Reading Manga for the first time
So, I have never read manga before, and for full transparency, I did not believe I ever would. I think I have always had a misconception that Manga was a very unusual genre of graphic novel. I had heard rumours of different plotlines for some strange Manga novels, and so even though it shouldn’t have put me off, it did.
Upon further research, Manga is simply a Japanese graphic novel. They have a distinctive illustration style, like Anime, which means that the characters have very large eyes and are more emotive/expressive that other drawings. There are different types of genres within Manga, suited for different age groups, and includes romance stories which I did not expect. My prior experience with Manga has only been watching Anime shows like Pokémon, and Haikyu!!, which I did very much enjoy. So why did I think that I wouldn’t like Manga?
Short answer: nobody likes change. I like to stick to my romance and fantasy books, and rarely venture out into other genres. Now this is what I’m hoping to change, starting with my first Manga. Weapon of choice: Your Name by Makoto Shinkai.
First of all, I did enjoy the experience of shopping in the manga section of the bookshop - as a regular visitor (I know you weren’t expecting that were you), I found it very refreshing to shop in a new section whereby I had absolutely no clue where I was looking! I did get a recommendation for ‘Your name’, but even so it was interesting to have a look at the other titles they had available. Even though some of them were extremely shocking… I had fun looking at books that I had never looked at before. I think part of sticking with the same genres when reading can be very boring to look at the same titles over and over, expecting a new release to suddenly be available to spark new interest. I can safely say with the Manga section, everything was bran-new to me.
Another thing that did confuse me was the price of the graphic novel - for such a short book, it cost me £10.99 brand new, and that did surprise me. I had to remind myself of Brandon Sanderson when he spoke of the pricing of his books - he made the valid point that no matter how long he spent writing, no matter how much longer a book was, it was still priced the same, approximately £9 for a paperback, and £20 for a hardback, special editions not withstanding. Sometimes we have to pay extra for less if it means that we can pay less for more.
So, I sat down to read and had to re-adjust myself as I began to understand the concept of reading backwards. Wow. A lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be! I did start to struggle when there was stacked images and which direction to follow the conversation, but towards half way through, it was easy to adapt.
I did really like how easy it was to consume, even though I do understand that this will vary between different Mangas. It meant that I dedicated an hour to sitting and reading the novel in one-sitting, which was fun to have such a fast-paced story-line when I am currently in the middle of a 600 page romantasy book. I found that the episodes within the novel were well placed if I did want to take a break, but it felt nice to be all-consumed by a story in such a short period of time.
As for the specific book itself, I really enjoyed the unique plot-line of Your name. It was a tad confusing in parts, but I do think that speaks to the confusion that the characters face throughout the story. If they don’t know what’s going on, then it did make sense why I had lots of questions about what was happening. I do find that at the end of the novel, I do want to carry on to see what happens to Mitsuha and Taki and read the next 2 books within the series.
Overall, what I have learnt is that I shouldn’t be limiting myself to different cultures and different reading experiences. Bottom line is I love to read, no matter what the premise is, where it is set, or what the plot-line is… within reason of course.
My next goal going forward will be to research more Manga comics that have themes that I enjoy like romance or fantasy, and expand my TBR list into other categories I haven’t considered much like horror, sci-fi and non-fiction novels as well.
I think the lesson learned is not to stick to your comfort zone as you might find your next favourite read when you least expect it.
Your Name by Makoto Shinkai, 3 stars.
