This week's poll is more about why you like manga. Just choose the option that MOST fits your taste. Thanks go to member Razril for giving the poll suggestion.
Note: The option of "Popularity" means you read the series because everyone else does (which brings to mind the Naruto/Bleach/One Piece argument)

And the results for last week's poll:
Question: How do you choose to read a new series?
Choices:
The magazine where it's serialized in - votes: 64 (1%)
The artist/author and his/her previous works - votes: 889 (14.2%)
The scanlation group - votes: 336 (5.3%)
The associated anime or related media - votes: 118 (1.9%)
The popularity of the series - votes: 274 (4.4%)
Recommend- ations from others - votes: 562 (8.9%)
Same genre as my favorite series - votes: 1275 (20.3%)
I just read random manga - votes: 1319 (21%)
I come to MU and see a new series on the release page, so I decide to try it - votes: 1445 (23%)
There were 6282 total votes.
The poll ended: March 22nd 2008

I can't believe how many people just come here, see a new series being released, and just choose to read it...

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

I don't see why you are so surprised. This site is very convienent and layed out well. Also with the filtering to block out unwanted genres, there is a good chance to find good ones. Also, when you find something on the release page here you know for sure it is available scanlated.

I can't say I'm surprised. Even way back in the days before release sites, people usually randomly found chapter of new series and downloaded it to see if they liked it. Hell, most people don't even realize who they're reading until it's pointed out to them.

Actually, i agree with you on that, i think that mostly happen when you are relatively beginning and still don't have many favs, and that stuff, like a favorite genre, or mangaka... many series i followed i just looked up on mu and thought they would be interesting so i gave 'em a try
About this poll, I think by far that originality is what makes a manga, after all, a plot that is just like every plot out there, or predictable as hell, doesn't bother me, as far as the mangaka is really creative, that's the main reason i follow one piece and followed the first time period of dragonball, the plot is just so predictable, what makes it interesting and turned me into a fan is the originality of how the characters use their abilities and techniques...
Second comes art, even tough i will not be a die-hard fan of series with a good art work, it's really nice to see some good drawings even if the plot is kinda, if it's no absolutely, lame (eyeshield 21, air gear, death note, ikkitousen) most of the manga i buy on hard paper is due to their artwork, most than their plot...
And third characters, that's the reason why i can't stand tenjo tenge, the main character is just so freaking annoying and cliché, same goes for naruto and bleach, it's just like seeing again and again the same dude with different look...

I believe that good manga is made up of several different components that work well together - that's what makes it such a great art form. A manga is more than just nice art; a bunch of pinups bound together does not make a manga. It's not just plot - how the plot is executed is more important, and that means visual storytelling, words working seamlessly with the art. Characters are also important, both in the visual design and character development. So in the end I chose originality, because the combination of Art + Plot + Characters = Originality. Even all components by themselves aren't original they can be combined such that the whole is original.

I believe that good manga is made up of several different components that work well together - that's what makes it such a great art form. A manga is more than just nice art; a bunch of pinups bound together does not make a manga. It's not just plot - how the plot is executed is more important, and that means visual storytelling, words working seamlessly with the art. Characters are also important, both in the visual design and character development. So in the end I chose originality, because the combination of Art + Plot + Characters = Originality. Even all components by themselves aren't original they can be combined such that the whole is original.

I have to say characters. It doesn't matter how amazing the plot is, how beautiful the art is, or even how origional the story is, if I don't like the characters I'm not gonna read it.

hmm its hard to vote since i go for Plot & Art...*sigh
i guess i'll vote for plot since its not for both.

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Please Click on my Eggs!

yeah, it's kinda a hard decision to make~.~
I think I go for plot. .

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~*::♥karrupin♥::*~


What if you waited for your special
someone your whole life
and later on learn that no one is waiting for you?

hmmm the question is "What makes a manga?" not "what makes a good manga"

plot is on novels too, but theyre not considered mangas. I chose art....

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oh whoops, i was talking about this week's poll >_< ignore my previous comment

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To me, it's the characters.

Dont get me wrong, Plot is good. It can draw you inside, suck you in and dont spit you out. PLot is good.
On other hand, a good plot without good characters is... shallow and unalive. Characters' depths and interactions are what give plot layers of meaning as well as tools to use.

Art is good but hardly necessary. WE have so many manga with good art and nothing else, I generally dropped them after one reading to see what they are all about. Sometimes not even that. A manga with mediocre to so-so art can still work wonderfully (Osamu Tezuka's works come to mind - mind you, his art is a bit too eccentric as well as old school that i should name it outdated rather than mediocre).

Originality is overrated. What is original in this medium is repeated many times before in other media. you can suck readers in the first time with it, but without other factors its' very hard to draw them again.

Why characters? Because a plotless, so-so art, but wonderfully crafted characters can still work very well. there are many examples like that, generally short stories, or 4-panel. Jinjya_no_Susume is a good example. Yotsubato is another.

To be frank, what make a great manga should be constituted of many factors. The first, of course, is characters, second is plot, half a step behind plot is art. Originality, I am afraid, is dead last.

But lambchopsil specified as the title "What Defines a Good Manga?" Otherwise, if we were just defining manga, wouldn't we just use the definition that M-U has on the left side ("Manga is the Japanese equivalent of comics
with a unique style and following") if there weren't pre-selected options?

But I don't see popularity as a real definition that a manga is good. It would draw lots of attention and often be given as a recommendation, but popularity wanes, right? When Bleach ends, after a few years people will have moved on from the series (no new stories to read...) and then the next or a new series will gain a following. And if a series isn't long running, there might not be enough time for it to become popular, right? Well, I guess manga probably has more time to gain in popularity than anime to become popular because anime usually comes on every week and manga can come out as rarely as every month (or even quarterly, since Watase Yuu is going slowly at Genbu Kaiden...). And I think anime tends to have shorter series now because of how exhausting it was on the animators and the people involved in the production when they did series like Sailor Moon. I remember someone that was working in that area that was venting.

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My avatar was Yves Saint Laurent's The Black Evening Dress (with big bow) first shown in 1983, photographed from his 2002 retrospective and final show. [color=#CC0066]Check out some of his collections for free (pre-2008) HERE[/color] courtesy of FirstView.