Do you like American-made manga?
| What is your opinion on Amerimanga (American-made manga)? Do you have any favorite artists/series? Are there any that you don't like? I know some people that like an American series, and then I know others that avoid them like the plague. XD |
ScrumYummyJun 11, 2007 3:46 PM
| With all that i have read, i'm not really fond of them. Though I do enjoy Aoi House. |
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| I haven't because... well... if I had $10 to buy an American-made manga or a Japanese one, I'd go with the Japanese one. |
| Entirely depends on the subject matter and art to me. |
"...Only fools stand up and really lay down their arms. No, not me, not when death lasts forever." |
| I'd have to agree; it depends on the art and story, though I have to admit that for the most part I haven't found much of the American-drawn stuff that interests me. The only exceptions so far are Dramacon, Bizengast and a couple of the yaoi ones that Yaoi Press publishes. I'm willing to give anything manga-style (or anime-style, for that matter) a decent shot. |
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| That's how I feel--I'm fully willing to give anything a try and enjoy finding new series. Although it does seem like the majority of Amerimanga just aren't that good ;_; It's sad, but kind of true. Hehe, and there's one series that I totally hate--it's that one about the girl and her ferrets. It's hard to say why, but I know part of it is that the art in her manga does not compare to art that she's done elsewhere. It's like she totally crapped out on the manga art. And I know she has the ability to be better than that, so it makes me kind of mad. XD |
| I've read a couple, but nothing I've really gotten attached to ... I guess I wouldn't care if I could actually find something good, but so far that hasn't been the case. |
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| Amerimanga? Well, not precisely amerimanga for me. More like fan-made web manga series from around the web. There are MANY good series out there on the internet, from artists worldwide. Manga is not only for Japanese people, even if the best usually comes from Japan, and even if they started it all. I think we all deserve a chance to develop a skill in creating great manga series, and most of this people on the internet do it because they love it, and for free. They give their best to bring a good and enjoyable story, and that is wonderful. 98% of the manga I read is from the internet. ^_^ Go to places like smackjeeves.com! One manga I recommend: http://countspades.smackjeeves.com Enjoy! |
| I wouldn't like a manga because it's japanese, nor is the inverse true. It just so happens that most of the american ones suck, and they're just tryign to copy the japanese style, which doesn't work (*cough* courtney love and avril lavigne *cough*) |
| Never read one of them... If the story and the art is good, then they are good, as simple as that...But where exactly do you find them anyways? |
kei-clone said: I wouldn't like a manga because it's japanese, nor is the inverse true. It just so happens that most of the american ones suck, and they're just tryign to copy the japanese style, which doesn't work (*cough* courtney love and avril lavigne *cough*) Oh god. I hate those manga (especially the Avril Lavigne one...the art totally weirds me out). I agree with you--I don't care whether it's Japanese or whatever, but none of the American ones seem to be particularly good. I've seen a few that were a LOT better than others, and there's one called "12 Days" that is a real work of art. But there is just so much crap out there. x___X Baman said: Never read one of them... If the story and the art is good, then they are good, as simple as that...But where exactly do you find them anyways? Bookstores....they're usually in the manga section. Tokyopop puts out a lot of them, and they've also started hosting them online. Most American manga don't really look like manga...they lack the kind of quality that you see coming from other countries. I don't know why this is o___O but it's not to say that just because a manga is American, it's automotically bad. But most of the ones I've seen just aren't that good ^_^; konakona said: I've read a couple, but nothing I've really gotten attached to ... I guess I wouldn't care if I could actually find something good, but so far that hasn't been the case. *agreed* Arwym said: Amerimanga? Well, not precisely amerimanga for me. More like fan-made web manga series from around the web. There are MANY good series out there on the internet, from artists worldwide. Manga is not only for Japanese people, even if the best usually comes from Japan, and even if they started it all. I think we all deserve a chance to develop a skill in creating great manga series, and most of this people on the internet do it because they love it, and for free. They give their best to bring a good and enjoyable story, and that is wonderful. Thanks for the link! There are some good artists on there. And I don't think anyone is trying to say that manga should only be made by Japanese people...just that the current scene in America (while having come a long way) still has a long way to go. ^_^; |
| I dont see why americans copy the manga style, there allready is something here called the "Graphic novel" which is basically an american "manga". ive never read any OEL, but i must say I do love my graphic novels (especially 300 and V for Vendetta). |
