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Twilight Manga: a reality check
by Karen Leslie, 01/28/2010
Twilight Manga: a reality check photo

Love it or hate it, the Twilight phenomenon- particularly the upcoming manga adaptation- is producing a lot of commentary in the otakusphere. I hadn't really given it a lot of thought until Brad disclosed the huge print run that Yen Press is gambling on (although considering the success of everything with the word Twilight emblazoned on it, it's hardly a gamble), but now that it's on my mind, I've realized that the fan snobbery towards it really bugs me.

While checking out some manga blogs, I came across this opinion piece by Manga Bookshelf author Melinda Beasi, featuring this quote:

I keep hearing people say that Twilight fans are only Twilight fans, and that there is no basis for the hope that Yen Press’ upcoming graphic novel adaptation might bring a new demographic of readers to comics. And all I can think is, wow, I guess none of these people were ever… girls.

Beasi couldn't be more right if she were standing in front of a giant Billboard that said "Confirmed: Melinda Beasi ALWAYS RIGHT."

I seem to recall spending a lot of time in my youth reading The Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High, yet somehow I made the difficult transition to becoming a manga fan without my brain exploding. Furthermore, it's not like I made a transition from low culture to high culture; when I do read manga, very often it's simplistic, wish-fulfillment fare, complete with lots of hearts and flowers. But no, that's COOL, because it's subcultural, right? I get a pass on my escapist tendencies just by virtue of the fact that what I do is a little off the beaten path, but many otaku seem to somehow confuse that with a commitment to quality. You are not cooler or more intelligent than a Twilight fan just because the bubble gum that you pick for your brain wasn't originally written in English.

To tell you the truth, I'm having trouble expressing what bothers me about this "Twilight fans should stay in their ghetto" attitude, not because it's so complex but because it's just so simplistic that I feel banal just saying it. It's the classic "They aren't cool enough to come into our tree house, by the way have you noticed just how AWESOME our tree house is?" mentality. If you want to feel superior to people who read escapist literature, pick up some damned Marcel Proust, or Thomas Mann. I still won't take you seriously, but then at least I'll have someone to commiserate with.




(32) COMMENTS



Mad March Harris

I found Twilight porn today. And not slash fiction or crudely drawn hentai. I mean a legit pornographic video provided by some random porn label.

 
ittoujuu

Haha, Edward looks like he's channeling a bit 'o the Takehiko Inoue style there.

I get what you're saying - that it's okay to have some "junk food" tastes, and that that, in and of itself, is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it can be really awesome to have a favorite "bad band" or a favorite "bad author" or something similar. Personally, I think the major problem with Twilight is that young girls will be reading this or something like it and come to honestly think about relationships in the way that Bella does, or that that kind of behavior is a positive. Now, you're right in that young people are incredibly impressionable and that the normal course of life generally straightens them out (well...I still swing sticks around like they were swords sometimes, so maybe not totally...), but if something gets out into the public consciousness enough, it kind of percolates deep down. It's easier than ever, these days, to latch onto a fictional romance as a basic customizable template for what one wants, and I don't really think the result of Twilight becoming such a template would be a positive one.

So...it's not that I mind if people read and enjoy Twilight. What I do mind is girls who think a relationship of the sort portrayed in the books (well, sans the supernatural elements) would be a desirable one.

That said, Yen Press is a good company; I wish them brisk sales on their optimistic print run. :P
 
Jon Snyder

Hmm, the biggest complaint I've heard about Twilight is that it's misogynistic. I've never read it, so I can't form a meaningful opinion, but I'm sure my roommate could comment further on that point.

Also, I like the word "otakusphere." ^_^
 
Rangoric

Yeah totally, when I read Oh My Goddess, I totally think that when pursuing the woman of my dreams I'm gonna have to deal with her two sisters drugging me and blowing me up.

And when reading Rosario + Vampire I totally think that my girlfriend is protecting me from all those other non-humans.

And when reading Negima I totally sympathize with poor Negi having to deal with all those young women as a 10 year old teacher.

That aside, relationships in fiction tend to model relationships in reality rather then the other way around. Cause if not, let's talk porn. While most porn is escapist for the people watching, a lot is reflective of what people already want to do or want to try. Kinky Porn is for people with Kinks, not to get people to have those kinks.
 
lyfeforce

I've did some thinking on this over the last weekend. While my stance on Twilight as a piece of literature hasn't changed, I've got to agree with Karen on this one. If it puts money in Yen Press' pockets, then I'm deciding to be happy about it since it'll make it easier to for them to license other titles while putting out Yotsuba, Sundome & Yen Plus. I won't buy the Twilight manga, but that's my wont as a consumer. What anyone else does isn't my business. Besides, in less than three years or so, it won't matter anyway.

