You might have noticed if you read Manga Blog that there’s a new site called MangaViews.com which showcases a bunch of really interesting manga reviews. So far I reckon, after having become a member of the site to contribute stuff to it, it has the potential to really do good for the aniblogosphere in terms of reviewing licensed manga. The reviews can at the moment be accessed over time as more manga reviews are added, but it also provides news stories about recent manga publications which are relevant to newcomers and veteran manga readers alike.
I believe this is an important step for manga reviewing because it makes us feel that we’re not so alone in it all. Sharing news and reviews could really invigorate our participation in documenting not just our love of manga but also the history of manga publication in the Western World: the site is aimed at a wide variety of people of different nationalities rather than just America, which is a breath of fresh air for an Australian like me, but just think about how useful this could be to bloggers in countries like the Philippines and Malaysia, maybe even China and Korea, yet this also could include the many manga fans in Europe whose voices need to be heard. Manga isn’t just about Japan or America anymore – it’s an artform with a world-wide following whether one participates in creating manga themselves or not. I personally tried to create manga myself but my skills of writing and photography far exceed anything I can do with a pencil and paper in manga style. But I don’t think I should stop appreciating the manga works of others just because I can’t draw it myself.
The aniblogosphere and the manga reviewing blog community worldwide as I have experienced is not just about what country you come from. It’s a beacon or SETI signal, and it sends out its own frequency of weirdness and the joyful elements of mundane life alike. That message might be along the lines of “Yes, we’re here too, if anyone can hear us, we’re here, and we know that you might feel the same way about these things as we do.” Anime and manga for a lot of people isn’t just about mindless consumerism of character goods, or rejecting reality for cute 2D girls. Many people interact with anime and manga as a fun house mirror of the water cooler, which Twitter.com and Google Reader have assisted in maintaining a strong anime and manga community, which uses technology developed for the purposes of perhaps not solely catering to anime and manga fans, but it’s certainly a useful time of technology to live in isn’t it?
And having joined MangaViews, I think I might have found a way to give my articles on manga exposure they might not have enjoyed before. This site really does do a good job at collecting together useful articles and reviews about manga, and I might seem like a bigger sellout than Gene Simmons in saying this, but I would recommend this site to other anime and manga bloggers hoping to find relevant information about licensed manga.
So are we going to review some of those crazy Japanese comic books or what?
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Copyright © Jacob Martin 2009. All Rights Reserved.
8 comments ↓
What happens if your blog is about both anime and manga?
And what about discussing unlicensed manga without mentioning anything about scanlations?
[...] Read the original: Us Manga Bloggers Gotta Stick Together: Thoughts on MangaViews.com … [...]
Hmm, I think we do have an issue here. Unlicensed manga you read raw via imports seem fine enough, but my issue isn’t that I don’t think scanlations for many things need to exist, but that the feds will clamp down on me if I review too many scanlated volumes. But hey, I don’t know all the answers, that’s why your commenting. It would be nice to hear somebody’s rebuttal about scanlations.
Anyway if your blog is both anime and manga, MangaViews lets you submit articles related to manga independently of the anime stuff: anime and manga are closely aligned since they are like brother and sister to each other. Maybe if you’re confused about whether your blog is both anime and manga, just write about what you like!
[...] the original post: Us Manga Bloggers Gotta Stick Together: Thoughts on MangaViews.com … By admin | category: manga | tags: after-having, contribute-stuff, manga, new-site, [...]
[...] Tangognat tells us the inside story of the new Manga Views website, including how it was created, while Jacob Martin looks at its value to users. [...]
Thanks for the nice words about Manga Views. If anyone wants their blog feed included on the site, just e-mail me at tangognat @ tangognat.com
I think discussions of unlicensed manga are fine. I just want to steer away from scanlations for obvious reasons.
I think adding reviews of scanlations to the mix is a bad idea even just in terms of usefulness to readers. There’s a lot of value in multiple reviews of a single product, but if the reviewers aren’t all reviewing the same product (translation, visual quality, etc.) I think that muddies the waters quite a bit.
[...] Tangognat tells us the inside story of the new Manga Views website, including how it was created, while Jacob Martin looks at its value to users. [...]
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