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New Poll - Mainstream

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Piss Ant
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3:56 pm, Jun 10 2012
Posts: 171


Sorry, but this is a very terrible, very loose (for lack of better words) poll. Mainstream where? Mainstream in Japan (what I assume) or the English-speaking world or what? If it's mainstream Japan, then I must assume that everything in Weekly Shounen Jump is mainstream as I don't live in Japan and all I know is that WSJ is one of, or the top, selling publications. That publication includes Bleach (somehow getting better again), Naruto, One Piece, Beelzebub, Gantz and other decent series I like. Then there are other publications like Bessatsu Shounen Magazine that has Sankarea, Countrouble, and Shingeki no Kyojin and Shounen Ace that has/had Marai Nikki and Sora no Otoshimono, neither of which is known by me to be mainstream. Unless you're Japanese, or feel like looking up sales figures for publications and series volumes, you really don't know. Unless you only read manga whose anime is televised in America like Naruto and Bleach, for example.

Somebody said that if a non-mainstream series is more popular than the mainstream, then those "non-mainstream" are actually mainstream or something. Like I said in the beginning, it depends where you live. Lots of series considered mainstream in Japan aren't mainstream everywhere else, even though the same number of people may read it in both countries. Economical issues aside, it depends solely on the percentage of people in certain age groups that would read manga. Since many of us get our manga pirated for free, it's nearly impossible to determine what manga is "mainstream" in English-speaking countries. Besides, comic stores with a large manga section are nearly non-existent outside a metropolis. A country like America is too large to sell black-and-white manga on cheap, inferior paper and make money to the masses. If I opened a comic book store with a large manga section in a city around 100k population like Green Bay, WI, I'd go out of business even if I converted the manga section to all American comics.

I could go on for hours, but I'll cut it short, if you can call it that laugh

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Post #555813 - Reply to (#555389) by BlackOrion
Member

3:11 pm, Jun 11 2012
Posts: 76


I don't usually read a manga thinking who else does.

Agreed.

Only the most pretentious kiddies, chock full of callow ideas about what constitutes "good" or "enjoyable", would pooh-pooh a story simply because it's popular.
The whole concept of Mainstream/Non-mainstream is the result of a pseudo-noblesse mentality (which most people fortunately grow out of by 25 at the latest); it's the same mental cancer which affects some music and art appreciation too. A literate wine-snobbery in a sense.

Ignoring the fact that everything published is mainstream to some extent; they seek proof of their differentiation to, and superiority over, the rest of us plebs by the very virtue of what comics they read.
However, in order to do this they must create a false dichotomy by dubbing widely read texts "main-stream", and texts with a smaller reader base and more unusual content "non-mainstream".

And looking at the current poll numbers, 16.4% are affected by this puerilistic notion.


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his and her sonnet
Member

10:58 pm, Jun 11 2012
Posts: 1127


it doesnt matter how popular the manga is, if its good i'll read it

but to be honest most of the manga i read is probably "non-mainstream" because
1-i dont care about the art(most of my favourites have art that is deemed as ugly eg. river's edge, helter skelter, journey to the end of the world etc etc)
2-i have bizarre preferances in manga and books i read(eg. i love tragedy and dark themes in a story)

but i still wouldnt avoid reading something if its too popular....thats just ridiculous.

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Mad With a Hat
Member

1:02 pm, Jun 12 2012
Posts: 4764


Bah.
Those plain "depends on the plot" answers are just...
>_>

Anyways, for me, I don't know.
When I think about it now, I realize that I've never given it much thought.
Naturally, many other people read the same things I do, since 99.9% of my "to reads" come from MU.
But when I do think about it, I hesitate to try out anything (not only manga) that's very popular.
And don't start commenting on this, because I don't care what you think. That's how I roll.
I also look down on people, a lot.
Not that I think I'm better, but I tend to disagree with what the majority of people find "interesting".
I only seriously consider book recs from two people.
I also like hardcore smut and buckets of gore. : D

Boy, that went out of track really fast...

So let's go with "non-mainstream", then.

smile

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