Transcript
A very popular style of manga is called Shonen. A Shonen is known as the boys action style. It’s got a lot of fighting. It’s got a lot intense characters. A lot of different styles of characters, and beasts, and things like that. The thing that’s kind of neat about Shonen, is that unlike American comics, where the hero has got to be hugely bulked up and walk through a wall of Plutonium just to save the girl, these are regular guys who are fighting super guys. It makes it much more of a David and Goliath type thing, than if you have a super type person fighting another super type of bad guy.
Now the style of art is interesting too. It looks like another style, a little bit, called Shoujo [SP], which is a girl style. Because the characters often have a softer looking face. A little rounder. They have the large, glistening eyes generally. But this is where you’ll also find characters with that spiky hair look that’s very famous in manga. That hair that goes forward. They also often have elaborate costumes, because it’s an action style. So you might have like a Warlord who’s in some sort of elaborate costume. Very colorful.
Now here’s a sample of the action style. You might find like a Samurai is a type that’s very popular in Shonen. Also, who is he fighting? Could be a person. Could be a Warlord. Could be a beast. And who’s more popular than the king of beasts? Dragons! This is sort of the key of the attraction and appeal of manga. There are people we can relate to doing things we might like to do.
