Revision of Manga Blog

Manga is a topic that I've always been very interested in. I've been reading it for as long as I can remember. It started when I was younger and watching anime on cartoon network. Sailor Moon and Pokemon and Cardcaptor Sakura were the ones that I would watch. Then when I found out that they made comic forms of all of those, I was amazed. Of course I didn't know that with a majority of animes, the manga came first... But I didn't realize that at the time. I was just reading them because I loved the series that I had seen on television and now was getting to read it with more interesting story lines and things that hadn't happened in the anime. What came next was realizing how much manga I could buy at comic stores and book stores like Barnes and Nobles. Once I found their comic and graphic novel section, I wanted to go there all the time. I started reading primarily shounen or shojo mangas. I liked getting to read adventures with a hint of romantic capacities between the two main characters. I would always wish that I was in such series and that's actually what got me to start drawing. I would try and draw myself as a sailor moon character, or a pokemon trainer.

By the time I was fifteen I had about 200 volumes of manga. I would collect series as they were released, wanting to know what was happening next to the characters and what sort of plot twist was coming for me. But now that I look back on it, most mangas are incredibly repetitive. Take InuYasha by Rumiko for instance. It was one of the other series that I read all the time. I loved the characters and what would happen to them. But taking a second glance, it's all the same. The characters fight some evil lackey and yet never defeat the main bad guy. They think they do, but it's just a fake. It's just the same thing happening over and over again. Pokemon is another example of that. They fight and overcome their adversaries, but nothing really changes. And maybe that's something that works in the series. People do like stability. But I feel it's just the author using the same devices over and over, just changing it slightly so that it's not exactly the same. I find that's the case in most shounen or shoujo mangas. It's not exactly that I have a problem with that. It can work. But it's just something that I notice.

That's probably what's lost my interest in reading most manga now a days. I used to read the mall the time, but now I don't really. Sometimes I'll get on mangafox.com or onemanga.com and see if there's anything I can pick up and read online. I do wish I had found these sites back when I was collecting manga. That really would have helped my parents with not having to spend all that money on me. Plus, I'm on my laptop quite often when I have nothing else to do. It's just so much easier reading through scanlation sites. And there's the added bonus of getting to read them when they're released in Japan. No longer do you have to wait for the next volume to come to the US. That would take so much longer than reading it online. The manga is usually released by chapter in Japan, so someone scans it and translates it and thus it's on the internet for me to read. Otherwise I would have to wait for all the chapters to come out in Japan before they put the volume together for the US to produce. Thank you, internet.

Although I do not read much manga any more, like I said before, I do keep up with certain ones. There is one series that I still occasionally buy in the store. This is Minekura's Saiyuki. The story is basically about four guys traveling and having to fight demons. It falls under the category that I mentioned before. It's the same plot basically redressed and redone over and over. But for some reason, I really just enjoy reading it. There are about three series within Saiyuki and I try to stay caught up on them. I would read them all online, but I find there a surprising lack of scanlations for a manga that's fairly well known. So because I like to keep up with the series, I have to buy them in stores. And I understand why some people say actually collecting the volumes are that much better... But I don't really care about that. Reading online saves me money and I still get the same story. So it works well enough for me.

I think the main reason why I keep up with manga is to see the development. Yes, the plots might just be redone multiple times, but it's amazing to get to see an artist's style develop over time. They might start off with weak drawings, but after continuing the story over years and years of chapters, their art can get amazing. Minekura is an example of that. Her style was rough and inaccurate when I first started reading Saiyuki. But now in her most recent chapters, it's a style that has become amazing and purposeful. Clamp has a style that I enjoy revisiting as well. Although their art hasn't really changed that much for me over the time of me reading their work, I find their stories to be the development I want to catch up on. I find them one of the few manga creators that can keep my interest by story alone. I don't see it very repetitive. And with all the work that Clamp has done, I like getting to see what they'll come up with next.

Manga is something I may be slowly growing out of, but it's made a big impact on my life. I would never have started drawing so much if I hadn't discovered it.