Manga analysis question

[telophase]

As a result of minor good news that I am not discussing publicly yet except that everyone on my friendslist knows, I'm going to ask - what would you like to see me tackle next in my manga analyses?

I know that most people tend to want me to dsicuss a specific series, but that puts the burden of figureing out what the heck to say on me and I REFUSE THAT BURDEN, GOOMBAS! So ... if you have a specific series you'd like me to talk about, you'll have to come up with a specific question, probably on the order of "How does the mangaka of [blah] achieve [blah]?" or "Why did the mangaka of [blah] do [blah] instead of [blah]?" Only with, you know, actual words with relevant meaning instead of the [blah]s, in case you were feeling smart-alecky today.

Of coruse, it's not like I have time to do any a bunch right now, but it'd be nice to have a list of topics generated to pick and choose from when I do manage to squeeze in a bit of time.

Comments

[the-z.livejournal.com]

Have you covered the general panelling placement/progression distinction between shoujo and shounen manga? I was really noticing it this weekend while reading Shojo Beat (as I typically only read shounen titles). It might be an interesting thing to focus on.

[pratyeka.livejournal.com]

I second this.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Bleach, memorable minor characters? It's a combination of dynamic entrances, weird designs, attention to detail and really freaky personalities? Umm. I dunno, maybe you're one of those people who has trouble keeping them all straight.

Er, I don't really notice much when reading manga, sorry. I was struck by how hard it was to tell what certain characters in Prince of Tennis really meant when the fan-translation was bad, because there aren't any emotional clues to pick up on. Poker faces, all of them! Series like Hana-kimi have, in comparison, a much greater subtlety of expression.

the comment in which I expose my massive ADD

[octopedingenue]

I'm one of the people who still can't keep track of all the "Bleach" minor characters who got thrown at me all at once, despite my affection for them all. The uniform black shinigami robe doesn't help, and neither do all the shinigami divisions--"So-and-so is the vice-captain of division 47, under Such-and-such"; that's great if I can remember what division 47 or who Such-and-such is... Interestingly enough, I didn't really have that problem with "Naruto", which was the first manga I'd ever read and which also threw a lot of minor characters at me at the same time--I couldn't remember anybody's name, but I could point them out as "The boy with the weird hair and the vest-thing who fought the other kid with the differently weird hair". I still don't know anybody's team number, though.

[octopedingenue]

minor correction: "Naruto" was one of the first manga I'd read. And I do know Team 7.

and I expose my bs since, ahaha, I have a lot of trouble too. Just less than I could have had.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

*puts this comment in the right place* sorry telophase!

The first manga I ever read was Blade of the Immortal, and I still have problems with the names in that one. I think it's because I know if I get too attached to a non-main character, they'll die. (Seriously.)

I blame my problems with Bleach on the long Japanese names. The chapters where Ichigo can't remmeber Uruhara Kisuke's name, and calls him Mr. Hat-n-clogs (sandal-hat guy in scanlations) instead? That made me unspeakably happy. It's too bad Tite couldn't keep up this sneeeeeeaky way of introducing names when the Soul Society arc came around, since that's when you really need it.

In Naruto they only have one (main) name? Which usually means something? And the last name has meaning too, since clans are like, THE thing to watch out for. Characters look like their clans and look like their names. A lot of the 'new' characters in Naruto were present waaay back in the first few chapters, too.

I wish Tite'd given the mass-introduced characters as much individual screen time as Kishimoto gives the characters in Naruto. Say what you want about tournaments, they're really good for learning names.

I know two teams! Team 7 and Team 10 (Shikainochou, the only team with actual teamwork).

None of this is specific to manga, I suppose.

*uses Gin icon*

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I actually have to agree with this. I have no problems keeping the Naruto names straight, but Bleach -- in particular the division captains and their vice-captains plus all their chairs? -- really gives me fits. It was too much thrown together at the same time, and their names aren't very... er.. simple? Common? They're beautiful names, but not very conducive to easy memorization.

