Image reference: http://images.tcj.com/2016/02/Showa_Translation_Panel_1_Mizuki_Shigeru_Zack_Davisson.png This post comes by way of Andria Cheng, professional translator and all around awesome human being: I’ve been a freelance translator for six years, and people always want to know how I got started in the industry. After I graduated with my degree in Japanese in 2005, I sent my resume to all the major manga publishers at the time: TOKYOPOP, Digital Manga Press, Viz, and Del Rey. I got no responses from any of them. Two years later, a professor told me about an online message board (now Google Group) for professional translators called simply “honyaku” (translation). A translation agency posted a request for freelance Japanese manga and novel translators. I applied, took and passed a translation test, and then waited for my first project. At the very beginning I had to “compete” for every job I received, which meant a sample text would be sent out to a pool of translators and the client chose which translator they wanted. But after I won a few of these, the publishers began to request me directly and I no longer had to compete for work. Through this translation agency I was able to work with and have my translations published through all the companies who had previously ignored my resume. Throughout my years as a translator, numerous volumes of manga I translated have appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List for Manga. But I wouldn’t recommend working with a translation agency. At the time, I was desperate to break into the translation industry and had no other means to do so. But I had to sign restrictive contracts with non-compete clauses, and who knows how big of a cut the agency got from all my translations. If you’re fluent in another language and want to become a translator, I recommend that you post your resume to proz.com, a site for professional translators. Companies can contact you directly and you can browse job postings. I have a paid membership, and I definitely think it is worth it. Another one of my classmates took his resume to Comic-con in San Diego and directly approached all the publishers’ booths. He got some steady work translating novels for a major publisher thanks to this tactic. Around the same time I started translating professionally, I began graduate school to pursue my Master of Fine Arts in literary translation. A big part of this degree was participating in translation workshops, during which the students would bring in poetry or prose they translated and have it critiqued and evaluated by fellow students and the professor. There were about fifteen students in the entire program whose ages ranged from 23-50+, and there was only one other student who also translated Japanese. The others translated Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, and one student translated from Chinese. I was actually surprised that I was the only published translator among the entire group. But it didn’t take me very long to find out the director of the program at the time did not consider what I translated and had published “real literature.” She actually stopped one of my former Japanese professors in the grocery store one day to inform him about her concerns about how serious I was about translation. When it came time for me to choose the piece to translate for my thesis, the first question the professor asked me was, “Is this ‘real’ literature?” It was, in fact, a fiction novel by a prize-winning Japanese author, but she still seemed incredulous. At this point in my career I was not only translating light novels and manga, but I translated the bulk of a short story anthology for Del Rey manga called Faust 2, which featured many gifted and popular Japanese fiction writers. But even though I was the only one in the entire program who was actually making money translating, the content of the work I translated was apparently not “real” enough or “literary” enough to count. In the end, I came to the conclusion that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t gain this professor’s approval, so I switched to a different advisor and successfully completed my thesis and got my MFA in translation. I came into the manga translation industry at a great time. I made enough money to pay for my graduate school education in full, but it wasn’t enough money to support myself. If I didn’t have my husband’s income, I wouldn’t have been able to pursue translation as a career at that time. In the beginning I got paid a flat fee per volume of manga. This was anywhere from $400-$700, but when you get a contract for an entire series of say, ten volumes, it can add up quickly. I generally translated anywhere from five to seven volumes of manga a month, in addition to any light novels I was doing at the time, which I got paid for by the page. When I started translating manga, someone else would be hired to “adapt” my translation, which basically means they Americanized my literal Japanese translation. This only lasted for one manga series I did for Viz called St. Dragon Girl, and after that I was credited with my own adapting. Most of the time the adapters don’t even know Japanese, so in my opinion there are much better results when the translator can adapt their own work. When the economy took a turn for the worst in late 2008, the entire publishing industry got hit hard, but manga suffered a lot. Not only did I see my pay get cut by more than half, but the publishers were putting out fewer volumes of manga, more series were getting discontinued, and very few new series were being