How Do you feel about AmericanManga?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by noodle

hmmm. i never heard that before.... this is what i've just found on the net...

MANGA.. In 1814 the famous Japanese artist Hokusai created a book of black & white sketches that he called manga (involuntary sketches). In recent Japanese history the word has come to describe those small illustrated books of black & white ink drawings that tell a series of stories. Graphic novel would be the closest translation for "manga" though they are not at all like novels in the Western sense, nor are they comparable to Western comic books. Manga cover a wide range of topics, from fantasy & adventure, to sports & cooking.

That's a more detailed version of the same thing I said: comics made in Japan.

[NatsuNatsu]

So what do we call "manga" made in America but in the manga-style?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by NatsuNatsu

So what do we call "manga" made in America but in the manga-style?

Comics.

Manga is a "medium" not a "style".

[NatsuNatsu]

hmmm...I don't know id I agree with you on that point...

I think manga is a style, not a medium.

[Haggis]

If you listened to a radio station which plays pop music and rock all the time, you wouldn't think that was what all music was like, you realise there's jazz, folk and classical as well, but that's not what you're into.

One of the problems is that people read stuff by a company such as TokyoPop, or the Shonen Jump releases and think this is manga style. Nope, it's what's popular, what you like, but it's still just a very limited range of styles in the first place.

Check out this manga link. shaenon: New Smithson!

Can you really say what the manga style is like?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by NatsuNatsu

hmmm...I don't know id I agree with you on that point...

I think manga is a style, not a medium.

The English-speaking world has appropriated the word to mean something its not. As a result we get "manga-style" which, as Haggis said, takes the most recognizable and popular stereotypes and then blocks everything else. To say "manga-style" is to say "music-style" and then say Britney Spears is the definition of music. Ok, what about Mozart? He doesn't sound anything like the "music-style" of Britney, therefore it must not be music.

Sounds silly, huh?

Ask a Japanese person what "manga" is and they will answer in one word: "comics".

By saying "manga-style" you are limiting the genre to a fine sliver of what's really out there.

Hiroki Endo's style looks nothing like Taiyo Matsumoto's who looks nothing like Hideshi Hino's who looks nothing like Osamu Tezuka (I can go on and on). If there is a "manga-style" how do all these artists fit in it? They don't. They each make (or made) manga, and each in their own style. What Britney Spears does and what Mozart did is both music (for the sake of argument), but they have completely different styles...genres... that's why we don't say things like "music-style".

Now if you want to dress-up like a favorite character... then you are in the style of a manga character, but that's different than "manga-style" which is a meaningless phrase.

Examples of Taiyo Matsumoto's manga: http://www.topdos.net/tokyotrip/blog..._mars/27/1.jpg

[NatsuNatsu]

Well, how I see it is that there are many styles of music...The same with manga. Some styles are just more unique than others. They can all have the same style but be something different....

[MMM]

Originally Posted by NatsuNatsu

Well, how I see it is that there are many styles of music...The same with manga. Some styles are just more unique than others. They can all have the same style but be something different....

But they all DON'T have the same style. That's the point.

Does all music have the same style? No, of course not.

[NatsuNatsu]

For the most part, yes they do ^^ They all use about the same instuments, they all use thier voices...They may change their voice tone, the way they play the guitar etc, but for the most part, they are all connected...like a style

[MMM]

Originally Posted by NatsuNatsu

For the most part, yes they do ^^ They all use about the same instuments, they all use thier voices...They may change their voice tone, the way they play the guitar etc, but for the most part, they are all connected...like a style

You are making my point for me NatsuNatsu.

In the West so many people have such a narrow view of what manga is that they think it can be called a "style".

Listen to what you said. "They all use about the same intruments, [in music]" Sure, if you are talking about pop/rock.

You see manga as the narrow sliver of pop/rock, and there's a WHOLE OTHER world out there there.

A classical orchestra doesn't use those instruments. Doesn't sing, either. Would you say a mariachi band doesn't make music? They surely don't play the same way as pop musicians. Neither do enka musicians in Japan, shanson singers in France, didgeridoo players in Australia...

Music HAS many styles. But it isn't a style. It's a medium.

Manga HAS many styles. But it isn't a style. It's a medium.