Response on Manga

Tezuka
I chose to read some of Astro Boy and the first volume of Buddha. At first glance, I could see the mixture between Tezuka's style and the influence of western cartoons. I felt like the style is quite different against today's popular mangas which has a different way of expressing exaggeration.

I also noticed that there is a great difference between how the environment is drawn and how the characters are drawn. The environments are drawn and shaded realistically while the characters stayed very dramatic with a black outline separating them from the environments. It reminds me of when I read understanding comics, it says that Manga tends to make environments more realistic and characters more simplified for us to relate to the characters' emotions. This technique is later applied to a lot of Anime that I've seen, for instance, Attach on Titan has a dark outline around the characters separating them from the environment.


Manga
I started reading Manga since elementary school. The first Manga I read is Magi by Ohtaka Shinobu, it has positively affected me a lot. However, my top favorite manga artist is Hiromu Arakawa. Other than Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Spoon, I would like to recommend Arslan Senki to everyone. It is an adaptation from the novel by one of my favorite authors Tanaka Yoshiki, with Hiromu Arakawa putting her twist on the plot and characters. It tells an epic story about a young prince trying to take back his kingdom from the enemy's hands. Its theme discusses in-depth about slavery, society, and leadership.

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