Let's Talk: Anime and Manga

Good Morning (or night or afternoon, wherever you are, whenever you read this)! This post / email is for those who want something fun to read. Hope you stick until the end!

Last week, I talked about my writing phase. This week, let’s talk about Anime and Manga—the phase I experienced before writing. I hope this is as fun to read as it is for me to write this! 😄 

So, where do I begin? I grew up in a household that held more Manga than the average household (in the world), and yet, the only Manga I had read in my 8 or so years of living in that house was this cute, funny Manga series we didn’t even have the full series of (I’m talking about this as ‘before I got into Anime and Manga'. I lived in the house for more than 8 years). Now, my household probably does not hold as much as those with parents who are somewhat into Manga, but I do believe we had more than those who didn’t know the existence of Manga. There was a basketball series from my father’s time that lined the shelves, but nobody read it, despite it probably having all the books in the series. Before really getting into Anime and Manga, I also occasionally watched random Anime from random series, but that was only because a family friend put it on the TV when we went over, or my family decided to uncharacteristically watch Anime purely for amusement, though they weren’t Anime people so we didn’t have an Anime series we watched as a family.

I had a friend in elementary school who introduced me to the world of Anime. So, by the time I was around 10, I was hooked. The first series I watched was Soul Eater (the one my friend obsessed over at the time), and from there, I went on to watch the classics: Naruto, Death Note, One Piece. And of those classics, I never got through any. Naruto is…well, stupid (I will be killed for saying this, but this is only my opinion). It’s too long, too boring, and I never saw the point in it, and I just, well, continued watching it, which ate at my time. Death Note was not stupid at all. Very thrilling, intellectually mind twisting, but, uhh, not my thing. I’m bad with thrillers, and when the second antagonist was brought up, I was so done with it. One Piece, as mentioned in last week’s newsletter, is, indeed, a masterpiece. However, the fact that it goes into so much detail makes it long, and well, I’m a jerk who doesn’t care about some of the side characters. Now, if I were to go back and watch it (which I probably won’t), I would probably enjoy it more and appreciate more of the details, but for now, it’s on my ‘haven’t finished it’ list. There is also Detective Conan that’s a classic, but I honestly haven’t been interested in watching it on my own accord. Every episode (or few) can be a standalone, and I know how it started. It’s too long for my liking, and I’m honestly not into detective stuff, but if you’re into mysteries and a genius detective, I would recommend it (as long as you’re fine with the series having more episodes than One Piece). Another classic I never got into was Dragon Ball. I watched like, one episode, and that was the end. Thus, I believe I am not qualified to be talking about any of the Dragon Ball series (not like I am qualified to be talking about any Anime).

I could talk a lot about Anime, which ones were worth it, which ones weren’t worth it, and which ones were purely for my pleasure and had absolutely no benefit in me watching, but I’ll refrain. Let’s talk, now, about Manga, which I touched on earlier briefly. Manga was certainly not on my radar. At least, not until I wanted really badly to know what happens afterwards after an Anime left me hanging. For those of you who don’t know, the majority of Anime are adapted from Manga, meaning the Manga will be way far ahead of the Anime, had it been adapted from one (usually). I believe this first happened to me on either of two occasions. One Punch Man, which was so funny, and didn’t have a continuation in so long, I had to know what was going to happen. That was never a success, and what even is with that joke of a One Punch Man version with so badly drawn characters? Or it was (I don’t know exactly which one was first) The Promised Neverland. Now, this was before the second season aired, and I suppose that season was bad—I’ve never watched it. This time, I actually read the Manga. It was amazing. I loved it so much, I read the entirety of what was up on the web, and then I probably stopped because I can’t wait for an entire week to go by before I just forgot about it (commitment issues). So I naturally went on to reading other Manga.

After discovering how awesome Manga is, I believe I went into a Manga phase, and then I discovered Manhwa and Manhua. I cannot tell you which is the Chinese version and which is the Korean version, but blindly guessing, Manhwa is the Korean version, and Manhua is the Chinese version. And I’m only going based on my limited knowledge of the Korean alphabet, so if I’m wrong, please do correct me. Now, I do love the Chinese Manhua because they’re so pretty, colored, and drawn so well, but the translations sucks. Like, seriously. And then there’s the Korean version, Manhwa, which is, well, a whole other story.

There are tons of popular web comic apps, and the one I (along with a whole bunch of others) love the most is Webtoon. Webtoon is made by Naver, which is a Korean company, and the majority of their Original Webtoons are originally made by Korean artists, translated by official, (supposedly) qualified individuals (at least, assuming we’re on the English server). I probably discovered Webtoon due to one of two series I might’ve stumbled upon on my Manga hunt. Noblesse, or Tower of Gods. Both are amazing, and though I don’t really know which led me to Webtoons—if any—these Webtoon classics are the best. So, supposing that the majority of these Webtoons are Manhwa, I was hooked to Manhwa. Long story short, once I traversed the colorful world of Manhua and Manhwa, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I found it hard to go back to the black and white Manga.

For what it’s worth, this is the watered-down version of my phase in consuming Anime, Manga, and Web Comics. I never really got into TV shows that showed real people, and stuff, which contributes to my living under a rock, however, I do not believe it was a shame that I never watched Hollywood films that are apparently too cliche for a lot of people. I like Anime, Manga, and Web Comics, and probably will continue liking them as a sort of entertainment going forward in life. Though it can be slightly unhealthy at times (let’s hope I can keep in check my urge to binge something), I believe this phase in my life was enjoyable. Though I will never pull an all-nighter just to watch Anime ever again (after falling asleep in class), I do believe I found something I find enjoyable, and I couldn’t ask for anything more, even though I do regret not doing something more effective during that phase.

If any of you want any recommendations (if you even want an amateur’s recommendations), feel free to shoot me an email with what preferences you have, and what form of media (reading or watching) you like the best! I’ll do my best to keep you entertained and having too much on your list, you can’t keep up 😉 

Thanks for sticking this long, and I hope you have a great week! 😁 

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