"Fonts matter but I don't care enough to know the name" option

Where's Wild Words? Or Manga Temple? Or Anime Ace? Or option "none of the above?"

...I don't think I'll be voting in the font poll. None of the poll options are fonts that I would want to see (or use) in manga. To me, the most pleasant looking fonts for manga are those designed to emulate old-school hand lettered comics. I like things like CCMeanwhile, Comiccrazy, and DigitalStrip, and you can't go wrong with Wild Words. I see Anime Ace used a lot, and I used to sorta like it, but not so much anymore. Too much negative space around the letterforms.

/typophile

I'm not going to google all those fonts to see what they look like...

Even with all the negative stigma revolving around comic sans, the readability of the font makes it the font of choice for manga reading imo.

Definitely Webdings.

Don't give a damn as long as it's not some fancy artsy style that tries to look cool but fails across the board at readability.

This pole incredibly sucks mmm...
Not even the mass used Wild Words listed, not gonna poll mmm...

fonts don't matter

So whoever made the options for this poll doesn't actually do typesetting.

Are you serious? No Wild Words, no Manga Temple? These are all terrible fonts for scanlation, and anyone who scanlates with any of these fonts should be stopped. Permanently.

This is a bad poll and you should feel bad.

Shame on you guys, man.

I agree this poll is a bit...
Any of those don't look really good and they look out of place. I'm only a beginner typesetter, but I was clearly told to never use those. Now that I do typesetting I only noticed how terrible they look, if used.
Also, there are so many different manga fonts and i believe that many people couldn't recognize them unless they haven't worked with them at least one time.

I like Manga Temple, Wildwords and Blambot Pro, also some others depending on what is said. Actually I love it if the typesetter used many different fonts to descibe the mood, but not too many of course...

lol, made this poll some time ago. When I was reading a manga with a terrible font (it was barely readable).

Personally, I don't think this poll works because these fonts aren't used in scanlations much. Or at all.

The best font for manga in my opinion is Wild Words.
Depending on the manga, I use a couple of others for the main text and some handwritten looking ones for the side text.

But as long as it's soft and not squiggly (people need to stop using unreadable fonts!).
Just because it looks fancy doesn't make it right.

Fonts do matter.
When you don't even think about it (provided you're not a typesetter) it means the job was done well.
It's when you notice them do you understand how important fonts are.

These are terrible font choices for manga typesetting! For essays, maybe, but manga? >_< I'm pretty sure none of the decent scanlation groups or publishers have ever used such bad font choices. And seriously, Comic Sans is one of the worst fonts ever, no scanlator or publisher with any amount of aesthetic sense or just common sense would think to use such an abomination. >_>

I believe there should also be an option "None of the above" XD
Whoever did this poll is clearly not a TSer ~_~ as BedrosBoost already mentioned

How is it possible that there is practically every single font in existence (yes, I'm exaggerating) but no Wild Words, the most commonly used font for scanlation...? And why are there so many fonts on the list? And where is the "I care, but don't know specific names of fonts" for most people?

I choose Comic Sans for the hell of it...but then I realized I'll regret it if it gets popular in the manga world D: I should have choosen Webdings!

The most used font is scanlatios are Wild Words, Anime Ace ... why aren't they there ?

15.8% comic sans ms, haha, such a troll option. It was my selection too.

Well, I'm still waiting for that troll to vote for Bodini.

I'm not a typesetter and I've never heard of these fonts you guys are using, probably because they don't exist in Microsoft words(or I just missed them). But I do know Comic San MS look HORRIBLE in manga because I was encountered it in a manga. It was terrible.

I second the "None of the above", "None of the above" or at least a "Don't know the name".

Many people who read mangas, like me know nothing of the names of the font but I think if people looked more into it they would choose not to vote at all becaue I would rip my hair out if Comic san MS appeared everywhere.

And I wish no one voted at the "Font dont matter" because a good font makes it easy to read. For example, if a character speaks in another language or if there's a special line or situation, it really makes a different.

It depends on the bubble type, etc., but for normal bubbles I'd usually go with WildWords/AnimeAce2 or something similar.

Where's wingdings?! It would have been the obvious answer.

EDIT: Webdings! Wingdings...

