I'm 24 years old and I've been reading manga since I was in elementary school. I don't read anywhere near as much as I use to when I was younger, but I always find myself coming back every few months to check in on my favorite series/look at new series. The fact that I'm almost 25 makes me think about how manga has become very nostalgic for me, always making me happy. Just writing this out here cause I was pondering on it for a moment before 🙂 ...

I got into manga pretty late, in my late teens in fact. But it has played a major influential role in my life to the point I still get serious cravings every now and then. But what I miss the most is an active community!

Series like Vampire Knight, Tonari no Kaibutsu kun, Maid sama, Ao haru ride, Skip Beat, Kamisama Hajimemashite, Dengeki Daisy attracted a huge fanbase back then and there were ample amount of opportunities to get together and discuss their unfolding plots.
Baka updates was my go-to site for quality reviews and thought provoking content. And reading these plus Blogs like Shojo Corner were good enough passtime and a rewarding experience.
There was lot more to Manga back then and I still miss those days.

I'm not sure exactly what changed and how..maybe the scanslation groups disbanded, people grew up, grew out of that phase or maybe we're in dire need of some new, original manga that has the potential to last for a long time but the community is just not the same. I suppose Akatsuki no Yona is still carrying on that mantle in one sense.

I still frequent this site, hoping that one of my favourite mangakas has a new hit under her sleeve but most series barely run for more than a couple volumes. Not enough time to get invested in the new series or get attached to the characters.

Oh god yeah, I remember how huge the following was, especially for Vampire Knight and Dengeki Daisy. I remember reading those on Mangafox (which is no longer available, I don't think?) and the forums were always buzzing with speculation. It was a lot of fun to follow along with a series and talk in those forums. It was something to look forward to every month.

I absolutely share your feelings, I miss those days as well!

I started reading manga when I was ~13 so now that I'm 27 (will turn 28 in autumn) it's been part of majority of my life, over half of it in fact. lolz, 15 year anniversary so to say XD

It does feel somewhat nostalgic.

I did used to read it more and now less since more things take up my time, thou' I still continue reading ones I have ongoing (like Skip Beat, One Piece, Akagami no ShirayukiHime, etc) and definitely re-read fav ones now & then (yup, Vampire Knight & Dengeki Daisy being among them).

Sometimes I do come across some new ones I like and start those as well, but that happens less & less now.
(mostly the "new" are indeed newly written, but there are some older ones I haven't read so those can catch my interest too)

Somehow, these past 5 or even more years, it feels like the quality of manga has dropped.
As the older ones get completed, there aren't lots of new ones that seem appealing to me.
And by quality I refer mostly to the content - the story, plot, characters etc. Not the art style, tho' that also has become too...common, similar. One would hardly be able to distinctly separate them by artist/mangaka.

The plot & art of most works nowadays seem way too generic & boring to me.

At least to me, it feels like that the manga's from around 2000's (1995-2006) and then around 2010's (2009-12) and some 2016's were the best works. And since I have read or am reading majority of them...it's reaaaally difficult to come by some new/unread works for me and thus...yeah, the nostalgia for the "good, old days" is strong.

The reasons I'm not reading as much manga now that I'm older are several:
* Major one is because I have read most of it that interests me (15 years is a long time after all)
* Another is that as I get older, more things come up (work, other hobbies) and so less time for manga
* But the one that I feel like it's the biggest reason is that there aren't that many new ones I find appealing to me. Like I said, they feel too generic to me. Part of it is probably my tastes changing somewhat as I grow up, but even so, there should be more.

And yeah, it definitely feels like the fandoms aren't as united as before. It was real fun to discuss and theorise in forums. Probably part of the reason for this decline is that now there are waaay too many options for everything, so instead of everyone going to the same places, we're scattered all around.
Now I satisfy the craving for fellow fans mostly just in the comments, that also has it's fun when more people join in, but not the same for sure.

I suppose for our generation (middle/late twenties) manga is indeed nostalgic now, we grow older and things change.
But even so, it's still part of our lives, so that's nice.


Last edited by Rouzmary at 2:38 am, Jun 15 2020

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~Nothing is Eternal but Eternity~
Enjoy life as much as you can and do whatever you want, because it may be only one.

I'm not of your generation. I'm old. But I've been reading manga for 12 years, and now I'm reading a lot less.

You covered almost all the reasons.

All I can add is that when I started it was a new experience for me, AND there was a huge backlog of classic and niche manga that it was fun to discover. Now I've discovered most of those, and the newer ones seem to all be conforming to stories based on computer games, which I have no experience of, or are still locked in the popular "called to another world" storyline, which it's hard for me to believe.

I bet while we're getting more and more bored with manga, there are new generations of kids of the West discovering the wonderful huge backlog of Japanese material all over again. I hope it won't go away!