Not against the medium I consume it.
But it occurred to me that there seems to be a lot more exposure to anime and manga largely thanks to services like crunchyroll and manga reader services, this includes physical sales as well.
It’s just that you’d think say, Superman would be more stupidly popular since everyone knows who he is than someone such as Lelouch from Code Geass.
Is it because comics just doesn’t have the same spark with the younger generation? Or is it because there are a billion different issues of comics so it makes manga more streamlined?
I would like to know your thoughts as I am quite curious about this phenomenon, since even in the early 2000s I was into anime, and you could get your fix from non legit services via the Internet, but I’m sure as shit it didn’t hit this mainstream until the mid 2010s and now the roaring 2020s.
At least from my perspective, manga and anime are mediums. They can be used to tell any story, and they are used like that. You can find manga and anime for any age group and in any genre. The medium is used for all kinds of stuff.
The problem with western comics and cartoons is that (at least from what I know), the medium is mostly only targetting kids or it’s superhero comics. It’s just so very limited.
For example, I’m currently watching Ancient Magus Bride. It’s a very non-traditional romance story in a fantasy setting with interesting characters and emotional dynamics. So far I’m really enjoying it. I simply can’t imagine a western cartoon/comic even attempting to produce a similar thing. Or well, perhaps I can imagine it but it just doesn’t happen for some reason.
Go to a comic store and ask for some recommendations that prove this take wildly wrong.
That said, it’s an understandable one. Believe it or not, anime, manga, and freaking video games all once had a similar perception, but for some reason western comics just haven’t broken out of it.
I dunno “comics” in the US are still mostly superhero stuff. Once you get into the non-superhero stuff it generally gets referred to as “graphic novels”. Maybe that term is used only to separate it from the superhero image, or it may have to do with syndication and release schedules? I’m not entirely sure.
Right, I don’t doubt that some might exist. But it’s a minority of what’s available.
Also I doubt any of it is serialized as a TV cartoon show in the same sense that animes are made from mangas. But I’d love to be proven wrong :)
There’s actually quite a lot (maybe not by Japanese standards, but more than you’d think). Forgive the listacle, but, for example: https://collider.com/iconic-films-based-off-of-comics/
https://screenrant.com/tv-series-shows-didnt-realize-know-surprise-based-comics-graphic-novels/
And that’s part of the image problem. Hollywood decided that “based on a comic” wasn’t a selling point if it’s not about superheroes, where it doesn’t need to be stated, so they frequently don’t mention it.
That’s interesting, thanks!