As for the tree house mentality, I've had enough very negative experiences with Team Twilight on the whole at conventions, bookstores and other random places where I do my geeking out where they've looked down on our hobbies just as much as we've looked down on theirs. It's skewed my opinion in a very unfair way and I imagine this is how Marvel zombies feel about DC loyalists or how die hard Trekkies feel about Star Wars. It's probably better for me not to expand on it because, again, it's not going to matter for too much longer anyway. As long as they let me desu in peace when I'm taking a break from the convention floor, they can scream their little hearts out.
 
HoodedMiracle

It's not that I think having a manga based on Twilight is bad, because if it sells, than Yotsuba will be translated faster, and it balances it out.

What I have a problem with is the fact that this is from Japan, I'm guessing. Kojima likes Twilight, so it means that it was released in Japan, which means other Japanese are reading it, which is bad. Very bad.
 
Stilts

I managed to read about 200 pages of Twilight before giving up in disgust. One of the biggest problems is the pacing, but I could forgive that if Bella was sympathetic in any way, shape or form. Besides being one of the most irritating characters I've seen, she's also one of the weakest. It's still difficult for me to believe that the author is a woman. Top that off with a creepy relationship dynamic, and Twilight wins my award for one of the worst books I've ever read.

However, I try very hard not to let my hate for the book spill onto the fans. After all, I've made my share of bad entertainment choices (and I'd wager everyone else has, too). For example, I actually bought volumes of Megatokyo, back when I believed it had potential.

That was a poor decision, to put it lightly.

@lyleforce: I read manga, watch anime, buy Marvel and DC comics and love Star Trek and Star Wars. I must be filled to the brim with self-hate. XD

...though, now that I think about it, that would explain my masochistic tendencies...
 
thatguyukno

need bleach to cleanse my eyes!
 
BGFUSAB

As far as I'm concerned the more people in the tree house the more stuff that get made for said tree house. I may think Twilight is dumb but if it gets people into manga that can only lead to good things. Well... hopefully it'll only lead to good things.
 
Papasan

Every older person I've talked to(including myself), says that when you've been around a while, you realize that all entertainment is actually crap, and it just depends on what your taste in crap is. Arguing over whose entertainment is best is like arguing over whose crap sandwich is best.

Yep... i just admitted that I talk to myself.
 
gwjunkie

@Jon: Not so much misogynistic as Mary-Sue-rific. Bella is a submissive girl whose only perceived flaw (clumsiness) makes her allegedly "seem" even cuter. And she complains too much about people paying attention to her except when it's Edward.
Well, there is that sex scene I've only heard about that could be interpreted as misogynistic...Bella gets thrown against a wall and knocked out, and when she wakes she's impregnated and has several broken bones...
Anywho.
I'm not sure what I think about this in general. The eccentric Twilight fans will either flock to the book and learn the backwards moonspeak style because Edward/Jacob is presented in that style and they have to read it no matter what the cost, or they will find it too difficult and give up after ten minutes, but still treasure it forever. The more "reasonable" fans could go either way, but more likely will give up, I think. And the haters will mostly avoid it like the plague. I don't think this'll do too much for the manga industry other than giving Yen Press some reasonable income for the present and getting a few more customers for the industry as a whole. But hey, whatever works.

 
gwjunkie

Hell, that was much longer than I intended it to be.
tl;dr:
I don't think it'll help, but I don't know. I don't care much about the industry fan influx, if any will happen. I'm not interested in the manga, anyhow.
 
bahamut

It's not so much of a gamble anymore. It shot up to the top ten(now it's in the 20s) on Amazon-not in the manga/graphic novel category, books in general-just with the preorders alone. Whether you like Twilight or not, I only see this as a good thing. Sure the graphic novel looks pretty bad (awkward lettering and simply bad layout), but its success means good things for Yen Press. And Yen Press continues to license cool series, so the extra cash could be an incentive for them to take more chances with their licenses.

I like that Yen Press keeps trying to reach the mainstream, whether it's giving "normal" covers to their light novels, or the Gossip Girl and Twilight manga. One of them will stick eventually, and it looks like Twilight is the one. It might not bring a whole new audience to manga, but like I said, it'll probably bring Yen Press a nice wad of cash.
 
serial

You know, I can't remember who said it over Twitter, but when we had this discussion over there, we came to the conclusion that YP releasing a Twilight manga was a Good Thing.

So, kudos to YP, they seem to make some rather awkward business decisions that have the potential to pay off in a bigger market for those of us who like their products.

I mean, seriously, if this means we're getting more Spice and Wolf novels, I'm totally up for it.
 
