Many people in the US are familiar with comic books and graphic novels, books or pieces of literature told with a sequence of illustrations that tell a story. As stated in our class, graphic novels and comics are different from just the regular picture book as picture books encourage readers to interpret scenes based on a key image. Graphic novels specifically emphasize sequences and make readers pay attention to certain details with the panels as they unfold. While there are millions of comics and graphic novels that circulate bookstores and libraries throughout the nation, another genre that has made rise in the has made a drastic rise in the last decade is Manga. Manga is essentially an umbrella term for graphic novels and comics published in japan. Some key differences from western illustrated graphic novels are illustrations are usually black and white this is done because it is much cheaper to produce. Additionally, instead of reading them from left to right they are read read right to left. Many manga series are released monthly or weekly chapter by chapter in manga magazines like Shonen jump. Some series like One Piece, Dragon Ball or Black Clover are long running and can span multiple volumes.
With the adaptation of new technologies and animation studios many Graphic novels and comics can be adapted into fully fledged movies and TV shows. For people that grew up in the generation when comics were inherently popular watching your favorite hero or comic protagonist come to life is something of wonder. Similarly Manga has its tv adaptations in the form of anime. Usually Anime takes the long running stories of a manga and forms them into beautifully hand drawn animated shows. They tend not to stray from the original plot and do their best to adapt illustrated panels to the animated show. Shows like One piece, Dragon Ball Z or Naruto have been on the air for several decades and still release episodes weekly. Other manga like Black clover, Demon slayer or fire Force had weekly running anime but because an anime is able to incorporate several chapters from a manga into an episode, it finds itself catching up to the current chapters. This means that anime studios may have to wait a while for the story to be adapted in order to continue the show. In rare cases though studios do not do a good job of adapting the manga to TV leaving manga fans disappointed.
Manga popularity also seems to stem from the themes that are written about. Many western comics focus on the fantastical or end of the world scenarios, while we love our heroes there is not much that we can relate to only ever being a civilian that would be saved. Many Manga focus on everyday life, highlighting school life or sports or jobs. Additionally, manga that have more outlandish stories perhaps about superheroes have a younger cast, showing their coming of age in addition to the protagonist having powers. A great example is My hero academia which is about a high school for super powered kids.
Personally, I did not started reading manga up until recently as many of the anime I watched had reached a point where it caught up to the story. One Piece, my all time favorite anime, is 43 chapters behind the manga. For me I can read ahead to continue the journey then when the anime catches up I can sit back and enjoy the visually beautiful and fun show. Another anime that I enjoy watching is Black Clover. In this case however the anime caught up to the manga in its final season and ended on a cliffhanger. In this case I picked up on the manga where the show left off and continue to read the Black Clover manga weekly as it releases. If you are in this extensive genre checkout this manga site fro free reads and if you would rather rather watch check out this anime site for free anime