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How Manga Became Mainstream
Jan. 2nd, 2006 01:09 pmPosted in a thread called "Fuck the Mainstream" at The Engine.
Manga became mainstream because Sailor Moon (and then other anime) was on Cartoon Network. Not here-and-there low number VHF channels. On a cable station. When many of today's manga consumers were tots and grade schoolers. They watched anime on TV when they were kids. And they WERE GIRLS WATCHING because there was a GIRL'S SHOW ON FOR THEM TO WATCH.
Not a damn boy's show they'd watch because it was better than nothing.
A SHOW FOR THEM. (Instead of the Default Mode Boy programming of many WB superhero shows.)
They were introduced as kids and grew up into that new generation of readers the larger US comics companies and many of its retail outlets could not be arsed (or figured out) how to court.
Then, what they wanted to buy could be found in any mall, instead of having to be hunted down in a speciality market where stores that look like a male slacker's bedroom are the norm and stores friendly to customers are an anomaly. (Gorgeous, happy anomalies! Zeus Comics in Dallas. Austin Books in Austin. Flying Colors. Dream Haven. Night Flight. Rocketship. etc.)
When Sailor Moon was on CN my daughter was three. Svetlana, Queenie, Rivkah, were still gradeschoolers or in their early-to-mid teens. Most of the attendees of shows like Otakon were ten or so.
Anime on Cartoon Network, a reliable delivery system accessible by many, coupled with shows aimed at the female half of the population, followed up with books girls wanted to read in stores they could find and wanted to go into.*
That's what did it.
*That lack of distro to "big box" bookstores where I knew most of my audience, girls, is the main reason I left Image. Anything you hear from anyone else is a lie.
Manga became mainstream because Sailor Moon (and then other anime) was on Cartoon Network. Not here-and-there low number VHF channels. On a cable station. When many of today's manga consumers were tots and grade schoolers. They watched anime on TV when they were kids. And they WERE GIRLS WATCHING because there was a GIRL'S SHOW ON FOR THEM TO WATCH.
Not a damn boy's show they'd watch because it was better than nothing.
A SHOW FOR THEM. (Instead of the Default Mode Boy programming of many WB superhero shows.)
They were introduced as kids and grew up into that new generation of readers the larger US comics companies and many of its retail outlets could not be arsed (or figured out) how to court.
Then, what they wanted to buy could be found in any mall, instead of having to be hunted down in a speciality market where stores that look like a male slacker's bedroom are the norm and stores friendly to customers are an anomaly. (Gorgeous, happy anomalies! Zeus Comics in Dallas. Austin Books in Austin. Flying Colors. Dream Haven. Night Flight. Rocketship. etc.)
When Sailor Moon was on CN my daughter was three. Svetlana, Queenie, Rivkah, were still gradeschoolers or in their early-to-mid teens. Most of the attendees of shows like Otakon were ten or so.
Anime on Cartoon Network, a reliable delivery system accessible by many, coupled with shows aimed at the female half of the population, followed up with books girls wanted to read in stores they could find and wanted to go into.*
That's what did it.
*That lack of distro to "big box" bookstores where I knew most of my audience, girls, is the main reason I left Image. Anything you hear from anyone else is a lie.
