding your remarks on diversity, I still get the impression that you're talking about a subject where you know little.  Does anime have big name titles designed to appeal to key demographics?  Of course.  However, saying this means it lacks diversity would be like pointing to a select group of Hollywood movies and pretending nothing else was being produced by the film industry.  Anime pulls from sources designed for little girls, little boys, teenage girls, teenages boy, mature women, and mature men.

Is anime anywhere close to being diverse as manga?  No.  Is it more diverse than western animation?  Yeah.  It typically hits several different genres that are intended for different demographics.

Let's take a look at some of the best anime of last year in visual form:

Not diverse enough for you?  Okay, that's fine.  "The same shit"?  It would seem that you're talking about a subject where you know very little.

 

All of those seem quite different looking from one another and generally great (much different than the deformed animations we have seem on Cartoon Network in Brazil)

JWeinCom said:
I wonder if a big part of it is the fact that manga is black and white and (from what I've seen) generally printed on cheap paper.

Comic books are a lot more expensive to make, and that makes publishers more risk averse. It also would I imagine make readers a bit less likely to try new or weird things. Comics are about $4 an issue for about 20 pages. Getting into a series can be an investment.

Then there's also logistical difficulties. The US has a far more spread out population, and distributing books across 50 states again makes the process more expensive.

It is basically newspaper paper where they print the weekly shonen jump and the like, with about 500 pages, and it is supposed to be recycled.

The series that make enough success will have a tankobon print (quality paper) but still B&W with about 200 pages each, and meant for regular collectors.

Often they will make "ultimate" editions with even more pages and premier paper.

But you are right about it probably being a lot more costier to make comics.

dx11332sega said:

Theres comics outside of marvel like :
darkhorse comics that do evil dead /army of darkness series ,star wars , terminator, robocop, conan, aliens or aliens vs predator ,overwatch , halo, starcraft,
IDW for My little pony , adventure time , Transgormers, Sonic ,
Archie comics that does Jughead, Megaman ,merry christmas.
Dynamite Entertainment comics does Vampirella,Jungle girl,Red Sonja,Robot princess,Battlestar Galactica
Many more etc etc

Most if not all from your list are adaptations from movies and animations that were highly sucesful and wanted a quick cash in.

But are that diverse as the examples given for Manga?

Agente42 said:

Did you read Will Eisner, Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Maus? Maus won a Pulitzer. Vertigo ? Alison Bechdel? She won the NY Times nonfiction award, man. Everything is American comics. We talked about mainstream comic books , Japanese and american it was limited. All comics have genre and are diversity, but what is bringing money, real money in shonen jump is a One Piece, was naruto in its time, etc. A cut in the Marvel / DC universe to say that American comics is limited is not knowing the same. Not knowing that it has a lot of horror comic, fantasy comic, cover and sword, independent etc. Sometimes one of them can reach a large audience, as with Japanese comics, but what supports the market, at least in Japan, is shonen, battle-oriented and humorous, not unlike American superheroes and comedy cartoons.

None of those got released in Brazil (not sure if you read the last line of my post).

 

Maus

https://www.amazon.com.br/s?k=maus&__mk_pt_BR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

Will Eisner comics

https://www.amazon.com.br/Nova-York-Will-Eisner/dp/8535913688/ref=pd_sbs_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=8535913688&pd_rd_r=8229e46e-ad37-11e8-ab28-01ad97aa66bb&pd_rd_w=djahQ&pd_rd_wg=ZmBrB&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=A1ZZFT5FULY4LN&pf_rd_p=01723ace-9764-4502-83c4-a225a19777c7&pf_rd_r=9BX74HS339P0EZ66JPG0&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=9BX74HS339P0EZ66JPG0

 

https://www.amazon.com.br/Ao-Cora%C3%A7%C3%A3o-Tempestade-Will-Eisner/dp/8535917640/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=8535917640&pd_rd_r=8c2f0c0f-ad37-11e8-9f1d-0fdf2b561195&pd_rd_w=iLjoC&pd_rd_wg=H2O0v&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=A1ZZFT5FULY4LN&pf_rd_p=b43f4c73-18e8-4edf-a645-42dc4d7a0c17&pf_rd_r=54Z80DNYF9VM0740NZD0&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=54Z80DNYF9VM0740NZD0

 

Alison Bechdel COMICS

https://www.amazon.com.br/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AAlison+Bechdel&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

 

Crumb

https://www.amazon.com.br/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ARobert+Crumb&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1]

 

Vertigo seems publishes by Panini in Brazil.

 

Last edited by Agente42 - on 31 August 2018