MrZ
THE MEGA-MANGA AMERICANIME-MADNESS CONTROVERSY!
A Messay Essay by Mr. Z
When people think about "Chinese Food" in North America, some of the first exotic items that come to mind are Fortune Cookies and Chop Suey. In truth, both were invented in North America, but because of sheer marketing muscle and displacement of fact, they have become a staple of every Chinese restaurant in North America to satisfy the illusion that the consumer has been handed on the silver platter that is the common wisdom. Real chinese food on the other hand... is very different. Those who have tasted both, know that there is a difference, and to say that their isn't one, is just to be blissfully ignorant. Arguably, they are both equally preferable, but the fact is, they are suited for different tastes. What troubles me, is that the vast majority of potential otaku have found the original flavor delicious, yet aspiring mimics who absorb elements into their style, have the tendency to market it as the same, when it is clearly different. It is not the artists that I attack, it is the marketing department that distorts the media that I spite.
There is nothing inherently wrong about American-created, manga-inspired comics. I will say this right here: for them to say that they are manga artists is an honor that they would take the time and dedication to take on something foreign and make it their own. Just as Osamu Tezuka, the "Manga God" emulated Disney, founding the roots for manga and anime, it is flattering that Americans would borrow from a foreign art form. It has the potential to grow into something great, and I am not accusing it of being sacrilegious by any means.
Anime/manga possess a vast library of types of styles, very broad schools of thought that have been interpreted in a million different ways by millions of different people, just like Chinese food. Within this large spectrum of variety, however, there is stability and consistency that unifies it as a whole, a whole that is inconsistent with American Manga, because although they both might be "cats", they are not of the same breed and hereditary -- one is a tiger, and the other is lion.
If western manga-inspired comics, which more often than not, incorporate the standard western comic book production are put into the same field as manga, the result is counter productivity on both fronts because the USA, like always has, will encourage home grown talent among the majority over foreign imports, and the small but very loud Otaku will boycott manga-inspired work for being impure, western comic fans will also shy away from it. As much as I like diversity, when people buy a product, they buy an image. Would you buy wine from France, or the USA? Japan was the founder of manga -- and no amount of American talent, even if perfectly replicated and exceeded will make that ignorable. We are talking about mere superficial things here... if the difference between French wine and American wine is great, the difference between American manga and Japanese manga is greater.
In Japan, "Manga" is not a style, it is a medium, a very different meaning, it is so popular, that there is no question about what it is, that is why they interpreted it differently than westerners. The Japanese have their own unique word for western comics, but it is not as well used, and in the general sense to them, all "comics" are manga. This is a fact often lost in translation in North America, where "Manga" is a buzz word... Heavy duty classification for the difference between manga and western comics has only truly been born in North American with the Otaku Revolution (in other words, Otaku are snobs at times). This is how even the pioneers of manga can classify western manga as true, because to they have not experienced the contrast between the American comic and manga scene that have forced Otaku to defend their preferences so strongly with classification.
There are subtle, but multiple differences between American Manga and Japanese Manga. These are not "mistakes" but carryovers from the western style of comics to the eastern that otaku tend not to agree with: overly thick lines with no contrast of thin ones; big lips on petite girls; saturated coloring with painfully large amounts of contrast with overly crowded scenes; overly hardened faces; everybody has a hard well-toned, buffed-out body, even the most fragile of shrine maidens; exaggerated tapering of muscles; characters looking angry and overly dynamic juxtaposing with the character's actual personality; bulky, tacky, impractical outfits with no relevant design; disregard of tried and true techniques and traditions that define the very art form (Manga inking tech is different from western and panel layout is off at times... that and a lot of American manga tends to ignore the standard page size format and the fact that 99.5 of all manga pages are printed in black and white, pretty much everything besides of the cover and back). These are only a few of the things that are attributes of American manga.
Even genuine manga artists have used these aspects when the situation need be, but utilization and application are different. Images can often speak what words cannot -- but the difference is there -- any person who knows that Dragon Balls aren't a type of chinese cuisine can see the difference, but it varies so greatly and it is so situational that generalizing would be nothing short of a hardcore otaku's witch hunt. A strange example of reverse anime interpretation is with the Animatrix, it is genuine in its production roots, but there is something with the style the lends to the west more so than the east and otaku tend not to regard it as well as western Matrix fans did (It should be noted that the Japanese themselves loved the Matrix). This scenario exhibits the fact that preference is not merely culture based. Rave Masters is also done by a person with a Japanese name, but the style actually looks western to some extent.
