What is Manga?
- Nickk
- Jan 12, 2017
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 7, 2020
Most of the people in India are unaware of Anime; so knowing about Manga is out of question. That is one of the main the reasons why I decided to write a blog on it. This blog is for those who have no knowledge or very little knowledge about Manga.
Manga are nothing but comics that are written and illustrated in Japan and/or in Japanese language. Now the question that arises is; how is Manga different from Comic? Well there is a lot of difference between a Manga and an ordinary comic. First and foremost is the colour, while most of the comics are illustrated in colour; Manga are generally printed in black and white, though there are few Manga that are in colour as well, like the last chapter of Naruto, By Chance We, Colourful etc. Also as they are written in Japanese language they are usually read from top to bottom and right to left. The hard copy of Manga itself is opened from the opposite side where our usual comic book ends.
Another main difference between the two is the illustration style. Manga figures are illustrated in a particular manner and we can easily notice the difference from the hairs and the eyes of the characters. Manga characters usually have detailed and very thick strands of hairs and the eyes are usually bigger in proportion to the face. The eyeball especially is oval in shape and generally covers the 80 percent of the entire eye. This particular style makes the characters appear cute or Kawaii in Japanese language. But just because the characters looks cute does not necessarily mean that the characters are cute, many of the badass villains often look very attractive in Manga, like the character Johan Liebert from Monster, who looks so beautiful but is one of the ruthless and emotionless villain, same goes for female characters check out the Lucy character from Elfen Lied, who looks really cute with her cat ears but is one hell of a scary villain when she goes berserk.
In my personal opinion there is one more difference between ordinary Comics and Manga; though one might debate on this but I believe the story telling and unpredictable twists makes Manga superior than the ordinary Comics.
If you like to read some great stories and you haven’t read any Manga yet, I would say you are missing out on some greatest stories. Personally my favourite Manga till now is One Piece, and I am not saying this because its a best selling Manga, but I like the way Oda sensei is narrating the entire story, at no point of time it felt that the story is being dragged even though its been 20 years now since its first issue was published. Other than One Piece, I would also like to recommend some Manga for beginners.
Berserk (You would like this if you enjoy Game of Thrones kind of content)
Code Geass (If you want to read something close to Death Note, give Code Geass a try)
Uzumaki (I am not talking about Naruto, its a very old horror manga, trust me its worth reading)
The list will go on and on, so if you really want to read something just pick up a genre and search for best Manga in that genre on google, that will do the job for the starters.
If I missed out on something, or if you want to add on something do let me know in the comments section below. Also you can let me know if any particular thing that you would like me to write about.
