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New Poll - Manga Quality Comparison
This week's poll is from our member Lorska. What's your opinion of the current quality of manga (so stuff that's currently being released in Japan right now) compared to the quality of manga from previous years?
If you wanna discuss this, you can do so on our forums here:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=32542
You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related):
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903
Previous Poll Results:
Question: I prefer series with main characters that are
Choices:
Younger than I am - votes: 814 (4.9%)
Approximately the same age as me - votes: 4512 (27%)
Older than me - votes: 1495 (8.9%)
No preference - votes: 7439 (44.4%)
I don't even notice their ages... - votes: 2482 (14.8%)
There were 16742 total votes.
The poll ended: March 10th 2012
Same age... Getting older every second. (Sorry, I'm currently pulling an all-nighter, and I can't think of anything better to say)
If you wanna discuss this, you can do so on our forums here:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=32542
You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related):
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903
Previous Poll Results:
Question: I prefer series with main characters that are
Choices:
Younger than I am - votes: 814 (4.9%)
Approximately the same age as me - votes: 4512 (27%)
Older than me - votes: 1495 (8.9%)
No preference - votes: 7439 (44.4%)
I don't even notice their ages... - votes: 2482 (14.8%)
There were 16742 total votes.
The poll ended: March 10th 2012
Same age... Getting older every second. (Sorry, I'm currently pulling an all-nighter, and I can't think of anything better to say)
Comments (limited to first 100 replies)
» BedrosBoost on March 10th, 2012, 5:13am
The raws these days are pretty good, so I thing that more proofreaders are needed for good quality text.
Unless you're referring to the manga plot quality, then I thing that they're getting better. There's been an increase in better series in the recent years. The ones which are worse usually get flushed out anyway.
Unless you're referring to the manga plot quality, then I thing that they're getting better. There's been an increase in better series in the recent years. The ones which are worse usually get flushed out anyway.
» BedrosBoost on March 10th, 2012, 5:16am
For those who say that manga in the past is better, that's mainly because the bad ones are never well known and the groups in the past would only scanlate the good ones. Take a look at all the groups these days, they're scanning everything, so now we get a pretty good picture of all the mangas getting released.
» Animexis on March 10th, 2012, 9:13am
"they are scanning everything?" man, you have no idea. I'm buying 6 manga magazines (Young Ace, Good Afternoon, Comic Valkyrie, Shonen Ace, LeParadise, 4Koma Nano Ace), that's around 80 different series and believe me, not even 30% of that gets scanlated. And some of those missing are really good series.
» BedrosBoost on March 10th, 2012, 9:48am
Yeah, you're right. They aren't scanning all of them but at least they're scanning a good number compared to the past. It just made me sad when you said that we're missing good series. 
» imercenary on March 10th, 2012, 10:29am
But if 70% doesn't get scanlated, doesn't that mean that (most of) the cream of the crop is ultimately being scanlated? If 30% of the stuff is (most of) the best, what does that say about the 70%?
» Animexis on March 10th, 2012, 9:44pm
Most all of the best series in Good Afternoon are already being scanlated, but that's not the case for the other magazines I'm buying. There are at least 3 series in every one of them I'd like to scanlate if I had enough staff for that. And that's just looking at the images, some of the others may be good series if I could read Japanese and judge them. Unscanlated series are not in that state because they are bad, it may just be that they were not discovered by an scanlator.
» imercenary on March 10th, 2012, 11:51pm
Fair enough. But you bring up another important point. Lack of staff. If only 30% of the stuff gets scanlated and some (possibly) great mangas are skipped over, doesn't that simply mean that the majority of the 70% are truly poor quality and therefore dissuading groups from finding the "hidden gems"?
» yuno19 on March 10th, 2012, 8:44pm
highly agreeable. but by this time we should already know that even scanlators pick manga that can really bring readers in, no matter how uninteresting it might be compared to our hand-picked ones. still, i'm grateful some of those really good ones are getting scanlated. cheers for that 
» Animexis on March 10th, 2012, 9:52pm
Of course is relevant to bring readers, and that was indeed the case when we picked up The Vanishing of Yuki-chan, Isuca and Deus Ex Machina, but it's also true that I'd never pick up a series that I hate - and I dare say other scanlators are the same. You need a great deal of work and time to release a chapter, you can only do that if you care enough about the series. On the other hand, maybe we can do that because we buy our own raws and can pick carefully, some other groups may be limited to what they can find in places like jcafe.
» BedrosBoost on March 11th, 2012, 3:32am
Actually I find it hard to believe that truly bad manga can keep getting serialized. They could just be manga that isn't to our taste. And as you said, raws are a problem.
Scanlators can't just keep buying a magazine every issue just to scanlate one or two chapters. Since there're groups that are doing different series but in the same magazine, shouldn't we pool the money and find one single person for the raws? (Though it is kinda thick.) Or is that how it's already being done. I'm kinda new.
