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Jul 2018

How do you define manga? if I'm not mistaken manga in japan means comics, so superman batman spider-man etc, are infect manga.
us westerners define it as a sub genre of comics. so what are characteristics of manga (not a specific manga genre but in overall)?

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    Jul '18
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    Nov '18
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I think that generally we use "manga" to describe comics made either in japan, by someone who is japanese, or for a japanese audience. Mainly because it is in fact just japanese for "comic".

A lot of western creators like to make manga-inspired western comics but will refer to it as "manga" for marketing reasons or because they are fixated on manga - I can see why that's a bit confusing.

I also find there are more and more western creators creating their stuff as if it's translated japanese manga - reads right to left, uses the same formulas etc. (I don't really udnerstand it though because these things make it harder for western audiences to read and it's literally written in western languages)

There are no defined characteristics of manga, really. It's such a varied field just like western comics. Sometimes japanese creators even create heavily western-inspired work (see panty + stocking for example)

But still, there's a certain threads that makes comics written by not Japaneses people "manga". the use of grayscales screentones etc. that what I'm looking for.

I know that. That's what I mean by "manga-inspired"...

Screen-tones and greyscale have also been used in classic western comics for a long time, though. They're just a comic technique more than anything. They're used to make printing cheaper.
Case and point - Vertigo, a british studio, using screentone:

I've read a lot of manga that don't even use screentones... ( see "Innocent" or the work on Junji Ito) Even things like inking techniques are universal.
"Innocent" creating depth without screentone, using so-called "western" inking techniques:


Junji Ito rarely uses screen-tones:

What I'm saying is, manga is just what a japanese audience calls their local comics (we have the same kind of thing in the philippines too but idk about other eastern countries - we were colonised by japan) and in the west people call japanese comics "manga" for ease of reference or for respect-of-culture reasons.

The most defining feature manga has is that it reads right to left but that's literally only bc japanese reads right to left.

If you want to use an art style you saw in manga that's cool - doesn't make your work manga though. You can use the word "manga" for marketing if you like, as I said previously.

There's no real rules. Manga is just what japanese people call their comics. It's entirely cultural.

I'm from asia but I draw western comics in the UK. I confuse a lot of people in my town because when they read my stuff they think it reads right to left. It doesn't even look like manga at all.
(an example of work I created that was mistaken for manga)

The distinction depends on the self-identity of the artist.
If an artist calls their comic's "manga", then it's a manga. Similarly, if an artist call their comic's "visual novel" or "graphic novel", then it is what they said it is.

But for most asian comic, we usually based on their language to to distinguish the origin.
For example:

  • Manga - Japanese comic
  • Manhwa - Korean comic
  • Manhua - Chinese/Taiwai comic
  • Komik - Philippine comic
  • Viet comic - Vietnamese comic
  • Thai comic
  • ect...

I would say some characteristics of manga would be... Drawn in black and white (not always, but generally), less panels per page and typically less dialogue per page. Tends to show more emotion (more face closeups). I don't know what it's like for other comics, but manga also has small vertical spaces and larger horizontal spaces between panels. Etc...

manga is just japanese comics. in japan, im sure people in japan say 'comics are just american manga.'

theres stylistic distinctions that are... hard to pin down, but on tapas (and in most western circles) 'manga' refers to all japanese comics, and western comics inspired by them

personally, its a bit of a pet peeve of mine if a westerner writing for a western audience makes their comic right to left and calls it manga. its dumb and disingenuous - you can make something manga inspired, there are a great many amazing things about manga, but to brand your own stuff as manga in that situation is just a lie. but then, thats just my opinion, and i dont feel that strongly about it.

This manga definition in urban dictionary is pretty interesting.

I always found it odd WESTERN creators make comics like they were meant for Japanese readers. It feels like they never taken graphic arts classes. That's flies into face what those class teach you, make a work readable and easy for the general audience to understand. Forcing a new reader to adapt to that standard is usually a bad idea.

If it was originally for a Japanese or Chinese audience, I don't have much of an issue.

I always assume the people doing that are younger creators? Like high school-ish age, where you're sometimes still heavily into manga specifically and not necessarily fully developed into your own self. It's probably easy to do it without a lot of thought as to why you shouldn't if most of what you're exposed to at the time is being written/drawn that way. (and at that age even kids into art might not have ad any graphic design classes)

But I agree that it's an important for creators to learn about accessibility and readability when they make things!

I'm not aware of any professionals doing it, but that might just be me! I have no idea how prevalent it is with more mature/professional creators.

