Answers to Go

SAN MARCOS PUBLIC LIBRARY

625 E. HOPKINS ST.

512-393-8200

Q. My great nephew has his 14th birthday coming up and when I asked him about his hobbies and interests, he said, “Manga, anime, graphic novels, comic books — that sort of stuff.” What IS that sort of stuff?!

No worries — A. we can help. There are quite a few resources in the library to help you understand these forms of literature and entertainment (see list, below). However, I will get your started with some basic information.

Graphic Novels. This is an umbrella term for comic books and manga — they are all books with stories told through pictures (graphics) and limited text. Most are found in physical paper formats, but many have been digitized and can be found online in a collection like the library’s Overdrive/Libby collection. We have 613 graphic novels currently in Overdrive/Libby.

Comic books differ from graphic novels in small ways. Usually, the binding is thicker, and the books are longer. Ultimately, though, a graphic novel is just a fancy way of saying a comic book.

Manga is a kind of graphic novel. It is a term for a wide variety of graphic novels originally produced and published in Japan. Unlike American comic books, which are usually printed in full color, Japanese manga are almost always published in black and white. Full-color prints are often only used for special releases. Japanese manga is read right-to-left and back to front, rather than left-to-right, which is the norm for English language publications. The narrative is contained within frames called koma. So, to read a page of manga, you start with the koma in the top right-hand corner, and you end with the koma in the bottom left-hand corner. This can take some getting used to if you have only ever read English publications, but you will hardly notice once you’ve practiced enough. (Pagan) Even if a manga has text, there are many more clues and symbols to help you follow the story. Manpu refers to manga symbols. They are frequently used to express movement or emotions, with stock symbols used to convey feelings such as sadness or anger, embarrassment, or tiredness. When these stock representations become instantly recognizable to regular readers of manga, it means that excessively wordy text becomes superfluous. (Osmond)

What is anime? Anime is the Japanese word for “animation,” and anime refers to all animation originating in Japan. The word anime is pronounced “ah-nee-may.” It is a shortened version of the phrase animēshon, which means animated drawings, and it is an accurate description of the art form. (Stark) Rather than books, anime uses film/video as its medium. But is it a cartoon? No, not really. The answer is complicated. Usually, anime focuses on life issues that involve human emotions and most anime series have sexual and violent themes. Character expressions are exaggerated and the purpose of most anime, unlike cartoons, is not to make people laugh. Anime is an art form very different from cartoon art. Anime, just because it is animated, is not always for children.

The library has thousands of graphic novels (including manga) in three collections for different age groups — juvenile, young adult, and adult. For more specific information about manga and anime — check out these items below.

• “You can do a graphic novel” by Slate, Barbara.

• “The art of the book: from medieval manuscript to graphic novel”

• “JR: can art change the world?” By JR

• “The anime companion: what's Japanese in Japanese animation?” (1999) By Poitras, Gilles.

• “Animation art: from pencil to pixel, the history of cartoon, anime & CGI”

• “A geek in Japan: [discovering the land of manga, anime, Zen, and the tea ceremony]” (2010) By García, Héctor

• “The animated movie guide” by Beck, Jerry.

• “Anime: concept to reality” [DVD]

If you need help finding something in the library catalog, just ask. Call us at 512-393-8200 or come in and speak to the librarian at the information desk.

• Osmond, A. (2019, July 23). How to read manga. SOAS Blog. Retrieved July 17 from study.soas.ac.uk/how-to-read-manga/#:~:text=Traditionally%2C%20 manga%20stories%20 are%20read,the%20 bottom%20 left%2Dhand%20corner.

• Pagan, A. (2018, December 27). “A beginner’s guide to manga.” The New York Public Library. Retrieved July 17, from nypl.org/blog/2018/12/27/beginners-guide-manga

• Stark, N. (2021, August 4). “Common differences between anime and cartoons.” ezinearticles.com/. Retrieved July 17, from ezinearticles.com/?Common-Differences-Between-Anime-And-Cartoons&id=10494624

Suzanne Sanders is the columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.