Posted on 11/10/2005 5:05:44 PM PST by Dajjal
U.S. Papers Adding Japanese-Style Comics
by Yuri Kageyama
AP Business Writer Mon Nov 7, 3:32 PM ET
"Doonesbury" and "Peanuts," make way for "manga." Come January, the Sunday funnies of several major North American newspapers will have doe-eyed women in frilly outfits, effeminate long-haired heroes and other trademark images of the Japanese comic style.
The reason? Newspaper editors want to attract more young readers. A study released earlier this year by the Carnegie Corporation put the age of newspaper readers at 53 and climbing — hardly a recipe for circulation growth.
"We thought if teens and young kids are reading manga, then why don't we get something in the paper that teens want to read?" said John Glynn, vice president at Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes comics and columns globally to newspapers. "Newspapers are being seen as their parents' medium."
The U.S. newspaper debut is a bit of a landmark for manga — a product of Japanese pop culture that has never been quite mainstream in the United States, although it's long been a hit with the younger generation that grew up on Pokemon, Hello Kitty and Japanese animation movies — or "anime" for short.
"This could be something that really explodes," Glynn said in a telephone interview from Kansas City, Missouri. "This is a great way to take a chance and change the landscape and readership of your paper."
Several newspapers that have signed on to carry the two English-language manga strips on Sundays include the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Vancouver Sun and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Martin Fischhoff, assistant managing editor at The Detroit News, which also plans to carry manga, believes it has the potential to be a big hit and draw new readers.
"I know how popular manga and anime are among a young demographic. Go to any bookstore and there are kids swarming around the manga shelves. And by kids I mean everyone from high school into their 30s. There is even a local store devoted to manga paraphernalia, which is always packed," he said in an e-mail. "But this trend clearly hasn't made itself felt in newspaper comic sections."
The larger papers can afford to take risks, Glynn says. But if manga proves a success, others may follow suit.
"The newspapers want the manga more even than we want the newspapers," says Stuart Levy, chief executive of TOKYOPOP Inc., which publishes the cartoon strips that will be carried. "Newspapers are looking for new fresh ways to appeal to young people."
Kirk LaPointe, managing editor of The Vancouver Sun, said manga has drawn a strong following in the Vancouver area, particularly among young readers.
"We want to bring more features that appeal to a younger readership, and many of the comics we carry have an older following," LaPointe said in an e-mail. "We also like the artistic nature of manga and feel it will contribute to the graphical beauty of the paper overall."
Both cartoon strips are by Americans — evidence of how far manga has come in the United States.
"Van Von Hunter," by Ron Kaulfersch and Mike Schwark, is a horror spoof about a warrior and his female sidekick who dress in Gothic-inspired costumes and are on a mission to fight evil.
The quirky "Peach Fuzz" explores conflicting views of reality. It depicts 9-year-old Amanda's desire to become friends with her pet ferret, Peach, who harbors delusions of being a pampered, veil-donning princess.
The manga rage is spreading.
Papercutz, a New York company, bought the rights to The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries to bring out comic versions inspired by manga. Major bookstores in the United States now devote rows of shelves to manga.
CosmoGirl, the No. 1 teen publication in the United States, began running manga produced by TOKYOPOP in August. And the Harlequin Romance books are coming out in a manga version — something that's already available in Japan.
Manga is more a storytelling style than a genre, spanning the range of novels or movies — including romance, horror, science fiction and comedy. Manga tales also tend to be more psychological and less action-oriented than its U.S. counterparts, such as Marvel's superhero comics.
"Peach Fuzz" co-author Lindsay Cibos says she found manga "deeper and more fulfilling than cartoons on TV."
Cibos, 23, is a self-taught manga artist who has never been to Japan and speaks no Japanese but grew up on the manga classic "Sailor Moon."
Manga stories "touched upon girls issues, emotions and romance, that sort of thing," she said in a telephone interview from Orlando, Florida.
Takashi Nakagawa, executive managing director of Softbank Investment Corp. in Tokyo, a financial backer of TOKYOPOP, says he saw a good opportunity five years ago in the company's attempt to translate manga into English and offer it to the American market.
Founded in 1996, TOKYOPOP has operations in the United States, Japan, Germany and Great Britain, has an annual revenue of about $40 million and sells as many as 10 million books a year, according to Levy, the CEO.
Levy, 38, is a Los Angeles native who came to Japan in 1989 to attend university. He quickly realized manga was hot as a lifestyle statement, touching on fashion and music, in the same way hip hop has defined a cultural attitude.
