“Why yes, I love the smell of freshly printed manga in the morning.”
While buying the latest English volumes of Blue Exorcist and Attack on Titan recently, some thoughts resurfaced on why I still prefer print manga. With JManga biting the dust, people are wondering about the future of manga digitally. To tell you the truth, print is still the primary focus for the manga market overall and a preference that I still love for reasons I’m about to get into below.
To anyone who’s mostly read scanlations and never got the experience of getting a real physical book in your hand (or even had a bookstore that sells manga), you are missing out. The thing about reading manga on a computer is that there are some annoying barriers to deal with. It’s not easy to absorb information when reading online manga compared to print manga. What if the lighting around you is bad while viewing? That will certainly hurt your eyes. Any viewing device can produce a “flicker” effect that can make processing information into your brain a bit difficult.
When you read scans, there are certain details you may tend to overlook and forget. Here’s an example of what I mean: while reading Attack on Titan Volume 4, I was suddenly reminded about the character of Sasha Blouse and her eating habits. I literally forgot about the character while focusing on the current storyline. After all, you just consume and move on until the next chapter. You also have to deal with all the “noise” (ads, news sites, social media, videos, etc.) distracting you while you’re on the computer reading manga. The Internet does play wicked tricks with your mind and your consumption habits if you let it.
A big problem is what happens if you have no Internet or electricity and you really want to re-read your favorite manga series again. What are you going to do about that? If you manage to have physical copies of the series in your hands, then you’re good. Sadly, not every country has the luxury of having legal manga physically, much less digitally.
Of course when it comes down to it, I’m so passionate about certain manga series to the point that I am willing to support them in any way possible. There are times where I wonder how passionate certain fans really are about their favorite manga series. What’s scary is how some publishers have to deal with fans coming up to their booths at anime/comic conventions and telling them “Yay! I read this series online”. Though that can be blamed to a lack of awareness and business sense, which a lot of young folks can have in this day and age.
There’s a lot of beauty when it comes to physical books. All the manga volumes I have collected over the years have given me a sense of joy online manga doesn’t always replicate. I can reread them without any distractions. I get all the time in the world to focus on the pictures, expressions, words, etc. and elaborate them further offline and online if need be. Plus I can pass my manga copies around to other people for them to enjoy as well. You create more meaningful connections than if you were to tell them “Go download/read the manga at this site!”
For most of you who read this, you might think I’m an old fart. Yeah, maybe I am. I’m probably an old fart who could possibly have some awesome relics of the past for nostalgia freaks. Hey, we all love focusing on history, right?
Though honestly, it would be great if print and digital go hand-in-hand as a powerful couple.
Wouldn’t that be the most perfect manga experience?
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