Planet Rinda

What is Anime? Part Seven

     For my last installment in the What is Anime series, I want to recommend at least a minor exploration of manga to all anime fans. To the newbies, manga (pronounced mahng-gah) is a Japanese graphic novel or basically a Japanese comic book. Manga and anime are closely inter-related. Most anime started as manga. The majority that didn’t, have since been made into manga. Anime is moving images, manga is the equivalent in still drawings.

     Many mangas follow the same storyline as their anime counterparts. While others, take different story arcs. Often, reading the manga of a favorite anime will provide a deeper level of story telling than the anime may allow due to time restraints and other reasons. Sometimes the art will look a bit different than the anime. Whether it’s better or worse comes done to personal preference. But manga fans are just as rabid as anime fans. And usually those lines of fandom criss-cross. The two mediums are very closely related.

     In Japan, like anime, manga is a huge business. According to Wikipedia,

“In economic terms, weekly sales of comics in Japan exceed the entire annual output of the American comic industry”

You will find manga in books and magazines. They are generally geared towards boys (shonen) or girls (shojo). Nowadays, manga is much more accessible in the US. You can find growing sections devoted to it at most bookstores. There are numerous English magazines that include monthly mangas alongside anime information. A few of my favorites include…

• Newtype USA -The English version of Japan’s Newtype Magazine.  It’s carried previews of such well known manga as Chrono Crusade, Full Metal Panic! and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days
• Otaku USA - It’s a new magazine (only two issues so far!) that’s similar to Newtype with an American Flare.  It focuses more on America’s Otaku community than Japan’s.  The latest issue has previews of Key to the Kingdom and Vampire Hunter D.
• Shonen Jump - The birthplace of such wonderful animes as Bleach, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Rurouni Henshin, Yu Yu Hakusho and the list goes on!
• Shojo Beat - The female counterpart to Shonen Jump.  It’s carried such favorites as Honey and Clover, Nana and Vampire Knight

You can even get manga downloaded to your cell phone!  It’s a growing trend in Japan that’s starting to spread over here.
 
      So as you explore the world of anime, leave a little room for manga.  You may find a new passion within it’s many brightly illustrated covers!

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