A Beginner's Guide to Reading Manga

[janet leary]

Manga is the Japanese word for comics and cartoons in print. (Anime,
on the other hand, is animated cartoon for TV or film). Even though
manga is essentially a cartoon, manga holds a higher place in Japanese
culture than comics do in American society. Manga is well respected as
both art and as a form of popular literature. In fact, much the the
adult population in Japan read manga and several major manga magazines
in Japan sell several million copies each week.
This should tell you that manga is not just kid's stuff.
What kind of story would you be interested in? A hard-boiled detective
hired to locate a missing girl? A world dominated by animal-human
hybrids in the aftermath of an apocalyptic war in 2054?A boy-meets-
girl-meets-giant-robot adventure?A historical play revolving around
the shadowy generals of the Genpei War?A successful journalist who
takes in a handsome homeless man as a pet when her fiance leaves her?
There are hundreds of stories to choose from in manga books and there
is something that caters to everyone's taste. Furthermore, many manga
titles combine artful pictures and frames with nuanced stories for
very entertaining and addictive reading.
Manga is generally categorized into different genres. The most popular
ones include:- shonen manga for boys and male teens- shojo manga for
girls and female teens- kodomo for children- redisu for adult women-
seinen for adult men- jidaimono is historical drama- suiri is crime
and murder- ecchi is erotic fare
So, how to get started with Manga? Easy.1. Walk into the store. Most
large booksellers have a section dedicated to manga, but to really get
a range of titles, try a comic book store. Either way, manga books
usually have covers in color and maybe the first few pages as well,
but the rest of the story is usually in black and white.2. Look
through the books, read them a little. Stop when you find something
that you like and take it home. 3. If you are comfortable with surfing
the Internet, read manga online first. Do a search for one of the many
directories of online manga sites and scan those sites for titles that
are interesting. Many of the sites will actually show the manga book-
drawing and text-from its Web site.
Remember that when you read manga, you read the frames from the right
to left. Often, when you open up a manga--just like you would a
regular book--there will often be a page that will tell you how to
read it.
Give a few manga titles a try to get a feel for what you like. Once
you find a title you like, you can look for more of the same or
similar titles with that publisher. Look for the English publisher's
Web site in the front of the book, then check out that site--it will
probably contain descriptions of all their books and maybe even a
little sample
online.
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