Customer Reviews

Manga: The Complete Guide

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first heard of this author and this book on the "Comic Geek Speak" podcast, (an excellent podcast by the way). I have been reading American comic books for over 25 years and had read very little Manga but was always interested. I was bit put off from some Manga because it either seemed juvenile or pornographic.

This book does a tremendous job in dispelling the image of Manga that many of us raised on American comics have about the genre. This book explains not only the history of Manga but the various types of Manga to the point where if you can't find something you'd like, you just didn't look hard enough. Plus there are over 900 reviews!

Don't like big-eyed teenage girls running around in skirts? Don't worry! There is a Manga series that caters to both men and women of every age group and interest. Horror, fantasy, occult, mystery, politics, sci-fi, sports, pets, martial arts, military, business people, etc...Whew! Without this book, the hundreds of titles and dozens of genres would be too much to try and piece together.

I'm sure many experienced Manga fans will disagree with some of his reviews but when you've read as many as the reviewer has, cliches are probably very easy to spot and quality easy to discern.

If you feel that your American Comics collection is getting a bit predictable or drab, or you just want to expose yourself to this art form, this book is a must for people absolutely new to the form.

I picked up a copy of Manga: The Complete Guide, since I already owned an Anime version of this type of collection. Basically, it is a listing of every Japanese manga licensed in English (by early 2007) with a synopsis and a review, along with volume information and age ratings (though mistakes like the volume # for Hero Heel abound).

This volume also contains an introduction and afterward about Japanese comics (and even has a hiragana/katakana chart for reference), which are all very interesting and useful. The book succeeds as a reference guide to manga in general, but the separate yaoi section fails as a good guide for determining whether a series is worthwhile or not, and probably because this book was compiled mostly by men (presumably straight) who are not necessarily fans of the genre (the ratings seem to get lower the more graphic the series are...) and seem to prefer Viz shonen series (for which the author is an editor).

The book does list all of the active licenses up to last year (2007), except for being entirely lacking of any of the BL novels (aside from mentioning the OtRFK novels) or non-BL light novels, and not containing any Korean manwha titles, Chinese manhua, OEL (western graphic novels styled like manga) or cine-manga (picture manga based on anime series/movies). This is an English-licensed-Japanese-manga-only collection.

I wouldn't take the ratings to heart, especially since they go from 0 to 4 stars, which aside from being awkward are completely inconsistent. Naruto got 4 stars, but Fruits Basket, the greatest selling shojo manga in the US and Japan got 3.5. Bleach got 3 stars, though the review would lead you to believe it wasn't "that great" of a title. People expect a 5 star system (0 to 5, that is), especially since it gives you more to work with in differentiating between "bad" titles and "okay" titles. The top score should be reserved for the seminal works and there seemed to be just too many of them slapped on titles that only marginally deserved a high rating (Naruto, anyone?).

The yaoi section reviews were particularly abysmal, when there actually were reviews (many of the titles were left unrated). Some of the most celebrated BL titles of all time were snubbed: FAKE got 2 stars because the reviewer didn't like the artwork; Embracing Love got 4 stars while fellow BBGold signature titles Finder Series and Kizuna got 2.5 stars?! Other marginal titles got rave reviews: Wild Rock got 4 stars, and while not a bad series, the rating seems based on someone's personal feelings about the title and not its own merit.

The review and rating system would have better been served by extensive research of official published reviews for series and average manga fan reactions to them and not the personal and incosistent feelings of the people compiling this book. However, this is a good collection of information about past titles you might want to look into. This is one of those books that you'll want to look out for future editions of/additions to (since there are more and more titles being licensed every day). For the price, I would suggest finding this book on sale or used somewhere. The inconsistent ratings, errors and omissions (particularly of light novels and manwha) only garner this collection 3 stars. If it were available in an updatable e-book format I would recommend that instead.

Thompson's book is an impressive achievement, and he's written the definitive "Everything You Ever Really Wanted to Know About Manga (But Had the Good Sense Not to Ask)" reference book. He provides coverage of every single manga that's been translated and made commercially available in the United States, which is a major undertaking by itself, and he goes the extra mile by including extensive essays on a variety of subjects ranging from basic Japanese culture to American fandom to the ins and outs of the publishing industry itself. Any librarian or educator who really wants to get a handle on what their kids are reading should do themselves a favor and order a copy. Manga fans themselves will want this just to keep track of the sheer number of comics that have been released since the 1980s, and to determine which ones are worth tracking down, and which should be avoided at all costs.

