This week's poll comes from our member Hellsayer. In general, do you prefer mainstream/popular series or the non-mainstream (possibly more niche) series? If you have specific examples, go ahead and post them in the comments!

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: Which stereotype do you dislike the most?
Choices:
The perfect character - votes: 2547 (15.2%)
The big chested character - votes: 3048 (18.2%)
The characters with fan-girls / fan-boys - votes: 1170 (7%)
The extremely evil and sly rival - votes: 1114 (6.6%)
The shy, innocent, and cute character - votes: 2120 (12.7%)
The flowery and dazzling character - votes: 867 (5.2%)
The person who flirts with everyone - votes: 1064 (6.4%)
The dumb guy who always gets the girl - votes: 4824 (28.8%)
There were 16754 total votes.
The poll ended: June 8th 2012

You'd think that like-minded people would get paired up: meaning the dumb guy gets a dumb girl... But hey, root for the underdog in getting the good girl!

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

Depends if the plot is interesting...

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"I'll shut your mouth~~~~~ with mine~~~"

二息歩行

Exactly! I don't think preferences are based on 'mainstream vs non-mainstream'. It's all to do with the quality of the manga- story-wise and/or art-wise! Not surprised most people have chosen the 'like them both' and 'don't care' options!

If Non-mainstream series are more popular than mainstream ones then they are not non-mainstream at all, lol.


I went for the don't care, i don't usually read a manga thinking who else does.

Pshah, having a preference between mainstream or non-mainstream is too mainstream. *puts on hipster glasses*

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Do but despise reason and science,
The highest of all human gifts -
Then you have surrendered to the Devil
And must surely perish. - J.W. von Goethe

The "problem" with mainstream manga is, that it satisfies certain stereotypes and is somewhat predictable, at least most of the mainstream manga do (there are exceptions obv). But some of them do have incredibly nice settings, it almost feels like a waste sometimes. :-/.

I prefer the non-mainstream, as the mainstream has to much fillers, plot failures( something that doesn't make any sense in the plot), lack of structure (it's going and going without an end), Korean manga(manwha) mainstream is rarely( so not) scanned or published, and the most annoying part is that most mainstream is exaggerated in value.
Well their are exceptions on all this like One Piece.

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Even after dead, we raise from the ashes for the sake of manga.

Someone explain what is mainstream and what's not, please.

I honestly don't care about the ratings when I decide I want to read a manga. I read a manga based on what story it's telling (and the art, of course XD).
I don't fancy missing out on a manga because everyone thinks it's too popular. I'm not one of those people who shun mainstream things. I'll read it and make my own opinion about it.

This. At what point of popularity does a series actually become mainstream? There are the obvious ones like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece, but there are a lot more series that are not extremely popular nor unpopular. For example, Neon Genesis Evangelion is very well known but is it considered mainstream?

Mainstreams are like double edged swords. Of course if the manga is good eventually it'll become popular, but being popular carries a lot of problems to the readers as for mangakas themselves like:

*Dragged story
*Fillers T.T
*Some unfilial anime adaptations or unsatisfying OVAS
*Carrying some overwhelming fans and their respective foes
*High prices (they wanna squeeze us like lemons... and they get it)
*Stress to the poor creator (those weekly DEADlines)

And for the non-ones:

*Only if someone notices them, they're scanlated.
*If they miraculously have releases, they aren't as fast as the others.
*Forget about TV adaptations (no matter how good they are)
*No products
*Make us happy, but we forget about 70% of them

But if there weren't mainstreams, I'd be probably a super devoted student like I used to. As for the non-mainstream, I'm glad they're (almost) always available for me and my maniac alter ego reader.

So thanks both.

I can only answer that question when you're able to define "mainstream"

There are good ones in both category, But. I would say mainstream for practical purposes, they are easy to come by, fast releases, everywhere, in every form. There are lost of people who read them so there are people to discuss it with (even not counting the rabid fans who go to war over every little detail) Also, lots of reviews and ratings, so I know in advance if it is worth trying. Not mainstream good ones are hard to find (even in scanlations) , hard to buy, and I have less clues on what to expect. There are some unexpected gems I find that are truly unique, catharctic, and really worth the effort, so I try to find them when I'm in the mood...

Well if we go by popularity, Neon Genesis Evangelion is certainly "mainstream" seeing as it got multiple movies, video games, books, a radio drama and an OVA series remake 6 years after the TV series ended.

But yeah, the line between "mainstream" and "non-mainstream" is non-existent.

If the line is nonexistent, what am I gonna vote for?