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Manga: The first thing you look for?

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Kadri
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« on: June 16, 2010, 06:30:07 pm »

There are lots of things that make a manga lover pick up a new book. It could be the amazing cover, or the plot, or maybe even just the hype.

What's the first thing you look at when you're shopping around for a new title? Is it the fantastic art, or are you just hooked on a certain manga-ka? Is it all about the story? Or did you just hear that it's a fabulous read?

~

In my case, the first thing that always catches my eye when I'm in the bookstore is the art. I'm really picky, so if I don't find the style appealing it's very hard for me to get into the actual storyline because I'm so busy being bored/disgusted by the art. (Wow, I sound like a snob now. Ha ha!) But it's the story synopsis, and sometimes a quick flip-through, that really seals the deal for me.

Once I've actually read the first of something, my attention automatically goes to the story--and if I'm not at least semi-interested after the first book (or even the first half), it's doubtful that I'll continue reading it... even if it's the prettiest eye candy I've ever seen or I hear great things about the series.

And on a strange and interesting note, popularity and "hype" have the opposite effect on me that it has on scads of other people: it's a total turn-off. If the public is raving about it, I'm usually less likely to buy it. To this day, I still haven't brought myself to read Naruto, Bleach, or Saiyuki, or continue Azumanga Daioh, Inu-Yasha, or Fushigi Yugi. Does anyone else have this sort of problem?
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« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2010, 07:14:36 pm »

Well let me see, for me it has to be the story more than anything else. i mean if the snyopsis looks interesting i wil pick it up and give the first chapter a read or whatever.

Then the next thing i look it is the art and layout of the pages. I mean even if the art is fantastic, i can't stand it if the bubles are off and i can't actually figure out who is saying what. it needs to flow properly and the art needs to be apealing and have enough detail that i can get suttle face cahnges and such.

now to answer your question about the popularity thing. this is the only anime-manga discusion place i go and the people around me don't exactly talk about it, so i just read what i read and then i find out if its popular won't change my opinion. but with everything else i am like you, i am way way more reluctant to pick up on the hottest thing then everyone else. I mean it wasn't till this year that i started lost. and some other t.v. shows that everyone else was like "omg you ahve to watch this or you will die." so yes i do ahve that problem, i like to dicover things at my own pace and go by my own then what everyone else thinks. i mean if i like something i stick with it and such, i mean if that wasn't the case i would ahve dropped out of the anime-manga life long long ago.
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« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2010, 08:42:58 pm »

well on the popularity thing I kinda agree (I pride myself as the only person I know to watch one ep of lost and be like "f*ck this show" and never watched another ep!) but if people keep raving about it and I'm done with the ones I'm reading or they get slow, then I see what the big deal is. Honestly most manga are popular for a reason, with great art, wonderful characters, and a great plot.

Now back to the matter at hand. 1 thing that makes me pick up the manga at first are the characters. Yep, the characters. These are the people that I will be seeing the most in a manga and if I cant relate to them, or like them then the manga already is lost on me. I supppose you could contribute that in part to art but I'll pick up a manga and think, "hmm, these characters look pretty cool! wonder what it's about?"

Now as far as what I expect out of characters and plot I take from mr. Stan lee: "to a reader, every issue is the 1st issue" The story should engross in each chapter so that I laugh at the ecchi jokes and cry when my fav characters die (even though most of those in 90s manga were cop-outs and you'd rarely see a character die. You'd just watch something explode near them and you assumed them dead, leaving little closure for both us and the characters, I call this the 'Gundam Syndrome.')it compels me to read more to the point I'm like "what?! I cant wait a f*ckin month! I need to know what's next!!" and this is in large part to the characters. I want character development folks. both static and dynamic. If a bad guy is bad: LET HIM BE BAD! I swear nothing makes me drop a manga more than where they cop out on the villian's cruelty on his deathbed and blame it on something like 'I was never hugged as a child.' Now dont get me wrong but soem people can make this work, like how blood+ redeemed Diva or in Death note how they had L appear to Light as he died saying nothing and implying he had forgiven Light and was prepared to guide him into the afterlife (which was very well done), but generally most fail when they do, and it's a pretty much a big middle finger to both the character and the fans who love them. Also if you span a comic over several years I want to see the main character physically change and grow as a person (Kishimoto, you magnificent bastard you do this the best!....to...some of your characters) if a title character is a douche as a kid I dont want to see him as a douche 3 yrs from now!!! Some argue that that would be an example of characters stayin true to themselves...but it isnt. As the main character you expect him/her to change and grow along with the world he lives in.

