Comments on: What Makes It Manga? The Building Opposite

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:41:16 +0000

I share your feelings on the relative ease of reading, sometimes. :) And thanks for restating your position: that’s a great summary.

By: Brigid

Brigid — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:38:51 +0000

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have probably read fewer than a dozen non-manga comics in the past year, aside from webcomics. I did read the Best Comics of 2006 anthology but I didn’t care much for most of it. For some reason, I find manga easier to read than other types of comics; reading indy comics feels like work. But maybe I’m looking at the wrong books, because I do enjoy a number of webcomics (A.D., Sin Titulo).

That’s why I put in the disclaimer: Vanyda uses techniques that I see in other manga, but I’m not sure whether they are unique to manga.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:06:45 +0000

You both certainly speak more intelligently about manga than I can, but just out of curiosity: how many indie slice-of-life comics have you read? I’m wondering if we’re equating it to what we’re more familiar with.

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » 2008: The year of mangettes and light novels?

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:55:59 +0000

[...] Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson reads The Building Opposite and wonders “What makes it [...]

By: Brigid

Brigid — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:34:28 +0000

I usually side with the intent of the creator. Vanyda is part of the Nouvelle Manga movement, which was begun by Frederic Boilet and deliberately sets out to create slice-of-life comics in the manga style (as opposed to the standard French genres).

In her review, Mely points to the pacing and the use of black and white as manga-like, and I have to agree. Vanyda uses the very manga-like technique of focusing on a small object or a part of a scene to both slow time down and subtly hint at something about the characters. And I thought her use of panels was very evocative of manga–she chops things up into small single panels, stops the action with wide horizontals, that sort of thing–although I don’t read enough indie comics to know how common that is outside the manga world.

Vanyda is a young artist who is still learning her craft; the last page of The Building Opposite was a lot better than the first. I think her style will continue to evolve, and it will be interesting to see if she continues in the manga direction.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:21:07 +0000

I agree, we don’t want to resort to stereotypes. If you agree that TBO isn’t manga, how do you define “manga” such that you can determine something shouldn’t be called that? What makes TBO non-manga to you?

By: Kristoffer

Kristoffer — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:09:51 +0000

I’m not saying that I agree with “The Building Opposite” being classified as manga, but I don’t fully agree with the way you describe manga by putting it in a box.
More than anything, manga is a way of story telling, but even the different ways the stories are delivered vary greatly.
And there is also a genre known as “Slice of life”…no robots, sci-fi, action, maids. And there are tons of manga that don’t deliver the huge eye, exagerated proportions, and big heads you mentioned. Stereotypes are so faux pas.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:53:59 +0000

I agree, that’s the ideal future. But so long as manga has such a sales boost over comics in the US, and so long as publications like PW have two separate “best of” lists (although those lines are really blurred in their case; and I did the same thing this year), that’s not likely to happen.

By: bizarro

bizarro — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:44:57 +0000

While confusing, it would be great to see the lines blur to the point where manga are just comics and comics are just manga. The last time I was in Japan, most non-otaku folks called all comics by the name “manga”.

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Jan. 18, 2008: If you love me, kill your dog

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:59:05 +0000

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson wonders why French cartoonist Vanyda’s slice-of-life drama The Building Opposite is being [...]