Manga. Should I try it?

I like videogames but have never been into anime or manga. I always see people here and in other ff-related places on the internet talk about manga, so today while I was at the mall I went to a bookstore and flipped through the first book of "Akira." I didn’t get a chance to read much of it (I was just killing time waiting for my parents to get out of another store), but since I don’t read comic books this was kind of a novelty for me, like "oh wow, I’ve never read anything like this before" (humor me, I live a very boring life) and I’ve been trying all day to decide whether I liked it. On one hand it was cool, reminded me of the kind of story you’d see in an RPG, but on the other hand I felt like there wasn’t much to it. (again, humor me, I’m a speed-reading nerd. I read the unabridged English translation of "Les Miserables" for fun.) So does the story ever get more complicated than "we’re a bunch of kids at a vocational school and we saw a ghost in the ruins of Tokyo and now one of us is missing"? Should I buy the book, try a different one or forget manga and stick with videogames?

I don’t know about the particular "Akira" manga you’re referring to, but most manga is fun to read, and you should buy/rent/steal from friend (just kidding) it.

PLEASE GET MANGA!!!!! IMO, MANGA IS BETTER THAN THEIR ANIME COUNTERPARTS. GOD I LOVE MANGA!!!

All right, enough of my random outburst. Akira is a good manga. I certainly liked it. But there is a WHOLE bunch of manga out there to suit anybody’s taste. Every genre is covered if I’m not mistaken. There’s comedy, romance, action, and even porn (naughty naughty lol j/k). So, I suggest looking around for some, and not just give up on manga because you dislike/aren’t sure about Akira.

Hope I helped!

It�s – erh – a bit too easy saying "Manga are good, buy manga!"
In Japan, there are so manyso different manga… Their number is increasing everyday.
There are stories for little girls and for little boys, more intellectual stories, just-for-fun manga and serious, sad ones.

I believe that among all these different manga, there just has to be at least one story you�d enjoy reading a lot.
Maybe you should try to tell us what you would want to read. Humour? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Historical stuff? Tears, love, crime, detective stories?

What Misao said, there’s a very wide array out there. If ever you have trouble finding one you like, it’s not because of any shortfall to manga but because there are so many out there you search quite a bit if you’re looking for a particular one.

I’ve never read the Akira manga, so I can’t answer the, "Does it get any better?" question; however, I can say that there are manga series out there that can get pretty complex. (Unfortunately, my brain is too fried at the moment to try to remember which ones are.) To add to matters, their numbers are increasing every day. Every day, there is either a new manga coming out of a new issue of an already existing manga.

Many people ask, "Should I try manga?" or, "Should I try anime?" and these questions are perfectly legitimate. However, both anime and manga are so many things, that those two questions can’t really be answered intelligently with a yes or no; unfortunately, some people try to generalize anime and manga into a category. Some don’t like what can’t be categorized, but anime and manga can be categorized. People think that anime and manga are genres. Anime and manga aren’t genres. They are merely different media to express the story, and indivudual stories aren’t of anime or manga genre, but of sci-fi, comedy, drama, dramady, old West, far East, fantasy, martial arts, and many more, including a genre known as cyberpunk, which isn’t confined to and didn’t even originate within anime but is a predominantly anime genre.

Anime comes from the French anim� which is their past paticiple for the verb to animate (animer ==> anim�, translation, animated.) When Japanese wrote animated cartoons, they drew out story boards, much the way american and european film makers draw out story boards. Often times the transition from storyboard to film wouldn’t go completly smoothly. Often times artists were so graphic with their story boards, or demanded such effects, that it was hard for anime to keep up with the innovations of its own story boards. Some, lacking the funding and/or technology required to put their story boards to film, arranged the cels in comic book format and sold their storyboards straight to the consumers. During the early days of anime, the term the used to refer to storyboard was manga. I could try to get research or dates to back what I just said; I could try to do a History Channel style presentation, with Anime Arther Kent, about it, but know that if I’m not correct about how it happened, I’m proabably close. Anyone who may want to argue my facts has proabably missed my point entirely.

*Gets the idea to go email the History Channel and ask them, "Do you guys ever wonder, about the history of anime and manga?"

I know the history of anime and manga is not the topic, but I’m using it to help illustrate the point that I’ve been trying to make this whole time. Anime and manga aren’t genres but media of expression.

Well, Jello!

Thanks everyone. 🙂 It’s interesting to hear that there’s so much variety in manga.

Originally posted by Misao
Maybe you should try to tell us what you would want to read. Humour? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Historical stuff? Tears, love, crime, detective stories?

