I read Deathnote Vol. 1, Boredom today and I was amazed how long it took. Reading the book "backwards" (for me) wasn't so bad but reading the panels from right to left was difficult, especially since the thought and speech bubbles had traditional english text reading left to right. I would imagine if the text read in the same direction of the panels, it might flow better but having them be counter to each other made it a bit slow going at first. The story was interesting, albeit melodramatic but I think that is an element of the genre. It ended on a cliffhanger and I might just pick up the second one for my next trip to the beach.
One of the teens I interviewed reads almost strictly manga and nothing else and I would imagine she can breeze through them very fast now. She reads at least one a day and she does her own manga! I asked to see and she pulled out a composition notebook with carefully drawn out and colored panels. She began with a cast of characters and their descriptions (vampire status, vitals, etc.) then began the narrative. It was almost closing so I didn't have time to get through too much but after asking the teen librarian about her, I discovered this notebook is only one of many! It's amazing to see the effects of this medium on its followers....she has a really solid grasp of the literary and artistic devices that manga employs and has produced original works that follow the rubric. Too bad she can't get credit in school since she has obviously put a lot of time, thought and effort into her work. I'm hoping to see the other notebooks.
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Yep, I agree. In a way, it's kind of like reading a new language--so I think it's good for librarians to get their feet wet and study new formats like this. It keeps us on our toes.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I wonder what it is about manga that gets teens so excited about it--is it the characters? The stories? I think it must be something about the format because so many fans read across the genres--any they can get their hands on.