First off, no judgement on my end -- like whatever you wanna like, absolutely. Most people don't even read comics, so I'm not going to hassle anyone for not reading anything and everything.

That all said, Jeff got me thinking about how (it seems) fans who came up before around 1990 don't see to like manga or anime very much. And I don't mean they don't like a few specific books, they seem to dismiss the entire nation of Japan's comics output in totality. And I'm just curious why.

I know a common answer is "too cartoony" -- but then many of the same fans will like work by Carl Barks, Bruce Timm, Alex Toth, Dan DeCarlo, etc. So that can't be it. And there's such a large variety of manga art and styles out there that I'd think it one doesn't appeal to you, another would.

Again, no judgement, I'm just curious what's so unappealing.

Here's a random sampling of stuff I like by various artists...

No billionaires dressing up like bats, no deal.

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga Vol. 1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/140125277X/?tag=imwan-20

They've thought of everything!

I like it. But I tend to prefer comics in color.

Manga's awesome.

My primary objections to manga, which should not be taken as a criticism of the artform (which can be legitimately incredible), but just my view as to why it's not to my taste.
- when compared to the comics of my youth, it's a much faster read. Like 4-5x faster. and so it sticks with me less.
- I find the art in many of them to be less detailed. I'm a writer guy, not an art guy, but still think the art as art is easier to consume. Which feeds into the point above. And in some cases, is less appealing to me.
- the lack of colour is another thing that speeds the read up
- they don't generally do adolescent male power fantasies in the same way. Much less dependent on superheroes

So I have to commit to spend a lot more money to get a full manga story and a couple hour's entertainment than I did a traditional comic book. Of course, that's changed over time as American comics became less dense, but my memory was comics take a good 15 minutes per 22 page issue. Not close to that now.

And the last point, which may not be fair because I don't know if it's true, but I suspect some of the nuance is lost in translation when dialogue gets translated, or cultural references get missed / reframed. I think of the writing of a Waid, or a Simonson, or a Busiek, and am not sure that depth can be pulled off in the same way for a foreign audience.

In a lot of ways, the best manga is closer to Moore or Gaiman, but I haven't found a really good superhero manga to compare to traditional Marvel / DC. It's almost better in the long form, as opposed to the short form. And as I think about it, a whole lot of North American fans never moved beyond the superhero genre here, either. So it's not just a manga thing.

Oh, and finally, I know at least some anime / manga got cleaned up when it crossed the ocean, thereby damaging the creator's intent. Spaceship Yamato and Battle of the Planets just the earliest examples I got surprised by when I went back as an adult.

Jason

I grew up watching stuff like Marine Boy and Kimba the White Lion and I don't actually dislike Japanese style artwork, but I never connected with it somehow. I don't have a problem with it I just don't enjoy it.

I like manga. Mainly I have manga of anime series where the adaptation ended before the end of the story in the manga. Or manga of anime series I liked a lot and wanted to read the manga to get a different view of the story.

Full disclosure - I've previously tried to get into this stuff. Back in the 1990's I was reading all manner of things I got from Minotaur Books (my favourite comic shop then) and trying to make sense of it. I tried reading stuff like The Dirty Pair and Akira and Fist of the North Star but somehow I just couldn't get into it. I don't know why. I suppose it was me trying to find something I could learn to like during a time when I wasn't much interested in superhero comics any more, and I'd already gotten all the back issues of the titles I'd ever wanted.

I felt like I was missing out on something...but none of it seemed to 'take'. I can't even recall much about the stories themselves, but it wasn't a question of disliking the art or anything else. It was just my own response to it. I think my relationship to comics was changing, fading away, and I didn't want that to happen. Ultimately, manga didn't revive my interest and by 2000 I had pretty much stopped reading comics.

There are many fine artists doing Japanese comics. They just never click for me despite trying several of them over the years. I don't care for the style the overwhelming amount of them are done in. The big eyes, pointy chins, speed lines everywhere... It's not about the lack of superheroes for me at all; I have read and enjoyed many non-superhero comics done by European and US artists. It just isn't to my taste, and I feel like I've given it a fair chance more than a few times.

I tend to find the pacing to be much too slow, especially if you're reading it in the traditional American monthly format.

You should try Tezuka's Astro Boy, the pacing is pretty solid and it's got that retro feel we all love.

I actually love the Manga aesthetic but have never found one where the premise seemed interesting to me (Not that I have searched high and low or anything.) The closest I've gotten is Adam Warren's Americanized Manga style for "Empowered." A comic I do follow loyally, and own every volume of.

The pacing on many manga series is pretty excruciating. That's why I tend to be drawn more to shorter manga works. They do exist. I've sampled occasional volumes of quite a few longer series as well.

The great majority of manga, including most of the more popular franchises, I don't find that interesting. But since the variety now available in this country is so very great, I can still find stories I really like here and there, with enough browsing and sampling. My most recent manga read was a book on common types of printing typefaces, of all things. It made the subject interesting.

I'm kind of the opposite of some of the posters above. I got rather burned out on the types of comics I read growing up. I still like to revisit superhero stories and Carl Barks Duck stories for nostalgia reasons. I'm no longer all that interested in reading new superheroes and Duck stories. Nor do I care much for most "serious" American graphic fiction, for the same reasons I seldom care to try contemporary "serious" fiction in general.

But with manga, there's always something new and different to find, if look for it. I suspect part of it is the fact that they aren't as bound by the same relatively narrow selection of areas of interest that seems to tie up most American publishing.

Manga all looks the same to me. Like there's one artist out there who does it.

That's why I don't like it except once in a great, great while.