The Problem With Shonen Manga

I have been reading manga for over 10 years. I obviously enjoy shonen manga and this was even why I created this blog to talk about manga to begin with. However, all this time reading shonen manga has made me well aware of its own flaws. One of these flaws that particularly stand out for me is with the how the narrative is delivered to the reader. I hope to highlight this issue through a few examples and hopefully you will understand what I mean after that.

In SHY, we have a scene in one of the chapters when one the characters describes her experience of being under the influence of what seems to be the main antagonist of the series. Through two chapters she details her experience and what she could draw from it in regards to the antagonist's intention. This is done by the author to pass information to the reader of the villain through this relatively minor character who re-appeared precisely to fulfil this narrative role. This is problematic because this is is a form of passive narrative that infantilises the reader and in practice it simply means the author is spoon feeding information. Part of the problem of this form of narrative is that it is ineffective because it does not actively engage the reader, it leaves no room for the reader to actively be shown the story instead of simply being told. 

SHY - Miki Bukimi

Alternatively, these very scenes of experience under the villain influence could have been showed in the actual moment she was under his influenced and subsequently she could have been brought to reflect on  the experiment. With only this minor change in the delivery of the narrative, it would have felt more natural because it would not feel like a sudden pop up for a explanation of the villain and more like a piece of a wider narrative.  At the same time it would be more engaging since a gap of time through her experience and her reflection would allow the readers to reflect on the imagery themselves as well. In this it would have been a more active narrative which is what the manga medium should be used for. 

Gon - Masashi Tanaka

One manga that does exactly the opposite of shonen manga is Gon. In part this works because the series is simple. Gon focuses on the adventure of a small dinosaur Gon as he fights, helps and anything between the two with other animals. The series is completely episodic and every chapters focuses on a different biome and subsequently animals. It is a simple story with fantastic art and it is incredibly fascinating.

However, most importantly is how the author Tanaka Masashi took active story telling to the fullest extent by making Gon have no speech or sound effects. Consequently, the author had to compensate this limitation through his art which led him to portray every action and movement with more detail. These greater focus on the art means the reader is shown the story and has from the art read the expressions and imagine the sounds, the reader is actively reading the series not being infantilised and fed the story. 

Example of Clean Art with speech or SFX from Gon

Gon is great example here because it uses the tools of that the medium of manga provides. It relies on its great visuals to show the story in a way that a novel could never replicate. An animation likewise would ruin it and it eventually did when it was animated over ten years ago. 

One might say but this works because Gon is rather simple. However, a manga could still hold a more complex story but use its art more affectively to actively 'show' the story without having to rely on passive story telling told through speeches that feel out of place. Others might say but Gon is not a shonen and I am aware of that but that does not change the issue. In addition, I believe the stagnation of shonen sport series that I have explored is part of a wider problem with the narrative used in shonen manga. 

I believe authors should experiment more with series like Gon. The Silent Manga Award is one example of what I feel manga editors should use to allow authors to develop their narrative skills with manga. It would allow authors to develop their art and panelling to naturally make them easier to follow without relying on speech or narration. Many newbies are unable to do this effectively, so I believe this would allow newbies to improve exponentially. However, the industry seems so conservative that any change feels like it would take too long but hopefully it eventually comes.

Silent Manga Award  - A manga award that truly speaks the international language of manga. 

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