The manga touch is everywhere
Novel for ages 10-14
Japanese popular culture is definately having an influence on North America (and I'm not just talking sushi). Most major books stores (like Chapters/Indigo) now have a manga section (English translations of Japanese, novel-length, comic-style illustrated stories -- Yugioh, Full Metal Alchemist, Bleach, etc.), and the influence of manga style is creeping into the drawings and imaginations of kids everywhere. Japanese anime (animated versions of manga) perhaps plays an even bigger role, with so many Japanese series being shown on North American TV.
What's the difference between Japanese manga and North American comic books? First off, manga tends to be much longer than American style comic books, with black and white interior illustrations, a wider variety of story types to choose from (sports, school stories, science fiction and fantasy adventures, adult love stories, etc.), and manga is read from back to front and right to left. Then there's the style of illustration. Big eyed, spikey-haired characters are a definate trend in many Japanese manga, but other styles also exist.
In Japan, both men and women, and people of all ages and tastes, read manga. In the past, you would see train loads of Japanese commuters with their noses in manga books, but today these same commuters are just as likely (if not more likely) to be staring at the video screen on their cell phones. Apparently, manga reading has gone down in Japan, while In North America and the rest of the world it has steadily risen. Many kids in North America have been introduced to manga through the animated versions (anime) they see on TV (Pokemon, Yugioh, Card Captor Sakura, etc.). Kids who love to read will pick up manga along with other books, but for kids (especially boys) who don't like to read, manga may be just the thing to entice them away (even for a short while) from video games and into the imaginative world of the printed page.
If you want to know more or see the "manga basics" in visual form, check out the latest print or online issue of WIRED magazine (issue 15:11: MANGA CONQUERS AMERICA). Here are the links:
www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-11/ff_manga_101 (manga explained)
www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2007/1511_ff_manga (Wired’s visual history of manga in America, illustrated manga style)
www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-11/ff_manga?currentPage=1 (feature article: “Japan Ink: inside the manga industrial complex” by Daniel H. Pink)
Note: my own novel, MANGA TOUCH, isn't manga itself, but is a novel about a manga-loving North American girl's visit to Japan. It's part of Orca publisher's high interest, low vocabulary series, designed to appeal to reluct readers ages 10-14.
My manga portrait avatar is by Vancouver manga artist Nina Matsumoto, who did the pencil drawings of the manga version of the Simpsons in the Bongo SIMPSONS Comic #131 (see image below). You can check out more of Nina's manga art at:
www.spacecoyote.com/
spacecoyote.deviantart.com/art/The-Simpsonzu-46036660
