While food, medicine and shounen manga Often not considered in the same conversation, they share some interesting connections according to a prominent Kodansha manga editor. Whether it's as a theme, plot device, or aspect of character development, food and medicine are common elements of manga. However, as Kodansha Senior Editor Akira Kanai suggests, food and medicine can also serve as profound metaphors for the state of contemporary manga.
Kanai is the editor-in-chief of Weekly Afternoon – a sister publication of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine that focuses on seinen manga content. Kanai has worked in the manga industry for three decades, holding various editorial positions, including overseeing titles such as Vinland Saga, Planetes, and Fragile.
Shōnen manga is intended for teenage boys and older children, while seinen manga is intended for older teenage boys and young men.
In a May 2024 interview with the community-run manga fan project Manga Passion, Kanai shared his views on various topics in the manga industry, based on his experiences as an author and an insider. Kanai's thoughts on the connection between food, medicine, and manga came up as a response to the question of why he thought Weekly Afternoon was special and his views on the magazine's place in the Japanese manga industry.
Nowadays, Shōnen Manga is like a fun meal for the mind.
Weekly Afternoon Without the Bland “Cookie-cutter” Manga
While Kanai clearly shows his appreciation for the magazine's continued popularity, he also tries to point out that his perspective comes from his position in seinen manga as opposed to shounen. According to Kanai, Seinen is somewhat more resistant to the market-driven forces of the manga business.and more accepting of less popular but more interesting content. In this way, Kanai argues, what makes his magazine unique is its focus on providing quality content – like the “delicious food” one would get at a fine dining establishment. In doing so, the magazine has avoided the industry’s focus on producing easy and convenient “fast food” content.
I think Japanese publishers – because those manga sell so well – want to become a fast food chain.
Kanai's analysis suggests that the rush to cash in on the growing demand for manga has led many publishers and content creators to try to churn out as much content as possible. He likens this to the fast food industry – where the focus is not on creating quality, handcrafted meals with as much personalization as possible, but on creating meals that are easy to replicate, delicious, but ultimately lacking in nutritional value. The manga equivalent would be create a compelling story that fans forget just minutes after reading it.
Kanai: Manga is great these days but still leaves readers craving for more
Expanding on the addictive nature of fast food, Kanai further argues that the current state of the industry makes manga akin to a drug, and that the current trend in the industry is to “push” out titles that give readers a temporary high. While it may feel satisfying at the time, it does not contribute to the intellectual growth of manga fans or followers. Prolonged engagement in this behavior is likely to do more harm than good.
Of course, it's like drugs or junk food. These books sell well and become big hits because they stimulate the sexual desire of the reader, and that's perfectly fine. But if you consume it all day, every day, then you'll probably stop thinking.
Kanai argues that there is a lot of quality content being overlooked by an industry that focuses on big, popular brands. On the one hand, this is detrimental to smaller, less promoted titles. On the other hand, it can mislead readers into seeing real life in the same absolute way as manga stories.
Children or readers can be educated in such a way that they can only take one side when an issue arises.
Ultimately, Kanai suggests, these types of stories could be curtailed if publishers could afford to say no. Of course, this is a “hard ask” when a title is doing so well commercially.
To combat this pressure, Kanai turned his attention to his magazine Weekly Afternoon. While still aiming to make money, he and his editorial team focused more on quality entertainment. That entertainment included telling stories that didn’t always have happy endings, where good didn’t always triumph over evil, and the girl didn’t always get the boy in the end. While “happily ever after” stories might be fun, Kanai argued, they “were lies.” Weekly Afternoon, on the other hand, focused on providing “real” stories to anyone willing to take a chance on them. This was the perfect opportunity for comic to expand its footprint comprehensively and sustainably.
Source: Manga Passion
