Over the last several years, I have been reading manga (Japanese comics), manhwa (Korean comics), and manhua (Chinese comics). I am going to call them all manga. I think I have read more Korean manga (manhwa) than the other types. It is interesting to note the cultural differences between manga and our comics/graphic novels. It is also interesting to see how some translations need to be less word for word and more careful in their translations.
Manga covers a wide variety of subjects. Action comics and Romance comics are the most popular. There are also many manga that make use of video game and role playing game styles with status windows and the concept of leveling up various characteristics. Many manga will use reincarnation to set the stage by having them be reincarnated into a different world with special knowledge, or reincarnated to an early time in their life, so they can use their knowledge to change things. Revenge is a fairly common theme. Grace and forgiveness seems to be missing in these manga, so something like being in debt to another is something that needs to be taken care of. Christianity is missing from these manga though there are crosses used to designate religious oriented sects but it is clear that the Christian Faith was not there. There are also some visits to temples, but almost all the manga are very human focused, even with the crosses or temples.
Being a god does not mean you are perfect or good. It just means you are a very much more powerful human (or a similar creature) than anyone else. Being a demon or an angel does not mean that you are evil or good. It just means you are from a place of demons or of angels. The storylines do have good triumphing over evil, but good and evil are not as clear as they could be. Being a god does not make you good. Being a devil does not mean you are bad. In general, it seems like they are very human-like, no matter what or who you are.
Translations point out to me the differences between meanings of words. A couple of times I have run across the word ‘father-in-law’ translated for the father of the girlfriend whereas in English it is the father of the spouse. In English, the word usage happens after marriage , but in Korean the word must also include before marriage relationships. There are a few words that are left untranslated, so you have to figure out the meaning of the words (e.g. noona, meaning older female, usually an older sister). Most of these are honorifics. (Some English honorifics are Mister, Miss, Madam, Sir, Professor, and Doctor.) When reading manga you will find phrases that make sense but you might have worded the phrase differently. To be fair some of the sites call the translations previews which means the translation has not been polished.
Reading manga brings to mind some cultural differences. The oriental societies are much more private. They do not normally touch one another (and yet they have jam-packed trains). Relationships tend to be more formal. Orientals like to add honorifics to show respect and reverence in even ordinary daily interactions. They have more honorifics than we do. And since touching happens less often, holding hands is not the first step in dating. Patting the head of your romantic interest is the first step. For us in America, you will also read some disturbing things. Slavery in manga is not that uncommon. Also arranged marriages are a part of many storylines.
The most polished English translated mangas I have read are on Webtoon. They are polished but the latest episode comes out later than on other sites. More recent episodes and more manga can be found on MangaDex, but they are less polished. If you want to get to the latest episode now you need to go to the translator’s website if there is one. If you are interested in reading a manga, a good manga to start reading is “Telework Yotabanashi”, a short manga of a romance that happened during COVID. Note you need to read word bubbles from the right to left, unlike English (left to right). A couple of action manga that I like are “Teenage Mercenary (Mercenary Enrollment)” and “Eleceed”. And I like the drama manga, “The Mafia Nanny”, which is being written in English. Check them out.
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