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Megadedhed said: I dont see why americans copy the manga style, there allready is something here called the "Graphic novel" which is basically an american "manga". ive never read any OEL, but i must say I do love my graphic novels (especially 300 and V for Vendetta). American style comics and manga differ in more ways than just the way the characters are drawn; the pacing, the storytelling--it's all very different. Which is one reason why OEL manga fails so hard--a lot of people that attempt to make it don't really understand what makes a manga, a manga. For example, let's take the word "manga"--it means "moving pictures," and in the same way, a manga is supposed to "move" like you're watching a television show. American-style comics, on the other hand, read more like books with detailed illustrations (which is why "graphic novel" is such a fitting title). So I can see why one style would appeal to a person more than another--they are completely different, in more ways than just the art. I think if more of these OEL manga artists would realize this, then we would have better manga coming out of America. |
ScrumYummy said: Megadedhed said: I dont see why americans copy the manga style, there allready is something here called the "Graphic novel" which is basically an american "manga". ive never read any OEL, but i must say I do love my graphic novels (especially 300 and V for Vendetta). American style comics and manga differ in more ways than just the way the characters are drawn; the pacing, the storytelling--it's all very different. Which is one reason why OEL manga fails so hard--a lot of people that attempt to make it don't really understand what makes a manga, a manga. For example, let's take the word "manga"--it means "moving pictures," and in the same way, a manga is supposed to "move" like you're watching a television show. American-style comics, on the other hand, read more like books with detailed illustrations (which is why "graphic novel" is such a fitting title). So I can see why one style would appeal to a person more than another--they are completely different, in more ways than just the art. I think if more of these OEL manga artists would realize this, then we would have better manga coming out of America. yeah, many of these OEL series's seemed to me as simple graphic novels done backwords to gain more viewers. however... the "cine-manga" that Tokyopop releases is kinda insulting... i mean seriously akira is allready a manga, you dont need to make a new one using scenes from the movie |
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| So far I haven't found any that I thought were very good aside from a few webcomics. I look at most of them to see how we are doing but I usually just go with another manga or maybe a comic book if I don't wanna read a manga at the time. |
| I'm one of those that refuse to call it Manga. I perfer to just call them graphic novels and so far I haven't read one that interests me. The highest score I gave to an graphic novel was a 6(to Princess Ai). The rest are very low(not including the korean stuff-Manhwa). |
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| I have tried reading them (got harassed by too many tokyopop fans), but I never really found a series I enjoyed. I don't really care for the art either; it looks too generic to me. I don't really call them 'manga' either. I usually just refer to them as "OELs". |
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LDK said: Never seen one...is this totally different from those day-to-day coloured comic right? It in style of manga just drawn by some artist from USA? Yes. Tokyopop and Seven Seas Entertainment publish many of them. In fact, if you own a newer Tokyopop manga, you'll most likely have an ad of one in the back of the book. Look at the copyrights and it'll have the "manga-ka" I've looked at a few series at Seven Seas and many of them are really nice looking, as if you'll never notice it's Amerimanga. However, many (if not most) don't seem to mimic the Japanese art style very well, IMO, and reminds me of Teen Titans all the time. :( But I'm sure that's just me. |
| I've only read a couple of OEL titles. Unearthly written by Ted Naifeh, who writes Courtney Crumrin series which I love. The story in it wasn't to bad, but Ted didn't do the art someone else did (which was supper disapointing, I love Ted's art). While the art isn't bad it isn't that great very much in the vain of trying to hard to look like anime but never getting it right. East Coast Rising by Becky Cloonan, who's art I just love to death. Story wise I thought it was a cute little adventure with a good mix of sci-fi-ish and pirate elements. The art though is great (if you like her art style, it may not be for everyone). She really takes was you can tell has anime influences but moves a step away from it, to her own style instead. Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives this is another one where I was familiar with the artist online and had to get the book to help support her. The story is cute, and not bad, but typical teen fluff. Miki Falls by Mark Crilley. Mark Crilley wrote one of my favorite comics as a kid called Akiko, so when I saw Miki Falls in the bookstore I had to have it. I don't know how I feel about this one, the art wasn't bad but I liked his style more when he wasn't trying so hard to look more anime/manga is style. The story has a very creative premise but the way things work out in the story seem fairly generic. I liked it over all but no where as near as much as I liked Akiko. So I think OEL stuff can be ok, and I think it might take a few more years, but we may start to see some really good quality work (in both writing and art) from American Creators. It takes time to iron out all the wrinkles. |
| I haven't been too interested in OEL stuff for pretty much the same reason I don't read english translated japanese manga that is released here-- too expensive ^_^ I am cheap, so I prefer to get two volumes of Japanese import manga for the price of 1 domestic release or an OEL book :D |
