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Do comic books count?

Like spider man, the fantastic 4 or something?
I'd assume not, although I'd personally rather have an animation forum in general rather than limiting it to anime and manga.
Unfortunately, no. Comic books and manga are two entirely different things. Why? Well, manga and anime is a mixture of Japanese art with western culture, and can be about anything.

While manga can get intense with action, it's mostly about the plot, which can get pretty extenive. Many manga and anime series are about everyday life, however they do have their fair share of suspenseful moments. In a manga series about school life, a fight could break out between classmates, or two friends could break out in an argument.

The art style is different as well. In Marvel comics, you see areas shaded in with a dotted style, which saves money when coloring. Each character has detailed expressions throughout the book. And not much changes except for a 'POW' and 'BAM' every few panels. In manga, detail is usually focused on the characters more than the background. For instance, a highly detailed background could be introduced in the first panel to tell people where the story is taking place. But when characters are added in, the background is less detailed to draw more attention to what the characters look like, and what they are saying. When multiple characters are in a panel, the character who is not taking action will lose some detail, and the eye will be drawn towards the one who is speaking. And a key difference between manga and comics is that manga is in black and white.

Word bubbles don't fill up panels, and the maximum that you'll ever see is about 3 in a single panel. You might even see word bubbles without a backround, so you can see behind it. Rather than a cloud with circles to a character's head, text with no box at all will tell you that this is what the character is thinking.

Emotions are also a key factor in manga. If an expression is meant to be humorous, then less detail will be added, and the entire face might be wiped, leaving only the eyes. A big drop of sweat going down a person's head represents an "oops" situation, while arrows for eyes would represent happiness or anger, depending on their direction. But in a serious situation, emotions are finely toned, and shading is added drastically. The expressions on the character's faces look normal, and can be related to anyone who is feeling the same way.

I guess that covers it. Are you still confused?
Originally posted by ChaoticFox
Unfortunately, no. Comic books and manga are two entirely different things.


I disagree.

I recall my encounter with "manga" in an issue of Nintendo Power, the US magazine. Nintendo Power inserted the manga into the magazine and instructed each reader to read from right to left. This manga was a comic book. This manga had panels, speech balloons, pages, characters, backgrounds and other typical comic-book features. (Also, a "comic book" needs not be comic. Many comic books are comedy, but some have no humour.)

"Japanese manga" are comic books from Japan.

Hacking Super Mario World since 28 February 2009
SMWDISC
I think he wasn't reffering to the design, but to the style. Japanese Manga and American Comics have a totally different style, you have to agree to that.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
But why does that barrier have to exist? Is Banjo-Kazooie not a video game because it's not made in Japan and it doesn't have a similar art style to the more story-oriented Phoenix Wright?

It's all animation, they're just different genres of animation.
Well let me ask the same question but with a little difference: Why have American and Japanese people to be different? They're both human, so why can't they be the same? If you have the answer to that question, then you have the answer to your own question.

EDIT:
On top of that I really wouldn't welcome it if Mangas were like American Comics. It's like you'd say:"Oh, why can't French Fries taste like Pizza?"
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
But the thing is, if a Japanese company produced an animation that's in the style of an American cartoon, it would still be called an anime because that's what an anime is- a cartoon made in Japan.

The "Why can't French Fries taste like Pizza?" question is irrelevant. That would be more worth comparing to "Why aren't live-action shows like animated shows?" They're both TV, but they're totally different in such a way. A more proper comparison would be "Why can't pineapple pizza be categorized in the same way as anchovie pizza?"

I can't seem to come up with a good way to explain my answer to the question of American and Japanese people. Believe me, I tried for quite a bit of time, and couldn't find a way to properly display my thoughts. =P My apologies.
Well yeah, if Mangas would be like American Comics, then I had no problem putting them in the same category, but the fact is, that that is never the case, really. I haven't seen any Manga yet that reminded me of an American comic I had seen before. Wether it's just the drawing style that's different or even the story. That's why I'd never put them in the same category. If they WERE more similiar, then that'd be another story.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
We actually had a young man who worked for a manga printing company visit our Japanese class one time. Basically, what he said is that what makes manga "manga" is the fact that it's made for a Japanese audience. Their company publishes some stuff made in the manga style, but made for a Western audience, so it isn't considered manga. So yeah, I wouldn't consider comic books manga either.