I think westerners are dong "manga" because it's trendy, wide spread and good businesses for now. could be some actually like the art style and story telling of "manga".
I myself never had a graphic design class, I learned by myself. I like, "manga", the dynamics, the ideas and stories the overall design. the clothes are not functional in battle manga, that always bothered me and the faces.
one of my comics and two others I'm planning will be heavily inspired by manga but I try to give it my spin.

If you read a lot of manga (translated or original) like me and hardly any left-to-right comics, the right-to-left reading just feels more natural because it's what you're used to in this visual medium, also composition-vise. So yeah, apart from people just liking the style/aesthetic etc. it also has something to do with habits.

In any case, the reading should always be clearly indicated through the page's composition, so essencially if you took any design classes on comics, it doesn't even matter whether your reading direction is from left to right or from right to left because the composition leads the eye in the correct direction anyway. A good comic doesn't rely on a social consense of what is the "appropriate" reading direction.

Just my two cents.

yeah, basically. its just alienating your majority audience and turning a cultural norm into a stylistic choice

I was referring specifically to Western manga that read right to left instead of left to right, not Western manga in general. I have no qualms with Western artists taking influence from other cultures, including manga. This is about readability, not influence! :thumbsup:

And good luck with your manga inspired piece! ^^

Thank you. I always chose the direction by the language I'm using. My comics are in English so It's from left to right.

I agree. I think the langue of your comic should dictate the direction. My native language is from right-to-left but I mostly deal with left-to-right so I have no problems. If your layout is good you can deduce must of the time the right way to read it.

It really is just language, like drink becomes nomu in japanese. There's really not much of it.

That's what I think but yet must of japan comics, has the same artistic language and style that makes it unique.
the fact that they have all the sub genera arrange like scientific classification of life form. they have themes that unifies them, like huge weapons, strange clothes, augmentation, some fan service, names that refers to goodness for us are given to bad guys like in 7 deadly sins.

The distinction depends on the self-identity of the artist.
If an artist calls their comic's "manga", then it's a manga. Similarly, if an artist call their comic's "visual novel" or "graphic novel", then it is what they said it is.

I agree 100%. While manga in Japan is just a word for 'comics', artists outside of Japan can identify their work as manga because of the big difference between american comics compared to Japanese comics.

If you blur the lines between both comics and manga and say "They're both the same thing." I would have to disagree. When I walk into a comic book store there are both manga and comics and they're never together in the same place. They are separate from each other, so what's my point? If I'm looking for manga then I'm specifically looking for one type of comic. In the comic world everything is a comic, but if I say "manga" then I'm being specific to what I want to read.

Take webtoons or tapas for example, they're comics online created in vertical scroll format. They identify as comics just like manga. Some comics are made into vertical scroll format and some manga is made into vertical scroll format. In the end we get a new type of comic called vertical scroll comics.The vertical scroll format lends itself to any type of comic. So what happens to the old comic format? You know, the read from right to left or left to right, top to bottom. Flipping pages? Where are those type of comics?

This is why the distinction is important. Comics can be influenced by style, you can take something and adapt or leave it. You can make it vertical scroll or not. It can read from right to left or left to right. Many of these things can overlap

So, What is your comic type?

The distinction depends on the self-identity of the artist.

I also want to break the notion that if you are not Japanese and you draw in a manga style that you are purposely aiming for a Japanese audience, are interested in Japanese culture, becoming a mangaka, following a trend, or because you want to be different.

All of these things have nothing to do with why the person draws manga.

Not all of us grew up reading superhero comics. My first experience reading a comic was in fact a manga. It is called shonen jump. I had no tv, no internet, and no idea how to draw comics so the only thing I had to learn from was shonen jump.

There is many differences between the american comic and the Japanese manga, I'm not going to get into the details on how they're different but I will talk about one. The typical Japanese high school student with the spiky hair that attends a Japanese high school, and the overdone superhero comic.

You can complain as much as you want about how both of these things are overdone, but my favorite thing about them is that it's there. Of course there are many stories that don't involve that scenario and it may not be your cup of tea, and that's why I read manga and I draw manga, it has both the cliche and many genres. It doesn't bother me at all that someone wants to make another cliche manga or heavily influenced anime comic, but another american superhero comic I wont read.

When it comes to comics everyone has an increasingly different style to the point that if I don't like your art I wont read it. This is different with manga where there is a common style, I know what to expect and I know what I'm getting. With manga they have laid down a foundation where everyone can bring their own style to it and make it different. You don't get that with comics.