considered. TOKYOPOP basically tanked completely. Shojo Beat, the only monthly magazine specifically for young girls’ manga and which featured a few of my translations got cancelled. This was when I saw a very sharp decrease in my translation income and I had to start supplementing with things like translating family registers, legal documents, and other miscellaneous things just to stay afloat. (Strange anecdote: Around this time, I received a translation request from a man who sent me emails from his Japanese wife to a friend of hers. The man clearly didn’t know Japanese and wanted to know the content of these emails. I skimmed them and found out the woman was cheating on him after an emotional breakdown related to painful infertility treatments. It was clear he broke into his wife’s email account and there was no way I could ethically complete this translation, so I emailed him and turned it down without any explanation! Life of a freelance translator=crazy!) I think when the economy tanked, there was a huge boom in amateur manga translations (“scanlations”) since the number of manga series being published started to drop. But in my opinion, I don’t think that scanlations have ever majorly negatively affected the translation industry or the livelihood of professional translators. Obviously any time someone chooses to read a scanlated version of a manga over a professionally translated published version, the industry loses money. But I actually know of quite a few series that were specifically chosen to be published because of their popularity in scanlation form. Seeing what scanlated series are most popular and most read can give a publisher a quick idea of how well a certain series or genre might do. And if it’s done right, the published version will be a better translation and of better quality than the scanlation, so a hardcore fan will still purchase the real thing. But the biggest blow to the industry was just simple economics. Half the publishers I worked for before stopped working with freelancers altogether and turned to their own in-house translators to finish series. And the publishers who kept me on didn’t care that the series I translated for them (and was previously getting $700 a volume for) had every single volume on the NYT Best Sellers List for Manga. They just wanted the work done as cheaply as they could manage, and I had to suck up a lot of my pride at the time because I didn’t want to burn any bridges just yet. I felt loyal to these publishers and didn’t want to leave them mid-series with no translator. I even took on a series at volume 25 after its previous translator jumped ship after the pay cuts to show my loyalty. Trying to figure out the plot and continuity for that series was a nightmare, and obviously I never got paid for that extra time and effort. So for a few years I translated a number of series for a ridiculously low amount of money. It wasn’t until this particular publishing company removed the first page translator credits and stuffed my name in the very back of the book in a tiny, barely readable font that I finally knew I was done. I had held onto hope that when the economy turned around my pay would go up and more volumes would be published, but that just didn’t happen. I had hung onto these manga series despite the poor pay, insane deadlines, and almost complete lack of credit up until that point because I know there is always someone who will work for a cheaper rate than you. Despite my initial request for a higher rate of pay in 2008 when my rates got slashed (which was, of course, denied) I had never complained about the poor pay. I faithfully turned in every volume on or before the deadlines. My initial plan was to just say no when the next translation request came. But no translation request came. The translation agency I worked for never even gave me a courtesy email to inform me my projects had gotten assigned to another translator. My suspicion is that most of those series I had worked on, some for years, got re-assigned to in-house translators. So my career as a manga translator ended with very little fanfare, but it was great experience and an amazing boost to my resume. I’ve been told by numerous clients since then that the “New York Times Best-selling translator” line on my resume caught their eye. Within a few months of my retirement (termination?) from the manga translation industry, I got contacted out of the blue by a company in Japan which makes games for mobile devices. They’re a great company to work with, the pay is great, the work is steady, and there’s no way I’m saying more because in this industry someone can steal your work right out from under your nose! I’m sure my former professor would turn her nose up at the content of my translations because they are most definitely not “real literature” but the work is fun and I’m finally able to contribute to my family’s income in a meaningful way, which is worth more to me than anything else. Andria Cheng is the translator of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ninja Girls, Wallflower,ARISA, Mardock Scramble, Faust 2, and more. Reference: http://whatismanga.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/9b/ Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo:
