Manga is Pretty Rad
On a whim in college, I decided to try out manga, starting with the epic dark fantasy Berserk. Since then, I have read Vinland Saga and One Punch Man. All of these (aside from Hajime no Ippo which I just started) I have read up until the most recently released material. Though I have certainly cherry-picked titles, I have nothing but praise for these works. One Punch Man, in particular, was nothing but outstanding, I simply couldn’t stop reading it. Now, I find myself actively seeking out more manga to read, especially ones based on anime I have already enjoyed. The American Comic book industry is dying, and I think a great place to turn to in order to fulfill that ‘comic’ itch is manga. So far, I have only converted one of my buddies, but I think more will follow suit.
To set some things straight really fast, I’m not saying that manga is better than American comic books. All I’m saying is that manga is pretty rad and because American comic books are starting to decline in quality it would not be a bad idea to give manga a shot.
Now then, why is manga so rad? Well because I’m a huge weeb- no, not only that. I actually came up with three reasons, or factors if you will, that contribute to manga’s awesomeness.
Frist, manga is largely still hand-drawn. If you are a 2D animation elitist, manga is perfect for you. When comparing comic art that has been hand-drawn to art that has been digitally designed I think there is no comparison. A quick example I would use would be the way that Makoto Yukimura draws extreme weather in Vinland Saga. There is a double-page spread of a storm where the speed of the rain is portrayed by long, blade-like whips of white while the rest of the world is colored in various shades of swirling blackness. From any angle you look at the picture, you can really tell how fast the wind is blowing in relation to the stationary characters. I don’t think that the slashes and strokes of his style could be replicated digitally to the same effect.
Manga is also drawn in black and white. At first, this was kind of off-putting to me as I had read many American comics before which had mostly been in color. However, I slowly grew to love the black and white aesthetic. I noticed that because mangaka were limited to only black and white they have to be extremely creative when they draw shadings, scale, and depth or abstract ideas like imagery and symbolism.
Consider trying to depict a character whose wrath or lust for revenge was manifested by a bloody red color. Well, you don’t have access to the color red so what do you do? This is where mangaka flex their creative muscles. There is a panel in Berserk where the protagonist Guts is so angry that his whole body stretches like a yowling beast being sucked into a black hole. If someone opened randomly to that page they would know instantly that they were looking at an image of pure rage.
Lastly, the manga industry is crazy competitive, unlike say Marvel which is owned by Disney. Marvel could keep producing lame comics till the end of time, but they are ensured to never go out of business because of the Disney security blanket of money. Normally, terrible products simply go out of business. On the other hand, the manga industry (like any normal highly competitive industry) breeds out bad or even subpar material leaving only the best manga to rise to the top.
The nature of the industry can have its downsides, as the market requires ridiculous work schedules for the mangaka. But, when I consider art and the artistic progress, it is something that has been under scrutiny for a long time. Take a mangaka like Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece. He has an intense work routine, but he is totally dedicated to his craft. In all honesty, he reminds me of Michelangelo who also came under criticism for his hardcore work ethic. He is quoted as saying: “There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.” It is apparent that this form of commitment has bred excellence.
Basically, manga is really cool. Don’t just write it off as weeb trash or cringe if you haven’t even tried it. And don’t wait until the American comic book industry has completely died to find a new alternative.
