Recently, Manga has become popular in America. It has been a very successful new medium that has become very popular with young people. Manga, and the Anime that it has inspired, has been set on T.V., in movies, and has even influenced the art styles of certain American artists like Ed McGuinness, Brian Wood, and Frank Miller. In Japan, a lot of Anime is based on popular Manga, but in America, it is usually the other way around. Most of the times, publishers will wait until an Anime has been released through stations like Fox, Cartoon Network, and The WB. Then the Manga will be published in conjunction with the release of the cartoon. Manga usually follows the traditional style as found in Japan. Japanese Manga is to be read from the right side to the left, opposite of the traditional American books. Not only you do read the pages from right to left, but you also read the panels and texts from right to left. There have been attempts to write Manga published in America to look and read like traditional American books, but many artists have opposed this. The fans of Manga has also been a part of making sure that many Manga produced in America today is in the traditional Japanese style.
Manga is generally published in a much different format than American comics. Manga is usually much smaller and collected in small volumes. They appear like small books, closer in appearance to the Archie Digests. In Japan, Manga is first published in Manga magazine that collect different stories. If certain ones get really popular, then the stories are collected and published in a new volume. Many times, the Manga has a large amount of work already published, as in the case of popular Naruto, which has just begun to make a splash here in America.
Manga characters usually show over exaggerated emotions. When a character cries, it usually pours out in buckets, when they laugh, their face seems engulfed b the size of their mouths and their eyes becomes slits. An angry character will have rosy cheeks and steam rolling around their body. This use of emotion would most likely be categorized as cartoonish. Since Manga is so widely popular in Japan, different kinds of Manga has become known. Each has its own title and when getting into Manga, it can help to know what is what.
Do not let these different titles scare you. They are just there to help differentiate the many kinds of Manga. Generally, you will be able to know if you will like an upcoming Manga title by knowing what group it is part of. Shonen Manga is usually action packed and humorous, Shojo Manga is often more lighthearted and involves romance. Seinen Manga will often have more adult themes with some containing graphic violence and sexually explicit material. There is even a group of Manga and Anime that is referred to as Hentai, which is erotic Manga. This kind of Manga is considered pornographic by ,ost people. regardless of what your tastes are, you sahould be able to find the kind of Manga you prefer.
Anyway, what is written form above is only what most people know and are just general facts of what Manga is and Manga what's, for me, Manga is simply the way of the author's expressing or illustrating what is within their minds. It is a way for them to freely illustrate what is on their minds. I dream of being a cartoonist someday, though to be able to draw is your first essentials in being an author of a Manga, you need both your creativity and skills in drawing and making the flow of the story interesting for the people who is reading it. I find it enjoyable reading Manga, not just to kill time and to have fun, but for me to learn to.