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Image reference: https://i2.wp.com/geekmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Manga-Guide-to-Statistics-and-Calculus-Images-No-Starch-Press-660x435.jpg?resize=660%2C435 ![]() Children’s books and television shows these days are nothing compared to the ones that many of us had growing up. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. I think back fondly on those days of watching Rugrats and Scooby Doo marathons and scoff at the thought of modern-age children rotting their brains with Spongebob and Annoying Orange. But the fact of the matter is that letting kids subject themselves to those books and animations is important to the development of reading comprehension and critical thinking skills, though the shows now seem like garbage to our fully-developed minds. In Japan, the same sort of issue arises with kids becoming obsessed with manga and anime. Parents may try to insist that their children put away the comics and pick up a real book. Some may even go so far as to throw out their child’s comic magazines as they begin to pile up. However, according to one of the professors at Tama University, Yuichi Higuchi, in his short essay “Are you a Bad Parent?” keeping kids away from their anime and comics is a terrible thing to do! Let’s start with the manga. According to Professor Higuchi, reading and rereading the same manga many times over is the best way for children to naturally develop their language skills. This refers to more than just basic comprehension of the plot, which can generally be achieved after one quick read-through. For a child to pick up on the deeper meaning behind the words—the foreshadowing and the nuanced humor, hidden between precise turns of phrase and balanced visual depictions—it takes at least two or three reads for the full breadth of the story to unfold. Every time a child rereads their manga of choice, there is something new that they discover. The words and speech patterns make a little more sense and the meaning behind them becomes that much more clear. Every time a child reads that story their ability to comprehend it expands just a little. They are learning in a way that they love, so why not show some encouragement when they toss aside their textbooks for a well-worn comic? But what about anime? At least with manga, Japanese kids are getting in a bit of kanji practice, yeah? Anime uses pictures to convey its story, rather than writing. And yet, Professor Higuchi insists that anime also has ways of raising a child’s reading comprehension. The secret is providing discussion which leads to critical thinking. If your kids love anime, then they’ll love to share the experience with you and to talk about it. Engaging them in something that they love can be both fun and eye-opening. All it takes are some simple questions like, “What was the most interesting part?” to get their brains cooking up some comparisons and judgments. Now, you don’t want to kill their joy by firing of standardized test questions in the middle of the show, but even saying things to yourself like, “ I wonder why the character did that…” can inspire critical thinking in children. In addition, anime can drastically broaden a child’s vocabulary. Not everything that comes up is as inappropriate as Naruto’s “Harem Technique” or as nonsensical as Ichigo’s “Heaven Chain Slaying Moon” sword. What it really comes down to is that there’s no good reason to separate kids from the things that they’re interested in. With manga and anime in particular, there’s great potential for learning language skills. Personally, I’m just happy for the implication that the next time I prepare for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, I can read manga rather than textbooks. The thought of studying has finally been made fun! Reference: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/06/28/manga-and-anime-declared-good-study-tools-for-kids/ Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: Wouldn't it be awesome if you could roll out of bed and get paid millions of dollars to speak into a microphone while wearing your pajamas? Being a cartoon voice over actor might be the greatest job of all time. But who are the richest cartoon voice actors ever and how much do they make? The lifestyle of a voice actor is pretty amazing, but that doesn't mean the job is easy. The people on this list are some of the hardest working in show business. Many of them work on multiple shows and voice a plethora of different characters. The people on this list have not only been blessed with versatile and interesting sounding voices, they are also extremely lucky to have landed roles on some of the most popular shows on television. If you are an aspiring voice actor, you should make it your goal to work on shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Futurama… anything that has 24+ episodes per season that is shown in syndication around the world. And if there's one major lesson, it's that as always if you want to make the really big bucks, you've got to be the creator, executive producer and writer of a show you own! It also definitely doesn't hurt to own your merchandising rights. But even if you just want to be a regular voice actor, there's still a ton of money to be made, as you will find out by clicking the gallery below:
