I know that most
people don’t even consider this real literature, but if you actually took the
time and sat down to read a few volumes, you would realize that these books
have just as much value as a regular book does. I have just as much if not more
respect for manga authors than I do for regular authors. They take the same
amount of effort into writing a book series, except they have to take the extra
time to actually draw out what’s happening along with keeping the story line
engaging and interesting.
Note, just because
mangas are “cartoons” or “comics” as most people would call them, they are not
all meant to be read by children. They are not your ordinary “picture book”
that you can give to your child to keep them quiet. Yes, some of them are aimed
towards ten to twelve year olds, but they really should not be read by anyone
under that age. A lot of mangas I’ve read deal with very deep topics, whether
or not the reader at the time realizes it. They shouldn’t be regarded as
“trash” just because they aren’t completely written in words.
I know that most
people’s first impression of manga is that it contains lost of women with huge
boobs, which is something that I am not going to disagree with, because I know
it is there. Yes, some parts of manga do contain an overly sexual
representation of women, which I am not going to encourage. However, I am going
to focus on the positive side and what value people can obtain from reading
manga.
A few of the
mangas that I’ve read for example have such a deep meaning to them and people
can actually learn valuable lessons from. Young adult books get praised often
for providing something of value to the teens that read them, yet manga always
gets criticized for not being literature when it can portray a valuable lesson
just the same as a book can. Two of my favorite ones that come to mind here are
Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note.
Fullmetal Alchemist is about two
brothers who tried to bring back their mother from the dead with alchemy, and
in return, one lost his body and the other lost an arm and a leg (literally) in
order to save his brother’s soul and put it in a suit of armor. The manga
follows the two brothers as they encounter many enemies such as a man named
Scar, creatures called homunculi (named after the seven deadly sins), and a
corrupt government system. This manga explores many themes such as the bonds
between brothers, the line between right and wrong, playing “God”, and also
genocide. When reading this manga, I could easily draw similarities from their
government system to the Nazi’s and Hitler, which although are very serious
topics, are covered with great care and detail. In a way, this is almost a
retelling of a post-Holocaust world, but with a dystopian fantasy twist. This
manga not only tells an interesting story with many loveable characters, but it
also represents valuable life lessons that someone could take away from reading
it.
Death Note on the other hand is about a
high school boy who finds a notebook dropped by a death god called a “death
note”. After reading instructions inside the front cover, he discovers that
whoever's name he writes down in the book will die. He first uses it to rid the
world of criminals, but begins to lost control over his own mind and becomes
engulfed with the idea of creating a perfect world. Just like Fullmetal
Alchemist, this manga also follows the themes of right and wrong and playing
“God”. Throughout the course of the manga, the reader always questions where
to draw the line between good and bad and starts to wonder at what point the
main character begins to lose his mind. This manga shows the reader deep topics
such as death, crime, and murder and portrays the struggle of good and evil in
our world today through these topics. I actually wrote an assignment for one my
English classes about how the main character in this series is an example of a
Greek tragic hero.
Although both of
these manga are aimed at young adult audiences and are not meant to be read by
younger children, when read by teen or anyone older, they can teach valuable
lessons to whoever reads them. Yes, you have to read them backwards, but that
is only a small adjustment when it comes to reading a valuable source of
literature.
I know that I have
not done either of these mangas justice describing them here because I know how
amazing they both are, but nevertheless, they are worth reading not only for
entertainment, but also for valuable life lessons.
~K.M.D.
