I think I should stop making my titles into questions, but this is quite an issue we are talking about. While surfing the web for some manga news, Lori Henderson from Manga Xanadu posted an editorial that ranted on the School Library Journal’s choice for “Best Books for 2009″ (though Henderson pointed out that the list’s title was actually “Best Comics and Manga for 2009“). Somehow the discussion in the rant led to a concern for children reading comics over books. For some reason when it comes to the comparison of novels to comics, there is some biased agreement that novels are a “superior” form of reading to comics. I’m sure this isn’t new to anyone, especially those who read comics or manga. However, this biased thinking really needs to stop.

Novels and comics are two different mediums. Just because reading is the main interaction readers have with the two doesn’t meaning comparing one to the other is fine. No one would compare a film to a television show just based on the fact people watch what’s happening (if you do, you really shouldn’t). All the mentioned mediums execute their stories in a different structure from the other. Focusing back on novels and comics, one uses only words to move the reader through the story while the other uses a juxtaposition of pictures and words to progress the story. But as said before, because reading is the main sense people use for both mediums, the two are automatically compared and placed under a ranking or status. And we know who is ranked where.

There is only one reason why I think people still view comics as an “inferior” reading material to novels…

There’s Pictures

*Insert Sarcasm* Novels don’t need pictures to move a story. The pictures are visualized in the mind, “painted” by beautiful sentence structures and details. There is no need for pictures when words will do just fine. *End Sarcasm*

Pictures somehow degrade comics into a lower reading status, somewhere behind children’s books. It’s seen as elementary, something meant for kids. People still think this way even though the medium appeals to adult audiences as well. But pictures, or artworks as it is more appropriately called, are used with words to move a story. It’s an art form that specializes in this type of juxtaposition, one a novel cannot do.

There could be other reasons to the degrade comics gets, like terrible storylines or writing (which I’m sure novels have as well), but the picture issue seems to be the main one. If others want to add their take, comment as well. Would like to hear from you.

It’s been awhile since I wrote another for the blog. But I’m curious to know one thing. When you read a manga and there are numerous cliches in the story, is it okay? You’ve heard my take on the subject of walking cliches, but I wonder about other people’s opinions.

For those who don’t know what a cliche is (shame on you), here is the definition from Wiki:

A cliché is a saying, expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel.

Now if you need an example, just read a few manga titles and find some common element within each manga. The “good” guy character, rain equals sick person, love, etc. I don’t really consider “fan service” as a cliche, but it is a well known technique used in many manga titles.

Personally if the story is strong or the character develops into something more, then it isn’t such a problem. But it becomes bothersome when the cliche doesn’t go away. But I’m more interested in others opinions of the subject.

We’ve all done it before. When we don’t want to solve that impossible math problem, when we don’t want to remember all those Latin-based biology terms, when we don’t want to write that stupid essay due tomorrow, we do something else that is more fun. Video games, television, and the internet are some of the big helpers that create the procrastinating effect. But how about manga, or even anime? Sure manga is not as interactive as video games or the internet, but it does take away your valuable time from what you could be doing. Like a novel, it needs the reader to help unfold the story right before our very eyes. It consumes us, and our time.

Using me as an example, I am starting to see my grades slide a bit. But if you ask me what has been keeping me from doing my homework properly, I’ll just list them:

(1) Video games – I am just rediscovering why video games are so awesome.

(2) Internet – I just need to check my emails, and my site, and other people’s sites, and movie news, and new games, and things that are on sale, and…

(3) TV shows – I’ve been trying to catch up on a lot of shows I’ve missed. And they are so good.

(4) Manga

Some of you understand the power of the first three, but the last one doesn’t seem like a big factor. Well it is. Recently I was reading Katekyo Hitman Reborn! just so I can get through the first lame story arc. Well I got through it, but when I moved on to the second story arc things got a little interesting. The third story arc got my attention and the fourth story arc completely got me hooked. As you can see reading three story arcs grabbed and held my full attention through these days. I continued to read the manga until I finally caught up. Geez. I sacrificed valuable homework time just to start following the manga’s storyline. Because of this I’m sure the quality of my two paged essays went down a lot.

Though I haven’t been updating much content on the site, I have been getting a lot of school work lately. But as I said before, I have been lacking in my homework and that has led me to procrastination. (This in turn makes me forget I pushed the site aside to make room for school work.) Some of the reasons I don’t do homework: one, I hate essays (I’m a creative writing major, but I have to go through all the English major requirements); two, I have a site to run (which I haven’t been doing a good job as of now); and three, I work better under pressure. But it’s number three that has been getting me in trouble as of late. I did a close analysis essay on the same day it was due, and I’m sure it read like shit. We are getting around holiday vacation time and I’m already ready! If only I could closely analyze manga as an essay topic, that would be more interesting to read than freaking Donna Haraway.

Anyway, the point of the matter is this: never become an English major. Though I am curious to hear from others if manga or anime has kept them from doing their homework.