Reference: http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/richest-cartoon-voice-actors/ Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: The supernaturally focused manga "Kekkaishi" is one of the top manga titles in Germany. Manga grows in the heart of Europe Editor's note: Danica Davidson is a writer whose articles have appeared on MTV.com, Publishers Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. She also writes English adaptions of Japanese graphic novels. She has recently finished her first young adult novel and is seeking a publisher. Anime and manga are gaining in popularity around the globe. The realization of that first hit me when I was attending a fair at the German city of Wiesloch. There — amidst the bratwurst and schnitzel stands, the arts and crafts and the homemade goods — were “Yu-Gi-Oh” tapes and cards. I was lucky enough to be on an inexpensive (read: actually affordable for a writer) group trip to Germany and France, where we stayed with German host families at night and toured during the day. I never stopped being amazed by the grandeur of the old buildings or the kindness of the locals, especially the host families, but seeing anime and manga became a regular occurrence. Every bookstore I went into in both countries had manga sections. Anime and manga magazines were being sold like the ones you can get in America. I flipped through “Peach Girl” at the bookstore in Wiesloch. I checked out “Bleach” at a bookshop in Heidelberg not far from Heidelberg Castle, which you can see in Naoki Urasawa’s “Monster.” I could go into a mall, say, “anime,” and be pointed in the right direction. I didn’t have much time for television watching, but I did see “One Piece” in German and “Naruto” in French. And, yes, I bought myself “Yu-Gi-Oh Der Film” from the fair. “In Europe, manga is most popular in France, then Italy and Spain,” said Hyoe Narita, president of VIZ Media Europe, which is headquartered in Paris. Annual manga sales in Japan are about $5 billion, he said, whereas American manga sales are $120 million and Europe and the Middle East combined make $250 million. This combined number given out is probably because VIZ Media Europe distributes to the Middle East as well. Japan is still the huge maker, but these numbers show that manga is moving well outside of Asia. The popularity does vary by country, but France is by far the leader in European otaku interest, as it brings in 50% of European manga sales. Narita said it’s the same size or a bit bigger than the market in the United States. The market for anime and manga isn’t new to Europe, either. According to Narita, it’s been going on for 40 years. “The first huge hit animation was ‘Goldorak,’ broadcast on TV in 1978 in France, and the average rating was 75% in the younger generation category,” he said. “Manga in Europe is expanding, exponentially,” said Yoko Tanigaki, sales manager of the California-based publishing company Digital Manga. “Every quarter, it seems there is a new European publisher approaching us for new licenses. I constantly receive e-mails from European readers asking ‘Is (this title) going to be released? I plan to buy on Amazon USA and ship it to myself, no matter what the shipping cost is!’” Although we don’t have all the same titles here as in Europe, and vice versa, it appears the main ones seem to sell wherever they go. Narita pointed to “One Piece,” “Naruto,” “Detective Conan,” “Fairy Tail,” “Dragon Ball” and “Ranma 1/2" as being top titles in Europe, just as they are in Japan and the U.S. These are all labeled "shonen," or titles for boys. From my limited but fascinating experience in German and French bookstores, there were definitely a lot of shonen titles, but I noticed a lot of titles aimed for girls as well. This included a good number of girl-oriented "Boy’s Love" titles, some of which have not been licensed in the U.S. As one might deduce from all this interest in anime and manga, anime conventions also are making themselves known in Europe. “The biggest one is Japan Expo in Paris, with more than 200,000 visitors,” said Narita. “It is the most important convention in Europe. The others are Salon del Manga in Spain, Lucca Comics and Games in Italy, London MCM Expo in England, AnimagiC and Connichi in Germany… But even outside of these shows, there are a lot of events, conventions and festivals on Japanese pop culture and anime.” They happen almost every week in France, he said. Seeing “Yu-Gi-Oh” at a German fair might be small beans compared to that, but then again, seeing “Yu-Gi-Oh” at a German fair shows how immersed the medium has became in parts of Europe. Reference: http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/26/manga-in-the-heart-of-europe/ Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (鳥獣人物戯画?, lit. “Animal-person Charicatures”), commonly shortened to Chōjū-giga (鳥獣戯画?, lit. “Animal Caricatures”) is a famous set of four picture scrolls belonging to Kōzan-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan. The Chōjū-giga scrolls are also referred to as Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans in English. Some think that Toba Sōjō created the scrolls, however it is hard to verify this. The reading direction of Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga is supposedly the origin the right to left reading direction in modern manga and novels in Japan. Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga is also credited as the oldest work of manga. The scrolls are currently entrusted to the Kyoto National Museum and Tokyo National Museum. Reference: http://drveemanga.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manga%20history Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: 2013 article via http://media.goboiano.com/read-more-news.php?id=1287 I think every otaku at some point in their life has dreamt about becoming a mangaka. Getting paid to share your favourite original characters with the world, and being able to get down on paper the great stories that are no doubt rattling around in your head. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? If you’re anything like me, then maybe you gave up on your dreams - if you’re not Japanese, it’s impossible, right? Well apparently not, says Dr. Vee, an Indonesian mangaka who is currently having her very own manga published in Japan. We got together with her and discussed all the little bits of information she wished somebody had told her. Below are the biggest and first steps that will set you on course for becoming a professional. As you probably expected, a lot of it comes down to content - what’s your idea worth to publishers and do you have to artistic skills to back it? Like anything, it’s important to think about audience, and understanding that is the first step to becoming a professional. The main barrier, says Dr. Vee is creating something that appeals not to our culture, but to that of the Japanese - after all, that’s where it all begins! Take Bleach or Naruto for example - yeah, they’re massively popular over here, but Japan is where it all started, it’s the Japanese audience that they’re writing for. So, how do you discover that audience and cater your writing to them? Well, you move to Tokyo, make Japanese friends, absorb the culture and fully engross yourself in the country. Easy, right? Well - no, it’s not. Luckily though, there are alternatives, and plenty of success stories where people have got stuff published in Japan from overseas. What’s important is to learn as much as you can about your target audience. Take an interest in their culture, read up about it and objectively look at your favourite anime and manga and ask yourself ‘what themes does this have?’ and ‘Why has this done well?’. Understanding the fact that you’re writing for a Japanese audience is perhaps the most key aspect of all, and acknowledging this fact is the first step into becoming a professional. So you’ve thought about what your manga needs to have, you’ve got your idea and maybe you’ve even gone ahead and written it - but now what? Unfortunately, having a great idea just isn't enough to get noticed. You need to make sure people can see it, and you need to make sure you’re not waiting to be found - slam it in peoples faces. The way to go about this is to target manga magazines through either entering contests or by taking your work directly to the editors or the publishers. Dr. Vee says that the most important aspect here comes down to that same thing again, target audience. If you’re writing a girly romcom, Jump probably won't be interested. Instead, research what’s out there and find magazines that match both your genre and your writing and art style. Smaller, less known magazines are probably where you want to be looking, and from there you can grow out and expand. What it all comes down to is getting your name out there, not waiting around to be found. If all that doesn’t suit you, there are roads less traveled, but just as valid, which might be an option for you, especially as a foreigner in the eyes of the Japanese. This road is the road of a doujin artist, an indie artist who self publishes his work either at events, or on the internet. It’s not unusual for publishers to head-hunt creators - if it’s worth the money, a publisher is goign to make sure that they don’t miss you. There is one problem though - why would a publisher be looking outside of Japan? Why would they be searching through the English side of the internet? The short answer is that they probably wouldn’t be. Like was mentioned before, you have to be the one to thrust it in their faces. If you can, spread your work around the Japanese web space, visit doujin events in Japan and really show off your work. If it’s good enough, you will be found so long as you get it out there. One point that Dr. Vee gave particular attention to was knowing what tools to use for what parts. When looking to get published, editors and such will be looking for a level of professionalism in their candidates. They’re looking for people who know how to draw manga, people who will require as little training and mentoring as possible. G pen, round pen, and screen tone; all tools you should be looking into purchasing. They’re hard to use and they're expensive to buy, but they’re needed. They are what will get you noticed. Above all else, showing that you own, and can use these tools effectively shows that you’re serious and that is what publishers want to see. “What I would suggest to everyone reading this, skill or no skill, is to get a set of drawing pens and start now. Manga is extremely competitive, but it is not impossible to break through, even if some of you may think you lack the talent. It is about determination, there is no shortcut around it, get in the line, join in the queue. The manga industry has no place for those who whine about not having enough money or resources to start. I joined in the queue and invested a lot of money, hard work, and time 7 years ago, and I am now the first Indonesian to make a professional debut at Weekly Shonen Sunday, and I am still in the queue! If I can do it, so can you!” -Dr. Vee Following her incredible success as a gaijin mangaka, Dr. Vee offers online classes for anyone interested, regardless of age, ability or experience. For more information on this service, or if you’re interested in applying, you can check out her site DrVeeMangakaClub which is full of information. If you’re not yet ready to take that jump, you can see a set of notes that she has made and published on her Facebook, which freely document the first and most important few steps in becoming a professional. What we, and Dr. Vee say, is that if you have the passion to learn, and the drive to create then it’s not worth hesitating, not even for a second. Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: Advice on shortcuts to becoming successful creator by manga magazine editorRealities of work after professional debut What would life be after debut as a professional mangaka (mangaka = manga creator)? This is the insight of what life is like from the moment mangaka debut as a rookie to multi million best selling author. The hardest part is right after debutThe period after achieving grand, spectacular debut or "### Newcomer Award" to becoming a celebrated manga creator, must be the hardest, most painful time in a mangaka's career. After debut, a rookie will be asked to produce a couple of pilot episodes that can potentially be made into manga series, provided that improvements are seen at each stage. If the readers' responses and anchete results are good, the rookie will be asked to write some story boards (called name in manga lingo) for potential series. If not, all the editors do would be to look for new rookies. As cruel as it sounds, it is business after all, and running a business is tough, so too bad. Mangaka will use all power and abilities (those who doesn't are out of the equation, obviously), pour his heart and soul into the work. The rejection of a work done on labor of love is very, very painful to them. Lately, young people are getting weaker in spirit. It is a shame when young talents with great potential quit only after a few defeats. If possible, it would be best when these youngsters can get guidance from a teacher or mentor before debuting as professional, by actively creating manga, showing them, take in the advice and practice applying it to his own work. Rookies working as manga assistantThe norm is to work as manga assistant while being a rookie. Work environment pretty much depend on the mangaka sensei, while some have decent policies, others will make you work for many hours without enough sleep. I would send rookies with potential that I feel will benefit from apprenticeship to established authors. Workplace of a professional before deadline is full of tension and it can be a stressful experience for a rookie even to get simple tasks done such as blackening parts of the panels (beta, in manga lingo). Yet, it is a highly inspirational experience for a rookie to be able to handle professional manga manuscript. Some people write manga only during the weekend while having other jobs, side jobs, or being a housewife. Most rookies would be in such position, but this can go on for 10,or 20 years in some cases. Different aspects of life can contribute to creative process, so I can not say that it is necessarily a bad arrangement, but if you want to be a professional, it is best if you could work in jobs related to manga. It would be best for rookies to work as manga assistant. Rookies who had acquired skills to certain extent by going to manga school are in demand for assistant jobs, and are certainly in advantage for better jobs. Life of mega-selling mangakaIf you run series and got your own manga books published, you would be considered a fully fledged mangaka. Once your books starts selling, it is a constant battle with deadline. Weekly deadline for weekly magazine, and monthly deadline for monthly magazine. There are authors surviving by running a series in bimonthly magazine without hiring a single assistant, but such cases are very rare. Basically, as a rookie you would be fighting for your life, and as an established mangaka, you would be fighting with time. Certain horror manga author would have to write a story in 2 days, and despite of that, never ever failed a deadline. Hats off to him. Another high in demand female shoujyo mangaka (shoujyo manga = manga for girls) have deadline once every 3 days, and she maintained the work at the same pace even while looking after her new born. As an editor, it is best to see mangaka maintaining social commonsense in everyday life while pouring out creativity onto paper. There are many people who study in manga school before debuting, so I feel that comparatively we have better quality rookies now than ever with good senses. It is my hope that such people will bring great contents to the magazines in the future. Reference: http://xn--n8jtc6ad0n856xgq2a0ek.com/something_to_know/debut.html Now, my take as a non-Japanese professional mangaka running monthly series in Japan, is that this could be a reality for you, though who might think that you haven't got the right conditions to make this happen, because: 1. You don't have the money to go to Japan, or enroll in manga school, or university that offer manga as subject. Vocational school for manga is expensive. In fact, the yearly tuition fee is more expensive than medical school. People still choose to go because the idea of overnight success as mangaka is lucrative. All the urban legends of mangaka rags to riches stories are true, because I have met many of these authors in person. People do get rich almost overnight once the work hits jackpot. 2. You don't speak a word of Japanese. Except for the words 'oppai', 'hentai', 'otaku', and 'kawaii' 3. You haven't got the time. You are working full time, studying full time, looking after spouse/children at home, running a business etc. 4. You think you suck at drawing. 5. You think you suck at story writing. 6. You tried self publishing or getting published by your local publisher, only to discover your manga books laying dormant in some obscure corner of a bookstore collecting dust and spiderwebs. Sounds bleak? What if I tell you that there is a way around all of those problems? 