| Like Shoujo? Visit: Emily's Random Shoujo Manga Page |
MagicalEmi said: I haven't been too interested in OEL stuff for pretty much the same reason I don't read english translated japanese manga that is released here-- too expensive ^_^ I am cheap, so I prefer to get two volumes of Japanese import manga for the price of 1 domestic release or an OEL book :D LOL quote for truth. Although I've been buying more new release stuff (not from Bookoff) lately so my manga expenditures have gone up. D: Still cheaper than US version though. |
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| I think they've lowered the price of most "OEL" comics anyways, because there is no need for translators for a lot of them. The reason why you see more crappy "Amerimanga" than good isn't because of a difference of quality between the countries, it's because of the sheer number of Japanese comics are filtered with the overseas translation thing. If you pick up random Japanese titles at bookstores, you'll see that there are a LOT of crappy ones. The good ones are invested in and brought over by translators/publishers, of course, so those are the ones you see. As I said in this blog entry, I think the distinguishing the difference between "manga", "manhwa", "OEL", etc the same as the difference between a novel, oneshot, doujin, and actual comic is really, really stupid. |
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| I like to give OEL manga a chance, but I have yet to find something truly great (although Steady Beat has the potential to change that) and their titles and summaries tend not to catch my attention as much as those of Japanese manga. |
accela said: As I said in this blog entry, I think the distinguishing the difference between "manga", "manhwa", "OEL", etc the same as the difference between a novel, oneshot, doujin, and actual comic is really, really stupid. While I can see the point, Manga, Manhwa, and OEL distinguish a country of origin, while the others simply state what it is. So being a together, definition wise may not be the best concept. Epically since you could have a Manhwa one shot/ Personally though these labels tell me where the title is from and while you feel a comic is a comic (which is true), not all cultures makes the same kind of comics. Even the big countries in western comics, American, British, and Franco Belgium are all very different from each other. I highly doubt the content in an average American comic is anything like the content in a Franco Belgium comic. I think this holds true with the Eastern counterparts. Manhua (the Chinese comics) are very different from Manga, the art styles tend to be more realistic looking and often these are full color much like American comics. Even Manhwa which I think are a lot closer to Manga still have a different feel to they story wise, and even in the art styles have a bit of a difference (hands and eyes most notable for me). So to me these labels tell me something intrinsic about these comics. A comic may be just a comic, but culture greatly influences such a medium. It's like saying someone likes Hollywood movies and someone comes up to them and is like you like movies then you should watch these Bollywood movies. Just because they are both movies does that mean the person will like (or even understand) the content in both. |
MagicalEmi said: I haven't been too interested in OEL stuff for pretty much the same reason I don't read english translated japanese manga that is released here-- too expensive ^_^ I am cheap, so I prefer to get two volumes of Japanese import manga for the price of 1 domestic release or an OEL book :D i have to quote this one for truth also. I actually also didn't know there were "american mangas", aside from megatokyo which i still consider a webcomic. though don't get me wrong, i do like american graphic novels, but i generally tend to go for the more "gothic" type comics like nightmares and fairytales and jhonen vasquez type stuff since the art is really intruiging to me with interesting storylines. |
| I don't care if it's manga, amerimanga, or whatever as long as it's good. But after seeing that Avril Lavigne was made into a manga.. O___o I don't know what to think.. |
| I will stick with the original Japanese made manga |
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Brand said: accela said: As I said in this blog entry, I think the distinguishing the difference between "manga", "manhwa", "OEL", etc the same as the difference between a novel, oneshot, doujin, and actual comic is really, really stupid. While I can see the point, Manga, Manhwa, and OEL distinguish a country of origin, while the others simply state what it is. So being a together, definition wise may not be the best concept. Epically since you could have a Manhwa one shot/ Personally though these labels tell me where the title is from and while you feel a comic is a comic (which is true), not all cultures makes the same kind of comics. Even the big countries in western comics, American, British, and Franco Belgium are all very different from each other. I highly doubt the content in an average American comic is anything like the content in a Franco Belgium comic. I think this holds true with the Eastern counterparts. Manhua (the Chinese comics) are very different from Manga, the art styles tend to be more realistic looking and often these are full color much like American comics. Even Manhwa which I think are a lot closer to Manga still have a different feel to they story wise, and even in the art styles have a bit of a difference (hands and eyes most notable for me). So to me these labels tell me something intrinsic about these comics. A comic may be just a