Let's talk a bit about manga in our fair United States of America.
Obviously it's popular, obviously people enjoy reading it. (Its
impact on the domestic comics industry is a topic for another day, and
its contribution to the entire discourse on Japan-as-exporter-of-cool
is something else again.)
I've read a lot of manga. It doesn't make me an expert -- I'm
terrible at marketing -- but I'm willing to shove my ideas out and see
what people make of them.
The thing about buying manga here in the U.S. is that it's
considerably less a part of daily life, and as such is subject to the
same sort of market forces that ultimately destroy everything that
doesn't quite manage to attain ubiquity.
Part of the problem is that manga, like anime, is designed with giant,
overarching storylines. That's part of what people like about it, but
it also presents a challenge to the bookstore -- suddenly they've got
to keep, say, 26 volumes of Kenshin in stock, if they don't want
people thinking "I'll just buy it from Amazon."
Another issue with manga is that, now that the novelty's worn off,
it's obvious that the stuff is disposable pop culture. This is not high
art -- this is a form shaped by deadlines and market forces. A lot of
manga, especially the latter parts of longer series, is just not very
good, in the abstract.
And yet some of it is very good indeed. I don't think manga is
doomed. I think it's just fine, really. But I don't believe that it
can be more than a niche market for the foreseeable future.
words from chris, 2009-01-24 02:42:10, los angeles