Akira Toriyama exhibited his particular ability to exaggerate masculinity and violence in Dragon Ball Z, a talent obviously not exclusive to Manga artists, but at the same time, exhibited that he was capable of quite the reverse with Doctor Slump. Rumiko Takahashi exhibited her witty charm and play on Japanese folk lore in Ranma and Urusei Yatsura, while at the same time, displayed her dark side on such manga as Mermaid Forest. With all these variables on mood and style, from the ultra violent to the ultra cute, it is not with ease that one can classify them under a single unified category, so it is with regret that I find it difficult to explain this in words, nor do I have the right to classify the difference merely by country, culture and race. There is apparently a specific charm that is instilled into Japanese Manga that has been failed to be accurately captured by American Manga -- perhaps a different charm, but not the one I'm talking about. Perhaps it is the novelty, or the cultural nature... whatever it is... the fans know, and the professionals don't, because although the charm is often present in fan-art by amateurs in monthly anime and video game magazines, it is void in most "American Manga".
There are standards for each particular genre (Shoujo Manga, Shounen Manga, Sports Manga, etc.)... what American manga does however, is it takes a genre and utilizes a mishmash of styles that a composite of multiple genres that the artist has a preference for from what they have seen in anime, and uses them out of place. In a children's anime, simplicity is key. It is not uncommon to have tiny little delicate eyes, such as in Hello Kitty or huge cartoony simple eyes like Korroppi and Doraemon. You however, do not expect to see huge lashy bishojo eyes on Hello Kitty or evil brooding eyes typical of characters from action anime on Doraemon, it is just not part of the genre. Point in case, you must compare genres within a style. The Italians have a very different idea of comedy from than the Americans, and to say that they are the same and can't be classified because they are both funny, have people on them, and are shot on film is just a tad vague. This is how you can have so much variety within manga artists in Japan, but still retain stability and consistency... Very few people in this world like all genres, even if it is done in the same style, that is why classification is necessary, to specify targeted audience. The primary reason why American manga and Japanese manga should be split is because although their readers might not have a logical reason for it, they will always like one more than the other.
(On a side note, the well-known productions of GAINEX and CLAMP may be mentioned in the context that one might have a preference for bishoujo, or bishounen, as that is the two companies are primarily famous for . This seems to be the cornerstone interpretation of what people like in North American from genuine anime/manga, yet ironically, it seems to be the number one thing that American manga fails to replicate well. In my experience, it seems you either have to be asian or female to draw cute anime characters... cause everyone else seems to have a phobia of drawing cute things.)
A Messay Essay by Mr. Z
When people think about "Chinese Food" in North America, some of the first exotic items that come to mind are Fortune Cookies and Chop Suey. In truth, both were invented in North America, but because of sheer marketing muscle and displacement of fact, they have become a staple of every Chinese restaurant in North America to satisfy the illusion that the consumer has been handed on the silver platter that is the common wisdom. Real chinese food on the other hand... is very different. Those who have tasted both, know that there is a difference, and to say that their isn't one, is just to be blissfully ignorant. Arguably, they are both equally preferable, but the fact is, they are suited for different tastes. What troubles me, is that the vast majority of potential otaku have found the original flavor delicious, yet aspiring mimics who absorb elements into their style, have the tendency to market it as the same, when it is clearly different. It is not the artists that I attack, it is the marketing department that distorts the media that I spite.
There is nothing inherently wrong about American-created, manga-inspired comics. I will say this right here: for them to say that they are manga artists is an honor that they would take the time and dedication to take on something foreign and make it their own. Just as Osamu Tezuka, the "Manga God" emulated Disney, founding the roots for manga and anime, it is flattering that Americans would borrow from a foreign art form. It has the potential to grow into something great, and I am not accusing it of being sacrilegious by any means.
Anime/manga possess a vast library of types of styles, very broad schools of thought that have been interpreted in a million different ways by millions of different people, just like Chinese food. Within this large spectrum of variety, however, there is stability and consistency that unifies it as a whole, a whole that is inconsistent with American Manga, because although they both might be "cats", they are not of the same breed and hereditary -- one is a tiger, and the other is lion.
If western manga-inspired comics, which more often than not, incorporate the standard western comic book production are put into the same field as manga, the result is counter productivity on both fronts because the USA, like always has, will encourage home grown talent among the majority over foreign imports, and the small but very loud Otaku will boycott manga-inspired work for being impure, western comic fans will also shy away from it. As much as I like diversity, when people buy a product, they buy an image. Would you buy wine from France, or the USA? Japan was the founder of manga -- and no amount of American talent, even if perfectly replicated and exceeded will make that ignorable. We are talking about mere superficial things here... if the difference between French wine and American wine is great, the difference between American manga and Japanese manga is greater.
