Anime Vs Manga

Anime. Manga. What's the difference right? If you ask any serious fan that question, you better be prepared for a few arguments about how they truly differ from each other.

I know some of you may not be familiarized with the manga craze, but manga is kinda like comic books in the U.S. The major differences are that manga is a usually published in Japan, and the artistic style of Japanese manga artists usually contain unique elements that seem to be missing in American styled comics. One obvious difference are the slanted eyes. Japanese manga is also usually read from right to left. Some popular magazine publications to find manga in include "Shonen Jump", "Shonen Sunday", "Hana to Yume", and "LaLa". All though manga creators usually originate from Japan, popular manga creators have also come from Korea. Good news for manga fans because the more mangakas, the more unique and interesting manga titles will be made available to the public.

Just like manga, anime has gained a lot of interest from both young people and adults in both Japan and the United States. Anime is basically an animated TV adaptation of a manga series, such as popular titles like Naruto, Dragonball Z, and InuYasha. The major difference between anime and manga is probably the fact that some of the content that was originally published in a particular manga series can get lost when it's developed into a TV adaptation. Because anime originated from Japan, many companies in the United States go through bidding wars in order to gain the rights to potentially profitable titles to be Americanized. This is where complaints from fans arise. Many fans are disappointed when anime is Americanized and argue that the certain elements found in the original Japanese anime is often altered or lost. An example of a popular anime series in Japan that disappointed many fans when it came a shore to the United States is One Piece. Because there were so many alterations made to Americanize the series, One Piece didn't seem to gain as much popularity as the original Japanese anime. In the end, the rights to the anime series were recently passed from 4Kids to FUNimation. Hopefully, American audiences will give One Piece another shot, and maybe this time around it might finally shine.

Both manga and anime have found their place here in the United States, and based on their popularity, it seems as though fans will still be able to enjoy these entertaining series. No matter their differences, as long as fans yearn for their favorite series, anime and manga will continue to be created to help satisfy the hunger of fans around the world.