List of fonts has been edited

I am familiar with the basic font used because that was what I usually use when I was still active in scanlating.

DigitalStrip FTW. But srsly this poll. No one but people who actually scanlate can really give a name to the font they like the most. lol Blambot is 2nd place for me. And there are a few others that I really like that aren't listed but I can't remember their names because I don't scanlate anymore. XD

I picked "Running out of ideas."

Which is amazing, because there's an entire thread dedicated making poll ideas, all of which are better than this one.



Saying art doesn't matter doesn't trip my berserk button. Art's subjective, and I'll assume you've at least given a bit of thought to saying art specifically doesn't matter in a medium of story-telling where art is fragrantly present. In the end, I take it to mean "I can accept what other people think is 'bad art' if that 'bad art' is the best way to deliver that particular story." For instance, I don't think To-love-ru would've made it past ten chapters with the art of Usagi Drop, but at the same time, I don't think Usagi Drop with To-love-ru's art would survive for very long, either. Or maybe it would, but it'd lose any or all of it's charm and/or wouldn't do as well in it's target demographic.



SayIng font doesn'T MATTER when freaking webdingS is an option and when coupled with "art doesn't matter", means I can deliver you a story with a series of grunts and photographs of human excrement in varying stages of decay, and so long as it was a riveting story, you'd be perfectly OK with it.

That said, saying "font doesn't matter" doesn't trip my berserk button either, because I take it to mean "font doesn't matter unless it's an obvious problem", but oddly, I still feel the need to make fun of you because I'm an asshole who uses gratuitous fallacies to make fun of people.

As long as it isn't Anime Ace.

LOL at "Comic Sans." LOL. Wtf. Lol.

Well, the last nine font choices are wtf, really.

There isn't really a one-size-fits-all option when it comes to fonts. The best option is simply the one that a) looks nice, b) has a thickness that matches that of the balloon's border very well, and c) fits the style of the story. However, I find that it's usually trial and error. I don't think I've ever found a font that fits all three of those guidelines simultaneously. It usually boils down to whichever one simply looks less terrible than the rest on that particular story.

Seriously, who voted for comic san?

Scanlation lettering for the most part is god-awful, so to me, fonts don't matter simply because even if a scanlator picks a super-awesome font, the lettering will still look horrifying because of how bad they are at it. To this day, I've yet to see a single scanlation with lettering other than those of scorpian8867, that aren't just down right terrible.

Who can actually read webdings
...let alone be used as scanlation fonts??

I am a super font snob. In my own scanlation work, on Hoshi no Furu Machi, WA!, and Mangaka-san there was always consideration of authorial intent.the original Japanese fonts used and application of a particular font (SFX, shouts, whispers, printed/displayed vs spoken, etc.)

I tend not to like American-comics-style monocase fonts for manga because they are harder to read than dual case fonts and take up more horizontal space in the tall, narrow Japanese vertical bubbles. Also, in the manga I have worked on, they don't look very much like the fonts in the original. Something like Anime Ace might be ok for shounen action manga, but I don't do those. Oh, and for the record - I don't hate comic sans. It could be narrower, but it has a proper lowercase and would make an OK manga font except that I don't want to be sued by Microsoft for using it. So I tend toward something like SF Cartoonist Hand for a plain conversation font for a talky seinen manga.

I think that most scanlators either don't know, or don't care how much meaning, symbolism, and nuance they are losing in translation by using Anime Ace or whatever their one font to rule them all is this week Instead of looking at the raw and letting the author have his say.

Because, ya know, the professional mangaka might just be better at being a mangaka than the scanlator is. But even if he isn't, it's still his story, not the scanlator's.

For the record, the most effort I ever put into a font choice was for Editor in Chief★Straight Ahead! when typesetting the Haruhi light novel vol 8. Tanigawa actually describes the fonts used by two of the characters in their short stories. But of course they're Japanese fonts, so i had to figure out what might be an English language equivalent to this particular Japanese font. It took some time...

If some n00b actually took this as a sign that they should use Comic Sans MS, then there will be blood.

Wild Words FTW.

Hm.. I'll skip responding to what anyone else has said (mostly) and just simply reply with my opinion.

