Thread: Aesthetics vs. Plot

Okay, so I've found myself thinking about this recently. Which do you prefer in a manga/anime?

Anime/Manga that I consider to be more artistic (not to say they dont also have a good plot) are ones like Mushishi and Kino's Journey. Yeah the stories are interesting, but for me the appeal was more in the aesthetic way the story was crafted. Maybe the beautiful drawings, or the poetic way the episodes unfolded. And knowing in the end that it was just another experience in the characters life. It's like you can sit back and take a breath and really take everything in and enjoy rather than always rushing forward to the next chapter. There isn't really a ton of action and each of the episodes are kind of stand alone experiences rather than you know, saving the world from evil, or fighting the bad-guys whatever. For me, these styles also have much more second or third viewing/reading appeal than the plot driven stories.

On the other hand you have stories like Berserk, Bleach, One Piece, Death Note etc. where you're really reading to find out what happens next, not just you know, enjoying the environment thats been created.

Anyone else know what I mean?

It's true that the latter category way outnumbers the former, but that makes me I think I appreciate the artistic ones all the more. It's like pushing the boundaries of the medium a little bit. Maybe telling everybody to slow down a little bit.

Thoughts?

This seems a little late - I can't figure out why I didn't spot this thread before, but anyway...

I generally like both types, but in different ways. However, I would say that artistic manga appeal to me more (which is why I like most of Adachi's stuff, as well as ARIA and AQUA). But then again, I'm wondering whether the distinction between aesthetic-driven and plot-driven stories are really valid to make. Couldn't you say that the plot-driven stories are meant to have an aesthetic that is fast-paced and dramatic? Bleach, for example, does that extremely well... whenever you have a two-page spread, it's usually extremely significant and a powerful scene. The artistry involved is deliberately cultivating an "epic" feel, rather than a "gentle" or "beautiful" feel.

-Dizzy-

I'm more on Aesthetic as well. I enjoy reading slow moving stories such as Yokohama, Aria etc. but I wouldn't say that I don't enjoy reading manga with complex plot as much as I do with aesthetic mangas. If I have a choice to read both at the same time. I'll go first with my preference but I'll still want to read the other one.

I guess everyone prefers one but still enjoys the other as a change of pace.

BOTH

Good draw's will catch my attention and the plot will keep me reading, HOWEVER
I can read manga with (not so good Aesthetic) as long it has an awesome plot

I would say PLOT matters more, at least to me >_>

there should be a poll up there =\

I agree on good drawing catches your attention more in the beginning, and is quite pleasing to the eye, but in the end, I prefer a good plot.

Theres nothing like a good plot, that makes waiting for the next chapter, feel like dying. But there are some limits to how crude or bad the art can be. I dont like em too artistic, sure its great with a fresh new styled manga, but if you cant tell people from BG etc, I tend to drop the manga after a few vol.

But I dont think I've ever seen a manga where the art is amazing. I've met good art, but I've yet to see something that really amazes me.

Can I take option C? Either artistry or plot can catch my eye, but it's the characters that make me care to read more. I'll read a stick-figure slice-of-life comic if I the characters and how they interact and react and mess up and triumph and get through things.

Me, it depend on the title/genre.

Seinen/Josei > When you read seinen/josei, you expect to be caught in the story and not the imagery. Although I'm not saying that crappy imagery isn't necessary. What is a seinen/josei when there's no plot?

Ecchi > Come on. You lookin for a story on an ecchi title? of course the main point of an ecchi manga is the art. pseudorandom's point applies here too. It's the characters that matters, a character who's always naked at every frame for no reason isn't appealing.

well. i guess you get my point...

Well, an ecchi where one of the characters is always naked as part of daily life because s/he has no nudity taboo (even though it doesn't work that way) would be interesting. But that's beside the point.

Originally Posted by Raszagal

But I dont think I've ever seen a manga where the art is amazing. I've met good art, but I've yet to see something that really amazes me.

Have you ever read Vagabond? Inoue Takehiko is definitely an AMAZING artist in my opinion. Vagabond is definately a book that I would consider more aesthetically oriented than plot oriented. I mean, there have been a million samurai tales, and there have been a ton re-tellings of Musashi's story as well. Yeah the story is interesting, otherwise it wouldn't be successful, but his artwork is what really grabs (at least in my opinion).

They also had an exhibition this past month in Tokyo of Inoue-sensei's artwork (almost all of it manga, with a few large ink paintings as well) and it really blew me away. The man is a genius with inks in my opinion.

Originally Posted by dizzcity

Couldn't you say that the plot-driven stories are meant to have an aesthetic that is fast-paced and dramatic? Bleach, for example, does that extremely well... whenever you have a two-page spread, it's usually extremely significant and a powerful scene. The artistry involved is deliberately cultivating an "epic" feel, rather than a "gentle" or "beautiful" feel.

Yes, but that isn't what I meant. Of course there has to be an aesthetic aspect to any manga, its inherihant in the sense that manga is an artform and artforms must have an aesthetic value. But what I meant was, what keeps you reading, the beauty of it, or the story of it? Or maybe, what clinches the decision to start that new series? Because, while of course sometimes it's both, I find it to be pretty rare. And I also find a lot of friends who I talk to about it don't really look twice at the artwork, and mostly focus on what people are saying. While I usually have trouble getting into any story where i really don't like the artwork.