Kids Who Can't Read Mangas
June 23rd, 2006 by El Wiseguy | 20 comments
It would still be understandable if you were trying to read complex literature, and told me "I don't really get it." But what do you mean, "manga is too difficult to understand"!?
Apparently, we are seeing kids nowadays who do not understand the basic concepts for reading manga, like 'speech bubbles' and 'panels.' Not understanding how panel works, OK I guess you can't help it if you're a young child who's never touched manga before, but speech bubbles? That's the absolute essence of manga! Just why are we seeing this sort of phenomenon?
"I think the primary reason is that there has been an increase in the amount of visual information on non-paper media, such as the internet, cellular phones and video games. Reading manga is not something you're taught; if there are fewer opportunities for people to be exposed to manga, that means that there are fewer opportunities to familiarize themselves with the structure of manga. Therefore, it would only be natural for people to experience confusion when trying to read them." says Assistant Professor Kazuma Yoshimura of Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga.
And it's certainly true that in past decades, things like the internet and cellular phones were not as ubiquitous as they are now, and visual entertainment was essentially limited to manga, anime and video games. Many children probably considered manga an extremely popular form of entertainment; hence, they naturally picked up the rules for reading manga while they enjoyed reading them.
The fact that there are kids who don't understand how to read manga itself is worrying enough, but does this mean that Japan's glorious manga culture is on the decline? Are we going to be OK?
"Just because there are some kids who can't read manga, doesn't mean that the manga-loving population is declining. It's true that anthology magazine sales are going down, but sales of graphic novels are doing well. This means that we are seeing more and more people who only read certain favorite titles." explains Yoshimura.
If many people only read certain titles, then the market itself will inevitably get smaller, but for now we can breathe a sigh of relief. When it comes to manga and anime, we don't want to place second to any country in the world! (Mai Endo/verb).
Tags: manga (add tags)
Comments
hummm thats kind of messed up - i mean in the back of the manga there is an example of how ur suppose to read the mangas, so i wonder what happed there
by demontenchi on June 28th, 2006
no i think its becasue they dont relize that the speech bubbles are read in the opisite direction.
right to left not left to right.
and if they really cant read a f**king speech bubble then...
i mean what the f**k?
did their moms drink to much when they where in the womb? are there friends sticking chlorine and drano in their milk?
what the f**k is going on?
haha woops thats what i get for not reading the rest of the topic.
why the hell would that be happening?
i think it might have been translated wrong. i mean maybe they just dont want to read it instead of arent able to. that i can understand.
right to left not left to right.
and if they really cant read a f**king speech bubble then...
i mean what the f**k?
did their moms drink to much when they where in the womb? are there friends sticking chlorine and drano in their milk?
what the f**k is going on?
haha woops thats what i get for not reading the rest of the topic.
why the hell would that be happening?
i think it might have been translated wrong. i mean maybe they just dont want to read it instead of arent able to. that i can understand.
by bubonicplauge on June 29th, 2006
Yeah but reading mangas are easy and what are the ages of these kids we speak about, i wanna know since if it was a 1 year old all i have to say is that his not smart enough to understand what these lines or squggaly marks are- he dosnt even know what lines are
by demontenchi on June 29th, 2006
I had that problem when I first read a manga I tried to read it left to right and quickly figured it was the wrong way after that no problems.
by Ins0mniac on July 2nd, 2006
i guess its 'cause some people are just plain out ignant and think every one plays by the same rule in life. like with books some people skip strait to the first chapter.
by asiacan on July 6th, 2006
well thats kind of dumb if ppl think that way since in life theres well different things everone does so ppl shouldnt asume thaat its hard not to but thats how some ppl think just like what were talkin about
by demontenchi on July 12th, 2006
I'm new! Oh come on I could read mangas now kids cannot read that sad. :(
by I Am Wolfman on July 29th, 2006
that is actualy kinda funny because i go to the japanese book store from time to time and i see the kids sitting down and reading a text book thick manga book, with a busty chick on the cover, to really drive home this is a manga that is ment for boys.
by faizboy on July 29th, 2006
LOL Faiz thats funny, well yeah i relly dont know how this happens to kids how have manga stores around them and are in japan
by demontenchi on July 29th, 2006
Meh it might be because a lot of Japanese kids are getting less and less free time. One of my Japanese friends says that the city kid doesn’t read much manga. But the country boy reads a lot of manga compared to the city kid. Because the boys parents at least the one's in the city would much rather buy a textbook for a kid but while out in the country the parents don't really care.
by faizboy on July 29th, 2006
that explains ever thing
by demontenchi on July 29th, 2006
when i read my first manga i noticed emidiatly that it was from right to left.... either im smart or some ppl ar just dumber then me <.< that'd be nice
by Vector on September 30th, 2006
well..... it could possibly be that people cant adjust their mind to read right to left. but i dont know
by inu......yasha!!!2 on October 14th, 2006
I must be dumber then because i didn't know ....not at first:lookweird:
by Anime_Demoness on October 14th, 2006
when i think about it, i red the last page 4 about a min. but when i read a couple pages, it felt like i made mangas!!! it felt like i have been reading them 4 ever
by inu......yasha!!!2 on October 15th, 2006
Not only does that knock out manga. But Comic books too. The childhood past time of the united states -_-
by Siziol on October 15th, 2006
nice article. I think it's pretty good. but kids should learn how to read it correctly:thumbs:
by rukia96 on June 23rd, 2007
I've heard about this travesty. Inability to read manga is the number 1 killer in Japan right now.
oh and what up willy, I didn't know you were on this site (I'm from TPL but my identity atm is a secret, check your pm box)
oh and what up willy, I didn't know you were on this site (I'm from TPL but my identity atm is a secret, check your pm box)
by War Gorilla on July 14th, 2007
If kids can't read manga, I don't see why can't the kids relatives or friend sit down with them and explain how to read it. Just like parents/relatives/teachers teach everything else to kids.
by Calpico on August 14th, 2007
well anime cant fit the entire manga in anime it was only done with db,dbz,anddbgt because then they would be a lot eps and then it would start getting old..........just like db,dbz,dbgt are starting to get old
by crestiksa on December 18th, 2009