Of course you can hold this opinion, no problem. We started diverse manga in 2013, wasn't popular then, at least no close, we didn't hop on the train lol I grew up in Nigeria and diversity didn't bother me much either, but now as a creator, inspired by the Japanese, I'm doing exactly what they do, create what they know, and or show themselves and culture in their work. I do both, proud of the fact I have some Nigerian influence stuff in Apple Black and proud of other creators doing similar things, it's authentic and original. On the diversity topic, the shows you mentioned have some diversity, true but not much from an ethnicity standpoint and definitely rarely ever main characters either, Naruto didn't have black characters till YEARS into the series. It's predominantly Japanese, and that's not an issue, the creators are Japanese and they make work that represents them and who they are, their culture etc. We are not Japanese, so our manga represents who we are, where we're from and our culture, I think it's very silly to think that that is silly, that's just me being honest. We love the Japanese content and are no demanding they change, we're just doing our own thing, we're not Japanese manga, were just manga that diverse via creators, culture, ideas and more. Should someone from brazil, whose never been to Japan make manga about Japan and then obviously be making what they don't understand, that not authentic. Japanese creators create what they know and represent themselves in their work, We're doing the exact same thing, nothing silly about that to me. It's also okay if that does not appeal to you or others like you, there are many people that does appeal to, hence why we do what we do. and also, none of this matters if the story sucks, so good stories are paramount for our success and we focus on that as our manga volume reviews reflect. Either way, thanks for purchasing Annual 2024, on your own and checking out our stuff regardless. We tell people to buy the manga because it's good, it just also happen to be diverse on purpose because that authencity and some people want that too. We move.
Thank you for commenting. My argument was the Saturday AM promotes their manga with the idea that its diverse. I was simply trying to say that no one buys a manga because it is diverse. Is the story that matters. My criticism was mainly towards your marketing and promotional strategy. Give people a REAL reason to buy your manga over something like One Piece or dragona ball or Naruto. Why should they try it. Especially with our modern political tension, diversity happens to be a horroble selling point. Just want you guys to keep that in mind. That being said, I love that you are all independent artist
Personally i think Saturday am is holding back whytmanga because of this whole diversity statement stuff. Whytmanga is a great artist in my opinion, and i think he will be way more successful in terms of sales if he leaves this company and goes 100% indepedent and rebrands himself as instead of pushing diversity and inculsivness, he promotes the plots, the characters and the world building. Basically everything that makes japanese manga great. Skin color, sexuality, or gender are not character traits. This is why no one is reading american comics and the unit sales prove that. True manga/comic customers don't pick up a book because of skin color or any of that diversity crap. Not trying to come at whytmanga, I think he is an amazing artist and i think he should leave saturday am and go indepedent. I think if he does, he can easily be as big as Eric July and the Rippaverse since they both have the same massive following.
@@TheWaveBlurr I do think if he was to go on his own he would be successful, However I don't think Saturday am is holding him back. Literally everything you just said he needs to promote he has on his channel multiple times and speaking of Eric July yeah Eric is successful but I think that's due to the fact that not only does he have his audience but he also kind as a pretty big famous musician which helps alive. Plus you might like iPhone sure but it's not that grave a book
@@TheWaveBlurr Don't get how sad I am is holding him back if you bother to go on his channel you will see that he talks about his story and characters along with a lot of the crew on Saturday am
im writing a manga story that takes place in ancient japan, im from america, no offense but researching is a thing that exists...u don't have to be from the place ur story takes place in. And manga is a japanese term for comics, so it makes sense that people would want their characters to be japanese. If a japanese guy wanted to make a american styled comic does he have to set his story in japan? Even though he is trying to make american styled comics that will be read by americans?
I understand how you feel Andy because I feel the same way as you do. I’m tired of people (in the West) pushing this Diversity agenda in the entertainment industry etc. I hope they listen to your advice Andy. Take care & Godspeed
Am black and I fully agree . People need to stop acting like diversity is just pandering/checking the black , Asian and Latino etc boxes. And start to realize that it is the essence of the characters and soul of the stories is what matters. I know am late to this but that's all I want to say.
If I may play devil's advocate, Yes they do make diversity one of their main selling points but they also still talk about their stories character in world building. Eh if you go on to their RU-vid channel you'll see them basically still talk about anime and a bunch of other stuff not just diversity. If some people will be skeptical to pick up these bugs but once they see good reviews on RU-vid and hear recommendations from stuff Like You people will give them a chance.
I'm a comic writer myself, and even though my main cast of the comic I'm making right now is composed of minorities, it wasn't even intentional. A character's ethnicity or race isn't important to me- I just write them like people. Just because the protagonist is a Mexican teen doesn't mean that's the focal point of the comic. The focal point is the plot. Diversity in itself isn't a bad thing by a long shot. But I do agree that making a diverse cast your focal point is ultimately detrimental, because more often than not it becomes all you focus on as a writer. SaturdayAM is probably one of my biggest goals for now, and I really do like a lot of the stuff they put out. But diversity isn't the only thing that makes a comic or manga good.
