Chatterbox - Anime & Manga

Does anyone else remember those "Shoujo Manga Techniques" books that were about creating manga stories and page layouts? Those were fun reads as a kid and one even walked through making a sample original manga to show you how it was done.

One was called "Drawing Basics" and the other was "Writing Stories".

I only know Making Comics by Scott McCloud when it comes to this sort of thing.

Seconding Scott McCloud's works. It's not manga but if you want a good understanding of any form of comic, read his "Comics" trilogy. In each book, he dives into the history and stylings found in comics. A culture's roots can create drastic differences in the media they produce.

Through McCloud's analysis of comics, I've found most anime adaptions lacking due using tropes that excel better in the medium of comics. Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics; these comics (yes, they're comics) will give you a better understanding of the medium (which includes manga) as a whole.

Edited by ChicoTheParakeet on Dec 28th 2023 at 4:11:09 AM

I still see it happening sometimes in a bookstore, when a parent opens a book that their kid is interested in.

Edited by gropcbf on Dec 28th 2023 at 3:06:29 PM

I wonder why manga has become a popular medium in various places in the world even though it is so different from any other comics tradition.

There is probably more than one reason.

I watched anime first, and then was interested in the source material (I may have started with Akira). So I think anime is a strong advertising force. Of course not every manga has a popular anime adaptation, but I think the ones who do are a big attraction to manga.

Manga here comes in small books that can easily fit in a pocket or a bag. So you can easily take it out of your place (especially when compared to the French comics) and show it to other people. And I suppose kids take them to school all the time, and they can easily show it or lend it to other kids. So manga gets free advertising from readers.

These books are also cheaper than the European ones, so it may be easier to buy one on a whim (or to have an adult buy one for you).

So manga is quite helped by practical things, and this is before we consider its content.

Edit: I thought this was the comics chatterbox thread ^^.

Edited by gropcbf on Dec 29th 2023 at 10:44:20 AM

x2 I think a factor is how big of a market it is in Japan, since there are many magazines and fan outlets, resulting in a varied and competitive market; so, a specific manga has to have something appealing to thrive and stand out among the crowd, which then translates in there being "hooks" that can catch the attention, not only of japanese fans, but also international audiences.

But, really, the strongest factor is anime, and the long lasting tradition of adapting popular manga into animation, going all the way back to Astro Boy. Because it's anime that reaches the wider audience, and since (usually) the most popular manga are the ones adapted, new audiences can easily get "hooked" by them and become fans of teh medium, after which they might have a desire to find out more, so they check the original source (the manga). Of course, I'm speaking historically, since nowadays things are different, because after anime and manga become a global sensation (making a lot more money) the market has changed.

As an unrelated sidenote, speaking about changes from the past and now, there was a teaser for the upcoming Kinnikuman anime, and what was revealed is that Mammoru Miyano will be the titular Kinnikuman, while Akira Kamiya will voice both Kinnukiman's dad and his master. This is nice in two ways, since Kamiya was the original voice of Kinnikuman, so it's a great way of "passing the torch" while respecting his legacy; but also it's the secong time it has happened, becasue in Urusei Yatsura they are both the new and old voices of Mendo. And that is just neat.

Its really unusual when there's a highly successful anime without a manga its based off,makes me think of Cowboy Bebop originally being made to sell toy spaceships

Or Princess Tutu's Manga being nothing like the anime to the point where its politer to call it an abridged take

However it does happen. Madoka, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Your Name are original stories.

A new video released by Mathwiz where he talks about filler arcs and how they may not be as bad we may think that they are.

Edited by GAP on Dec 31st 2023 at 2:00:59 PM

they're not bad but most fans don't even know what 'filler' actually is

This is unfortunately true. Things I have seen referred to as filler over the years include: any and all character development, any and all romance, any time there is no fighting, any and all flashbacks and backstory, any time the main character (or the person's favourite character) isn't shown, and the like. Filler has basically gone the way of Mary Sue and now means "something I don't like" for many people.

As fillerdude this hurts me deeply (haha)

I mean, I personally call fillers only if they are explicitly filler arcs, like the Bount arc from Bleach anime.

It gets really ridiculous to me when it's an anime like, say, Sailor Moon that people refer to "filler episodes" in. Sailor Moon is predominately an episodic series with an overarching plotline each season, but the balance is kind of skewed more towards the episodic. So it's not really "filler" in the sense of something like all those damn arcs in the Naruto and Bleach animes.

All this reminds me of the "There is no filler" discourse over Steven Universe. (Haven't watched the video so I don't know that is coverred, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did)

Also, lots of people wrongly think that filler = "anything that is present in adaptation but not the original", missing the fact that:

1. Source may already have fillers (especially true for manga with regular schedule, where the author just has to produce a new chapter each 1/2/4 weeks and sometimes had to come up with something random when they have no idea how to move the main plot).

2. Original content may have a perfectly consistent plot (if it contradicts with the actual souce story or not is a different question).

Your 2 points don't actually deny the idea that original anime content is filler, and actually point 1 re-inforces it. Because, the same way an author may introduce non-vital content to their manga to "fill" pages to keep up wih schedule, anime studios do the same so they can meet the weekly amount of minutes required for broadcast. So, they either extend scenes from the original version (One Piece is a prime example), or they create brand new content so the original version releases more ource material for them. So, every new adition by an anime can be seen as filler, since it "fills" time.

Your second point addresses the real problem, which is that some people use the word filler as a negative, using it to insult things that they don't like, when the term should be completey neutral (another similar case is the word mid, which means medium of average, but people use it as an insult).

My point was that some people do not consider manga fillers as "fillers" only by the grace of them being made by the author (same for different media but let's use manga as the most common example).

Same, you cannot call anime original content a filler if it is not made like filler. I.e. if anime-original story arc or ending was made because the manga has not reached a proper ending point at that time (or even if it was made to fill the season episodes quota), you can only consider it filler if it does not have any consistent story and does not make anything for character development.

Fillers should actually look like fillers no matter if they made by the author or scriptwriters of the adaptation.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Jan 2nd 2024 at 9:54:58 AM

I 'm pretty sure this would count as Padding not Filler.

For the record, this site's definituion of Filler is:

Watching that video made realize why certain things are the way that they are. The animation industry needs to change from the ground up. Not all filler is bad and can expand on things that the manga only implied.

I was amused to discover One piece has blue beard pirates,as well Blackbeard and..whitebeard

There's also a Brownbeard and a Peachbeard. (They aren't major characters though; Whitebeard and Blackbeard very much are). One Piece indulges in silly sometimes.

Edited by diddyknux on Jan 4th 2024 at 1:18:26 PM

No Morgan and Bartholomew tho,which is a pity

There actually are, one of the former was a forgettable early villain, though.