Graphic Novel vs Manga

August 16, 2010

For those of us who are not readers of graphic novels, the terms “Manga”,  “Graphic Novels”, and “Comics” can be very confusing.  Is there a difference, and if so what is it?  I investigated this question by asking a teen looking through our manga selection. There is, in fact, a difference.  This is what I learned.

To start with, a comic is reading material that tells a story in pictures.  Comics include what you read in the Sunday funnies, or book compilations of your favorite comics strips.

A graphic novel is an American comic book that tells a story in the comic style of pictures.  Graphic novels read like a regular American style book, left to right, and have a familiar look to most all of us.  This style mimics what we see in our newspapers here.  The themes are often superhero and other adventure/action plots.

Manga books are Japanese and therefore drawn, written, and formatted in the Japanese style.  This means  mangas read in the traditional Japaneses style of right to left, which takes some getting used to for us.  Also, the Manga style of drawing is more exaggerated.  This style of drawing is very difficult to explain, but once you see you it, you know what I mean.  Manga also has two main styles of writing.  Shonen manga is mainly action/adventure stories.  Shojo manga stories center around relationships and love interests.

One last note on this subject is the term Anime.  Anime is another confusing word that floats around these other words.  Anime is, actually, the animation of Manga stories.  The cartoons that that are so popular such as Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, or Dragon Ball-Z are Anime.