In Japan, "Manga" is not a style, it is a medium, a very different meaning, it is so popular, that there is no question about what it is, that is why they interpreted it differently than westerners. The Japanese have their own unique word for western comics, but it is not as well used, and in the general sense to them, all "comics" are manga. This is a fact often lost in translation in North America, where "Manga" is a buzz word... Heavy duty classification for the difference between manga and western comics has only truly been born in North American with the Otaku Revolution (in other words, Otaku are snobs at times). This is how even the pioneers of manga can classify western manga as true, because to they have not experienced the contrast between the American comic and manga scene that have forced Otaku to defend their preferences so strongly with classification.
There are subtle, but multiple differences between American Manga and Japanese Manga. These are not "mistakes" but carryovers from the western style of comics to the eastern that otaku tend not to agree with: overly thick lines with no contrast of thin ones; big lips on petite girls; saturated coloring with painfully large amounts of contrast with overly crowded scenes; overly hardened faces; everybody has a hard well-toned, buffed-out body, even the most fragile of shrine maidens; exaggerated tapering of muscles; characters looking angry and overly dynamic juxtaposing with the character's actual personality; bulky, tacky, impractical outfits with no relevant design; disregard of tried and true techniques and traditions that define the very art form (Manga inking tech is different from western and panel layout is off at times... that and a lot of American manga tends to ignore the standard page size format and the fact that 99.5 of all manga pages are printed in black and white, pretty much everything besides of the cover and back). These are only a few of the things that are attributes of American manga.
Even genuine manga artists have used these aspects when the situation need be, but utilization and application are different. Images can often speak what words cannot -- but the difference is there -- any person who knows that Dragon Balls aren't a type of chinese cuisine can see the difference, but it varies so greatly and it is so situational that generalizing would be nothing short of a hardcore otaku's witch hunt. A strange example of reverse anime interpretation is with the Animatrix, it is genuine in its production roots, but there is something with the style the lends to the west more so than the east and otaku tend not to regard it as well as western Matrix fans did (It should be noted that the Japanese themselves loved the Matrix). This scenario exhibits the fact that preference is not merely culture based. Rave Masters is also done by a person with a Japanese name, but the style actually looks western to some extent.
Akira Toriyama exhibited his particular ability to exaggerate masculinity and violence in Dragon Ball Z, a talent obviously not exclusive to Manga artists, but at the same time, exhibited that he was capable of quite the reverse with Doctor Slump. Rumiko Takahashi exhibited her witty charm and play on Japanese folk lore in Ranma and Urusei Yatsura, while at the same time, displayed her dark side on such manga as Mermaid Forest. With all these variables on mood and style, from the ultra violent to the ultra cute, it is not with ease that one can classify them under a single unified category, so it is with regret that I find it difficult to explain this in words, nor do I have the right to classify the difference merely by country, culture and race. There is apparently a specific charm that is instilled into Japanese Manga that has been failed to be accurately captured by American Manga -- perhaps a different charm, but not the one I'm talking about. Perhaps it is the novelty, or the cultural nature... whatever it is... the fans know, and the professionals don't, because although the charm is often present in fan-art by amateurs in monthly anime and video game magazines, it is void in most "American Manga".
There are standards for each particular genre (Shoujo Manga, Shounen Manga, Sports Manga, etc.)... what American manga does however, is it takes a genre and utilizes a mishmash of styles that a composite of multiple genres that the artist has a preference for from what they have seen in anime, and uses them out of place. In a children's anime, simplicity is key. It is not uncommon to have tiny little delicate eyes, such as in Hello Kitty or huge cartoony simple eyes like Korroppi and Doraemon. You however, do not expect to see huge lashy bishojo eyes on Hello Kitty or evil brooding eyes typical of characters from action anime on Doraemon, it is just not part of the genre. Point in case, you must compare genres within a style. The Italians have a very different idea of comedy from than the Americans, and to say that they are the same and can't be classified because they are both funny, have people on them, and are shot on film is just a tad vague. This is how you can have so much variety within manga artists in Japan, but still retain stability and consistency... Very few people in this world like all genres, even if it is done in the same style, that is why classification is necessary, to specify targeted audience. The primary reason why American manga and Japanese manga should be split is because although their readers might not have a logical reason for it, they will always like one more than the other.
(On a side note, the well-known productions of GAINEX and CLAMP may be mentioned in the context that one might have a preference for bishoujo, or bishounen, as that is the two companies are primarily famous for . This seems to be the cornerstone interpretation of what people like in North American from genuine anime/manga, yet ironically, it seems to be the number one thing that American manga fails to replicate well. In my experience, it seems you either have to be asian or female to draw cute anime characters... cause everyone else seems to have a phobia of drawing cute things.)