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Manga Answerman - How Do Manga Authors Get By When They're Not Publishing Something?




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CorneredAngel



Joined: 17 Jun 2002
Posts: 854
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 11:31 am Reply with quote
Quote:
For a true-to-life example of this, check out My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and the sequel, My Solo Exchange Diary by Kabi Nagata, both published by Seven Seas Entertainment. In My Solo Exchange Diary, Nagata goes into great detail about her financial travails as a manga artist, even after the success of her first book.


Would be interesting to see an example of a manga by a guy or a lady who really does it as a side gig kind of thing. And maybe there really are some!

Though that's something I've always thought as a thing about Japanese media in general - the "creators" usually don't have much in the way of "life experience" in the way that European and American creators often do. And I really think that limits the kinds of stories they can tell, or even the kinds of stories they think about telling.
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zztop



Joined: 28 Aug 2014
Posts: 641
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 12:23 pm Reply with quote
Not manga, but I did hear Re Zero's author has a day job as a butcher.
He claims most of his inspiration on how to torment Subaru comes as he's cutting the meat.
https://m.gamer.com.tw/gnn/detail.php?sn=135899

CorneredAngel wrote:

Though that's something I've always thought as a thing about Japanese media in general - the "creators" usually don't have much in the way of "life experience" in the way that European and American creators often do. And I really think that limits the kinds of stories they can tell, or even the kinds of stories they think about telling.


Idiot question - what sort of "life experience" would Japanese creators be lacking compared to Western ones? Lack of overseas travel and foreign interactions?
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R. Kasahara



Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 643
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 1:10 pm Reply with quote
CorneredAngel wrote:
Would be interesting to see an example of a manga by a guy or a lady who really does it as a side gig kind of thing. And maybe there really are some!

Ichi-F immediately springs to mind. It's another autobiographical manga that goes into some detail about the industry, but the mangaka treats it more like a hobby or a side gig. There's probably others out there, but at least that's one that's available in English ^^
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CorneredAngel



Joined: 17 Jun 2002
Posts: 854
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 3:10 pm Reply with quote
zztop wrote:


Idiot question - what sort of "life experience" would Japanese creators be lacking compared to Western ones? Lack of overseas travel and foreign interactions?


Things like how working in an office actually, uh, works. Though, granted, not many Western creators do that well either. Maybe Douglas Coupland.
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InimitableUman



Joined: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 3:11 pm Reply with quote
A mangaka who's career has always interested me is Makoto Raiku. He found big success in Japan with his first series Gash/Zatch Bell, and had a huge studio and house that he would post pictures of on his blog, with toys and models everywhere, high-tech solar panels, and multiple motorbikes in his garage.

After a lawsuit against his publisher that was widely publicized in Japan, his second series Doubutsu no Kuni/Animal Land was poised by Raiku's new publisher to be a hit, spearheading a new monthly magazine where it appeared alongside another manga by a newcomer who was a big fan of Raiku, Hajime Isayama. Of course, Isayama's manga ended up being the huge success, and Animal Land finished its 14-volume run without much fanfare, despite winning a manga award early in its publication. There was never an anime for it, and it's getting the slowest overseas release I've ever seen for a manga by Kodansha who kicked it to the curb because it didn't make them money.

Raiku eventually announced a third series called Vector Ball, which from its start was extremely weirdly put together and hard to get into. The characters went from being super-basic shonen archtypes to weird comedy bits constantly, the battle system was unique but took a long time to really be interesting, and some of the humor in the manga was pretty mean. Around the 50 chapter mark, his publishers told him, you need to take our advice and change this manga or you'll get canceled. He acquiesced, they put an announcement in the magazine about the "new era" for Vector Ball, and then he abruptly reneged on his decision and announced himself that Vector Ball was over. Only half of it was ever scantalated, and there was never a whisper of an American release.

A couple months after that, Raiku sold his studio. He advertised the sale openly on his blog, something I've never seen any other mangaka do. Currently, he still tweets pretty frequently, but doesn't appear to have bought a new studio and for all we know he might be done with manga.

The whole thing is pretty depressing so I've often wondered what life is like for him in the day-to-day. This article covered a lot of the things mangaka can do when they're not working on manga but I'm not sure if Raiku's doing any of those things. Maybe he's just a hermit now, living modestly off what remains of his Zatch Bell money. Who knows.
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katscradle



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 469
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 4:10 pm Reply with quote
CorneredAngel wrote:
Would be interesting to see an example of a manga by a guy or a lady who really does it as a side gig kind of thing. And maybe there really are some!

Though that's something I've always thought as a thing about Japanese media in general - the "creators" usually don't have much in the way of "life experience" in the way that European and American creators often do. And I really think that limits the kinds of stories they can tell, or even the kinds of stories they think about telling.


Makoto Yoshitani is a system engineer and has I am Otaryman among others.

Feature from the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/20/AR2008112003659.html
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HdE



Joined: 17 Nov 2015
Posts: 50
PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2018 12:12 am Reply with quote
Really great question that got asked in this column.

I work freelance in comics, mostly on indie titles. When you speak to folks who aren't really invested in comics - sometimes even fans andaspiring creators - it's surprising to hear some of the notions that persist about how much money there is to be made in the industry.

I appreciate I'm speaking from a Western standpoint here, and Japan's manga culture is going to be a bit different. but it's VERY hard to turn comics into a full time gig to the exclusion of doing anything else. I've spoken to folks who think I can provide 22 pages of lettering for a comic and that'll finance a lifestyle of booze, drugs, loose women and pool parties.

Ridiculous! I don't even have a swimming pool!

More seriously, though, it took me a LONG while before I was able to pare back the hours in my day job to concentrate on comics. And even now, I still put in one day a week. The practicalities of making comics for a living can be VERY tough to deal with.
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Mr. sickVisionz



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 2171
PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2018 3:36 pm Reply with quote
HdE wrote:
reality


This was a really good post.
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