This book is billed as a resource to 'find good manga you missed.' It fails. Personally, I like seinen manga with intricate plots, some humor, and a fast pace. I picked up this book hoping for good recommendations regarding series I might like.

First I paged to the seinen section, which contained five pages with about 10 entries. Half the entries had a rating of 'NR' (not rated), and the other half had low ratings (or I had read already). Not useful.

Next I hit the general section, looking for 'seinen' titles that weren't mentioned in the 'seinen' section. "Berserk," the only manga in existence that when the subject of horse rape is mentioned, a fan must ask 'which time,' is rated at four stars. (Not a fan.) 3x3 Eyes (discontinued by Dark Horse), one of the best seinen titles, is rated three stars. Claymore, my second favorite series of all time, is two stars. At this point, I was annoyed.

Then I figured it out. Whoever rated these, gives bonus stars for sales franchise numbers (1-2 stars) and for the shoujo genre (0.5-1 star). How else would Card Captor Sakura, a cutesy manga targeted at selling 8 year old girls princess combat outfits, be described as four stars must read? Rave Master, one of the most derivative, trashiest shonen offerings, garners three and a half stars!

It is my opinion, after some analysis of the author's descriptions and ratings systems (having read about 1/3 of the manga mentioned in this book myself), that the star system is utter garbage. Shounen series, unless they are old or big sellers, average one and a half stars. Shoujo series, even if they are bad, average two and a half stars. Synopsizes having mistakes in spelling and plot content makes me wonder about the editing. Obviously this guide was slapped together based on the number of NR on manga which have been available for over a year, the lack of a 'yuri' chapter, and the absence of Korean Manwha titles (which are appearing in the manga section often now).

While this might be the best published guide listing American manga right now, it's because nothing else is out there. Personally I find using a search engine on the internet gives better results as to whether or not I'll like a series than this guide. Do not buy.

Several guides to manga were published in 2007-2008 but this is by far the most complete one. The coverage of titles is truly comprehensive -- although of course they are all manga, so that means no graphic novels, Korean manhwa, Original English Language manga, etc. Still, I have not been able to find a single manga title published in English before 2007 that this book doesn't have at least some information on. And since these series are published over a long time period and the U.S. publication dates lag behind the original Japanese publication dates by several years, this book is still in 2011 an up-to-date resource on most of the popular manga titles, except for the absolute newest ones.

The book is arranged in alphabetical order by title. Each entry includes the Japanese phonetic title, translation, and kanji title along with author's name. This is followed by the names of both the U.S. and the Japanese publishers and the different dates of publication in each country, as well as the name of the magazine it was originally serialized in, and the total number of volumes. My favorite detail is the category (shojo, shonen, josei, seinen, yaoi, yuri) as well as the genre (fantasy, crime, occult), followed by age ratings that include specific content notices (language, nudity, sexual situations). If you are a parent or librarian trying to decide whether a certain title might be appropriate to purchase for a child, this information is absolutely invaluable.

Last is the review and star rating. I love the fact that many of these are not just plot summaries but honest-to-goodness signed reviews that help gauge the quality of the plot and artwork, as well as place it in context. In general I agreed with most of the reviews and ratings. The titles that are not individually reviewed, especially the newer ones, still have descriptions.

As another reviewer noted, many of the yaoi and mature (including yuri) titles only have basic descriptions instead of reviews and therefore are not rated (perhaps 50%)...however, that still makes this far better than any other manga guide I have seen. Some ignore the yaoi/yuri/mature categories all together, or include only a handful of titles. This book is as close as you're going to get to a comprehensive listing. Also I like the fact that these titles are in a separate section in the back so that they're not mixed in with the titles for children.

Finally, my favorite part of this book is the subject-specific essays and recommendations. I have read other guides organized by genre, such as Graphic Novels: A Genre Guide to Comic Books, Manga, and More (Genreflecting Advisory Series) and 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide, but they include only the broadest of genres. This book includes genres that I have noticed but have never seen discussed elsewhere in print, such as cooking, games, music, pets, politics, etc. I especially appreciate the entry on josei manga, with the largest list of josei I have found. These essays appear in alphabetical order throughout the book, although you can also find them listed in the table of contents. The genre essays average about three pages in length and explain the history of the genre in manga and its relation to Japanese culture, followed by a quick list of titles that fall into that genre. For example, the "horror" genre article provides lists of recommended titles broken down into pure horror, action horror and vampire manga. The essay on "Occult and Religion" is the longest, at five pages, and includes listings of titles featuring angels, devils, Christian imagery, ghosts and shinigami. No other genre listing comes close to the depth and breadth of this resource.