Well, in terms of books I usually like to read fantasy or sci-fi. I like anything that goes into deep, philosophical themes or where the psychology of the characters plays a huge role. (To give a FF example, I liked how in FF6 all the characters had some sort of internal problem they had to deal with, like Sabin had to learn responsibility and Cyan had to come to terms with his grief for his family.) So, any recommendations?

first off , about Akira, it does get better than the "boys ata vocational school with the missing friend…", unfortunately, because of some necessity of the medium, that youngster hijinks takes away from the story a bit. But, it does get better, and there is a lot more to it. The story is rushed through(as far as pacing goes), but told, and especially directed, very well.

"Kaneda. . .I’m pregnant"

"Hey, can I see you have the baby?"

XD

it gets very interesting around the 4th and 5th books after "it happens", and thats all I’ll say, but the book is respected for a reason. Like most things of this sort, it is respected too much, but still is of a very high quality. "IMO"

There’s also Appleseed, a "Cyber punk epic", which only has 4 volumes published in the US, and is very good if you ignore the philosophical themes it tries to force on you(rushes to them quickly in the second volume.) Its basically a cop comic, but in a different place, and with different kinds of cops.

EAGLE- a japanese-american running for the democratic party. . .I don’t remember what its called. . . but when the parties pick who’s going to run for president. He’s doing that. The pacing of the book is handled very well, it reminds me of Tom Clancy a bit . . . its also hard to get a bead on how the characters actually are. Either that, or they are painstakingly obvious characters that you expect to do other things.

Tomie/Flesh Colored Horror – "horror comics" by Junji Ito. beautiful fitting art, definitely worth checking out, though they’re not scary at all. just interesting short stories, and a few that aren’t.

it all depends on what you look for in manga I suppose. The majority of whats out there is the comedy/sci-fi hijinks of the style ofthe anime that are brought over here, which is frustrating for me. I don’t care for those too much.

x_X

I’m not sure how any reccomendations from me will help you though. You seem to like the forced melodramatic "depth" of the FF series, and I despise it. so who knows.

Do I have suggestions?!

Ranma 1/2
Neon Genesis: Evangelian
No Need For Tenchi
Maison Ikkoku
Rumic World Trilogy
Steam Detectives
Video Girl Ai
Parasyte
X/1999
Sailor Moon
Fushigi Yuugi
Revolutionary Girl Utena
and many more titles…

I’m sure my fellow anime/manga fans will have a more extensive list than mine.

You would probably like Evangelion. Its deep philosophical basis in a sensitive subject causes all who read it to either love it or hate it. Revolutionary Girl Utena is good if you like things to be highly unusual. These are ones I’ll personally suggest.

Yes, I was thinking "Evangelion", too, when I read you prefered psychological deep plots and character development… But if you go for Evangelion, go for the anime, not for the books. I have just today purchased volume 7 (It IS too gloomy for my taste)… the author is a slow artist. One book per year. Too slow. Especially since the anime is already finished.

Hmm… I ought to scream: Kenshin, it has so deep characters and such great a plot (especially the manga, after the Koyoto Arch), it has the best art out there.

Or get Angel Sanctuary, if you want to see a truly epic fight between demons, angels, some humans and others, and you never know who is who and who is what and who is up to what. (Erhm, yes.)

Anime is pretty good because its not real, the movie directors (in this case, cartoonists) don’t have to worry about the boundaries in real life. So its just bounded by anyones imagination.

Same goes for manga, don’t get into it if you don’t like books. I’m an avid reader so its nothing new for me because I read alot of novels (Brian Lumley, w00t!) and magazines (not Cosmo if thats what you’re thinking.. Mountain Biker and Motor Cyclist is my milk and honey).

So its up to you and your tastes.

Oi. ox;; There are soooo many different types of great mangas out there! We have our.. *list begins.. now!*

Shoujo – Ayashi no Ceres [ American – Ceres Celestial Legend ] Sailor Moon, FY, CardCaptors, Slayers.. [ Go Lina.. >>; ], Silent Mobius, Magic Knights Rayearth .

Shonen – Gundam [ All …uh.. 15+? of them ] Sorcerer Hunters, Harlem Beat, Akira, NGEvangelion, DBZ, Dragon Ball, Kenshin, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Cowboy Bebop, Tenchi Muyo!, Outlaw Star, Saber Marionette J

Occult – X1999, Ghost in the Shell.

Sci-fi and others [ ie… Horror Fantasy etc. ] Can be found in [i]EVERY seemingly "gender role" type of anime/manga. Also~!! I would say to go for more Manga than Anime.. Anime’s just too.. compact. ox;;

PS. Ones in BOLD are my personal favourites. =D

Im not into any of it and I dont htink I ever will be, I just cant find it intresting.

Well, here’s my experience with manga so far:

-Thanks for recommending Neon Genesis Evangelion to me. I’m addicted. Unfortunately, each book costs over 15 bucks. :Whatever: RAGE.

