Of all the Blogcritics posts I've written, the ones that most consistently appear to yield the long range comments have been the manga reviews. Some young manga fan goes a-Googlin' the title of a a new fave, discovers there's a BC review on it and writes to say that the comic schoolgirl series Kodocha is the most awesome manga ever! Don't see this same fervor as much in American comics nowadays, though I've reviewed as many American series as I have manga GNs.

This says a lot about the passion that a manga series can elicit among its readership. To those of us with a passing acquaintance with the earlier years of America comics fandom, the dynamics are fascinating and familiar. “Why I remember when I was as excited about superhero comics,” the geezerly former fanboy notes, polishing his trifocals to better squint his way through the tinier lettering in a volume of the cooking series Iron Wok Jan. American publishers still have their loyalists, but the numbers clearly favor Japanese comics.

Diversity and economics remain the prime factors. Take a gander at the manga shelves in your local chain bookstore and you'll find a bewildering array of genre work: a broader spectrum of story types that also skews toward a wider age range. In America, translated manga pbs include a rating on the cover – from "All Ages" to "Mature." Many of the latter titles (like the ultra-violent Battle Royale) even come shrink-wrapped. Our local Borders even includes a warning in its manga section advising parents to supervise their young 'uns if they're looking at books: even a "Teen"-rated title like the mystery series Kindaichi Case Files can contain mild nudity (usually of murder victims, but still...) As for the economic factor: the price of your average manga collection – $7.95 to $9.95 – easily tromps the American competition. A manga paperback of 200 or so pages versus a $2.95 comic with maybe twenty pages of story? No contest.