Because it makes little sense to write a book about visual rhetoric and ignore the fastest growing sector of the market, but as my reading experience follows the typical trajectory of Claremont X-Titles (X-X?) to Sandman and Vertigo books to Fantagraphics lust, my experience with manga comes almost exclusively from some mid-90s flirtation with Ghost in the Shell. I know about manga and its many varieties, but I lack the sort of fluency with its conventions that I have with American mainstream and independent books. My question to you is this:
What should I read to acquire a robust, intuitive working vocabulary with manga?
Here's a maybe-weird suggestion: the roleplaying game Big Eyes Small Mouth is an attempt to provide a generic anime/manga story-game framework - it's one shortcut to the manga universe's clichés and preoccupations, anyhow.
This is obviously intended as a supplement to reading in the form itself. But the mechanical peculiarities of RPGs mean that BESM focuses on the core character-actions and plot structures of anime and manga - the contagious parts, which bits have 'gone viral' as it were. Similar to how the value of the Call of Cthulhu games as introductions to the 'meaning' of Lovecraft, etc.
Posted by: Wally | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 03:39 PM
I believe Naruto is currently popular. Ranma 1/2. Akira is prolly the quintessential movie. Evangelion. I prolly spelled all of those wrong. They are just the ones I've heard people who were into Manga talk about a lot.
Posted by: NutellaonToast | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 03:56 PM
Short of going to Japan? This is a pretty broad category.
Personally, I prefer bédé (Bande Dessinée), which is the French version that has been around a bit longer as well, but I also lived in Belgium. sooo....
And if we're getting into it, bédé are also known as petit miquet (Little Micky) for Micky Mouse. So, maybe you don't need to go too far a field for this art form.
Posted by: Laci the Dog | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 04:04 PM
I recommend Lone Wolf & Cub and Buddha, which is the story of the Buddha in manga form. Both are long-form multi-volume serious works, and I have no idea what to read to get a feel for the more jokey and funny manga, nor where one might acquire a listing of what the visual ticks in a book actually mean and imply.
Posted by: Peter Boothe | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 04:20 PM
I've heard Jason Thompson, the author of Manga: A Complete Guide, speak several times at ComiCon, and I was impressed by the sheer breadth of his manga-related knowledge. I can't speak directly to the quality of his book because I don't have it, but I do know that it was many years of original-language research in the making. (The Editorial Review posted on Amazon--weirdly or not weirdly, you make the call--seems to describe not Thompson's book, but a volume concerning orchid classification.)
Personally, I've really enjoyed Phoenix and Buddha, both by Osamu Tezuka.
Posted by: Gene | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 04:52 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_%28manga%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_%28manga%29
Posted by: josef_kaye | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 05:05 PM
Yep, Nausicaä is a fantastic movie (says this non-Manga-aware viewer -- I think the only Manga I know is the Ghibli movies.) John and Belle's kids were reading some manga-aimed-at-preadolescent-girls this summer which sounded interesting, at least if you're in the target audience. The graphic novel Barefoot Gen and its sequels, while not (I think) exactly manga, are beautiful work and worth your while, and possibly they are precursors to manga.
Posted by: The Modesto Kid | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 05:36 PM
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone, and by all means, keep 'em coming!
Posted by: SEK | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 05:54 PM
Frederick Schodt's books are still the baseline texts on manga, and he was the first person to make something like a career out of manga translation.
My favorite manga are in three completely different modes: high-concept post-apocalyptic Akira (which the movie captures fairly well, but the six volume original story is, of course, much richer; I'd be happy to supply some page scans and commentary if necessary, but I only have it in Japanese), adolescent sports drama Touch (Tatchi by the prolific Mitsuru ADACHI; same deal), and the hyperviolent Hokuto no ken (Fist of the North Star) which I never collected, but read assiduously when I was in Japan.
What actually strikes me, reading this, is that there are some visual rhetoric elements that these have in common, but they are hardly recognizable (to my eye) as being part of a single "tradition": it's like Frank Miller, early Superman and Archie/Jughead.....
Actually, thinking about it, you might be able to lay your hands on a copy of Japan, Inc., which is a translation of a very successful economics manga -- one of the teaching manga which are such a popular genre -- and quite conventional in its visual style.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 06:04 PM
"Love Hina" was very popular and spawned a lot of imitators. It's not "good", but it will give you an idea of what a lot of manga is like, if that's what you're looking for.
Posted by: Daniel | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 06:06 PM
I'm somewhat in your boat, but I tried to bootstrap this sort of familiarity with manga while teaching my comics course last summer. The major things I looked at were Tezuka's Astro Boy and Tezuka's Buddha, as well as 20th Century Boys (with the Japan-friendly backwards printing). Check your email for more.