In addition to all this, the introduction has a great history of manga in America, decade by decade, as well as an explanation of "what makes manga different." In the back are excellent articles further discussing issues such as age ratings, censorship, sexism, and race. I highly recommend this book as either a personal or professional reference for anyone who is interested in manga.

I mostly bought this book because I saw it contained information about my favourite manga, From Eroica With Love. I was very pleasantly surprised, though, as the book has lots of very interesting information and is fun to read. The part about From Eroica With Love is great. Well researched, compact yet full of good description. I've read other guides and they too often manage to get something wrong, but this was very good. I can't tell much about the other mangas, as I'm only into a very few mangas. The ones I know looks good anyway. A book to keep.

As a fairly recent convert to manga, I found this guide indispensable. In reality it probably deserves four and a half stars as any 'ratings' system will inevitably be a little subjective but on the whole it has steered me through unfamiliar waters with few misteps (mix metaphors much?) An amazing literary format that shows no signs of abating in the west, Manga can seem totally overwhelming if you are a noob, but Thompson's guide is well-written, intelligent and easy to use. At the very least, you won't make the mistake of picking up what you think is 'magical girl' manga for your 10 year old only to discover it's porn (or vice versa, the book has seperate chapters on Yaoi and Adult manga.) It will need to be updated before long, but it's definetly money well spent.

Though I don't feel as qualified as some reviewers, all I can add is that this Guide provides an excellent overview of the Manga universe and includes informative articles on the subject. Not only can you find Manga directly, but be guided by topical lists. I found what I needed in this book and consider it great for beginners and the informed alike. If you want to understand what Manga is all about, this is a good place to start.

I got this book to function as a dictionary of all things manga (a term that is defined by the author of this text as Japanese ONLY created manga no Korean or Chinese creations are included). Fortunately this is how this book functions best as a dictionary. It fails to do little else.

Included in the book are small articles are all forms of manga from shojo to shonen to otaku to doujinshi. The best part about these articles is that they refernce manga titles found within the book according to the article's subgenre. Interested in horror or fantasy or pet comedies, but don't know what else is out there - check out this book.

Unfortunately, this book suffers from a few problems as well. There are instances of poor editing. On one page the word relationship is spelled "relationshi" and the period is missing.

Another problem is the zero to four star rating system. In short, it can't be used. The author's prefernce for all things Shounen Jump is obvious and if the work is old (think Tezuka) it is guarenteed a good review. Another problem with the rating system is that whomever decided upon the rating didn't do it consistently. Bobobobo (bo whatever) receives a rating of 2.5 stars making it better than average while Loveless receives 2 stars making it average. (Loveless is described as "boring" showing the author's roots in shounen manga. There is even a comment that in other manga the characters at least trade swords.) Another insult is that Godchild received the same rating as Bobo. And for Descendant of Darkness fans (myself included) 1 star. Whereas Love Hina gets 3 (granted it is a fun work, but come on). Tenshi ja nai! receives 2 stars and is described as "trashy". However, anything Yu Watase does is not trashy or expected, but rather wonderful receiving an average 3 star rating (think H3 here). FMA receives a rating of 4 stars (which I happen to agree with) as does Naruto.

Another problem is that the book already needs an update. Many of the works are left with NR (not rated) ratings because the work could not be reviewed prior to publishing. This includes works like Vampire Knight, E's, Black Sun, Silver Moon, or Gunsmith Cats: Burst. Works that have been out for a year or more. However, to compensate for this problem Del Ray does offer a link on its website to get updated reviews (the link is in the book).

Also included in this work are subsections on hentai and yaoi. (Yuri is left to a small article. A major problem because many of the yuri works could not be reviewed by the author and are left as NR.) NR also appears heavily in the yaoi section. Only three yaoi works get four star ratings Shout Out Loud (deserved it), Wild Rock (never read heard it sucked), and Gerard & Jacques (I can't get over the girly art). Other fantasic works like Junjo Romantica (2.5 stars), Yellow (2 stars), and Brother (3 stars) receive lower ratings. Interestingly Love is Like a Hurricane is included in the NR catagory along with half the section. Additionally many works are missing from the yaoi catagory (Spell, Scandoulous Seiryo High, and many others). Admittly, I don't know anything about hentai.

Overall, I gave this work 4 stars as a dictionary. Great reference. If I were to rate it for its reliabilty in rating or its updated manga list I give it a 2 or 3.