Initially, I wanted to ask about the time spent on a single chapter, but considering how different chapters have different lengths, I decided against it and shall settle for a single page instead.
When I read manga in English, which is online since I only buy Japanese manga, I find myself clicking through the pages at an astounding speed. Usually, there aren’t too many words in manga, except the wordy kinds like Death Note where whole chunks of texts are squeezed into the tiny dialogue bubbles.
As such, the moment I’m done with all the text on the page, I’m on to the next even if I’ve yet to fully process the image. Sometimes, when only 75% of the page’s image has been loaded, I’m already clicking for the following page. Even with books, I flip the pages as soon as I’m done with the dialogue. It just feels like I’m grinding through chapter after chapter for the plot, especially when I start fresh on a new series that has hundreds of chapters awaiting.
I think the problem with me is the inability to appreciate art.
I’m more of a Shuujin than a Saikou
I can’t draw for nuts, so I wouldn’t know the effort that has to be put in for the art of a manga. Take One Piece for example. Oda Eiichiro is a genius who is able to draw panels with really intricate background details. These panels make up quite a portion of the chapters, yet I’m often just glancing through them, know the rough details, but never really stopping for a moment to appreciate them. This is probably why I’m not complaining about Adachi Mitsuru’s art. If it’s a tree he’s drawing for a panel, as long as it looks remotely like a tree, I’m fine with that.
This is why I read manga even if the art isn’t particularly great. As long as the plot can hook me, the art doesn’t really bother me, unless it’s the kind that burns my eyes. There really shouldn’t be manga with that type of art though. After all, the art has to be somewhat decent before it can get published. I’m not too picky about the art anyway.
I think that the only remedy for this is to read more manga in Japanese. My Japanese reading speed is really horrible, and I can take minutes instead of seconds for a single page. This allows me to spend more time looking at the art while I process the text, and I just might learn how to appreciate the manga drawings better.
Anyone else possesses the same “speed-reading of dialogue without paying much attention to the art” disease as me? Or are there people who take their to read through each page, admiring the art?
Also, here’s something unrelated to the topic. This post was sparked by a conversation between The Sojourner and I on MSN. I must say, he’s quite a good source of blogging inspiration.
Depends on the manga. Something by Obata Takeshi will be looked over a bit after I finish reading and before I flip to the next page. Not all art is created equal.
However, even if there is fantastic artwork, if the story is really hitting its stride, it becomes a lot harder to stop and look. At that point, I just want to know what happens next and will tear on through. I can always go back and look everything over again when I’m done with the chapter.
I generally speed-read through everything, but if a certain plot point comes up that I simply love, I may find myself returning to that chapter and reading it more thoroughly — and appreciating the art more.
Though there’s the point of being a scanlator myself. Since I usually do the editing, I’d have to stare at the same image for a minute or two twice during the process due to cleaning and typesetting at different times. This means I can usually catch the details very well and get nitpicky every time the art looks a bit off.
…Which is why I dislike working on the Tales of the Abyss manga. Damn author draws breasts waaaaaay too big compared to the original design and the faces look skewn at least once a chapter. *sigh*
Heheh, join the club. I generally don’t spend more then a few seconds on a page unless something about the artwork is really striking, and even then, that just affords it a few extra seconds.
I must admit, I feel vaguely guilty given how much effort must have obviously gone into the art =P
I don’t really have the habit of rereading chapters, especially if I’m on a series that has hundreds of them.
Well, it depends for me.
If Im trying to read the manga in japanese, I spend more time trying to figure out the Hiragana and katakana. If I read it in English or Spanish, I turn the page a few seconds later.
dont get bothered too much with this minor details. If the story is good , i dont see why the art itself has to play such a big part. Although the art itself gives most people the first impression . i personally think you can pull off a (great)manga if you have a half-arse story with a stunning art.
End of the day , shouldn’t you enjoy reading/looking at it ?
heh, im the same!
my friend is the opposite though, what takes me 5 minuts takes her 15.
i usually have to end up re-reading things.
but the effects are more dramatic, i think, when your reading fast because the dialouge and pictures seem to be like a movie.
-Lazy-lil-ninja
Yup, it depends on the comic one is reading alright. Generally however, Japanese read their manga extremely fast, well, at least that’s what I’ve observed on trains here in Tokyo.
blauereiter > Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing some salarymen on the train flipping through a thick stack of manga serialisations, really swiftly.
you have to read for the plot so it makes sense that you’d read overtly fast. I do too. I just finish and go back to look at the pictures in detail a bit later….or i save my shonen jumps and manga and use them as source material (now trying to draw it…..THAT fosters appreciation)
This is not a disease, this is how manga is supposed to be read.
Same, especially online manga. With genius works such as Death Note and Rurouni Kenshin (i have the volumes), I unconsciously will take random times to revel the panels, but usually its flip flip.
I can’t take manga with horrible art, and the Japanese have a very flexible mindset on what constitutes horrible drawings. Pretty pictures are a big plus for me.
for usual jump stuff that is under 29 pages around erm 15 to 25 mins.