"Manga is the core of this kind of lifestyle and culture, which is becoming a global trend," he said in his Tokyo office. "I'd tell people Japan is such a creative place, and they would say, 'No, no. no. Japan is not creative. It just copies the West.' And I said, 'That's totally wrong.'"
Levy is now working on a musical film based on manga.
His next project: offering an English-language manga service on the Web that will allow people to view the comics online or download them onto their mobile phones to read on the go.
"This is getting so popular now," said Levy, switching into fluent Japanese and displaying manga on his cell phone screen. "Japan is way ahead of the world in this."
____
On the Net:
TOKYOPOP Inc.: http://www.tokyopop.com
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
I doubt if this will boost newspaper sales, though, or "attract younger readers."
Plus, if there will be the complaints generated when they drop existing comics to replace them with manga.
Maybe they can get LIBERALITY Comic Book as a comic strip.
Its bad enough that Adult Swim on the cartoon network is dominated by STUPID Japanese cartoons.
Manga and Anime make me sometimes wish that we dropped more than two bombs.
Even non-adult ones features copious amounts of nudity. A popular joke in manga is the "nosebleed" where a male protagonist runs into a naked member of the opposite sex and suffers nosebleed from arousal.
Significant portions of the culture that led to us dropping the two bombs still exist in Japan. A lot of influences in modern manga (esp cheesecake) can be traced to drawings and illustrations in the age of the Samurai. Particularly is the less than stellar treatment of women reflected in the mangas. It wasn't uncommon for samurais to arbitrarily kidnap and rape peasant women.
I know all about that. One of the more odious aspects of Japanese culture.
It wasn't uncommon for samurais to arbitrarily kidnap and rape anyone..
Fortunately they rejected most of the offensive stuff. Otherwise we'd have to bomb them again. Unfortunately when even children's cartoon features near or total female nudity, they have a long way to go.
Probably. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. We have a lot of crummy knights in Europe but at least some sort of justice or Code of Chivalry can be expected/enforced. AFAIK, samurais have free reign.
Grrrr.....
I, on the other hand, vote for the traditional L to R sequencing since in every other bit of English narrative, both text and art, the narrative goes in that direction. The "we won't mirror it for English speakers" attitude displayed by American publishers drives me absolutely nuts.
But since all of the series mentioned are created by native English speakers, I'm pretty certain that they'll end up in the American format. Especially since I've seen Van Von Hunter and it's formatted in that manner already.
It was more than mere power dynamics; it involved the entire value system. For one thing, rather few samurai could be said to wield "absolute" power - the Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was one of them, and he was married, involved in a long-running affair with his chamberlain, and maintained harems of both women and men, many of whom were themselves married.
In any case, it was the entire value system that: (a) did not feature much in the way of sexual inhibition; and (b) certainly developed a code of chivalry, but one abiding under radically different rules - in particular the angst and gallantry that characterized European knights would've never been wasted by a samurai on an 'unworthy female'..
As an idle aside, the samurai themselves were just as much subject to rape as anyone, and this is another distinctive feature of Japan. Higher ranking retainers thought nothing of plucking either samurai or townsmen off the streets (much less their women). Throughout Japanese history, the rape fantasy has reigned supreme in their erotic imagery along with the equation between romance and violent death. In the pre-Taisho eras, the ubiquitous threat of rape is a constant preoccupation of both their literature and their legal system.
Much of this history has been whitewashed from the popular Japanese consciousness.
bttt
Like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.
I read somewhere that anime's appeal lies in the simple shape of the face, big goofy eyes that mimic why people think puppies are so cute. I used to like them, now I wonder what the hell I was thinking.
PS. I should add that those of the samurai and townsmen classes subject to arbitrary kidnap and rape were of course younger - teens and twenties. The older one got, the less of a threat it was. It probably goes without saying, but I guess it's worth noting.
In many Japanese cities as late as the 19th century youths of either sex were afraid to go out on the streets unescorted, even in the middle of the day. For instance, one legal entry from 1777 in the castle town of Wakamatsu asserts that sexual assaults took place "both day and night" to the extent that many youths had become afraid to attend their lessons. An almost identical report appears in 1793 in the castle town of Matsuyama.
In both instances, the primary bureaucratic concern was that students were kept from their studies....
You mean you don't like hearing some chick yell "Innooyashi!" every other minute after Acqua Team goes off?
Aqua Teen. Sheesh!
I was just looking to see if they'd been pinged :~D
Thank you. Very enlightening. Of course, the leftist racebaiters and hatemongers want to keep this out of sight. Another item of interest, this whole scenario makes the claim that "homosexuals were born that way" seem suspect. There is a clear current of homosexuality in traditional Japanese culture (where it is openly practiced and embraced) as opposed to European culture (where such actions are condemned.)
