×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Are you ever too old for manga?


Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Manga
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
ExtraMana



Joined: 04 Nov 2014
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 3:00 pm Reply with quote
So most of the people I see reading manga are college age in my country that is 16-18 my question is are you ever too old manga?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
RAmmsoldat



Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 1261
Location: North wales coast
PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:26 pm Reply with quote
no

It'd be like saying you are too old for books or movies its entertainment you dont grow out of being entertained.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Touma



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2651
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:47 pm Reply with quote
No.
I think that you can never get too old for reading anything or, as RAmmsoldat said, any type of entertainment.

It is possible to get bored with something, but that it not really a function of age. And manga has so much variety that if you get bored with one type you can probably find something different to enjoy.

It is also possible that you might get to an age when you do not feel comfortable with letting people know that you read manga. If that makes you quit reading manga then you could say that you got to old for manga, but I do not really see it that way.

Anyhow, I am an old fogey and I read a lot of manga.
For several years I read almost nothing but manga. Recently I have gotten back to reading science fiction, which was what I read before discovering manga, but I still read more manga than novels.

I have definitely not gotten too old for manga.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
RAmmsoldat



Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 1261
Location: North wales coast
PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:14 pm Reply with quote
When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” - C.S. Lewis

I've seen loads of times browsing for manga on ebay people saying "i got too old for it so im selling up" and often times I figure what they are really saying is "my enthusiasm for this has waned but if I admit that it means i was wrong about my hobby so instead i'll make that its beneath me and im moving on"

I find that anything you discover in your teens you tackle with extra enthusiasm and make claims that are kinda hard to back out of regarding your dedication to certain hobbies. I used to be very into metal music and Id hit the festivals and get into big arguments with people who even slightly disparaged a band i liked but now Id say that im just not as into music as i once was. There's no shame in admitting that fact, and its not like i dont still enjoy music but i dont really buy albums anymore I just buy games and manga.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9809
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:52 pm Reply with quote
I certainly hope not. I first discovered manga when I was 52 and I'm now 69. I would really hate to have someone tell me I was too old to read it. Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
CarolinaMangaLibrary



Joined: 17 Apr 2014
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 10:04 pm Reply with quote
Absolutely not.

That's like asking if you're too old to enjoy sprinkles on your ice cream sundae.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
CoreSignal



Joined: 04 Sep 2014
Posts: 727
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 5:30 pm Reply with quote
You can probably guess my answer........NO

If anything, manga is less skewed towards younger fans than anime. There's just so much available for older fans to read. And of course, there are plenty of older fans that still enjoy titles for younger audiences. As other people have mentioned, nobody says they're too old for books or too old for movies, and manga is no different.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Xavi_



Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Posts: 61
Location: Spain
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:25 am Reply with quote
Well...

Short answer is NO, but a longer well thought response would be: It depends.

Priorities do change over the course of your life. When I was 16 my deepest fear was not being accepted by my peers, so I watched basketball on TV and bought every volume of Dragon Ball. Right now I couldn't give a damn about basketball, and Dragon Ball leaves me empty. Likewise, maybe you are reading a manga today that "future-you" will abhor; or maybe you'd never ever read a shoujo but "future-you" is enamored with them. Does the phrase "I will love you forever" ring any bells?

I'm trying to illustrate that some priorities shift as years go by. But I agree the ones you stay true to don't necessarily change. I am well in the middle of my thirties and I devour manga like a maniac! Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9809
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:34 pm Reply with quote
@Xavi_

I think you are answering a question that wasn't asked. I certainly agree that one's interests can and probably will change with the passage of time. That doesn't mean you became too old, just different. You can become burnt out, become uninterested or just replace one enthusiasm with another. That doesn't mean that someone else can't adopt what you discarded at a later period in their life.

The original question is, would it be inappropriate for someone beyond a specific age to like manga. Both the short and long answers are no. No one can tell you or me that we are too old to be reading such stuff and to find a different hobby. You can tell yourself that you no longer want to read manga, but that is a different question. It is not age related.


Last edited by Alan45 on Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:40 pm Reply with quote
In my opinion, No you're never too old to read manga. There are manga aimed at a older audiences (18+). To be honest, there shouldn't be any issue when it comes to old age and manga.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Wandering Samurai



Joined: 30 Mar 2014
Posts: 875
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:20 am Reply with quote
When I used to live in Japan, I'd be riding on the trains and see middle aged salarymen reading manga. I don't think you're ever too old to read manga.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Parsifal24





PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:36 pm Reply with quote
No you are never too old for Manga, you may loose interest in some demographics but no there is no "cut off date" for when you are too old to like Manga.
Back to top
Sunara Ishi



Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:57 am Reply with quote
Never. I plan (eventually) to be an 80 year old that still reads manga. I am rather young still so a lot can still change in 50ish years...

But it is possible to out-grow certain types of manga when the plots become too generic, predictable, or just start to feel kiddish. Or the humor starts to miss because you don't find it funny anymore.

Or like for me (having a problem about always remembering the plot to literature/TV/Movies), you read it once and that is it for that series. And because you didn't absolutely love it, you outgrow it... -.-;

But usually when people say they are too old for something, they just no longer have interest, they have no time (school, work, family, etc.), or money to follow their interest. It rarely has much to do with age besides the fact that certain age ranges (Late 20s to 40s) usually coincide with the whole lack of time and money issues.

And like any hobby, there are people that don't understand it. But there is a tendency for certain ages to become NEETs. Thus not doing the things that are appropriate for those ages and causing family & friends to tell them they are getting too old or that they need to leave said hobby behind them.

Whether you are too 'old' or not depends on your circumstances & whether you can afford the hobby bot so much on your 'age'. But I believe it is possible to stay with it even if you only follow one or two series/mangas/etc.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Jose Cruz



Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1767
Location: South America
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:45 pm Reply with quote
CoreSignal wrote:
If anything, manga is less skewed towards younger fans than anime. There's just so much available for older fans to read. And of course, there are plenty of older fans that still enjoy titles for younger audiences. As other people have mentioned, nobody says they're too old for books or too old for movies, and manga is no different.


Manga is huge in Japan. Huge, several times larger than anime in fact.

Miyazaki himself complained that the direction in live action Japanese films have been negatively affected by manga. Since modern "Japanese culture is based on manga" (Miyazaki's words by the way) it affected the way Japanese people think and view the world, as a result even the way Japanese live action films are directed today is based on the visual style of manga.

Adult anime has evolved a lot over the past couple of decades but it's true that there is way more adult manga than anime (mainly because there is way more manga than anime overall, there is more manga than live action films or TV drama series as well, given it only takes pencil and effort to make a doujinshi).

Too old for manga? lol.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
jdotaku



Joined: 22 Jul 2011
Posts: 32
PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2015 11:28 am Reply with quote
never too old! However I have noticed a bit of a slant in favor of materials aimed at high school aged viewers/readers in the USA
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Manga All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Page 1 of 3

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group