One day at a garage sale, I was selling some of my old manga and a middle-aged woman came up to look through the box. Surprised, I asked if she was interested in anything. Instead of being an older fan, she replied with—no joke—a snort and a toss of her sizeable hair: “Oh, no, I don’t want him reading any more of this stuff. I’m trying to get my kid away from it. He reads enough of it as it is.” Her nose wrinkled up. Her hands flew from the bindings of the manga like they were on fire. She walked away to look at socks. My manga remained alone in its box.
Now, this is an attitude I find as unfortunate as it is endemic. My grandmother, a librarian in a small town for decades, takes a different approach to comics and manga: “Let kids read whatever they want; at least they’re reading. They’ll eventually get curious and move on to the denser books.” I couldn’t agree more. In this country, manga has many misleading reputations, such as being for just kids or being all pornographic. Neither are true. Manga titles span all age groups and are typically deeper than many novels I’ve read. This brings us to today’s topic: Wait a minute, manga has literary value? How so?
Many of the manga that come to America have won prestigious manga prizes in Japan for both literary content and art, or are by authors who have won such prizes. By “literary” or “literature” I mean what would be considered at writing schools in this country as the merits of classic literature—good characters, says something about life that is inescapably true; the plot connects all its pieces; there are memorable lines; there are rich settings. Furthermore, a majority of that same manga that comes to America, by virtue of being an export, is what is considered some of the best. Unlike certain popular novels of recent that shall remain unnamed, most manga, in order to have done well in Japan in the first place, have to be worthwhile in some aspect of their art and story, in order to have been successful. This is not always the case, but most manga available at a box store by and large will have literary and artistic value in a higher percentage than the novels at the same bookstore. (The term “junk novel” describes this phenomenon.)
Manga is, at worst, no worse than bad novels, but, unlike novels, even the worst bad manga is at least still artistic by definition. In addition, bad novels can destroy one’s desire to read, but most bad manga just cause people to stop reading that manga. And if it is a bad manga, one can always put it down (which cannot always be said for antagonistic books one has to read for class). I am a copious reader, and I have had since my teenage years a hard time finding novels that are written well enough that I can stand to read them. With manga, on the other hand, I rarely have that problem, and I am immensely glad that there is something for me.
Manga has been on the American comic scene for over 20 years now, and as a sign of their value to the literary community, libraries all across the country are gathering collections of manga for interested readers. They are even being studied in American universities. The fact that a person decides they want to read something means they feel they’re getting something from it, even if it’s just entertainments from boredom. But, if you’re worried or confused about what your scion or friend is reading—read it, too. I’ve heard this argument with movies and TV as well: if someone wants to watch something (within reason for the age), let them, but watch it with them, and then ask what they thought about it. If you think they picked up something strange in the reading or viewing, steer them back toward what you would have liked them to notice.
Almost every anime and manga fan I know, including myself, wished that their parents were more supportive of their interest in manga, and I would have loved to share it with my parents like this. That’s not to say it’s wise to preempt a reader’s enjoyment, but a little bit of guidance isn’t bad, and this would give a window into where a child or friend is emotionally, without risking reading their diary. We all know we like to hide our feelings from others, because we want them to see how tough we are and don’t want to seem like a disappointment. Shared readership of a manga or watching of an anime (even just in part) opens doors to things to talk about at the dinner table.
Manga is a medium that encompasses a vast array of genres and age groups, philosophies, themes, and morals, often much deeper than equivalent-age material produced in the United States. Parental or friend support for a teen (or adult’s) interest reads as the parent’s support of them, so a better approach than the good but misguided woman at my garage sale would be to share and foster her child’s decision to learn through manga and anime, and make it something she and her child could bond over. If one is not afraid to go to the library for manga, just like my grandmother’s decades of librarianship offers, one won’t be afraid to pick up novels when one’s ready.