Continuing with this ongoing series of manga character cliches we wish to stop seeing, we will be looking into one that affects shoujo manga titles (and some shounen) very much: the clueless chick. The girl that zones out to collect her thoughts when someone is talking to her. The girl that can’t put two and two together. The girl that doesn’t understand sexual undertones. Yeah, that girl. She comes in many different forms: the naive kid-like teen (sometimes even a young adult), the mother, the mother-in-training, the lovesick high school student, etc. But when it comes down to it, when her help is most needed, she can always be counted on. Sadly, her personality is such a hinder to the readers’ enjoyment the reader ignores her efforts. Pity, but we should move on. Let’s just see why this cliche is so annoying.

She’s Incredibly Naive

Well I did cover some of that in the intro, but let’s go into more detail. For some reason, a lot of the girls in shoujo manga are quite naive. It’s almost as if they just graduated elementary, skipped middle school, and moved on to high school. A good example is Kyoko from Skip Beat. Though she had some problems with her personal life, which led to her not getting into high school, she still holds some naivety that a seven year old girl would believe. Really, she still believes in princesses and fairies at age 16. It’s okay to like fairies and princess stories, but to whole-heartily believe in them at that age… man. No wonder Ren found it funny that she still believed in those things.

… and Dense

For some reason naivety and cluelessness goes hand in hand with these characters. If you’re naive, you’re automatically clueless. Again with Kyoko as an example, the potential love interest Ren makes his feelings for her obvious; when he gets mad at her for keeping her stalker issue a secret, as well as the fact that her ex-love interest saved her from the stalker. But Kyoko does not see his reactions that way: she thinks Ren is being a good older brother (one she never had) who is looking out for her. She does not notice his over-reactions as unusually, which makes love plots so frustratingly annoying.

It would be best to pose another example, like Tohru from Fruits Basket. There was a story Momiji Sohma told to Yuki and Kyo which involved a man being scammed into giving everything he had to strangers. In the end, he was left with nothing but a note (no body,arms, or legs, just a head). This note was taken to be a gift, which he cried his eyes out. This story, or more appropriately the man, is supposed to represent Tohru. That is not a characteristic people want to see in a character. There is a difference between kindness and naive cluelessness. Since Tohru has such a trait, it is then the job of other characters to make sure nothing happens to the leading lady (this is also another cliche seen in shoujo manga). Readers wonder how anyone, even fictional characters, can stand such a people. But they do, and we hate it.

The Setting and People Lets Her Continue Her Naive Thoughts

Why is it these girls cling on to their naive thoughts throughout the duration of the manga? It’s because of where they live and the people around them. The only reason Tohru can think the way she does is due to the Sohma family and her surroundings. She doesn’t live in some urban-like setting where naive thoughts can get you killed (or a vulgar name); she lives on private property with guys who will protect her from the harsh outside world that would taint her “purity.” Though this is visible in many shoujo titles, not all shoujo manga titles use this to continue the “purity” theme. But the ones that do don’t help the plot move any faster.

She Mixes Well With Other Cliches

I had a problem with the clueless girl cliche because many other cliches play into her part. I could have written a paper on this type of character: the helpless chick, the heroine with the awesome or smart boyfriend, the academically challenged student, the girl with terrible parents, etc. I tried to single out the clueless cliche, but even Kyoko and Tohru hold other cliches in their storyline. It would be best to stop and let the naive girl have her day.

Though Skip Beat is one of my favorite manga titles, there are instants when Kyoko is such a cliche. I like Fruits Basket too, but Tohru and her environment makes her cluelessness so obvious. If you would like to add your input, let’s hear it.

Sorry for the lack of update, but things became a little slow when I left on vacation. But since I’m back, let’s look into annoying character cliches that really need to stop being created.

Here we will look at the honest to goody-goody, saint/holy man or woman that should be God’s right hand. That is right, I ‘m talking about the Good Guy (or woman). The guy that defends justice, God’s will, and whatever other crap that involves “goodness”. The guy that will defeat the demon, but shows mercy when the enemy wishes it. And then realizes that he/she should have never showed mercy because the enemy was using the good guy’s characteristic as an advantage. Yes, that guy. Let’s look at a few reasons why he/she is so wrong in manga, or any other type of mediums for that matter.

Fighting for Justice/Moral Reasons

A character of good quality will defend their actions based on their belief or past. Example: kid wants to see dead father so bad he asks the Earl for help. Instead the dead father’s soul gets turns into a demonic creature called akuma. Kid regrets action and kills the akuma to save the soul of the captured father. From then on he decides to save not just humans from these demon creatures, but the akuma as well.

Awww…how sweet. Because of what the kid, Allen Walker from D. Gray-man, experienced with the akuma, he wants to save all of humanity from this chaos. That totally justifies his actions as a warrior of justice.

BOOOO!

Allen Walker is a good guy not because he wants to save humanity, but because he wants to save everyone. The good, the bad, and the oddly ugly are all on his list of need. How unselfish of him, wanting to help all those in need and none needy. Sadly, this personal trait is the most annoying part of him I would rather not acknowledge. I’m not against saving things, but basing it on a higher moral or a higher justice is too ridiculous to see through. (This creates a question of what is “justice” and “moral”, but that is too long to write about.) I would rather see them save things because they want to rather than feel it is necessary to. You can argue Allen wants to save everyone, but I will argue there is a feeling that he needs to save rather than wanting to save. That also leads me to my next point.