1. Money If you can not afford the living expenses in Japan, or the ginormous tuition fees, can you afford something you can earn from working part-time serving fries at you local fast food chain for a month? If the answer is yes, read on. 2. Language barrier Do you speak English? What the heck, you are reading this article, of course you do! So read on. 3. Time Can you spare 1 hour and 30 minutes per week off office hours to learn the professional skills? Good, read on. 4. Drawing Can you draw stick figures? Yes? Read on. 5. Story Can you think of any statement or idea you want to tell somebody else? Can be as simple as 'smoking is bad for health', 'My girlfriend is awesome', 'Life is tough but it can be rewarding' etc. Yes? Then here's the deal: Dr.Vee Mangaka Club is an international online manga school that can accomodate participants from anywhere in the world. www.DrVeeMangakaClub.com You CAN afford the education to gain the basic skills necessary to climb up the manga ladder to richness and fame, because our courses are made to be affordable for most people. If you speak English, good news, our course materials are available in 3 languages: English, Japanese and Indonesian. Our courses runs once weekly, at convenient time for you. Adjustments can be made for members residing at certain time zones. We also have intensive courses during holiday seasons for those who wants to complete a level in 5 days. Can you imagine having a professional mentor giving you a pinpoint advice on how to get your drawing to new levels, to the level of professionals that you admire so much? Can you picture being able to pull out ideas in abundance at anytime you want, and being able to write stories effortlessly? Can you imagine receiving your first million dollars, or pounds cheque from your publisher for the royalty payment? Seeing your book in top 10 best seller list in your local bookstore? What if you get thousands of fan letters every day from ravaging teen fans who absolutely love your work, and YOU for being the author who touched their lives? Do you agree with me that you need to be doing something different to get from where you are today, a system or new strategy to get to the glorious place as manga author? Our system of successful creation had been tested and proven. Don't wait another day, because time is precious. Join our family: www.DrVeeMangakaClub.com Image reference: https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/12620195_f520.jpg Western comic books and Japanese manga may occupy the same medium but the culture and style used to tell stories differ. While the term "manga" is essentially a translation of "comic," American comics and Japanese manga are separated by differences in pacing, storytelling, themes and the use of adult themes such as sex and violence. Cultural Differences One of the major differences between Western comics and manga is the pacing. Manga is paced much slower than Western comics, placing less of an emphasis on action. Mangaka -- the term for manga creators -- aren't in as much of rush to hurry the story as comic book writers are, and accordingly ask for more patience from their readers. For some, the result is a more gratifying payoff when the storytelling does gain steam. Unlike Western comics, which dedicate full-page spreads to action, manga tends to dedicate full-page spreads to emotional reactions. The panel layout is also different in manga, with panels that read from right to left. Thematic Differences While Western comics have explored dark topics and concepts for quite some time now, the medium is still more known for its family-friendly superhero genre. Manga, however, is more comfortable exploring risqué material such as sex, violence and scatology. The reason for this freedom in exploring such concepts is cultural, as the primary religious affiliations of Japan is Shinto and Buddhism -- religions that do not equate sex with shame. This allows the Japanese to be more liberal in exploring sexuality than most Americans. Style Differences In Western comics, the establishing shot is centered to occupy the first scene in the comic. Manga, however, places its establishing shot at the bottom of the page. Manga also uses more of a cinematic style than Western comics, portraying characters in dramatic angles more in sync with a film than a comic book. Manga structures its scenes frame-by-frame, representing a snapshot of the action and in sync with the dialogue. Western comics are graphic novels, and as such, the stories and visuals don't necessarily sync with the dialogue and visual action. Production Differences Manga production in Japan is much larger than comic production in America. Manga makes up over 40 percent of all published magazines and books in Japan. Also, 40 percent of the movies produced in Japan are anime, which is the motion equivalent of manga. Where Western comics are designed more with children and teenagers in mind, manga is read by a much wider audience. As such, manga is found in journals and magazines for people of all ages. Reference: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/western-comic-style-vs-manga-13251.html Manga Big Bang! editorial note: According to our 2013 inquiry to Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics, the exact number of active professional mangaka (manga creator) is impossible to know, some claim to be 500, others claim to be 5000, depending on how professional is classified. What we know for sure is that there are huge number of those with 'Japanese dream' of