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Making A Living in Manga in Japan


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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 6:55 pm Reply with quote
I must say, it's kind of cool for these foreign mangaska to give these interview/panel talk doing work in Japan. Thanks for the transcript. Oh and this got my attention:

Quote:
Aoki: Japan has a large manga industry, with a lot of homegrown talent. Have you run into any problems?

Cummings: I talk to these people on the phone, but when we meet, they get this look of shock, of "you're a big white dude. How did this happen." I've had people ask me, "Which parent was in the Marines?"… I've had meetings where we talked for hours and it was going great, but then they'd say, "It's a shame we can't hire you because you're a foreigner."


Yeah this doesn't surprise me and it confirmed what other foreigners have experienced in Japan.
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
Location: Victoria, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:31 pm Reply with quote
Disappointing seeing Cummings experienced that over there.

I only read the Cummings bits of this. Laughing

He's the only person I've heard of, and that is all down to the fact he will be working with Jim Zub on Wayward at Image Comics. A new series that I'm really looking forward to!
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yappers4



Joined: 28 Apr 2011
Posts: 198
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:40 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
I must say, it's kind of cool for these foreign mangaska to give these interview/panel talk doing work in Japan. Thanks for the transcript. Oh and this got my attention:

Quote:
Aoki: Japan has a large manga industry, with a lot of homegrown talent. Have you run into any problems?

Cummings: I talk to these people on the phone, but when we meet, they get this look of shock, of "you're a big white dude. How did this happen." I've had people ask me, "Which parent was in the Marines?"… I've had meetings where we talked for hours and it was going great, but then they'd say, "It's a shame we can't hire you because you're a foreigner."


Yeah this doesn't surprise me and it confirmed what other foreigners have experienced in Japan.


Do you mind sharing what you have confirmed what foreigners have experienced in Japan? This article was interesting and your comment piqued my curiosity more.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:39 am Reply with quote
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tasogarenootome



Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 593
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:40 pm Reply with quote
Ah the foreigner bubble on trains. Very Happy

This was a great article, ANN, thanks for posting a trasncript. I remember you guys running something on Jamie Lano a few years back, so it's neat to hear a bit more. I'm glad some people were able to accomplish having a hand in the manga industry in Japan. I loved living there, but at the same time it made me appreciate life and certain aspects of culture in my home country. If there are others who pursue comics in Japan and decide living there isn't for them, I hope they'll continue comics in their own country. Manga has an undeniable influence and mixing that with your other experiences and influences could lead to more diversity in comics, I hope.
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potatochobit



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 1373
Location: TEXAS
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:07 pm Reply with quote
I don't understand why we can't make "Anime" in america

I've thought about submitting some original scripts to dark horse but I don't understand why no one else is really selling their own Anime style manga.
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StudioToledo



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 847
Location: Toledo, U.S.A.
PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:51 pm Reply with quote
potatochobit wrote:
I don't understand why we can't make "Anime" in america

We don't have that many non-union shops gullible enough to do it (Titmouse is probably the best example there).
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 4:08 pm Reply with quote
They've made some anime styled things in the past, like Avatar, Megas, Symbiotic Titan, that show that was like duel masters or something in that vein, and others. I just don't think the western animation environment is set up to do stuff like that, they'd rather have their CalArts school of design aesthetic and they'd rather aim most things to kids. There's really not any kind of adult animation home video market that they've ever tried to grow outside stuff like that Rob Zombie cartoon. They can barely make good cartoons as it is (what, maybe one new decent show a year?), let alone trying to copy anime even further.
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
Location: Victoria, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:39 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
There's really not any kind of adult animation home video market that they've ever tried to grow outside stuff like that Rob Zombie cartoon.

Really? I thought that stuff like South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and Archer were more aimed to adults/older teens than kids. Maybe I'm just influenced by ratings/airing times here in Aus, all are usually aired around 9PM and carry M ratings.
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gloverrandal



Joined: 20 May 2014
Posts: 406
Location: Oita
PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:59 pm Reply with quote
potatochobit wrote:
I don't understand why we can't make "Anime" in america


Do you mean content wise or name wise? Name wise anime is made in Japan, so stuff made in America can't be anime. Content wise no network would ever dare be that ambitious when it doesn't have to be when cheaper shows yield the same amount of money. Much stricter censors, lack of music industry integration, lack of high quality collector merchandise integration.. the American animation market just isn't set up like Japan's is to produce similar shows. Let alone the same amount Japan does which is over a hundred new cartoons a year. America produces maybe 8 new cartoons a year if we're lucky.

