Akadot: What difference is there in the manga culture in America and Japan? Seeing both sides so clearly, what differences are there in the way America and Japan approach manga and receive it?

FS: The biggest difference is that manga are a mass medium in Japan, with popularity equivalent to television and novels, etc. In the United States, translated manga is only a tiny subset of the larger comics culture, and the larger comics culture is an infinitesimally small part of mainstream entertainment culture. There also are huge differences in content, and in readership, as American readers of comics, and even of manga, still is heavily weighted to young males and collector-oriented adults.

Akadot: Manga has been incredibly popular in America, influencing artists and writers here. Have you seen any signs of that influence flow back into Japan by the way of Americans being published in manga magazines?

FS: Spawn is one of the few recent success stories, of American comics entering Japan. Generally speaking, U.S. comics and U.S. artists have not had much direct influence on the Japanese market, as few are translated and few Japanese read them. It's important to note, however, that even if not many Japanese read American comics, Japanese artists often study what their American counterparts do, and are influenced by them.

Akadot: You spoke of manga having its own "vocabulary" and "grammar". Is it safe to say the style of manga is more similar to a visual language much like kanji, than an artistic feel or set of trends?

FS: I think that manga are a visual language of a sort, but I think it's important not to overemphasize the connection to kanji. The basic grammar of manga is the same as the basic grammar for American-style comics (panels, word balloons, etc., etc). The difference is in the way the grammar has been implemented and is being used in Japan.

Akadot: Where do you see manga going in the future? Will it peak as an overused trend in comic art or has it become a mainstream piece in our pop culture landscape?

FS: In terms of an industry, the Japanese manga market is now quite mature, and on the verge of saturation. The only potential growth areas are senior citizens and overseas markets. In the United States the manga market is only now becoming viable. I suspect that it will grow larger and larger, but eventually most American readers will not even think of many of their comics as being Japanese "manga." An analogy here, I guess, would be the success of Sony and Honda, both of which are so accepted in American society that many young people do not even think of them as Japanese companies.

Don't forget to check out Part I of Akadot's interview with Frederik Schodt.