Start Learning Japanese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

Are anime, manga, and games really that popular?

Moderators: Moderator Team, Admin Team

Alan
Expert on Something
Posts: 189
Joined: June 15th, 2006 7:09 pm

Re: Are anime, manga, and games really that popular?

Postby Alan » August 22nd, 2006 5:01 am

Charles wrote:... I wonder what it's like in Japan, where so much of this art comes from. I keep reading that in Japan it's perfectly normal for people of both sexes, all age groups and places in society to enjoy these things. But, somehow, I still get the feeling that liking them is kind of geeky.


I looked round several Japanese bookshops (in Japan) & there always was a large Manga section. Maybe 20% of the shop. Furthermore there are Manga for all ages so it isn't just for kids. So it's more mainstream than in western countries, where comics are written just for children and therefore any adult reading them is probably a bit, shall we say, slow.

However collecting action figures is definitively on the geeky side. I saw a TV programme on this. Apparently you can get action figures in all sizes. The line between geek & pervert seems somewhat blurred.

I'm not really an expert in the Japanese games market, but they certainly seem to like adventure, karaoke and simulated dating games as well as platformers. The simulated dating games don't seem to have transferred to the west, so I've never played one of those, but there was an episode of the mini-goddesses anime, which covered this, so I got the general idea. In each level you have to succeed in more difficult and different types of date. You have to allocate your scant resources (a bit like in adventure games) and there is multiple choice dialogue. You get scored on how appropriate your dialogue was. I'm assuming that this kind of gaming is primarily aimed at girls.

Bueller_007
Expert on Something
Posts: 960
Joined: April 24th, 2006 8:29 am

Re: Are anime, manga, and games really that popular?

Postby Bueller_007 » August 22nd, 2006 8:19 am

Alan wrote:Furthermore there are Manga for all ages so it isn't just for kids.

You can say that again. I've seen *architecture* mangas that my English students were reading to help them prep for their university courses. Complete with mathematical formulae and everything.

Get 40% OFF
rei-kun
New in Town
Posts: 4
Joined: August 21st, 2006 9:12 pm

Postby rei-kun » August 22nd, 2006 11:57 pm

ali-san you're absolutely right! in seattle there is, from what i've seen, a growing interest in anime/manga. Heck SakuraCon, basically the #1 Anime/Manga convention, is hosted every year here.

My Anime Personal favorites:

Bleach
Naruto
Trigun
Evengelion: Genesis
Gundam: 8th MS Team

arancarlisle
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 27
Joined: May 2nd, 2006 5:58 pm

very popular

Postby arancarlisle » October 5th, 2006 3:48 pm

Anime and Manga are incredibly popular and accepted in Japan. I have read that the majority of books published in Japan are Manga. Men, women, girls and boys all read it in its variety of forms. Anime is also very widespread and popular.

That does not mean everyone in Japan is an obsessive fan of Gundam. Instead, there are a wide array of different subjects published in Manga form. Nana, is a good example of a manga that is very popular among girls and women (not just geeky ones) but isn't generally read at all by your general sci-fi manga fan.

Ulver_684
Expert on Something
Posts: 869
Joined: July 19th, 2006 6:31 pm

Postby Ulver_684 » March 16th, 2007 5:05 pm

doriangrey64 wrote:i watch Anime and read Manga all the time. But in the UK Anime isn't all that big nor is Manga. They dont really show Anime on TV unless its the crap shows pokemon and onepiece.


Please respect Pokemon because you don't know what your saying if you haven't seen it ok! :evil:

Return to “Japanese Food & Entertainment”