becoming professional mangaka, with 600,000 visitors in Comic Market event (held twice a year in summer and winter), and 35,000 circles or groups selling doujin, indie or fan art comics each time. Where American comics rights and characters ownership largely belong to the publishing company, manga authors gets to keep theirs, with a timed contract for full management and publishing rights for the publishers. The time span depends on each publisher but say, about 3-5 years after the series had been terminated. Typical royalty for book sales is 8-10% per printed unit. American comics are often created in factory-like manner having different parties undertaking different tasks such as script writing, penciling, inking, coloring etc while in most cases, a single manga author does all of that, with or without the help of assistants. Manga authors have more control and freedom over their work in general. Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: While many people disregard anime and ignorantly categorize it as your everyday cartoon, those of us who truly know and love anime, know the type of inspiration that an intelligent anime series or movie can offer, sometimes in a single, memorable moment. Sometimes it’s not necessarily the most sophisticated of animes that causes us to be inspired or motivated, as the simple never say die approach of popular protagonists, from Monkey D. Luffy, Uzumaki Naruto, or Kurosaki Ichigo that can send shivers down our spine and pump us up. Below you will find some of our favorite Inspirational, as well as Motivational Anime Quotes. May it give you the edge you need to achieve your goals, and cope with the hardships of life, consider it a reward for sticking through our somewhat morbid Quotes About Death post.
Reference: http://animequotes.net/inspirational-anime-quotes Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: Overseas you can find people who love manga, anime, kawaii and otaku culture and sometimes lump them altogether because they are Japanese and are all represented at international anime and manga festivals. Takamasa Sakurai, editor for Tokyo Kawaii Magazine, wrote in Yomiuri Shimbun: In 2008 “I realized we are amid a world kawaii revolution; I heard girls in Europe talking about how they wanted to be Japanese, or that Japanese high school uniforms symbolize freedom. [Source: Takamasa Sakurai, Yomiuri Shimbun, April 29, 2011] Young people overseas search for information every day by typing keywords such as anime, manga, kawaii, Tokyo, fashion and Harajuku. In doing so, they come upon websites with information on Lolita fashion, dojinshi, fashion brands and the way to find them. Foreign youth who grew up with anime have much in common with young Japanese people when it comes to pop culture. Both groups search the Internet for information on their interests, which are often similar. If two people with shared interests can directly communicate, they initiate a type of cultural exchange, which promotes more global exchange in general. [Source: Takamasa Sakurai, Daily Yomiuri, March 2012] “Foreign fans of Japanese culture, in short, do not distinguish between the otaku hub of Akihabara and the street fashion hub of Harajuku, despite being quite different in the eyes of the Japanese. It is quite usual for foreigners to be interested in both Harajuku fashion and anime works such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Neon Genesis Evangelion . [Source: Takamasa Sakurai, Yomiuri Shimbun, April 29, 2011] Young women I meet overseas often ask me to visit their homes because they want to show me all the Japanese stuff they have and how much they love this country. Their rooms are packed with Japanese clothing, jewelry, CDs and other products, but their computers, TVs and cell phones are all South Korean. The models on their screensavers are Japanese, the monitors they are on are South Korean. [Ibid] The term "Galapagos" has recently been used in a largely negative context, referring to technology or business models that have developed uniquely in a limited environment. But this is the very uniqueness for which Japan is praised throughout the world. I think Japan should be making things only it can produce. [Ibid] Takamasa Sakurai, an organizers of manga-anime events, wrote in the Daily Yomiuri: “What interested me most about manga-anime fans was that they said their ideal partner would be Japanese. In everyday life, they rarely interact with Japanese, so young people in Russia chat online with each other about Japan and Japanese people in the same way they talk about Japanese anime and idols. When talking with young people from around the world, I'm often bewildered by their glamorization of not only Japan, but also Japanese people. If even I--with my many opportunities to interact with these "Japan admirers"--am overwhelmed by the trend, then Japanese people who have never heard about it before are even more shocked. I'm often asked to talk about the question: "Are Japanese people popular overseas?" when I appear on Japanese TV or radio. "If I can go to Japan, I'd like to gaze at men walking by on the street at a cafe in [Tokyo's] Harajuku for a whole day," a Croatian female college student told me. When I asked another female college student I met in Mexico if she was interested in going out with a Japanese boy, she replied, "Not worth asking. [Of course!]" Reference: http://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat20/sub135/item1862.html Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: |
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