I feel that there are many manga (at least many being scanlated) where it doesn't matter at all as long as you can read it. Despite what people may say, the writing and story just isn't well thought out enough and the writer doesn't have the talent or hasn't considered the importance of their fonts and writing style for it to matter. Other times they choose a font only for looks and what the look may suggest, but they fail to consider the reader and pacing.. I recall at least one occasion where the scanlator actually hand wrote in some things because no font could closely match the original.. Unfortunately this didn't consider the story nor the reader, because it forced the reader to slow down which threw off the pacing.. It was an intense high stakes high drama scene that didn't require much thought but it slowed you down..

I feel fonts should only force a reader to slow down for a few reasons, such as adding to the suspense.. There is something to be said for someone with such talent that they can plan ahead and make a reader read at the pace you want to give the full effect of a manga... Call me a snob or what have you, but if you don't fully utilize the tools at your disposal (from the art to the font, the writing, everything) then it may as well be a picture book, with little captions under each image.

There are manga where the font and such are extremely important.. It helps set the tone, it controls you and helps you read and invokes such strong emotion within you that it's an experience, not just a story.

If you argue that the plot and dialog alone should do that, then go read a novel. I read those too, and that's when I would agree with you.

Of course this is just my opinion, and as I never remember any names, titles, locations, etc.. I cannot give any examples. I apologize.

Lastly, senile_seinen.. It seems I shall have to check out the things you do because I often long for the quality you say you put into your work (if I can find it).

I think if a font is the right choice, it should go unnoticed... meaning that if it fits then one should be too into the history to notice.
I always feel as if the characters where moving and talking in my head when reading, i can't seem to notice the font unless it really doesn't fit and take me out of trance or if i'm editing something my self.

I have to say of some scans, that they do an outstanding job, i read cape comics and others professionally done works and had found much manga, within the internet translated ones, that could be compared with a positive outcome with them

Wish someone somehow had well... Perhaps written the names of the fonts in the font... If you know what I mean. It would have made this so much easier and the poll would have been... Available to so many more people.

I read a lot of scanlations but heck... I don't know the names of all the fonts .

EDIT: After having voted it became obvious to me that I am not the only on who does not recognize the names of the fonts...

I'm not picky about fonts at all, sometimes I'm a bit puzzled as to why people pick a certain font (once read a josei with this super curly script-like font O.o) but it never really bothers me. As long as it's readable I'm happy. I care far more about a manga having at least a semi-decent english translation and nice art than about fonts. I have to be able to read it, that's really my only criterium.

TL;DR I don't care as long as it's legible.

Thank you very much for changing the poll. The first one was like an insult to us typesetters, for me at least.

Something I've seen once or twice that I thought was really cool, but for some reason, no one EVER does it. Different fonts for different characters, specifically using fonts that reflect a character's manner of speech, or tone of voice, or even their personality. IE: use a fancy font for a high-class type character who speaks more formally, or a font that looks like some sort of childish scrawl for a character that isn't exactly very bright. I think where I saw it before was in the scanlation of Urusei Yatsura, at least in some of the early chapters. I know I've seen this technique used elsewhere before, but I don't remember where. Like using a font that gives that "crazy" feel to a character going through a psycho/yandere moment.

The fact that Comic Sans and Webdings are even in the options makes this poll a total joke.
Was that supposed to be troll bait or did the OP really think that it was hilarious? ._.

Well, some of these options (and opinions here) really are hilariously...bad. And some decent ones are still missing but I don't care anymore. Voted for Wild Words since that's what I used to prefer to work with and most of the other options are awful. It's annoying when there is one or two fonts for everything in the chapter though. With white cut-out rectangles in MS Paint-
I don't think different font for each character as someone mentioned here is a good idea though, it's not easy to come over a lot comfortably readable fonts. It's a good idea to use different fonts for stuff like talking in foreign language of if there is someone special though. Or if the original uses different fonts for the characters, I guess. Generally if the original also uses different fonts for those situations. If it doesn't...well, why do it in translation. Just...nvm. Some of the "psycho" or otherwise special fonts some scanlators use are beyond painful on eyes and extremely hard to decipher. If it's being translated for the readers...they should be able to read it. Not stare at some childishly deformed horror-ish or curly beyond readable font.

Legible and of readable size should be an option .