And that's it for my rant for now. btw expect me to create a thread about this subject later. Oh and if it sounds like Im a critic that's because I am when it comes to what I love. I expect the best out of my manga and when those demands are met, I generally enjoy the manga and thank it for the experience it gives me.
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« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2010, 04:46:21 pm »

now to answer your question about the popularity thing. this is the only anime-manga discusion place i go and the people around me don't exactly talk about it, so i just read what i read and then i find out if its popular won't change my opinion.

I'm with you there, at least... if I've already read something and really enjoyed it, and then it becomes hugely popular (or I find out it's got a major following), it's not going to change my opinion about the story.

Although I did end up dropping the Inu-Yasha series around volume 20ish... but that was more because I was sick of the way Takahashi was dragging out the story (and the animators were trying to draaaag out the anime with fillers) than because of the fanbase. Now that the series has finally ended, I've toyed with trying to pick it back up again (although I looked up the ending out of curiosity already)... but so far, I just can't bring myself to go back and reread/rewatch it through to the end. =/

Honestly most manga are popular for a reason, with great art, wonderful characters, and a great plot.

I agree with you there, but for some reason I still have a lot of trouble getting my head into a lot of the popular manga out there. I can't decide if it's the hype that's turning me off, or if it's just that the characters or the plot doesn't appeal to me, personally. I've given it some thought, and I'm beginning to think it may be a combination of both.

Now as far as what I expect out of characters and plot I take from mr. Stan lee: "to a reader, every issue is the 1st issue" The story should engross in each chapter so that I laugh at the ecchi jokes and cry when my fav characters die (even though most of those in 90s manga were cop-outs and you'd rarely see a character die. You'd just watch something explode near them and you assumed them dead, leaving little closure for both us and the characters, I call this the 'Gundam Syndrome.')it compels me to read more to the point I'm like "what?! I cant wait a f*ckin month! I need to know what's next!!" and this is in large part to the characters. I want character development folks. both static and dynamic. If a bad guy is bad: LET HIM BE BAD! I swear nothing makes me drop a manga more than where they cop out on the villian's cruelty on his deathbed and blame it on something like 'I was never hugged as a child.' Now dont get me wrong but soem people can make this work, like how blood+ redeemed Diva or in Death note how they had L appear to Light as he died saying nothing and implying he had forgiven Light and was prepared to guide him into the afterlife (which was very well done), but generally most fail when they do, and it's a pretty much a big middle finger to both the character and the fans who love them. Also if you span a comic over several years I want to see the main character physically change and grow as a person (Kishimoto, you magnificent bastard you do this the best!....to...some of your characters) if a title character is a douche as a kid I dont want to see him as a douche 3 yrs from now!!! Some argue that that would be an example of characters stayin true to themselves...but it isnt. As the main character you expect him/her to change and grow along with the world he lives in.

I totally agree with you here. There is nothing worse (okay, maybe there are a few things that are worse, but still) than trying to support a story with static characters. I like to see the progress that the characters make throughout the series, and compare what they were like at the beginning of the story to what they became by the end. If the artist/author doesn't bother to develop their characters, I think the story becomes less believable and it probably makes it hard for them to move the story forward (which could account for stories that drag or slowly become more boring the longer they continue on).
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« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2010, 05:24:40 pm »

Exactly, after inyasha realized that he loved Kagome and didnt hate humans anymore they had NO IDEA what to do with his character. And what makes it worse is that the same was all the rest. once the characters reach the peak of development (in volume 15ish) they have no idea what to do further and the characters plateau. And the plot is soon to follow. At least with ranma 1/2 you saw Ranma make gradual process to maturity.

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« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2010, 05:43:06 pm »

Exactly, after inyasha realized that he loved Kagome and didnt hate humans anymore they had NO IDEA what to do with his character. And what makes it worse is that the same was all the rest. once the characters reach the peak of development (in volume 15ish) they have no idea what to do further and the characters plateau. And the plot is soon to follow.

