Image of Manga in Ireland

ztoical

Hey Guys,

I'm going to have some of my comic work in a show at the Manga Museum in Kyoto and I was just told I need to write a 2 to 3 page essay about the comics scene in Ireland to go with the work. One of the questions I was asked to cover is:

"are manga popular in your country, could you also explain briefly which are the most popular ones, what image people have of manga, etc.."

Any comments on what people think the image of manga in Ireland is and what people think are the more popular titles would be much appreciated.

Varkov

Its all just violent kids shows and porn.

jackdaw

It's complete TWADDLE ..

tread_softly

well because it's not that widespread but the two types of manga reader i've come across are:

1) the person who tries to read it on a bus/train etc. and gets looked at funny for their weird book and feels slightly uncomfortable i.e me.

and

2) the person who reads it on a bus/train etc. and makes a point of holding the book right in front of their face so everyone can see how cool, unique and different they are for reading a book that GOES BACKWARDS!


it doesn't really have and image per se, manga isn't as popular as anime (unfortunately) but it essentially could be viewed as the pimply faced weirdo amongst the popular, good looking rugby player "proper" american comic books.

(don't put that in your paper!)

IMO, manga is just something you get into, like a hobby. some people play football, i stay indoors with the curtains closed and my stack of del ray beside me

popular titles, easy: bleach, naruto, fruits basket, deathnote. we don't get as big a choice as other countries would, we mostly get the "mainstream" ones and then a few other gems.

SmileyPaul

tread_softly wrote: »

well because it's not that widespread but the two types of manga reader i've come across are:

1) the person who tries to read it on a bus/train etc. and gets looked at funny for their weird book and feels slightly uncomfortable i.e me.

and

2) the person who reads it on a bus/train etc. and makes a point of holding the book right in front of their face so everyone can see how cool, unique and different they are for reading a book that GOES BACKWARDS!


it doesn't really have and image per se, manga isn't as popular as anime (unfortunately) but it essentially could be viewed as the pimply faced weirdo amongst the popular, good looking rugby player "proper" american comic books.

(don't put that in your paper!)

IMO, manga is just something you get into, like a hobby. some people play football, i stay indoors with the curtains closed and my stack of del ray beside me

popular titles, easy: bleach, naruto, fruits basket, deathnote. we don't get as big a choice as other countries would, we mostly get the "mainstream" ones and then a few other gems.

I feel that its a segment in life which is slowly but surely getting more popular in irish life

fair enough people love watching anime
but i know several people (not including myself) who got into manga through anime and slowly but surely its growing
again as above the choice isn't really there but at least we have a choice

Zeouterlimits

I'd consider manga an unknown quantity in Ireland.
I would have to say that manga are japanese 'comics' before someone would comprehend what I was talking about. As for the most popular it would be the big TokyoPop titles like Fruits Basket etc & probably the Viz titles like Naruto & Bleach.

Saruwatari

Interesting...
Hm. I guess it's popular, but mostly with teenagers, no doubt. Roughly, I'd say there's a only a handful of people in every secondary school that read manga (less than 20 in mine, I'd say). I think it's more widespread popularity has only hit us recently due to book wholesalers stocking Tokyopop manga (I say only Tokyopop because that's all there ever was a few years ago in the likes of Easons). Viz Media's catalog has made it into a few more bookshops a while back, both of which account for the best-sellers in at the moment (with the likes of Naruto, Bleach and Death Note from Viz, and Fruits Basket and other Shojo titles from Tokyopop).

Tokyopop clearly sees some sort of market in Ireland, as recently they began to host several Tokyopop ReCons in Easons throughout Ireland. I attended one for the sake of interest (I'm not a big fan of TP, for many reasons), and there were at least 30 people there (in the O' Connell Street one).
Easons seem to stock way more TP stuff now since those Recons (the same old crap, annoyingly), so that's something to say.
Another thing you could mention are the manga and anime conventions here in Ireland; Eirtaku and Tomo-Dachi, which have proved to be popular.

To be honest, I don't think there's enough of a variety of manga to choose from. A lot of it is the typical Shonen and Shojo fare and very mainstream stuff, that don't appeal to older folks and people like me who enjoy Seinen and more alternative manga from the publishers like Fanfare, Vertical and Last Gasp.Though for a non-manga specialist to stock those kind of titles very risky for business. The only normal bookstore I've seen that stocked some decent amount of Seinen material is Borders in Blanchardstown, and a little in Chapters. A lot of aisles are still taken up by Tokyopop crap that no-one buys and Shojo, but then again there's almost always a Gothic-dressed girl checking out DNangel or Yaoi etc., very rarely ever a middle-aged bearded nerd. That's possibly why we rarely ever see people on the comics forum here discussing in the manga/anime as much.