The Prophesy Child

We have heard this story before: a child is born to be the one that will determine the fate of the [fill in the blank]. This should be it’s own article, but it plays into the good guy complex in many manga titles. Naruto, D. Gray-man, and 07 Ghost are a few examples of leading characters that are the overall factor to the fate of their world. Each character has a pre-determined destiny they cannot escape and must follow it through the told prophesy.

It’s okay to be special, but being in charge of saving the world is a little too extreme don’t you think? It’s not like they are Superman, but even Superman has his own problems (like being less popular than Batman). Anyway, sometimes I think this pre-destiny thing is used just to make the leading character more special than they should be. That is a sad excuse for character development, especially when the character has enough personality to stand on his or her own.

Good Guy Gets Best Power/Weapon EVER

It’s not enough to be the good guy and hold the fate of the world on their shoulders. In order to overcome evil powered armies, they need the best resources available. But guess who gets the best equipment ever created (within their own manga titles)? The best powers or weapons are exclusive only to the good guys, that or the rarest power/weapon. Tell me you have not noticed that in manga recently. The three previous manga examples follow this concept to the brim. Rare wind element and technique for Naruto, rare parasitic weapon for Allen, and one of two eye weapons only Teito can handle. This special concept works well with fated characters better than others since prophesies give special properties to destined characters.

Too “Perfect” to Relate to

I already talked about the moral side of characters, but maybe there is a personal level with the reader that keeps it at a distance. These good guy characters have their complex plotlines but when it comes to their personality and sense of justice/morals, maybe the reader just tunes out. No one is perfect, but the connection with a damn near perfect fictional character can make the reader distance themselves from reading any more. The leading character has little to no flaws, and the reader may feel inadequate with their own flaws weighing more than this prefect. This seems like a long shot, but maybe that is why Superman is less popular than Batman.

I probably was stretching the last one a bit, but I said a few reasons not a couple. Next time we will explore the terrible cliches of shoujo girls. Which one, I don’t know yet. But if you have something to add on the good guy cliche, please write in. Would love to hear from you.

I was just recently thinking about a canceled show that had a great storyline and concept behind it. That show was My Name is Earl.

The show started with a white trash hick named Earl Hickey who did petty crimes for a living. One day he wins the lottery, one of the scratching ticket types. Shortly after, he gets hit by a car and the wind blows away his winning ticket. In the hospital, his cheating wife wants a divorce and is left with nothing but a bruised up body. He watches a show that introduces him to “karma” and decides to start cleaning up his act. He makes a list of every bad thing he has done and corrects his past actions one by one (there was a lot of things he did bad). “Karma” took note of his change and let him have his winning ticket back. And thus he continued on with his Karma crusade…until the show got canned.

The only reason I bring this up is because it sounds like a great concept for a comic book, even a manga adaptation. It doesn’t have to be the exact same story, mind you, but something like it. Every story arc would involve a character like Earl Hickey trying to make up for all the bad things he has done over the years. A character who doesn’t go about righting the wrongs because of morals, but because he wants to. I know manga titles have some characters that act like moral compasses, Naruto and Allen Walker for example, but they are so outdone. Aren’t you sick and tired of reading themes of “belief“, “justice“, and saving the weak as the main characters’ reason of actions or living? Too extreme if you ask me. How about a small reason, even a selfish one will do. He or she rights their wrongs so they can live a better life. Justice and all that other crap come into play when the character starts correcting the list.

I bring this up because last year (or the past spring) there were a lot of canceled shows, three of which I watched and loved. All three of them, including Earl, had great storylines, characters, and potential. I was so sad to see them go, but if they ever were revived, even in comic book form, I would be the happiest girl around. I know that’s how Buffy fans felt, the comic adaptations are quite the hit.

Any TV shows you wished had a chance to finish their storylines? Or any thoughts or feelings about adaptations from small screen to print? We want to hear them.

This is a genuine question that I’m curious about: is reading manga seen as feminine? I mean socially.

If you want my view on the question, I’m going to have to say yes. I don’t have the statistics on the number of female and male readers, though I assume that there are more female readers than male readers. I’ve seen girls browse manga sections of book stores where boys tend to browse the graphic novel and tradeback section. I wondered whether it was a social thing. Though the reason to my thinking is because of one thing. That thing is shojo manga. I think female readers want to read comic books, but don’t have a specific genre played out to them.

Many male audience enjoy action movies, whereas many female audience enjoy “chick flicks” (and some like both). That audience I just described have a niche that would like to read comics targeted to them, but there isn’t much of that going on in American comics. That is where shojo comes in. Even though they shouldn’t, they do read those comics.

No, my observation isn’t scientific. Nor should you take it as a truth. However, this is what I think and that is what I want to hear from you guys. Now I’ll shut up and let you have the floor.

Note: I’ve been updating the post to clarify and clean up a few things, though I keep my original view on the matter.