Forum - View topic

MTV News Article on: Manga/Yaoi/Non-Japanese artists

Manga experts say Japanese comics first started seeping into American culture in a big way in the mid-'90s, thanks in large part to the popularity of Japanese cartoons — anime — like "Sailor Moon" and "Pokémon." Publishers jumped on board, initially targeting boys with stories of robots and ninjas. But the recent explosion in popularity is due in large part to publishers waking up to what girls want

One of Tokyopop's most heralded artists is 26-year-old Svetlana Chmakova, who writes and draws "Dramacon." ...Not being Japanese, Chamkova is part of a movement championed chiefly by Tokyopop to cultivate non-Japanese manga creators. Levy said he could see relevant Western manga arising in much the same way regional hip-hop emerged following the art form's birth in New York. For now the top manga sellers are still all from Japan.

Original English-language manga might not be taking firm root just yet, but there's little doubt that another bold idea is: yaoi. That word, pronounced "yow-ee," is a Japanese acronym for a series of words that can be translated as "no peak, no climax, no meaning."

Kai-Ming Cha also thinks something called yuri has a chance. That's girl-girl romance. She said it would likely be targeted to girls, though she conceded it might attract a few guys as well.

Quote:

Original English-language manga might not be taking firm root just yet, but there's little doubt that another bold idea is: yaoi. That word, pronounced "yow-ee," is a Japanese acronym for a series of words that can be translated as "no peak, no climax, no meaning."

Can someone tell me if this is true?

However out of all the things in this article one thing caught my eye. A non-japanese person making manga, or for all of you irrational purists, "manga". I can't help but ask the rhetorical question, If she's not Japanese is it manga? I say yes, but that's not my question. My question is, is it smart to allow non-Japanese artists to head the manga "movement" if you will? Because of said purists. Wouldn't it be more user-friendly (at least in the early stages) to have manga written by japanese people? I'm still kinda skeptical and I'm leaning towards a maybe but I still feel as long as the manga is good it shouldn't really matter. I feel that manga is a style and if it follows the style its good to go (like Taco Bell mmmm). But the idea has a possibilty of being misconstrued (cam's vocab blah blah blah) if people don't acknowledge that this is material either from Japan and/or done by Japanese artists. At least these are my thoughts.

The "no meaning" would fit well with the japanese attitude of gay men being kind of pointless. The "it's not so bad, it just doesn't achieve anything". Assuming that this attitude is quite prevalent in Japan and is truthful, I'd say it fits pretty well with that much.

Quote:

Kai-Ming Cha also thinks something called yuri has a chance. That's girl-girl romance. She said it would likely be targeted to girls, though she conceded it might attract a few guys as well.

That made me laugh.

You add this article plus the one that said that Viz Scored its highest ranking sales in history and we have a lot of steam going for the future of manga. I personally feel (or rather have a hunch) that yaoi has no future in books or anything because of the subject matter it deals with. With all of the controversy that Brokeback Mountain (and yes we(where i stay) are gradually replacing the word "gay" with the word "Brokeback" and we are using it like we're getting paid for it) and Capote got in the last few weeks, gay-anything has no market and no love in the stream of entertainment, at least in America. But manga may have an interesting advantage being that its from Japan and such and not American made and people are well aware that the Japanese have a different opinion of homosexuals and homosexual themes.

As far as yaoi I don't think that yaoi is the right market to get manga popular. I know what some are think as they read this "what does this little DBZhead think he's talking about he don't know sh*t about manga". But think about the way manga is ususally percieved today. People think its either violent crap or porn or sometimes both (cough* Elfen Lied cough*). To illuminate this ideal for the ignorant or unintersted we use gay themed premises to appeal to new fans? Doesn't sound like good marketing from where I'm sitting.

However out of all the things in this article one thing caught my eye. A non-japanese person making manga, or for all of you irrational purists, "manga". I can't help but ask the rhetorical question, If she's not Japanese is it manga? I say yes, but that's not my question. My question is, is it smart to allow non-Japanese artists to head the manga "movement" if you will? Because of said purists. Wouldn't it be more user-friendly (at least in the early stages) to have manga written by japanese people? I'm still kinda skeptical and I'm leaning towards a maybe but I still feel as long as the manga is good it shouldn't really matter. I feel that manga is a style and if it follows the style its good to go (like Taco Bell mmmm). But the idea has a possibilty of being misconstrued (cam's vocab blah blah blah) if people don't acknowledge that this is material either from Japan and/or done by Japanese artists. At least these are my thoughts.

Yeah, that part about yuri made me laugh. While yaoi is written for girls, yuri is clearly written for guys.