(Though Blade of the Immortal doesn't give me problems with the names and character intros.)

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Blade of the Immortal introduces them one at a time, and they're plenty unique -- any confusion, like with what's-her-name, the bleach-bonde one when she's wearing a wig, is intentional. My problem is KNOWING THEY'RE GOING TO DIE. Makes it hard to get attached, you see.

(For example, the last character I really liked had a name starting with S and ending with ri. *cries*)

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Ahaha! I'm a dork. That's what I like best about BotI. :)

(Hyakurin & Shirinji. ;___;)

[octopedingenue]

Pretty much all of these fall under the header of "I love it when they do this, but I don't know WHY I love it", so I'm curious.

- Some more "This is how this mangaka is leading you around the page using bits of the art to tell you where to look" would be nifty.

- What are the nasty art quirks that will make you STOP READING a title the minute they show up?

- Background! Setting! Place! How some series have incredibly detailed landscapes while some have gaping white space with perhaps a random rosebush, and yet both of them can work (or NOT work, depending on the series)?

- Flashbacks! There will be a scratchy black-and-white fuzzy photograph of something in the background, and then it will be Incredibly Important Later. How does that work? How does time in general in manga work? How do you show the passage of time; how do you jump between times; how do you show time has frozen (due to Horror In The Moment or due to a time-stopping spell)?

- Why is there a Hakkai clone in every Kazuya Minekura series? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (Does she just not bother with new character designs or does she just really really like Hakkai? Because I really really like Hakkai, so it's not like I'm mad at her about it.)

- How do manga color pages/series compare to manga black-and-white pages/series (and/or to Western color comics)?

- How do you make a character expressive when hir face and/or body is almost or completely obscured? See: "Naruto", or any series with ninja or Mysterious Figures, really. And now a random Kakashi smiley: ^_

- What're the style pinnings of series that aren't quite shojo or shonen (seinen, josei, whatever)? Are there art differences between shojo and yaoi/shonen-ai (and to a lesser extent the less-widely-available yuri/shoujo-ai), or is yaoi really a subset of shojo and the difference is just the romantic plot focus?

- Development of artist style: Since a lot of mangaka have several series under their belt, it would be interesting to look at some of the general ways their style has changed from series to series or even from genre to genre if they've written in more than one. (Question inspired by the Miki Aihara folder in my manga drive, with scans of early series in pretty but generic shojo to "Hot Gimmick" / "Teacher's Pet" where everyone has weird owl-eyes but it looks really cool. I know "Death Note"'s mangaka has done several. "Fushigi Yugi" could be useful, since Watase went back to the FY style in "Genbu Kaiden" after about 10 years' development.)

- How do fight scenes in shojo compare to fight scenes in shonen? (Or how do [stereotypical shojo scenes here] in shonen compare to [stereotypical shojo scenes here] in shojo?)

- Talk to me about scary manga hair. And clothes. And weaponry. Which leads me to

- Sometimes a mystically glowing magically expanding sword in the artwork is just a mystically glowing magically expanding sword. And sometimes it's NOT. Discuss!

I left this window open while I went off to dinner, came back and didn't realize I'd written so many, so I wrote like six more. Ummm. Ooops.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Pacing. You talk about that a bit with fight scenes, but it might be interesting to look at the pacing in a non-fighting series.

What shoujo abstract backgrounds and symbols (ie, flowers, feathers, bubbles, blobs, etc) mean and how they work.

Face and body design: what makes a character cute? What makes a character sexy? What makes a character innocent, likable, mysterious, dorky, or possessing hidden depths? And what's with all that facial scarring and missing or hidden eyes?

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I second the shoujo abstract backgrounds and symbols.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I second pacing-- it was the first thing I thought of. Understanding Comics has that great discussion of gutter space-- I'd like to see how and how much manga does that differently.