comic, but culture greatly influences such a medium. It's like saying someone likes Hollywood movies and someone comes up to them and is like you like movies then you should watch these Bollywood movies. Just because they are both movies does that mean the person will like (or even understand) the content in both. That's silly - there's manga that are so far from each other in storytelling layout and execution that you can't use that kind of logic. Think about Lucky Star (4koma format) versus Short Cuts (what we would think of as "American comic strip format") versus Naruto (shonen format with fast paced action sequences) versus Hot Gimmick (shoujo format, with slow pacing and a lot of mental dialogue) versus Pluto (wall o' texts and then pages of nothing but imagery). There are a lot of manga that can be more closely associated to some American comics (Monster, anyone?) and a lot of American comics that can be more closely associated to manga rather than other American comics. If you must use the French comic thing, there are BDs that read closer to American comics than other BDs, and just like American comics, many BDs are gravitating towards a "manga" layout these days. (Somewhat related - I find it hilarious that there are French and German titles classified as "OEL/ Original English Language" ... okay...) With the Bollywood argument, there are Bollywood movies that have a much closer feel to Hollywood movies than other Bollywood movies. Same goes for Korean cinema. I'm just saying that the distinction between those things are perfectly fine, but to say that they're the same as the kind of distinction between a NOVEL, a one shot, a doujinshi, and a regular comic is just stupid. Recently I read a shoujo one shot from Korea ("A cat that loved a fish"). It's definitely a one shot! It's also definitely in manhwa style. ...Where is your God now, MAL!? ^0^ |
accelaMar 17, 2008 9:24 AM
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AnomalousOne said: I like to give OEL manga a chance, but I have yet to find something truly great (although Steady Beat has the potential to change that) and their titles and summaries tend not to catch my attention as much as those of Japanese manga. Really? The artwork is horrible. So far none has caught my attention, not even Dramacon. Battousai said: I will stick with the original Japanese made manga I think I'm gonna start doing that. Drybananna said: I don't care if it's manga, amerimanga, or whatever as long as it's good. But after seeing that Avril Lavigne was made into a manga.. O___o I don't know what to think.. Haven't read that one. Just the one by Courtney Love. By the way, why was Princess Ai put together like a real Manga? |
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kirAth-shiAue said: AnomalousOne said: I like to give OEL manga a chance, but I have yet to find something truly great (although Steady Beat has the potential to change that) and their titles and summaries tend not to catch my attention as much as those of Japanese manga. Really? The artwork is horrible. So far none has caught my attention, not even Dramacon. Y'mean Steady Beat's artwork? I don't really have any feelings toward it one way or the other. Actually, what I really like is that it's one of the few manga/mangaesqe works I've read that has gay characters that are believable and that weren't created by someone who's obviously never met a gay person in their life. |
accela said: Recently I read a shoujo one shot from Korea ("A cat that loved a fish"). It's definitely a one shot! It's also definitely in manhwa style. ...Where is your God now, MAL!? ^0^ I'd have it listed in the data base as a one shot personally. |
AnomalousOne said: Y'mean Steady Beat's artwork? I don't really have any feelings toward it one way or the other. Actually, what I really like is that it's one of the few manga/mangaesqe works I've read that has gay characters that are believable and that weren't created by someone who's obviously never met a gay person in their life. The storyline doesn't bother me. It's the art and the humor(seems like the artist tries too hard to be funny). I see that alot in OEL's. Thats why from now on I'm sticking to just Japanese Manga(and some Manhwa). |
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| Eh, Japanese manga all the way. If we're talking about American comics, long live DC and Marvel. |
danobou said: I haven't really read much OELtitles. I have read megatokyo and it was actually pretty good for amerimanga. I was impressed. But I don't like Amerimanga much overall. The art looks like crap when they try to make it look like manga, and I hate reading manga from left to right. But Megatokyo was actually good. But... Megatokyo is one of the more crap OEL titles.... 90% of the ones out there are better than MT; are you sure you're looking at the right stuff? |
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| 90% of the time.. the art is way too awkward to look at, I just can't continue reading. :/ So most of the time, I just avoid them. |
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| Fool's Gold is probably my favorite OEL manga. Fool's Gold and Gothic Sports have great art (IMHO), though Gothic Sports is pretty mediocre storywise. Gothic Sports example: Fool's Gold example: Fool's Gold is fantastic though, because it caters to a western audience. There's none of that namby-pamby submissive passive moe girl crap in this shoujo, where the girl bursts out into tears over every little thing. Guy's are slightly less chauvinistic in this, too. It's all because it's set in America, so the people act like westerners. That's a really welcome change for me (and I've read hundreds of manga, so I mean, it's REALLY welcome ^_^) I agree that there are a lot of crap OEL titles out there, but if you judge everything by the first couple ones you've seen, and never read any others, you're going to miss out on the gems. That's like my friends that say "I don't watch anime because I saw Dragonball Z and Sailor moon and those sucked." |