You said it exactly, that's also why the interest in American hero comics is declining and people prefer to buy manga. Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Punch Man, none of them have as much stupid content as the diversity in Saturday AM. An example is Clock Striker, a manga from SaturdayAM that they consistently say IT IS Shonen manga’s first Black female lead hero. What the hell, I read manga since I was kid and I didn't care about Protagonist's skin color!!!
That's all it took to make you mad because they said the first black girl and shown. I mean you must also hate Siri's like static shock because it was created by people who want to see more black characters. Yes did you even read clockstrike before did you just get triggered by the word black protagonist and didn't even bar to pick it up
You summed it up beautifully. Potentially customers are interested in the actual content, not the superficial packaging. They want substance. Let's hope the staff of Saturday AM seriously take your advice to heart and understand what you're saying. Keep up the awesome work Andy Matrix!😉
I’m glad it doesn’t bother you, but that doesn’t negate the fact that being able to see yourself in the media you consume is important. If it wasn’t, then we would have never had a “white Jesus” portrayed by European nations for centuries. Cartooning has had very problematic displays of poc, women, etc since the inception. Western cartooning has influenced Manga/anime. The black archetype doesn’t always have to be the big buff guy or the urban hip hop enthusiast either. If there are people who had a grievance and want to create characters to address their issue, then let them. There are kids who have appreciated the work of Saturday AM. Maybe it means something to them, and us saying “it doesn’t bother us” doesn’t discredit the validity.
I see myself in characters who don't look like me in media all the time. I identified a bit with Lee in Telltales the Walking Dead and Yamada in My Love Story with Yamada-kun, neither of these characters are white but I am.
@@noneofyourbusiness7965 That's great a lot of people can do that too but guess what my friend that still doesn't put down the importance of representation. Sir you heard the show static shock right, Did you know he was created because a group of black men want to see more super heroes that look like them. There's nothing wrong with looking at the cares that don't look like you but there's still is something important to see characters that do look like you and represent your culture
@@cyberpunklover161 Someone does not need to look anything like me to represent my culture. The creation of Static Shock is not the same. He was created to be black which is great, he wasn't repurposed to to be black when he wasn't originally. There's nothing wrong with representation, it's only weird when one feels the need to take away representation to do it. I'm interested in watching great characters who happen to be black, but when they are black first it's boring. I don't care a lot about skin color because I'm not a weirdo.
@@noneofyourbusiness7965That’s cool, we’re not saying characters do need to look like us to represent us. We’re just saying characters looking like us would be the cherry on top, or nice to have. So while it’s cool that you can form links with characters that don’t look like you, that doesn’t get rid of the role diversity plays.
Are you that slow you missed his point completely.😂 to just constantly say it over and over and throw it in your face every 5 minutes trying to sale off of that as if it matters. Show don't tell.
I'm a Latino, too and I never complained about Diversity nor care about Diversity and Representation. But I can understand where you're coming from because they might end up being badly promoted and invisible in the market.
I'm also black and I don't have a problem with it because sometimes you can actually make good stories following the black experience have you ever heard of a series called static shock did you know the creators of that series made it because they wanted to see more black representation. Or period did you know the reason why Bruce Lee wants to get into movies was because he did not like the depictions of Asians and Western films
I mean for what I've researched the creators of their series do describe their characters and try to get them enough personality as possible. If you forgot them in 10 minutes maybe that's just a you thing
Kind of wish you would have made this video longer so after you've got done with your random about how diversity isn't needed or whatever you could have gone into the book and talk about all the stories they have in there. Cuz as someone that actually does follow them yes they talk about diversity we talk about their stories and characters as well.
Yeah @andymatrix all you did was poo poo on Saturday AM and focus on their politics. Didn't even check out the content in the book. Seriously, do better
The West: We need to make Arial Black so black girls have a relatable icon. Me: Finds Japanese Precure anime girl relatable because she's into giant robots and captures the passion to a T. And she's not even my favorite Precure character.
@@AndyMatrixTV Another thing, lately, they're trying to pull girlboss, smug, type female. But I've seen anime with females that have the confident loud and proud personality, but they aren't a turnoff due to being so charismatic, you can't help but think they're cool. My guess is, those types often overlap with the big sister archetype. Their confidence is warm and full of life, rather than just coming off as a mask.
