Nakama Britannica

After a couple months off from writing, I guess its time to return to this time consuming hobby. As you may have notice activity on Nakama has trickled to a halt, I guess the main reason is everyone is busy living their lives. I was the same, and unfortunately writing sat on the back burner. Now things are going again, we have a full schedule until the end of June so more posts ahoy!

I’m going to be a little bit selfish today, and this post really isn’t anything special. Over the next month or two you’ll start seeing more and more manga reviews appearing on AUKN. There’s a sparkling new section and we’ve brought more writers onto the team.

This leads me onto this post. Over the next couple of months I’ll be reviewing a 17 volume series of manga, and I’m excited to rise to the challenge, but over the past couple of days I’ve been thinking about the format of the reviews and the writing style I have. I realized its going to be bloody hard.

With an anime series there is a smorgasbord of topics that you can write about. You can cover things such as the quality of animation, the voice actors, how well its adapted from the manga, the musical score, the list goes on and on. The problem with manga is that while it shares some characteristics of its anime counterpart, it requires on imagination and thought from the reader, something that varies from person to person.

The reviews will be easy, you just read the book and then think about it. The trouble is, how do you get those thoughts down onto paper without repeating yourself over and pointing out the good and bad. My biggest problem with manga is not so much the look and style, but the lack of backline detail. In books you get lovely paragraphs describing the buildup to the scene, in anime there is the musical score in the background, slowly gathering pace to sucker you in. But in manga it’s just slap, bang, wallop, there you go.

Don’t get me wrong, I love manga and I enjoy every minute I spend with a right to left story. But I guess it’s the western, grown up in me that still thinks “it’s a comic, exactly how much detail and depth can there be” but surely enough, the child In me comes along and reminds me that manga is a fantastic medium and I should just let my imagination go nuts.

If you see someone that can write a review on manga, and do it well. Tip your hat. Because its not easy.