Undoubtedly, anime and manga are awesome! These Japanese entertainment forms are popular around the globe featuring unmatched series such as Death Note, Attack on Titan, and Full Metal Alchemist, all filled with amazing anime swords and other weapons. At first look, both manga and anime appear to be in the same harmony. But surprisingly, this topic has raised a debate between anime and manga enthusiasts.
Introducing Anime and Manga
Anime refers to the Japanese computer animation that comes with a completely unique style contrasting the Western cartoon. Initially, anime’s art style took significant influence from Osamu Tezuka’s work in the 1960s. Since the 20th century, anime has increasingly built up its popularity and so do
anime swords and today it has become an international phenomenon like manga. We have observed remarkably famous anime such as Your Name that has become the blockbuster anime film with a worldwide gross of $355,298,270.
Manga is a Japanese comic with a complex history. A number of people believed that the origins of manga date back to the 12th century. It was until the 19th century that this famous form of entertainment was named manga. After World War II, manga has emerged incredibly featuring many stories, artworks, and writing styles. Ultimately, manga found its way to the Western market and has now become a global phenomenon.
The Differences Between Anime and Manga
Speaking of differences between manga and anime, typically manga depends on hand-drawing pictures to illustrate the story and characters. It primarily focuses on certain events and focused details that make it more impactful. Subsequently, the authors have complete control over their manga, they can depict the story however they want. Eventually, the story can be freely developed and stay true according to the author’s plan.
On the other hand, anime relies on animated scenes to present a story and illustrate the characters. It brings characters to life with appealing colored visuals, voice acting, sound effects, and background music to beautifully deliver the story. As far as anime adaptation is concerned, the story tends to be altered due to the time constraint. A few anime is cut short to better fit 10-12 episodes’ length. Though that may lack important events which you can mostly see in manga. Whereas other anime has fillers to extend the original storyline such as Naruto. In terms of original anime, particularly movies, the story is precisely planned in the given time period. The visuals might be more simplified but altogether the anime offers a full story with unique characters, anime swords and impactful events.
For people who are not much into manga and anime, they may think that these are for children and teenagers. However, there is all sort of manga for various age groups including children, teen manga and manga for adults that features assorted mature and serious matters. It is quite similar to the Western comic which also comprises of various series and stories for all ages. Though Western comic and Japanese manga have somewhat similar main concept yet there are certain differences when it comes to art style and cultural factors.
Western comic typically follows a realistic style whereas manga has an entirely unique art style. Western comic features colored graphics while most Japanese manga comes in black and white colors. On contrary, manga has originated from Japan and therefore it has a lot of influences from Japanese culture. Contrasting the Western comic which typically read from left to right, manga read from right to left. Moreover, many manga series take the setting in Japan and consequently it becomes challenging to relate for international readers. Yet, slowly but surely we see many manga series taking the international routes including myths and locations throughout the world.
Which one is superior?
It’s simply impossible to say whether the manga is superior or anime. The answers are mostly subjective and fans probably protect what they believe in. At the end of the day, it’s not about anime vs manga in over-all but more of anime vs manga variety of a certain series since we believe both are awesome in their own ways. Still, we would like to know what do you think. Feel free to share your viewpoint and stay tuned for more information in the future. Maybe share a bit more about your favorite anime swords.
