Manga Madness 101

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Manga Madness 101

• Stella M. Farris
• NBCT Librarian
• Lanier High School
• Austin, Texas

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What is Manga?

• Japanese comics
• Stories for men, women, children, and adults
• Come in all genres fantasy, horror, science
  fiction, action, adventure, humor, sports, and
  romance

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Interesting Facts About Manga

• Are long stories that have an end
• Similar to a TV series
• Japanese readers read a manga page in 3 seconds
• Manga artists take 4 hours per page, completing
  20 pages a week
• U.S. is one of the last places for manga to hit

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Why Manga?

• S.R. Ranganathans- Five Laws of Libraries
• There is a manga for all readers
• Represents an unexplored country
• Builds global readers
• Appeals to a variety of different learning
  styles
• Readers connect description, dialogue, image,
  symbols, and the sequence of panels into a story
  

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• Creates visual literacy or comics literacy
• Combination of visual literacy with traditional
  text-based literacy
• Develops a different type of reader
• Manga readers read carefully, research, and
  connect with other readers

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Manga Styles

• Shonen- stories for boys
• Shojo- stories for girls
• Seinen- adult stories
• Kodomo- stories for children

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Shonen Manga
Writing

• Protagonists are adolescent boys who have a
  generic personality so that boys will quickly
  relate
• Stories focus on personal achievement
• Narrative is dynamic with lots of action

Art Style

• Faces are more angular with smaller eyes
• Panels cut to show action
• Backgrounds are not detailed

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Examples of Shonen Art
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Shojo Manga
Writing

• Protagonists are adolescent girls
• Genres are varied, but the most common are
  romantic comedies
• Dialogue is slow, because it builds on the
  characters feelings and emotions

Art Style

• Large eyes
• Flowing, detailed backgrounds
• Detailed clothing
• Sets mood

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Examples of Shojo Art
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Building a Manga Collection

• Read manga
• Watch anime
• Read reviews
• Talk to local experts

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Will you become an otaku?