Scanlators can't just keep buying a magazine every issue just to scanlate one or two chapters. Since there're groups that are doing different series but in the same magazine, shouldn't we pool the money and find one single person for the raws? (Though it is kinda thick.) Or is that how it's already being done. I'm kinda new.
» RiK.dfs on March 10th, 2012, 7:37am
Problem is that while the "worse ones" leave.........more (sometimes even larger numbers) come in to fill their spot.
» ink junkie on March 10th, 2012, 7:58am
There's only more low-quality manga now because there's more manga in general. At the very least, the increasing number of people in the community increases our exposure to manga. Believe me, there's always been lots of crap.
» RiK.dfs on March 10th, 2012, 2:55pm
I meant larger number percentage wise. What's really needed though is people with good judgement willing to work on series that are actually good.
Unfortunately most people just take what they're given instead of building what they want.
The current trends in manga releases don't help much either (trends aren't very lasting).
Unfortunately most people just take what they're given instead of building what they want.
The current trends in manga releases don't help much either (trends aren't very lasting).
» Animexis on March 10th, 2012, 9:56pm
I think this is exactly the case. Actually, I voted for "No difference at all" because I really don't see any difference with previous years.
» lambchopsil on March 12th, 2012, 9:32am
*sigh*
My bad... Didn't even realize it until now
My bad... Didn't even realize it until now
» BedrosBoost on March 12th, 2012, 11:57am
Aw now that you corrected it, it made me look like I had multiple typos.
» Lightmare on March 10th, 2012, 5:14am
Dont you mean "think" instead of "thing"
-Do you thing the quality of ...
-Do you thing the quality of ...
» Seijurou on March 10th, 2012, 12:02pm
I noticed, too, but he did say he was pulling an all-nighter. 
» tion74 on March 10th, 2012, 11:22am
All in all the situation is not as bad as in the anime sector but I agree there are some bad manga that made me derping like hell.
» deadphoenix on March 10th, 2012, 3:32pm
- quality of plot
- quality production (proper cover, good paper, proper setting of pages.... )
- quality story difference ( the originality of stories in general)
- quality of....
Might it be possible to make the question less vague, I understood the question as production quality, rather than plot quality first.
- quality production (proper cover, good paper, proper setting of pages.... )
- quality story difference ( the originality of stories in general)
- quality of....
Might it be possible to make the question less vague, I understood the question as production quality, rather than plot quality first.
» RiK.dfs on March 10th, 2012, 3:56pm
I think it means overall quality of the series (don't focus too much on the production part though since that isn't really always tied to the series but more to the publisher).
» Seijurou on March 12th, 2012, 2:33am
90+% of voters are not qualified to answer this question. How many here are veteran readers from the old days to now?
Online readers look at the scanlation date, not the actual release date, & like mentioned before, most manga do not get translated to begin with; not now, not before.
Same thing with licensed material.
Online readers look at the scanlation date, not the actual release date, & like mentioned before, most manga do not get translated to begin with; not now, not before.
Same thing with licensed material.
» Banarok on March 12th, 2012, 7:22am
what do you count as old days?
when i voted i thought about when they where made rather then scanlated.
when i voted i thought about when they where made rather then scanlated.
» Seijurou on March 12th, 2012, 10:27am
Well, that is good if you actually did, but how many manga have you completed? 113? That is not even 1% of produced manga works to date, whether we take into account your reading list or not.
What I meant is that there are people who have been reading the latest titles for over a decade, & as such can make a valid judgment. However, those people are mostly Japanese, not some Western Naruto/shoujo fanboys/girls . . .
What I meant is that there are people who have been reading the latest titles for over a decade, & as such can make a valid judgment. However, those people are mostly Japanese, not some Western Naruto/shoujo fanboys/girls . . .
» RiK.dfs on March 12th, 2012, 8:18pm
True enough. How many people out there remember Ghost sweeper Mikame, for one.
Also who was around for the start of To Love Ru Trouble, and such.
There are way too many titles out there that go further back that should be taken into account as well. And those examples are just ones that actually were popular and known fast.
Also who was around for the start of To Love Ru Trouble, and such.
There are way too many titles out there that go further back that should be taken into account as well. And those examples are just ones that actually were popular and known fast.
» drunkguy on March 12th, 2012, 10:45pm
While the medium has become more polished and streamlined, it seems variety has faded. It may very well be because material available in the 80's and 90's was culled from the best over the course of years while nowadays, we judge according to every year or even quarter. Still, it seems like every anime and manga nowadays is about high school kids and/or fanservice. Even Mecha and fantasy genres are focusing on such. I used to laugh off arguments that companies are pandering too much to fanboys but nowadays...
» kaloo on March 12th, 2012, 11:12pm
It's not a matter of quality so much as taste. My tastes are fairly slanted toward older stuff.
» dosetsu on March 12th, 2012, 11:58pm
There can never be a decline in the quality of manga, since it's all graded by personal preference.