Posted by: G C | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 06:30 PM
Just found my hastily-put-together list of suggestions for my students who liked manga:
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Battle Angel Alita
Lone Wolf and Cub
Nausicaa
Dragon Ball
Gunsmith Cats
Naruto
Fruits Basket
Trigun
Hellsing
Battle Royale
Yellow
Blade of the Immortal
Full Metal Alchemist
20th Century Boys
Posted by: G C | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 06:32 PM
I forgot: I also have all six volumes of the original Farewell, Spaceship Yamato, which is a visual progenitor of many of the mecha-manga, though I never really liked it as much as the others. Oh, and I have an almost complete run of Samurai Penguin, thanks to an anonymous group of students, but it's not Japanese.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 06:55 PM
I'm also in more or less the same position, but I second the recommendation for the Nausicaa trade paperbacks -- one of the best comics I've read.
I also ended up reading a number of issues of the english re-print of Area 88 at some point and enjoyed it quite a bit, though I wouldn't think of it as a classic on the level of some of the other comics that have been mentioned.
Posted by: NickS | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 07:21 PM
I'm not sure that you could get a firm grasp of manga without being able to read Japanese. There's simply too much that will never be translated into English.
There is a lot of discussion of the conventions of manga and anime at TV tropes. I'm not sure how accurate the information is, but it would be a place to start.
Posted by: John | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 07:25 PM
Guess I'm going to be the pedant that points out that manga refers to the comic books, while anime are cartoons. And yes, many anime are based on manga and vice versa.
I'd recommend Dragonball, Doraemon and Naruto to get started: they're long-running and still popular among kids. Sazae-san is a loooong-running anime series and may have some manga volumes as well. It's really good if you're interested in gender issues, as the title character was controversial in that she didn't wear a kimono and she wasn't subservient to her husband (it originally aired in the 60s). And every character is named after something to do with the ocean (sazae is a type of sea snail).
As well, there are a couple sports-based manga that are considered classics of the 70s variety. I think those are the ones that are supposed to have set the basis for much of what follows.
I'll ask my coworkers and students what they read (living in Japan gives me a large population of experts).
One convention that I've noted (and one that drives me nuts when I watch anime series) is the idea of drawn-out one-on-one battles or conflicts between two people. They progressively go through their repetoire of moves until the villian pulls out some seemingly unbeatable power at which point the hero is doomed. The hero either has a sudden insight and gains a new, more powerful counter that is used to vanquish the enemy, or he perseveres through sheer willpower and goodness of heart (this happens quite a lot in Naruto). Or he is saved by his master/mentor who swoops in to save the day (or begins another drawn-out one-on-one battle). This drives me nuts because it can go on for several issues, meaning one battle can take months, literally, to play out.
I know next to nothing about American comic books, so this may be how they do it too. I'll ask around for some classic series that would be good and get back to you.
Posted by: Jeremy | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 07:33 PM
Not pedantic at all! For the record, I'm mainly interested in manga comics, but as I know their conventions intersect with anime, feel the need to get a decent grasp on both.
Posted by: SEK | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 07:39 PM
I think the Sazae-san anime is actually based on a newspaper comic strip, a traditional three-panel (but vertical) exercise.
Just as with kabuki (live actor) and bunraku (puppet) theater in Japan, there's a lot of stylistic and content crossover between anime and manga. There are some distinctions to be made, obviously, but a lot less than between cartoon shows and comic books in the American idioms. For that matter, I would argue that Japanese live-action hero shows (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Ultraman, etc.) are stylistically more like anime and manga than they are like other television or movie dramatic productions.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 08:08 PM
I haven't read it, but I was at a talk where Junot Díaz lathered praise on Urasawa Naoki's Monster series.
Posted by: Andrew | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 08:24 PM
Jonathan's right, there's a lot of crossover between manga/anime, which creates a lot of problems, especially since many companies don't bother keeping canon straight. Just look at the reimagining of Evangelion that came out last year. And often the anime version differs greatly from the manga. Hellsing is one example of this. And often the super-popular anime will insert story arcs that aren't present in the manga in order to give the manga time to get further ahead (this is one reason I stopped following Naruto and Bleach - another interesting manga/anime you should check out - because they start on these incredibly stupid filler arcs. Granted, much of this stuff is meant for 'tweens. It's always funny to listen to grown American men talk about how awesome Inu Yasha is because they saw it on Adult Swim. That series is meant for 12 yr-old girls here. Adult guys don't read any of that.
One thing to keep in mind is that there's a huge variety of categories of manga. There are superhero-type stuff, but there's also very mundane topics covered as well. Marmalade Boy deals with two couples who divorce and remarry the other couple's partner and decide to all live together, with their two kids, who end up falling in love. Not that mundane, I suppose, but there aren't any aliens or ninjas. School Rumble and Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) are other ones like this.
I asked around a bit, and my friend recommended "Hajime no ippo" ('The first step', or something like that) which is a classic boxing-themed manga, as well as Slam Dunk, which is basketball, obviously.
Someone above mentioned it might be difficult to find English translations, but there are large online fan communities that make a hobby of translating their favorite manga so you can usually find English translations somewhere if they aren't available in the US.
Posted by: Jeremy | Monday, 23 November 2009 at 08:38 PM