accelaMay 22, 2008 8:17 AM
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| I download almost all my manga, so th chances of me running into a OEL manga is pretty slim. |
| I was going to say that I really don't like American-made manga because all the ones I saw were crap, the art wasn't really (some were horrible, like fanart...) and the story isn't really good... but you make a good argument. accela said: I agree that there are a lot of crap OEL titles out there, but if you judge everything by the first couple ones you've seen, and never read any others, you're going to miss out on the gems. That's like my friends that say "I don't watch anime because I saw Dragonball Z and Sailor moon and those sucked." I hate when people base anime on Sailor Moon and DragonBallZ, so I'm going to give another try for American-made manga and hopefully I'll find something good. |
AllekJun 7, 2008 10:47 PM
| I've seen some.. I wouldn't mind OEL if the art & plot are good but from what I've seen so far none of them had catch my attention yet.. |
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| I sometimes read it If the story is good and the are is decent (no over use of Japanese expressions), but then again just the other day I bought, AN AMERIMANGA VERSION OF HAMELT.......... Don't blame me I was sugar high. |
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| The only American manga I remember reading is Avril Lavigne's, which I guss was decent. There's another manga I like called Hollow Fields, which is published by Seven Seas and won an award for non-Japanese manga. Of course, it's neither Japanese nor American, but Australian. ( .-.) And while it's not a manga, I also like the anime Oban Star-Racers, even though it's actually French. |
Allek said: I was going to say that I really don't like American-made manga because all the ones I saw were crap, the art wasn't really (some were horrible, like fanart...) and the story isn't really good... but you make a good argument. accela said: I agree that there are a lot of crap OEL titles out there, but if you judge everything by the first couple ones you've seen, and never read any others, you're going to miss out on the gems. That's like my friends that say "I don't watch anime because I saw Dragonball Z and Sailor moon and those sucked." I hate when people base anime on Sailor Moon and DragonBallZ, so I'm going to give another try for American-made manga and hopefully I'll find something good. I'm glad ^_^ Not -all- of it is terrible, really @_@ For a long time, I steered clear of korean manhwa just because the first few I read were awful, but I finally lightened up and eventually found a lot that I liked. The Japanese have had longer to perfect the way of manga (because in terms of art, storytelling, pacing, layout, mood, American comics are a loooot different), but they've definitely gone through their share of crap too. The only reason we never see it is because people usually aren't willing to translate the crappy manga (except Anne Freaks for some reason, ha ha ha). Give it time, and the really good manga will shine through. Again, I recommend Fools Gold for western girls into shoujo, but there are other good ones too. I was gonna link you to the OEL category in MAL, except it looks wayyyyyy incomplete. :O I need to get to work! |
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accela said: I'm glad ^_^ Not -all- of it is terrible, really @_@ For a long time, I steered clear of korean manhwa just because the first few I read were awful, but I finally lightened up and eventually found a lot that I liked. Again, I recommend Fools Gold for western girls into shoujo, but there are other good ones too. I was gonna link you to the OEL category in MAL, except it looks wayyyyyy incomplete. :O I need to get to work! Yeah, me too I used to think that korean manhwa was crap too, because I didn't like the art at all. But my friend showed me many korean manhwas and I found out that they aren't so bad. Now, I'm totally ok with korean manhwa, some are really good!! I'm going to try Fools Gold, the art seems pretty. |
| I hated the ones I read. People like Avril Lavigne making 'manga' makes me cringe. How insulting. |
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| What got me started on Amerimanga was Ninja High School and Gold Digger (back when Antarctic Press ran them in b&w), though I don't think anyone else really considers those mana-esque now. I've read a few, Aoi House is a lot of fun, but then I do go for things like Genshiken, and I think there was a fair amount of slap-stick comedy, which I love. Princess Ai's story was fairly mediocore, but the art appealed to me. Only read one volume of Amazing Agent Luna, due mostly to Shimei's art. Just haven't read further since I could never find the second volume. Van Von Hunter is a fun read, too. Gotta love playing "spot the parody." |
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| So far OEL titles have been disappointing. The only one I'm reading right now is Re:Play, and even that one is pretty mediocre. I understand that those authors are trying to reach the manga/anime demographic, but I really wish they wouldn't label their stuff as manga. It's not manga, it's an American comic. Personally, the only reason I call Japanese comics 'manga' is because they have such a huge market that they almost require that distinction. |
| usually I avoid unless it's been recommended to me. |
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