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Meet the Creative Minds Behind Saturday AM Comics

This is just too funny, I can not rememberer the last time I laughed this much. First you've got the characters, that all look like fan art of Anime character off of Deviantart. Then the slogan "The World's MOST DIVERSE Manga-Style Comics", where most diverse is in all caps so you don't miss it. And then the stories that sound like they were devised by a boardroom of market analysts who really wanted to finish for the day.

This is just too funny, I can not rememberer the last time I laughed this much. First you've got the characters, that all look like fan art of Anime character off of Deviantart. Then the slogan "The World's MOST DIVERSE Manga-Style Comics", where most diverse is in all caps so you don't miss it. And then the stories that sound like they were devised by a boardroom of market analysts who really wanted to finish for the day.

I went to the linked website and purchased a few past issues of the magazine (only 99 cents per issue so definitely not much risk to sample one or two), so this article definitely did its job.

As someone who has lived in Japan and mainland China for his entire childhood and half teenage days, it's fair to say manga is a major component of my entertainment life. Personally, it definitely feels different to read western comics that are under manga influences (art styles not much actually, but the approach to story telling and characterization definitely feels different), but at the moment I honestly can't tell if that's a good or bad thing

From what you said, would you like to see some of the Saturday AM comics adapted to Anime with streaming services like Netflix, Crunchyroll or even FUNimation?

Ryuji-Dono wrote:

From what you said, would you like to see some of the Saturday AM comics adapted to Anime with streaming services like Netflix, Crunchyroll or even FUNimation?

If they put out quality animation with good writing, doesn't matter to me if it is animation or anime. But being associated with Netflix, Crunchyroll, and FUNimation as one of their "Originals" (or primary funder) is a more dicey proposition.

Well, as long as they can find animation studios willing to work on non-Japanese properties, then it could be fine. MAPPA and Trigger are those who are more eager to do that so far, and they certainly have quality in some degrees.

Frankly speaking I don't see why these kind of comics should be animate by japanese studio, there are plenty of other studios around the world willing to animate them and doing a good job at the same time.

Rednimue wrote:

Frankly speaking I don't see why these kind of comics should be animate by japanese studio, there are plenty of other studios around the world willing to animate them and doing a good job at the same time.

Are there, though? I haven't read any of these series, but comic books in general are niche and not very mainstream friendly to begin with. If Marvel comics can't get good proper, animated adaptions, then I don't see what hope an indie comic would have. A Japanese studio taking interest and wanting to do justice to the source material would be the only way to get a proper adaption. America usually goes for the live-action approach to books and comics and altering them to be more mainstream focused.

Of course, there's also people who just want their stuff animated by Japanese studios so it can be called anime and wear it as a badge of honor, but I'm focusing on the more productive reasons.

This is just too funny, I can not rememberer the last time I laughed this much. First you've got the characters, that all look like fan art of Anime character off of Deviantart. Then the slogan "The World's MOST DIVERSE Manga-Style Comics", where most diverse is in all caps so you don't miss it. And then the stories that sound like they were devised by a boardroom of market analysts who really wanted to finish for the day.

MarshalBanana wrote:

This is just too funny, I can not rememberer the last time I laughed this much. First you've got the characters, that all look like fan art of Anime character off of Deviantart. Then the slogan "The World's MOST DIVERSE Manga-Style Comics", where most diverse is in all caps so you don't miss it. And then the stories that sound like they were devised by a boardroom of market analysts who really wanted to finish for the day.

As someone who hates the whole "woke" culture, I can kind of see where you're coming from, but honestly, I think there's some genuinely good art and story there from the looks of it.

I think it's worth at least giving it a try first, and commenting some constructive criticism once you have, rather than dismissing it outright as some threatening person who cares about social justice mandate.

I think the goal of aiming "to make everyone feel like they can be a hero" is a great one, and I think we can all lose sight of how important it is to have heroes and stories that you can relate to.

I totally understand the knee-jerk reaction against something that tries to push "diversity" as some sort of checklist to fulfill at the expense of all else, but I just don't see that here. I see, mostly, creators who are trying to adapt something they love (anime and manga culture) into something that will appeal to both the broader manga reader community, as well as people who may have felt a bit left out.

If nothing else, the beauty of an initiative like this in a capitalist marketplace, is that if they are finding diverse creators who are talented and creating good art and stories, then it will succeed, and if it turns out they don't care about quality so much as checking boxes, it will fail.

I checked out a couple issues, and I really liked it for the most part. The artwork and writing definitely differs depending on the series and creators - some were genuinely great, others a bit rough. To be fair, I read a chapter of "Clock Striker", and while I love the artwork and concept, it did have some pandering moments in it. But that certainly wasn't across the board.

Honestly, I'll probably subscribe or at least buy a few issues. Much like my "Shonen Jump" reading days, I don't expect everything in it to be a winner, but it's kinda fun having something different to read now and then.

And unlike the person who cares about social justice social media bullying that I'm against, this is just seems like a bunch of hard working people putting out something they're passionate about and hoping it speaks to a wide audience. We can all freely choose to support or not support it. Seems pretty great to me.