interesting article, i agree with you americans really dont give manga the respect it deserves. Maybe someday people will be more open about different forms of art and literature
The great thing about reading is that in includes a wide spectrum of genres, none being either more or less. I’ve always considered manga a form of reading equal to any other kind of reading, even if it’s in a different form. There are some kids who might not read if it wasn’t for manga so to me reading is reading. There’s also a lot of educational value in manga (which surprises some), especially as titles like With the Light (amazing series on Autism) or even more mainstream titles like Rurouni Kenshin have historical knowledge or even Black Jack with medical knowledge. Excellent and insightful post btw
Manga is about the only books I read. I am 24 years old and hate reading. But if has good drawnings and sucks me into the first 5 pages, I’m there and I’ll buy it. I don’t know why you think that Americans don’t show respect towards books. What kind of respect are you looking for? Are you the one that writes the books. I like Manga and I like Anime, but not a whole lot of people can understand nor read Japenese.
Not everyone enjoys a story. It’s just like if one person to like Lord of the rings, and another person to like Harry Potter but neither to like both. Also some people look at it as their kids reading comic books all day. Don’t be offended by it. She just doesnt know what she’s missing. Some of those comic books and the Anime that I view, most women have like a size DD chest. If the mother would have had a daughter, I am pretty sure she would have bought from you. I am not to force my daughter into reading manga or not reading it, I have a very open mind, but as you might not realize, many people in this country dont have that open mind. That’s why schools wont teach japanese, nor will the disatisfaction and disappointment of this country improve itself. To each is own. Oh, and I am definately not afraid to go to the library for manga or any other store to get them. Just be glad that the kid has found a way to own and possibly worship the manga he has.
Also notice how its only been 20 years. Do you think after 20 years of the african american/black people were accepted by most people? Its only been 20 years. try again in about another 50-75 years, you wont find anyone who hate’s manga.
A lot of people don’t understand that manga is as diverse as novels. I still enjoy reading a fun manga on and off and I’m in university.
Where is your submissions guidelines…all i see is line-ups of books.
Where is the guidelines where you can sumit work to del-rey or Suduvu?
Allen, Del Rey Books and Spectra do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. To submit to them, they require you to go through an agent. A quick Google search should help you figure out what agent might be represent your work. Good luck with the process!
I’m an adult and I love manga and anime. The stories are are in many ways like life a mixture of deep emotions, thoughts, humor and heartbreaking tragedy and loss . The Japanese don’t typically go for the “they lived happily ever after” opting instead for more complex characters where even the hero has doubts and flaws to overcome . That when it comes to people, relationships, love or war things are never black and white (good or bad) but instead many shades of gray .
I have grown children and have come to enjoy manga. It took some time to acclimate to chibi humor inserted at the oddest of times, but after I became accustomed to it, I found much depth in the emotions of the characters. I don’t care for tragedy – a favorite of the Japanese and the current fad – so I limit my reading. Most bookstores have very little in the way of novels that I would find worth my time to read. It is much easier for me to find online unpublished stories that I can enjoy. I only hope that the publishing industry catches on. Some are. Amazon and Penguin are providing outlets for unpublished authors and have found gems amongst the ridiculous. It might benefit Random House to do the same, and that would include manga. Perhaps many like me – the average person who has enough difficulties in life without having their fantasy worlds destroyed by death – would find something worthwhile to read.
As a school librarian, I appreciate your shout-out to libraries as early adopters…and I would have liked to have met your grandmother! She sounds like a cool lady! I’m planning to teach a high school class on graphic novels, anime & manga and am looking forward to introducing more of my students to manga especially. Your article is both supportive and inspiring!
I find very little literary merit in most manga I’ve read. The majority of what I’ve read is disposable junk. It’s just my favorite characters in my favorite situations over and over again until the end of time. Or 56 volumes. Which ever comes first. It’s like the exploitation films of the 70s, just in print with nice drawings. And there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with that. Everybody needs their comfort food. We all like to have pb&j or macaroni and cheese every once in a while, but by itself that kind of food doesn’t make for a very satisfactory diet. I just wish that hardcore manga fans would stop trying to make manga some deep form of art that holds unlimited wisdom. It isn’t and it doesn’t have to be.