I was casually perusing some books at Barnes & Noble on my lunch break when this duo (brother and sister, maybe?) of white trash psuedo-goth teenagers (it’s a strange breed to describe but they are rampant in the south and if you’ve seen them before you know what I am talking about) rush the manga shelves and start making a bunch of noise. I wasn’t really bothered by them, but they (particularly the girl) were loud enough as to catch my attention. I guess the fact that she was loud wasn’t as obnoxious as the fact that she kept repeating everything she said until her counterpart paid attention (”Robbie, it’s over here. The big manga section. Over here. Robbie. Robbie. Robbie, it’s here. The manga section. Over here, by the comics. Robbie.. Robbie..etc.”) Later on I crossed paths with them again:
Girl: “Oh my god, look. ‘Manga For Dummies!’ Look. Manga. For Dummies. MangaForDummies!”
Boy: (silent)
Me: ….
Girl: (holding up book) “Manga For Dummies!”
Boy: (still silent)
Me: That’s certainly repetitive!
Girl: “I know– what’s ‘repetitive’ mean?”
You don’t know what “repetitive” means? These kids were easily 13 years old. Maybe older.
I don’t feel one way or the other about manga. I don’t know much about it. I do know that every time I go into one of the “big box” bookstores I always seem to see a collection of dorky kids languishing on the carpet and reading manga for hours. This bugs me a little, but I don’t think its damaging to society or anything, though I think that you would get your ass kicked out of the store if you were doing that mess in a real comic shop.
Kim, on the other hand, sees another side of manga at her job. Kim views manga the way that parents viewed American comics in the 1960’s: They’ll rot your brain, make you even dumber than you already are and they have no redeemable value. She’s hypothesized that manga is a ploy created by the Japanese to get America back for the H-Bomb (actually I think I was the one who came up with that ). Her venom for manga is serious and to me its seriously entertaining to watch her get all worked up about it. I think she really snapped when she saw something like this, but really she probably just has a better understanding of people that are checking manga out of the library. After my little run-in with the dumb kids at Barnes & Noble, I kind of see how easy it is to generalize them all as dumbasses.
There is a use for it. In the same way that there is a use for Harlequin romance novels…bodice rippers, as we call them in the library. I will admit that there is good manga and shitty manga. However, usually what I see at the library is really bad manga. My complaint is that the kids who read manga ONLY READ MANGA. They have 20 spaces on their card, so they check out 20 manga books…and then 5 more on mom or dad’s card. Manga does not spur on any interest in classics…or any other books fiction or nonfiction. To make matters worse, after reading the manga these kids will check out the accompanying animated series on DVD and watch them. We get hundreds of new books every day, so I know there is plenty of new material to read. Unfortunately, the manga lovers don’t want to have anything to do with it. It’s a shame.
Kim is right on this…manga is fucking stupid and makes you stupid. And Justin, I know exactly the kind of kids you are talking about…I see them all the time here in South Carolina (God I can’t wait to be moving back to Boston in 3 weeks!)
There are two Drews that post regularly on my site and it’s bound to confuse someone.
Sorry this is the Drew who’s brother Alex is a bass player from Boston…he originally pointed me to your blog linked off of his a couple of years ago…
Yeah I knew who you were, but I thought might confuse you with another Drew that comments, whom we know in real life.
Gotcha!
Then this will make you both happy:
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20080812/extra-wide-contacts-gives-you-that-sought-after-anime-look/
that’s cute.