Postby Ashley » Wed Jan 21, 2004 1:56 pm
Absolutely!
Manga is, well for rough analogy here, the Japanese equivalent of American comics, without the stigmatism of geeks and nerds attached to them. A barebones definition would be drawn stories. The stories are usaully more indepth and aren't limited to the slapstick comedy or superhero drama that American comics are; manga has virtually every genre thinkable from fantasy to comedy to horror. These manga can be released one of two ways-- one, either through a magazine like Ribon or two, graphic novels. Companies like Viz and Tokyopop specialize in translating these graphic novels and distributing them over here.
Anime is the typically 30 minute animated, episodic tv series form of manga. Usually it is based on a best-selling manga in Japan, but not always. Kinda like what Walt Disney did to the Grimm Fairy Tales. Anime range from 20-45 episodes typically, but hundreds is not unheard of. Companies like Pioneer and Bandai are the main distrubitors for America.
I certainly hope that helped! Any other questions?