i was always wondering to myself... why is manga/anime so popular?
is the drawing? story? creatism? plot? etc...?

true, the drawing is unique, how exaggerated people look, with ambiguous clothings... and styles....
of course the stories are unique too, all of them ( if that makes sense )....
though seriously, i think the really good ones are especially unique....
one thing the japanese companies don't do, that american companies do.... which most of the stories are NEVER original... american media usually do, remakes, sequels, parodies, and rip-off stories.... thats what i like about anime that other media doesnt have.... since animes are done for over 50 years for japanese people, they have trade secrets,techniques, and tricks to spent less money on anime and still make the art look good... though low budgeted, it still sells with big profit....

i mean the closest thing america does in adopting is books, but usually it ends up being really shitty, though like movies like "starship troopers", and "fight club" was pretty good... and zombie movies i especially like, since they always have different plots and settings, and done well, same with "jason" movies.... but thats what i like about anime, they dont usually have sequels, but a series that can go over like 500 episodes, and keep it in 1 story... though i say the only acceptional sequel is star wars, only george lucas can ingeniusly do so without screwing it up, with mixture of prequels during the 20th century... though japanese movies, they dont do very much a good job since they dont seem to use alot of CGs or good Screenplays with the exception of "godzilla", "ring" , "grudge", and stuff like that... though what i hate the most in japanese movies, is when real people tried to act out of what people in the anime would act like, thats the only thing i dont like about japanese movies, it kinda gets corny sometimes... but overall, they have a good concept in their media, and a good structure...

i think the most legendaey and epic manga ever made probably be "berserk", "battle royale", "dragonball", "akira" ( though i dont like drawing, though most mangakas got inspired by the drawing ), and "yu yu hakusho"....


so this is my view of the media in japan, i just hope other people have their own unique views of them and share their opinion... cause once again this is my theory in how and what i see and read, so correct me if im wrong...

It's a good source of entertaintment.
Why? As you said. Plot, art and so on...
Just fun to read it.
Forgetting reality. Like in books...

Also, just like books, it's popular because it's directed to everyone.


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i wouldn't say it's popular...
but following your reasoning i would say that what makes manga more enjoyable to some groups is that it's pretty more open on the "moral" concept, leaving up to reader to decide what is wrong or right, not like every "evil guy" it's pure evil because he loves to cause pain unlike usa media mostly, second the fact that every manga keeps it's original author leaves up no place to new interpretations or versions of some character that end up sucking as it happens on the comics universe specially on DC ones...

Why is it popular.... because people like what they see/read.

Too lazy to read the rest of your post.... sorry.

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~Point & Squirt~

people like things that are easy to take in, and pictures are easier to take in than words, but the combination with words allows a strong story or other things of interest. i think thats why manga caught on in japan in a way that comic books never caught on in the US. comic books tend to have a much heavier feel to them. I agree that the epic quality is big. there areny many categories in which you find the same level of epicness. on that same note, the level of "awesomeness" tends to be high in manga. you can do stuff with manga that you just cant do with live action or books.

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It's widespread, it has a demographics, you can choose among a wide ammount of manga, etc.

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ççççççç[Ô .Ô] tsutopodus© will eat your manga and steal your cats!

Short short version: people who like to read/like stories can get more out of manga by subtleties in art detail. Most people who read something let the author do the work (though for any one who's done grad level analysis of any text, kudos to you). Manga typically has simpler text and the mangaka leaves the analysis to the reader, since he or she enjoys the more graphic side of story explanation.

On another note, notice how urban nations like Japan and Taiwan tend to have better manga sales (than anime)? In the US, kids really are glued to their TVs, whereas in JP and TW commuters (both kids and adults) read while in transit. TVs are only for people who have no life...

I think I'll leave it at that and see if I get flamed. Food for thought.

edit: you know, I once actually met someone (who claimed to be a high school grad; in the US) who told me proudly, "Oh, I never read anything. It's a waste of time." How can you get through life without reading? Like a menu, at least? I read so much, my eyes will read without my brain. Talk about muscle memory.

Originality, for one thing.

The art style itself is almost as popular alone as the actual stories.

Easier to take in the story than a "straight text" book & thus faster to read while still reading about a detailed "world" because you see the details rather than reading descriptions. This is a big plus for me because these days I very rarely have 2-3 hours to sit & read a book, and yet I don't like stopping in the middle (and somehow for me it feels less disruptive to, for example, pause after reading one volume of a ten volume manga series, than it does to pause after reading one chapter of a ten chapter book...).

Different kinds of stories than are told by English-speaking authors in any form of book/comic/whatever, plus all the cultural differences provide something new & different. Stories that just wouldn't work well as "straight text" can be told very well in manga; in addition to verbal jokes etc. there can also be sight gags that would be killed by describing them in a "straight text" book. (Ranma 1/2 comes to mind...)

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"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
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The same reason people enjoy other types of media, be it escapism, insight...
Sorry, but the question is a little vague...

er, tl;dr, sorry.

But I'll just say for me its the unique plots.

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Just a bit too into bad things

(and part of the yaoi scanlation group
Terribletrio!)

Cuz it's addicting and wastes time. Books w/ pictures, you don't get much better than that...

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Forever lurking...

I imagine it has alot to do with (in the states atleast) unique plots and diversity in manga. theres a manga abound everything.

Because American comics are targeted mainly for a male audience.
What are the girls suppose to read?

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Cuz it's damn good, even your grandma will love it(if they read it of course)

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