News culture “This author must be crazy!” The lack of originality of recent mangas criticized by the creator of Dragon Ball, here's what he prefers
Publié le 07/03/2024 à 11:30
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Should we imitate the greatest successes to hope to become one ourselves? This is an interesting question raised by Akira Toriyama's comments. During an interview in 2018, he declared that he favored manga with a strong identity rather than those inspired by already known works.
Best-selling manga that lack originality according to the father of Dragon Ball
In Japan, manga is more than a cultural activity. It is an integral part of daily life in a major part of the archipelago. For decades, there must have been many designers who had the ambition to create their own work. An environment that tends to saturate with, sometimes, the same types of success: manga aimed at adolescents who learn through the protagonist a taste for effort, surpassing oneself or even the importance of human relationships. A type of manga called shonen. These stories, as varied and excellent as they can be (My Hero Academia being in my opinion the best incarnation of shonen), are a bit similar. An observation observed by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. In a double interview (with Takehiko Inoue, behind Slam Dunk and Vagabond) given to Weekly Shonen Jump in 2018, he explains:
It's great that aspiring manga authors are influenced by their favorite authors, but I wish they would be proud and add a little originality that only they can bring.
It should be added that this interview was carried out as part of the Tezuka Prize: a prize aimed at encouraging promising mangakas to continue their work. This reward, for example, was Nobuhiro Watsuki (Kenshin), Eiichiro Oda and Naoki Urasawa who collected it.
A strong identity incompatible with commercial success?
In light of the winners of previous years, it is difficult to prove Toriyama wrong. Award-winning authors have rarely seen their works become bestsellers around the world. Over the last decade, the two best known are probably March comes like a lion and Golden Kamuy. They are not popular works like Jujutsu Kaisen, Blue Lock or Attack on Titan. But there is no doubt that they stand out from the rest. This is the kind of work Toriyama wants to see:
As the quality of the work itself increases, individuality and pride in one's work decreases. I would like to come across a manga that makes me think that this author must be crazy!
One of the (very) many descriptive texts of Elden Ring.
To draw a parallel with the video game world, Hidetaka Miyazaki's recent comments resonate with those of Toriyama. The director of From Software, behind among others Elden Ring and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (both voted games of the year), explained his creative process to JV last month. He then indicated that he was avoiding the influence of already existing works as much as possible: every artistic achievement is the product of only a written description. Enough to give free rein to the imagination of the teams…and stimulate players' curiosity by integrating these mini-biographical sketches into the game.
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