I totally agree. To be fair, if a mangaka has to meet a weekly deadline, it is easier to write a bunch of speech bubbles than drawing an extra panel or page. A page with a lot of speech bubbles violates the "show, don't tell" rule and it slows down pacing which makes the storytelling less cinematic. Manga creators should look to movies and movie storyboarding to make manga more cinematic. For example, manga underutilizes "insert" shots or "dirty" (deliberately including foreground elements like parts of props, set pieces, or other characters) shots to convey information: a shot of a blood stain shirt can mean the MC got into a fight, a wine broken glass can mean a character was angry, military uniform can mean a character has combat skills, a frame degree from MIT can mean the character is an intelligent scientist, etc. "A picture is worth a thousand words" so the right panel can replace a lot of manga exposition.
That's a good point about Mangaka having to meet weekly deadlines, though even the monthly ones will use a lot of dialogue mushed together. and yea you're right, there's a lot of ways to provide exposition through visuals.
I disagree, as an artist, creating crazy visuals isn't hard when you know what your doing, but it still takes way longer than just writing out. Detailing the surroundings, feelings, and thoughts of a character will give people something of more substance and give their brain something refreshing (like nutrients for your brain). Also a story will not hold any weight in the long run if its only visuals, i personally think people wanna see "better" visuals because they want something that raises their dopamine levels (so take this with a generous amount of salt), they want everything to be laid out Infront of them. In a world where anime and visual manga are the new norm, its hard to get truly original stories and for artists to easily cultivate their own original ideas. With the world how it is now people already avoid reading enough, i also think if you wanna feel in tuned with a story it needs to be mostly in words, to let your imagination be the visuals. sorry if this doesnt make any sense i dont really know how to put these thoughts into words!!! {also no hate towards your video i think its pretty good}
Thanks for your comment and i think you articulated yourself well. I'll be responding to a few of the points. I personally don't think visuals = more dopamine ( i know you don't mean this 100%, like you said take it with grain of salt), visuals don't just provide a hit, they provide a feeling tone, a certain stillness, visual information etc. And i also don't like to exclude pleasure from the equation as someone who thinks there are standards to pleasure and it is something to be cultivated. I also don't think more information about surroundings/ emotion and thoughts = more substance. Sometimes it is substance and sometimes its just "activity" and serves no purpose and requires editing to cut things to make a tighter script. As for people reading less, that isn't a cause i care about personally and for comics/manga, i don't think imagination should be doing the work. It's a visual medium, so it needs to be one. This video isn't about novels. I'm speaking to a specific ratio of words to panels. I'm an artist too and i think presenting things more appealing should be done regardless of the time constraint. (I'm saying this in a vacuum, not as someone with deadlines to meet etc) Like id prefer less "content" in a chapter if its presented to me in a more aesthetic way. You can have the same amount of dialogue, but have the number of pages be longer. That's my preference. More visuals to accompany the dialogue. Thanks again for the comment, I appreciate it.
I totally agree. To be fair, if a mangaka has to meet a weekly deadline, it is easier to write a bunch of speech bubbles than drawing an extra panel or page. A page with a lot of speech bubbles violates the "show, don't tell" rule and it slows down pacing which makes the storytelling less cinematic.
Manga creators should look to movies and movie storyboarding to make manga more cinematic. For example, manga underutilizes "insert" shots or "dirty" (deliberately including foreground elements like parts of props, set pieces, or other characters) shots to convey information: a shot of a blood stain shirt can mean the MC got into a fight, a wine broken glass can mean a character was angry, military uniform can mean a character has combat skills, a frame degree from MIT can mean the character is an intelligent scientist, etc. "A picture is worth a thousand words" so the right panel can replace a lot of manga exposition.
That's a good point about Mangaka having to meet weekly deadlines, though even the monthly ones will use a lot of dialogue mushed together. and yea you're right, there's a lot of ways to provide exposition through visuals.
I disagree, as an artist, creating crazy visuals isn't hard when you know what your doing, but it still takes way longer than just writing out. Detailing the surroundings, feelings, and thoughts of a character will give people something of more substance and give their brain something refreshing (like nutrients for your brain). Also a story will not hold any weight in the long run if its only visuals, i personally think people wanna see "better" visuals because they want something that raises their dopamine levels (so take this with a generous amount of salt), they want everything to be laid out Infront of them. In a world where anime and visual manga are the new norm, its hard to get truly original stories and for artists to easily cultivate their own original ideas. With the world how it is now people already avoid reading enough, i also think if you wanna feel in tuned with a story it needs to be mostly in words, to let your imagination be the visuals.
sorry if this doesnt make any sense i dont really know how to put these thoughts into words!!! {also no hate towards your video i think its pretty good}
Thanks for your comment and i think you articulated yourself well. I'll be responding to a few of the points. I personally don't think visuals = more dopamine ( i know you don't mean this 100%, like you said take it with grain of salt), visuals don't just provide a hit, they provide a feeling tone, a certain stillness, visual information etc. And i also don't like to exclude pleasure from the equation as someone who thinks there are standards to pleasure and it is something to be cultivated. I also don't think more information about surroundings/ emotion and thoughts = more substance. Sometimes it is substance and sometimes its just "activity" and serves no purpose and requires editing to cut things to make a tighter script. As for people reading less, that isn't a cause i care about personally and for comics/manga, i don't think imagination should be doing the work. It's a visual medium, so it needs to be one. This video isn't about novels. I'm speaking to a specific ratio of words to panels. I'm an artist too and i think presenting things more appealing should be done regardless of the time constraint. (I'm saying this in a vacuum, not as someone with deadlines to meet etc) Like id prefer less "content" in a chapter if its presented to me in a more aesthetic way. You can have the same amount of dialogue, but have the number of pages be longer. That's my preference. More visuals to accompany the dialogue. Thanks again for the comment, I appreciate it.