[Teuthida]

I don't want to one to defend manga given the sorry state of the American comics industry, but here I go. (And turns into a rant on the industry.)

First off manga is comics and anime is the cartoons, most of which are based off manga. Most of the manga found in stores like Barnes & Noble is mainstream crap. There's actually a semi-decent manga that started running in Japan I've been reading that explains the industry over there and why so much of it is the same. That particular series follows a lot of the same conventions every other one follows though, so it's hard to tell if it's being tongue in cheek or just doing them to stay in print.

In Japan 40% of printed media is manga. There are comics aimed at every single age demographic and counter-culture. What comes to America is mostly aimed at young boys and girls.

I hate manga fans more than the medium itself because they'll blindly only read manga and never even glance at American comics...or European which are also quite good. The American comics industry is on a downward spiral. Some of the best comics are coming out these days and very few people are reading them. The price for single issue is too high (and rising) for joe schmoe to consider picking up one read on a whim. To even buy a single issue you'll have to venture into a comics shop. Trades are going to be the only thing to keep the industry alive. The average comics reader is in their 20s to 40s. Manga has completely captured the youth market in this country.

I reluctantly went to an interview for Tokyo Pop last year through one of my professors. It was an odd experience telling me my stuff needed to be more vague and hard to follow. Tokyo Pop translates manga and publishes American comics that resemble manga...which they call OEL (original English language) manga...I don't even want to get started on that.

And now to get onto cartoons. I can see why there's more anime these days. A hellua lot cheaper to just dub something. I recently watched the making of Mike Mignola's animated short of his comic The Amazing Screw-On Head. The amount of work to go into a 30 min cartoon is insane. So much work to do before it's even animated...and the actual animation process isn't even done here. It's shipped over to Korea...as was Batman TAS and most superhero toons I believe. I admit I watch a LOT of anime. Mostly stuff currently airing in Japan that folks are kind enough to subtitle. I wish there were more decent U.S. made cartoons but there just aren't. And kids need their cartoon fix.

I think I had a point...but I lost it. So there's my poorly written rant and a lot of time wasted.