But that's just mere coincidence. Or more likely a conspiracy to keep it under wraps. (yeah that's the ticket) So move along, nothing to see here, Bush bad, homo is normal, vote Hillary and all that good stuff.
PPS. It's also worth noting that Wakamatsu is in northern Japan whereas Matsuyama is on the southern island of Shikoku. That just helps convey the extent of the phenomenon. BTW, I wrote a very highly regarded thesis on the history of Japanese sexual norms. :)
The history of Japan in particular not only makes that claim seem suspect; it pretty much demolishes the claim.
There is a clear current of homosexuality in traditional Japanese culture (where it is openly practiced and embraced) as opposed to European culture (where such actions are condemned).
Unless you go back far enough in European history.. ;)
Dare I ask, for which class?
International Relations - I was focusing on how Japanese sexual norms were transformed by European influence.
Is there a strong pedophilic current in traditional jap culture?
EWWW!
There is a quite strong pederastic current, which is very different from a pedophilic current. Pedophilia is a deviant maladaption. Pederasty is a social institution (where it appears). Pedophiles are attracted to non-normative immature child partners, centering on late pre-pubescence. The younger partners of pederastic relations are generally in mid to late adolescence - though may persist as old as the late 20s in some historical cultures. The latter of course does not exist in modern Western society. If one is attracted to juveniles below age 16, one is pretty much a pedophile.
A lot of Japanese characters look like grown up kids. Once you see them and the story they are attached to, there is no mistaking them for anything other than adults but they really do look like giant children.
That's not so much the 'pedophilia' you're noticing but rather the singular Japanese fascination with androgyny..
And it'd probably be safe to say that to the extent that there's a pedophilic undercurrent it is mainly an extension of the cultural fixation with androgyny.
Still better than Boondocks.
Would you say it's more of a pederasty (or pedophilia) issue or androgyny issue?
Some people seem to have just skimmed the article, and missed this part. "Van Von Hunter" is also online at Van Von Hunter, though I understand that the newspaper syndicated strip will be a different story line from the online manga.
I sincerely hope thay do NOT import some of the disgustingly explicit and horrifying manga like 'rape-man.'
I'm 33 years old and can remember watching Star Blazers and Voltron as a 7 year old on Saturday morning. I'm kind of amazed that mana hasn't made the transition to newsprint earlier. Then again, newspapers always seemed like a piss poor way to read action strips. I'd rather just go flip out the cash and buy a comic.
I do not think it's accurate to call any aspect of modern Japanese culture "pederastic" - because pederasty is a social institution more than anything else - and the institution is long obsolete in Japan. From a historical standpoint, the boundaries are blurry, because in many ways the deviance of pedophilia is itself a relatively modern innovation. Heck, the concept of childhood as we understand it is a modern innovation (about three centuries old).
Bear in mind that in premodern cultures marriage was something that ordinarily took place in the mid to early teens. When you're talking about societies where the life expectancy was thirty or perhaps forty years it's not hard to understand why. But our society is very different, and within the rubric of modern Western society an adult who wants to have relations with a 14 year old is a deviant. In ancient Rome the 14 year old would very likely be nursing a child or recruited into a legion. Pompey was 19 years old when he commanded three legions.
You simply cannot compare the psychology between such disparate eras and cultures.
You and me both. But we shouldn't be too frightful. The companies have done a wonderful job of weeding out the worse of Japanese culture before it comes to our shores. You have no idea how many games and books are thrown out and editted before they become available in US stores.
PS. And mid to early teens was when a female would often be married. For males, it was often late teens to early twenties. Even for females the median marriage age was typically mid to late teens (for Rome, by example) but the point is that psychologically speaking it was perfectly 'natural' to them to consider a 12 year old marriage material, not to mention sexual material.
Wow, how'd you find THAT image?
In any case, it is most fortunate that the Japanese choose to create their "fantasies" rather then indulging in them. Despite this disturbing current, AFAIK Japan has a relatively low sexual assault, rape, and pedophilia rate.
Yes, Japan is a very low-crime society in general. Keep in mind that the Japanese psyche is very compartmentalized. That's a bit of a stereotype, but I don't think there's anyone that would seriously dispute it as a general rule. You have the 'outer' public self and the 'inner' hidden self and they are kept very much in their respective place.
Manga isn't Hentai. Big difference.
To be clear, I'm speaking of modern Japan in my last post.
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