Manga, anyone?

Not my usual post, thought it needed a warning!

I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, and noticed something that I found interesting: the Manga section outweighed the traditional Sci-Fi section by a factor of more than three to one. (I didn't check the Comic or Graphic Novel sections, nor the Fantasy section which has been split off from "Sci-Fi" where they used to be a combined "Sci-Fi/Fantasy" section.) I posted something about this on Facebook, wondering what kind of shift this reflects on our society, and had some interesting (although limited) responses (I think most of my Facebook friends are imaginary friends 🤣 - just kidding, I love you all!). Figured maybe it was worth a blog post. (Note: most of the following was written by Copilot, and then tweaked and/or rewritten by me. I'm an AI freak now, I guess.) 

Topic: Manga’s dominance in bookstores reflects a cultural shift toward visual storytelling, emotional immediacy, and transnational engagement—challenging traditional notions of literary prestige and reader sophistication.

Walk into any major bookstore today and you’ll likely notice a striking imbalance: the manga section towers over the science fiction shelves, often by a factor of three or more. This isn’t just a merchandising quirk—it’s a cultural signal. Manga’s explosive popularity suggests a reconfiguration of how we engage with narrative, imagination, and even literacy itself. As one Facebook commenter put it, “Reading is reading,” and manga’s rise proves that visual formats are not a lesser form of literature but a dominant one.

This shift raises provocative questions. If comics and graphic novels are outselling traditional sci-fi, does that reflect a decline in the population’s reading level—or a transformation in what “reading” means? Manga, after all, demands a different kind of literacy: visual fluency, emotional nuance, and rapid genre-switching. It’s not just for kids or casual readers. As noted in the Facebook thread, many well-read adults don’t gravitate toward manga, yet the genre’s appeal spans all ages and backgrounds. The stereotype of “nerds reading comics” has evolved into a broader cultural embrace of graphic storytelling as serious, sophisticated, and deeply imaginative.

My thought that manga creators now perform much of the imaginative labor once reserved for sci-fi and fantasy authors is especially telling. In many ways, manga has absorbed the speculative mantle—exploring dystopias, alternate realities, and philosophical quandaries with visual immediacy and emotional punch. The genre’s ability to blend action, romance, psychological depth, and social critique makes it a flexible vessel for modern storytelling. As highlighted in the peer-reviewed article Mapping the Story of Manga from the International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, manga’s evolution from caricature to complex narrative reflects its power to tackle political, religious, and cultural issues across global audiences.

Another comment—“That manga is what is selling”—underscores the economic reality. Manga isn’t just trendy; it’s dominant. And that dominance invites reflection: are we witnessing a decline in traditional literary forms, or an expansion of what counts as literature? Another commenter points readers to Google Scholar, where a wealth of research explores the cognitive and educational impacts of reading comics versus novels. Studies suggest that graphic formats can enhance comprehension, engagement, and even critical thinking, especially for visual learners and multilingual audiences.

Ultimately, the manga boom isn’t a threat to literary culture—it’s a transformation. It challenges gatekeeping assumptions about what “serious reading” looks like and invites us to reconsider the role of visual media in intellectual life. Whether through blog posts or podcasts (as my friend Marie jokingly proposed), this conversation deserves more airtime. Manga’s rise is not just a trend—it’s a mirror held up to our evolving cultural psyche.

But, back to one of my earlier thoughts, has the reader's imagination, previously engaged by the sci-fi writer's storytelling, been replaced by the artistic work of the Manga writers? Does this imply laziness of readers preferring "picture books" to "word books"? Note: I'm not intending to disparage any who love Manga, just wondering if there is a cultural shift toward the minimal side of things? Or perhaps a reduced engagement - where a typical novel would require multiple hours of reading, whereas a Manga novel could be read in an hour or two (similar to a movie timeframe). Thoughts?

Sources:
Mapping the Story of Manga – IJELS
2024 The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies – JAMS, 2025