GAMIE64

well.. I, a 20 year old male, Read the books. the first two weren't bad, but it's gone downhill from there. I only read the last half of the last book because i wanted to know how it ended, but it's really bad. No mysticism, no real action... But really, the first two, and maybe three, books were okay. Bella is indeed weak, but when that's taken away, the books become boring (see last half of last book, which is weird because the first half is fairly strong, suprising and eventfull, and the build up to the obvious is rather original an somewhat exciting). But the romance in Twilight is similar to other romances i've seen, where the woman is a spineless globb whose heart aches when she's away from her man... So i don't see the trouble over a Twilight manga, except that some Twilight fangirls really are... Anoying, haha XD

My girlfriend is a big fan of Twilight, but also reads Manga and watches animé from time to time. Not much, but enough to aquire her own taste of bubbly, high spirit and cute stories (think Chobits, Lucky Star and Yotsuba). But I can understand the fact that she loves a Twilight manga being released. Maybe it will fit the story just right, maybe it will make it easier to digest for some Manga-snobs, because story-wise, there's really not THAT much wrong with it... the books are just a tad uneventfull, something which the movies fix rather nicely. Had to go see a Twilight marathon (first the first movie, then the premiere of the second) on the release of New Moon. Really, everytime a lead character get's out of his shirt, the public, the majority of them 18-21 year old girls, would go wild! THAT was the anoying part, not the movies or story itself. It's the fangirls (and boys, of course) who make a bad name for themselves. And the forest chace-scene in New Moon had awesome music...
 
LReiviN

I don´t think i´m better than all Twilight fans, I just hate Twilight...
 
Kitsune

Twilight is simply "every girl's wet dream", and that's precisely my trouble with it. How about we try to have some dreams beyond 1) meet a great guy, 2) get married, 3) get f***ed (hard, but so good you can over look it >_>), 4) get knocked up, 4) become a mommy without all the downsides, and 5) realise you're worth something to the whole entire world after all, by simply being you (all while being a clinically obsessive nutjob). *gag*
I do think I'm better than Twilight fans, simply for not having a useless, preformatted, pink-hued girl-brain.

Read it and enjoy it. Fine. But it'll rot your brain. (and don't get me started on the abstinence message it preaches)
 
Girl Who Leapt Through Time

There are a few reasons i dislike Twilight - 1) Im just not into the whole wussy vampire thing, what can i say im a traditional gore fan and i'd rather see the vampires sucking blood than sucking face. 2) Every time one of the films come out i get hooked into watching it and every time i get more and more annoyed with this series cause the story simply sucks - pacing, characters EVERYTHING. 3) finally, because of the people you will find on this website http://www.mylifeistwilight.com/ which i discovered via iamhilarious.com *shiver*
 
Karen Leslie

One thing that bugs me is that when bagging on Twilight, people complain that the heroine is "weak" because she wants to get married and have children.

Guess what, I want to marry my fiance and have kids- OMG I'M A TOOL OF THE PATRIARCHY! No educated, half-way intelligent woman should be caught DEAD wanting to get married and have kids, right? I fail as a woman:(
 
Rank57

I would read it if it was a Twilight/Hellsing crossover. =)
 
Rangoric

@Rank57 Someone should Animate the scene where Alucard comes to kill Edward.

Edward mind reads Alucard and says, "Oh hell, he's crazy"
Alucard replies "You mongrel" BLAM.

Er wait a sec I think I channeled a bit of Gilgimesh there. Alucard, Gilgimesh, er whatever both are bad ass.
 
SasugaRIVAL

I hate Twilight with an intense passion.
 
Nihon Freak

Friends don't let friends Twilight.

"You are not cooler or more intelligent than a Twilight fan just because the bubble gum that you pick for your brain wasn't originally written in English."

Hear-hear!

I heartily agree. Don't be an ass about how cool Japanese stuff is and how much better you are, just because it's different.

*sigh* guess that's just the nature of cliques. . .

 
gwjunkie

@Karen: Oh, I agree with you on that. There's blame to go around on all sides, both the "Twitards" and the Twilight-haters. I don't like it, but I don't bash the readers.