Korra's abyssmal ratings and being taken off Nickelodeon I think shows there is no real market for "American anime". I guess when it comes down to it if people want anime they'll watch anime, not American attempts at the idea. All the shows walw6pK4Alo listed were bombs, except for Avatar which managed to actually finish it's run, though it had tons of hiatuses from what I remember. However Korra is suffering the same fate as the other shows and was pulled from Nickelodeon so in the end it suffered the same fate.
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StudioToledo



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 847
Location: Toledo, U.S.A.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 4:14 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
They've made some anime styled things in the past, like Avatar, Megas, Symbiotic Titan, that show that was like duel masters or something in that vein, and others. I just don't think the western animation environment is set up to do stuff like that, they'd rather have their CalArts school of design aesthetic and they'd rather aim most things to kids.

Certainly those that could afford to go to CalArts and other schools (what I consider Ivy League types for animation) often ended up dictating where animated headed in the 90's and 2000's.

Quote:
There's really not any kind of adult animation home video market that they've ever tried to grow outside stuff like that Rob Zombie cartoon. They can barely make good cartoons as it is (what, maybe one new decent show a year?), let alone trying to copy anime even further.

You'd think the internet would help there but apparently not (and there's always the union issue too).
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 6:52 pm Reply with quote
Ali07 wrote:
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
There's really not any kind of adult animation home video market that they've ever tried to grow outside stuff like that Rob Zombie cartoon.

Really? I thought that stuff like South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and Archer were more aimed to adults/older teens than kids. Maybe I'm just influenced by ratings/airing times here in Aus, all are usually aired around 9PM and carry M ratings.


Ok, stand up, take two steps back and re-read what you just wrote. The series you mention have awful levels of animation, the plot is oriented towards adults but the budget they have to make those must be abysmal (that archer one reminds me of clutch cargo Anime hyper ). One of the factors that attracted me to anime is the quality of the animation and that the characters are not meant to be ugly (most of the time), whereas any cartoon airing in late night TV this side of the pond seems to be competing to see who can make the ugliest faces. So probably the first hurdle of making "anime" over here is that any approved budget would be similar to other late night series and therefore the best you can do (animation wise) probably be on the same level of Kill Me Baby!
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 8:14 pm Reply with quote
Ali07 wrote:
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
There's really not any kind of adult animation home video market that they've ever tried to grow outside stuff like that Rob Zombie cartoon.

Really? I thought that stuff like South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and Archer were more aimed to adults/older teens than kids. Maybe I'm just influenced by ratings/airing times here in Aus, all are usually aired around 9PM and carry M ratings.


Sure those comedies tend to be more adult in humor, but they're no replacement or even within the same realm of what I look for in anime. Bakshi and Bluth stuff from the 70s and 80s definitely comes closer.
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StudioToledo



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 847
Location: Toledo, U.S.A.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:50 am Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Ali07 wrote:
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
There's really not any kind of adult animation home video market that they've ever tried to grow outside stuff like that Rob Zombie cartoon.

Really? I thought that stuff like South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and Archer were more aimed to adults/older teens than kids. Maybe I'm just influenced by ratings/airing times here in Aus, all are usually aired around 9PM and carry M ratings.


Sure those comedies tend to be more adult in humor, but they're no replacement or even within the same realm of what I look for in anime. Bakshi and Bluth stuff from the 70s and 80s definitely comes closer.

There's still a spot in my heart for what Secret of NIMH tried to do.
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Galap
Moderator


Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:11 pm Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
Ali07 wrote:

Really? I thought that stuff like South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and Archer were more aimed to adults/older teens than kids. Maybe I'm just influenced by ratings/airing times here in Aus, all are usually aired around 9PM and carry M ratings.


Ok, stand up, take two steps back and re-read what you just wrote. The series you mention have awful levels of animation, the plot is oriented towards adults but the budget they have to make those must be abysmal (that archer one reminds me of clutch cargo Anime hyper ). One of the factors that attracted me to anime is the quality of the animation and that the characters are not meant to be ugly (most of the time), whereas any cartoon airing in late night TV this side of the pond seems to be competing to see who can make the ugliest faces. So probably the first hurdle of making "anime" over here is that any approved budget would be similar to other late night series and therefore the best you can do (animation wise) probably be on the same level of Kill Me Baby!


This may surprise you, but most western animations, especially high profile ones like Family Guy and South Park have budgets many times higher than even the most expensive TV anime.
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