-I read the first book of Chobits, but I probably won’t get to read any of the other books in that series because Barnes & Noble only had the first one and, as the above comment should tell you, I don’t like spending money on books that I can read cover to cover in one sitting. (Although, Chobits really put things into perspective for me. Think of the money I save by not buying my computer underwear! :uh?: ) You really have to love how B&N will let you sit there and read a book without buying it. They even give you those comfy armchairs. (By the way, did you know that if you read a book from right to left in a country where English is the dominant language, occasionally saying "Chi?" to yourself and laughing over immature jokes about porn and/or underwear, people will stare at you? :eye: )

-I still need recommendations! I need something that isn’t too expensive and/or is long enough that it will actually take me a while to read! I’m still looking for what I described in my previous post: a lot of text to accompany the graphics, a philosophical or psychological theme, and preferably within the sci-fi/fantasy genre. (I’ll also read anything set in a medieval era. European or Japanese.)

-Where’s a good place to buy graphic novels/manga? The bookstores seem to have a small selection. Should I try comic book shops?

What exactly are these fiteen bucks? So I can say whether I think it�s expensive or not. But I suppose it is. Because I pay � 5, maybe 6, for a manga.
That�s why I don�t know about the costs of something I recommend. I only know what they sell in Germany and in France. That probably won�t help you much.

Reading manga in public places always evokes these neat reactions: "Why does that girl read the comic from the right to the left???" and so on. That old lady next to me made quite big eyes while I was happily smiling, sitting next to her, and reading Rurouni Kenshin… That�s very funny.

I cannot recommend Kenshin to you. It IS excellent, but it�s not available in English. 🙁 Poor you.

Long series… Hmmm… The longest series I�ve just started reading is 3×3 Eyes. That�s a fantasy story… and as far as I can tell after mere three volumes (out of thirty-something, still running), it has character development, and a cool, interesting story. Maybe you should check it out if ever possible…

i heard Macross 7 is a good manga.
i’d recommend Blade of the Immortal, but that’s not sci-fi stuff

Hmmm. I have no idea how Euros compare to American dollars. Assuming things cost the same in Germany as they do in America, one dollar equals a bottle of soda from a soda machine. (But for all I know soda is cheaper or more expensive where you are than where I am, so the comparison might not even work.) :uh?:

Heh, now that I typed all that out I got the brilliant idea to look up currency exchanges in the newspaper. :rolleyes: One Euro is equal to 1.06 US dollars. So you may as well say that Euros are equal to dollars. When you say you bought a manga for 5 Euros, do you mean the entire graphic novel or just the comic-book thing? (the thing that only has one chapter.)

So where the heck do you buy manga?! I went to the bookstore today but they only had the third Evangelion book and I want the second. I also tried a comic book store but they had all of two mangas and neither looked interesting. This is getting so frustrating. ("Excuse me, but do you mind if I throw a temper tantrum in the middle of your bookstore? You do? Too bad. RAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!") 😡

I guess I’ll have to buy online. It’s not that I have anything against buying online, I just like to preview the book before buying it and you can’t read in an online bookstore. Oh well.

EDIT: Being the cheap-ass that I am, I’m trying to buy the Evangelion books via online auctions. Sometimes, online auctions scare me. (I once found a $25 marble on e-bay. The seller was claiming it was a Final Fantasy VII Materia.) My fear of online auctions has been renewed by the following statement, found in an auction for the second Evangelion book (which has a picture of Rei on the cover): "Rei is smiling at you! Find her a home." Am I weird or does anyone else find the idea of a character on the front of a book staring at you to be a bit creepy?

SEQUEL TO EDIT: Am I being stupid by only reading the collectors’ editions? They’re not any more expensive, but it seems like there are fewer in print. It just seems like there’s something wrong about reading a manga where the illustrations have been reversed and altered. I’ll shut up now. This post is getting too long.

I just got Evangelion volume 5 and it’s pretty good. It like it, its funny and the character’s are great as well. The Gundam mangas are good as well like the original 0079 and Blue Destiny. Cowboy Bebop is also another good manga. The manga I want to read is Ragnarok. I got to look through it and it looks cool.

The manga books that cost 5 euros usually have about 200 pages.
I had to spend a long time looking for Evangelion 2, too. It was out of print when I wanted to read it. I had to wait for months. ^_^ Hm… I buy my mangas at my local comic store. It�s good I have one. Others I know don�t have the possibility to get their manga at a shop, they usually order them online. Amazon or something.

Look:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/156931344X/qid=1025006683/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_6/102-3569367-6996920

*shrugs*

@Corran
All the Gundam manga that I�ve read kind of suck. Gundam Wing just rushes the anime�s story way too much, and Turn A Gundam is plain… bah.