Manga Series Recommendations
Chances are, for anyone who is reading this, your children are crazy about Japanese comic books and animation. They're probably begging you to buy them the next book or DVD that you have never heard about. "What's going on here?!" you could ask yourself. "We're Americans! Why do my kids love this Japanese stuff?"
Hopefully, I can assist make a little feeling of the appeal of Japanese comics. I am a comic book artist and Manga fan that lived in Japan for just two years. My wife is Japanese and after several years of studying I can claim that I am very good at speaking the language. Whether you are a parent or simply someone considering what all the fuss is approximately, I will do my best to explain.
To start with, the word Manga means comic book in Japanese. Most Manga are a lot smaller in size than American comic books but each issue's length will be about 200 pages per compared to our 24-32. In Japan, these long comic books are put out every month! You usually have one main artist who gets top credit for the penciled and inked art (usually the writing of the story too) but don't be fooled. It would be impossible for one individual to do all of the work on a 200 page comic book each month. Believe me, as a comic artist myself, I know. The majority of Manga-ka (comic book artists) in Japan have several assistants dealing with them. They usually take care of drawing backgrounds and inking panels on all the pages.
Manga tends to have more sympathetic characters that tweens and teens can connect with. You'll find comics of every genre known to man, for example fantasy and ninja action but you will find a lot of romance comics and soap opera style stories. The stories may be harder with twists and turns that really lead you to the real end of the series. Most Manga run for a particular amount of time and after that end. They do not go on forever because there's a story to tell and when it's done, it's done.
This leads me to one of the main reasons people love finding manga online, the art style. Those characters with big eyes and spikey hair! They don't appear like the Japanese (or every other ethnic group) nevertheless they have energy and life. Their style looks so different than the American comic book art style that kids are drawn to it! Its simple animated look draws them in as well as the energetic page layouts keep them hooked. One thing to remember although! There is absolutely no such thing as a Manga style of art. Japanese comic artists are encouraged to search out their own unique style. Believe me, when I would go to the comic shops in Japan, I would see some wild art styles that broke that stereotype that we have of Manga here in the states.
Even though I love Manga and my style has a slight Japanese influence, I hope that young people will grow to appreciate Japanese and American comic books. True, now American comic book art is substantially influenced through the Japanese but I feel like we have a great deal to say. Because of this, if your kids love Manga please encourage them to read. Hopefully, they're going to be inspired by the creativity of the art and story and begin a love of reading. This can grow and expand into American comic books, Graphic novels and literary novels.