As for popular manga, well, I'd say a load of Yaoi and Shojo (Nana, .hack, Fruits Basket) and Shonen like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragonball and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Elle Victorine

I think it's slowly growing in popularity but whenever I see any manga it's usually the ones Saruwatari mentioned above me. Other than that there's not much diversity but I don't think I've ever experienced the kinds of reactions tread_softly has. I've only felt uncomfortable in the "other realms" type shops when I go in there to look for anything good.


As for the division between those who read manga and graphic novels you could be right but in my experience, those of my friends who read one read the other just they are more involved in graphic novels because they have had these at their disposal growing up. manga was just a kind of afterthough once they had seen an anime series they thought was deadly.

Blisterman

Well, if you want my opinion as a person who knows very little about Manga, or the whole scene.

I used to think a lot of it was very strange. The sterotypical image, I've always had when I thought of, when I think of manga is of underaged school girls being raped by tentacles.

I know, now that that's only a small minority of it, and that it's relatively broad in what it's about. Probably more so than American comics, which seem to me, to be all about superheroes.

The typical image I would have had of an anime fan, would be of a quiet unathletic nerdish person, who would be probably into computers, live at home, play World of Warcraft.

I'd also have thought of them as slightly obsessive, attending conventions, dressing up as characters, writing fan fiction, etc.

But I personally know two different people who are fans of it, who are nothing like that, so I'd say it's safe to assume, that there's a sizable number who aren't.

I do think society as a whole, would consider it to be, like a lot of things, quite a sad hobby. Which is really just a big double standard. Is there much difference between reading and becoming interested in manga, and knowing all the players and results of a sports team?

ondafly

ztoical wrote: »

I'm going to have some of my comic work in a show at the Manga Museum in Kyoto

First off - huge congratulations. I was at the Manga Museum in Kyoto only last week. 400 yen entry, plus a further 500 yen to view the Manga of the World Section.

I was amazed at the amount of items on display, also in every corridor there were row upon row of Manga novels (other language sections were also available). The place was packed with people of all ages, all sitting in every possible space having a free read :pac:

However I think you might have gotten the request a bit confused. At the Manga of the World section - they displayed comic art and comics from different countries from around the world. For instance Marvel Comics for America, Asterix from France etc etc. So in other words, they are not looking for Japanese style artwork/comics from Ireland - they are looking for Irish examples of comicbook art etc

ztoical

ondafly wrote: »

However I think you might have gotten the request a bit confused. At the Manga of the World section - they displayed comic art and comics from different countries from around the world. For instance Marvel Comics for America, Asterix from France etc etc. So in other words, they are not looking for Japanese style artwork/comics from Ireland - they are looking for Irish examples of comicbook art etc

The essay request had two sections one that focused on Irish comics and to bring examples of Irish small press that weren't my own work. I posted about that section of the essay in the comics forum on boards and I've had several small press people donate some comics that will in turn be donated to the museum. The second part very clearly asked what the image of manga was in my country [the show my work will be in is part of the Asia Europe Foundations Lingua Comica project so there will be myself and 6 other artists from europe and we have to give a talk during our stay at the museum about comics in our country and bring examples.] I posted asking about the manga part of the essay here as I've been living in New York for the past number of years and my view of manga is a very american one, I don't know what is popular in Ireland, I could assume its the same as new york but from reading the replies here so far there are some differences.

thanks to everyone for the comments, should hopefully get this thing written at the weekend.

Varik

was in japan for 3 months and always had manga to read on the train to work, they were treated like free newspapers here left on seats (big volumes too)

but if your talk on a phone you get bad looks some buisness guy got a call and the loks he got there part of the train you can't have your phone on and the rest it must be on silent

me-skywalker

well i think its becoming more popular there are larger sections devoted to it now in book-stores and more ppl i see in them sections.

also word of mouth is a great way to spread the word or if u have any dvd's wen a mate is over just put it on without them knowing and surely they might find themselves gettin into it ( thats wat happend to me) my mate threw on Elfen Lied one day and i fell in love.... and im a devote Stephen King, Terry Pratchet and Chuck Palanuik fan, i dont play world of warcraft (not yet), my fav games are COD and Mass Effect and im a huge football fan! Love going out and gettign drunk at the weekend.. so i woulnt be a stereotypical image of a nerd nor a 'jock' but hey im spreading the word about manga!

ztoical

Hey All,

I'm back from Kyoto and have to give big thanks to everyone for the comments. While the manga in ireland ended up being a small section of the essay as I wanted to focus on irish comics I did end up having to talk about the image of manga in Ireland in front of a large group of students from Sekai university so was glad to have some research done

If anyone is heading to Kyoto and the international Manga Museum between now and the end of January, you can see my work along with 13 others taking part in Lingua comica on display on the second floor. There's some photos gone up on Flickr