 
wend`aii

bottomeline: The fans get overly annoying, turning off allt he other original fans. Before it got big here, I liked it and read it and enojoyed it very much. Pretty much the only reason I started disliking the twilight fandom was because the fans actually only read the book for edward, not its actual fucking contents and didn't value the sort of experience the book itself gave. This culminated in them going around school screaming "OMFG EDWARD IS MINE. mine bitches. " or the worse "OMFG I LOVE EDWARD CULLEN MORE THAN YOU" to the point that they treat his character as a real person. A girl broke up with her bf because he wasnt edward cullen enough. Now that is just plain stupid. I would have punched their faces in if we weren't in school. Also, some twilighters went up to me and said "OMG ITS SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER THAN HARRY POTTER". No, dude, his face is better than yours. Harry Potter is legend and hence Twilight to me became sorta of trash after that point. It's the over the top fans that I don't like, not the series itself. Though it is rather badly written, it is rather entertaining and I quite liked it. Making twilight a manga won;t necessarily bring more fans into manga, rather more fans of manga/other texts with vampires/wereworlfs as its main subjects rather than the really good and often overlooked titles that are out there and right next to them on the shelf i.e Ouran, Lucky Star, D.Grayman etc titles
It's what happened to everyone I know that became obsessed with twilight and I hate to sound pessimistic, but I don't see it changing either (in the immediate context, anyways). Even the original readers and fans of twilight (before the actual big phenomenon in 2008/2009)comment that the crazier and mostly superficial fans have turned them off the fandom altogether. But maybe its just because manga itself doesn't have a fanbase as big as it does in the States - Twilight has become the closest thing to mainstream teen pop culture. Its good to see the industry broadening its business and demographic though.

 
The Amazing Shenazin

"You are not cooler or more intelligent than a Twilight fan just because the bubble gum that you pick for your brain wasn't originally written in English."

yes I am, I am bother cooler and 100% times more intelligent than a Twilight fan because I don't like something that's absolute shit, "originally written in English" has nothing to do with anything

fuck Twilight and anything associated with it, including this Manga

 
Pangloss

Twilight, as I see it, is indisputably one of the worst works of literature that the English language has to offer. I will never judge people for reading it, though. Just the other week Yashoki, king3vbo, and I watched Ikki Tousen for chrissakes.

There are numerous books that I've read where, even as I read it and enjoyed the experience, I recognized that the writing was dogshit from an objective standpoint. So I can't and won't judge people for how awful some of the books they like are.

What I will judge people for is the sort of slavish fangasm devotion that seems to be what actually is pissing all of you off at cons. Just as I sigh internally (or out loud, fuck it) when I see the three-hundred pound dude waddling across campus with his Naruto costume, or irritated at the acres of cosplay from Show X at some con or other, you prancing around arguing over who OMGLOVES EDWARD MORE is going to make me think less of you. Not that anyone here would do this, of course.
 
guava

i've read all four books ( really they do get worse as it goes =..= )
I dont hate the series, ive seen the movies that have come out. But really the biggest issue i have with it is THE FANS THEMSELVES. simply because they think Twilight is the best thing to have been on planet, ever. And its not. not at all. i might dab at the manga, so we'll see.

 
Eloarei

I have not read more than the first 2 chapters of the first book of Twilight. I have not seen the movies. I will, however, probably let my best friend (a reasonable Twilight fan) make me watch them when the whole series is done, because I'm keeping an open mind about them.

I must admit that I tend to get annoyed at Twilight, simply for spawning even more annoying fans. Of course, not all Twilight fans are annoying. Likewise, not all annoying fans like Twilight. My biggest problem is with insane fangirls (I'm sure insane fanboys exist as well, but it's the females I always see). I see them all over the place, in many a fandom. It changes every so often. For a while, InuYasha fans were annoying. Then it was Fruits Basket, Naruto, Kingdom Hearts, briefly Fullmetal Alchemist, and sometimes Bleach.
I really like most of these series, but boy do I consider never touching them again when I hear some fangirl start squealing about it. And then I remind myself that it will pass. The fangirl will probably grow up and hopefully calm down and enjoy her book/anime/game/etc quietly, and let the rest of do the same.

As for a Twilight manga, I suppose I'll be interested to see what happens. I doubt it will have a major impact on long-term manga popularity, just because I think most of the people who will pick up manga because of it will be the same as many of the other (annoying) 'new' manga readers: They come in with a "liekomg i luv main-guh" and then tire of it several months/years/whatevers down the line and leave, having learned nothing about Japanese culture and still sporting atrocious pronunciation.
 
Bashamo

@Girl Who Leapt Through Time
/b/lackup in 3... 2...
 
GorZ

@guava
"simply because they think Twilight is the best thing to have been on planet"

Doesn't that basically include every series that had fans?

My friend is a "Narutard"(No offense to anyone who is one) and I must admit that he is ANNOYING as heck. All he talks about it Naruto and of course, he imitates handseals and yells random japanese ninjutsu when he doesn't know how to pronounce them right.

Another example would be Teen Titans. I occasionally go to this site called ToonSurfer, but when I look at the chatroom, all I see is "OMG DID U C THE NEW EP OF TEEN TITANS IT WAS AWESOME AND ROBIN IS SOOOo COOL blah blah blah"

But still, I tolerate my friends and the random teen titan nerds no matter how annoying they are.

All in all, nobody has the right to hate something JUST because the fans irritate you. It's like hating taiyaki because it looks like a fish.


 



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