Exactly!! I just wish that when an artist/author reaches that point, they would understand that they either need to create some new and interesting developments... or start wrapping up the loose-ends and finish the story a few (or several) volumes early.

Though, rushing the end of a manga can be just as bad as dragging it out. For instance, the Chobits manga... I like the CLAMP team and I really enjoyed the beginning and the middle of that series, but when they started moving towards the ending it was like "BAM! It's over!" and I was left going "Uhhhh... that was really disappointing and weak... were they trying to make a deadline or something?" =/

At least with ranma 1/2 you saw Ranma make gradual process to maturity.

Well, and the good thing about Ranma 1/2 was... there were SO many other characters and little side-stories for Takahashi to delve into. It gave her a lot of leeway when she was creating scenarios and disasters for Ranma, and there was a lot of room for comedy--which, in my personal opinion, was probably the main selling point for me. XD
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« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2010, 07:54:29 pm »

Either a heavy focus on psychology and mentality, or good art. A mix of the two catches my eye rather quickly. See: Death Note.
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« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2010, 06:09:30 pm »

I try not to be someone who judges books by covers; However, that being said, having some awesome cover art really would help to get your book read. Especially be me. To me, it's the sense that the Cover Art is the tone setter for the rest of the content of the manga. If you're cover art is underwhelming, that doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of your piece is going to be as such, but it does show that you have a penchant for bad advertising. That being said, the actual artwork is another element that has to be appealing to me. I understand that in certain instances, certain design elements are made to encompass a certain tone, as is the case for most comedic mangas, where the artwork is a bit under par, but does't hurt the overall experience. That being said, the same leniency cannot be attested to manga of other genre's.
But i think the overall deal-breaker/sealer is the story. A mangaka can have the greatest artwork and cover design this side of a Marylin Manson album, but if your story doesn't captivate....thats pretty much it. In a non-manga related example, this was such a case with FFXIII: The cover was simple, yet elegant, and graphically it puts any next gen console in it paces. But the story......<__<;


So there's my 2 1/2 cents
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« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2010, 06:17:11 pm »

Well personally, its the title that catches my eye. That, and the subject matter. I,m highly prone to read paranormal romance mangas or those high school lovey-dovey ones. Or dramatic ones. Smiley I'm a jack of a all trades for reading manga.
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« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2010, 06:32:06 pm »

Well the cover/title is what catches my eye first. If it's clever or cool looking I'll pick it up and take a look at the synop.
then if that sounds good enough the next step is to flip through the pages and see if the art style is legible. A good example of this would be a lot of Clamp manga. They use really thick outlines and a lot of times it can be hard to discern what's going on in the panel. Then if the manga passes that test it's time to read through the first chapter. If that's good enough then I take it home.

Sadly though I haven't been able to afford a new manga in years. I've had to resort to reading off of MangaFox. Which is sad because it's so much nice to have a hard copy right in your hands.
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« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2010, 01:28:49 pm »

Sadly though I haven't been able to afford a new manga in years. I've had to resort to reading off of MangaFox. Which is sad because it's so much nice to have a hard copy right in your hands.

I totally sympathize with you, Xi. I had to stop buying manga about two years ago, do to financial constraints and a severe lack of bookshelf space. XD

Since I've stopped shopping for hard copies in B&N, it's been really, really hard for me to pick out new titles... because when you're online, it's not like you can just pick up a book and read the synopsis and do a flip-through. I've had to rely on luck and boredom to get me through to my next series. v__v;
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« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2010, 10:52:59 am »

Story- self-explaniotry. doesn't have a in depth story line, not gonna catch my attention span.

art style- same with kadri, If I don't like the art style I really can't get into the story.

Main character- If I don't like the main character its pretty much a wrap.

Originality- probably the biggest one, seeing how this is what gets me to actually pick up the book. when I'm skimming through the shelf or scrolling online in my head I'm going ' ninjas...blah blah blah...highschool romance...blah blah blah...some guy with a sword..blah blah blah...guy finds book where whoever's name is written inside dies. hmm thats new".
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