Funny enough, having a diverse cast isn't as contentious as marketing your show as diverse. Saturday AM wouldn't have to change anything at all except focus on something else when promoting their stories
@@muzisensei3493 I remember that video you did on error July's character Isom some years back, And you complain about him being black and having an Afro but yet you're with a group that's made among us we're most of the main characters are black heck they're mascot is basically a robot with an Afro. So why aren't u complaining about that
Same would be said about people need to not sell their products on the basis on race. Since I've seen Chicano Hollywood share videos promoting blue beetle their reason for promoting is there's latinos in it.
So basically admitting you're a weeb and get easily triggered like if you're an international artist do it at least give the book a chance before you get angry over the word diversity
L -- and it's obvious that you're just triggered by "diversity" cos literally all of the stories in Saturday AM have synopses that focus on the characters and story lmao and if no one cares, then how come you and the other goons have to insist on how much you "don't care" (reactionary) about diversity in media and then attempt to bandwagon and make outrage content about it 😂 goofy ngl
Brother you might be a little mentally challenged. He wasn't complaining about diversity, he was saying its a bad marketing tactic which it is. It only works on easily offended terminally online twitter leftist like you meanwhile companies are suppose to be pitching to a gerneral audience, who are tired of things throwing in their face how diverse they are. That's a useless marketing gimmick, everybody is doing, that was his point.
Are you really this slow? His point is that diversity is a bad marketing tactic, which it is since not only everybody is doing it, but it's gotten to the point where people are tired of it being used. It only works on people like you that want constant validation, of which you are a minority because general audiences don't care about progressive politics, they just want a good story that isn't forcing a political agenda down their throat.
I'm Middle Eastern from Lebanon living in Canada who never really cared if I was "represented" in movies, Anime or whatever. One of my favorite films ever is "Terminator 2" and there are no Middle Easterns in that movie. I, also, don't care if there are Lebanese people in Anime and I love Anime like One Piece, Mazinger, Gundam, Sousou no Frieren etc... because NO ONE CARES about that stuff.
This excessive focus on diversity about race, gender and sexualities is becoming too much to handle 😅. This manga seems to be filled with an excessive amount of politically correct content, just like how some Westerners are already becoming frustrated. It seems like Hollywoke is being lazy and unable to create good stories about worldbuilding, character development, and backstories, which is becoming tiresome these days. LOL. We mainly watch anime and manga from Japan and the Eastern world for the purpose of entertaining readers and viewers.
Okay clearly you have not read this manga, At all because it's not. Unless you think having black people in your story as the main character is a problem even though she's just acts like a normal kid is considered woke now. I would suggest you actually start doing research on this series cause even this guy said he still recommended people read them
@@AndyMatrixTV Wait are you saying I'm triggered cause no one else in this comments section They've all seemed to giving you pretty reasonable responses. Funny enough diversity is there but it's on the side and it's pretty small.
I respectfully disagree with your take. While sure diversity exists, but that doesn’t mean others can’t improve the quality of diversity or showcase more of it. While you may not care about diversity, that doesn’t mean other people do not care about it, all it means is you are not the intended audience, the intended audience are those who actually want to see themselves in stories. In advertising diversity, you are indirectly advertising a unique story that you can check out. Advertising diversity doesn’t mean you are not advertising story. Diversity can inspire story as the host of Saturday am pointed out, so yes there are positives to promoting diversity.
Yeah buddy everything you just said sounds like an a total exaggeration. Also why are you getting mad about shown in copying pasting I'm assuming you probably don't have that problem since like you said a lot of shown and tend to do that you're just doing it with apple black because you heard the word diversity.
@@kingj9664 copy pasting is good, copying and and adding your own twist to it is also cool, but when reading apple black, i couldnt help but get multiple cases of deja vu, luv u bro.
@@kingj9664 The first 2 volumes drag and pacing in all over the place. Not a good first impression. Mangaka are writers with art skills, not the other way around.
I completely agree with you and all your takes in this video. My only thing is that it is a little weird when Western artists copy and paste Japanese settings and names and styles to the T with the school uniforms and all. Here in the West, specifically North America, where I reside. You typically see a pool of skin complexions. What they do in Japan is sub this its mostly them there. They make up for the lack of diversity with crazy hairstyles and colors and ascetic designs. That's all I'm saying. I'm not agreeing with Saturday am approach at all, diversity shouldn't be a selling point, the story should. I'm just saying it's OK to look a little different. Just don't make everything about it. Hell, they don't even have to bring how a person looks if they don't want. Again, none of that stuff really matters as you say and won't affect if it's something I pick up or not
I fear that some of these "diverse" Manga Artists don't fully understand the Japanese culture behind Manga. In my own view, Manga isn't just the Art Style, it's the understanding of Japan and Japanese cultural norms that a western manga artist needs to understand so they can compete against the best of the best in manga. The secret to making good manga is to make it close to the Japanese so fans don't know that you are NOT from Japan. For example, Peepo Choo from Phillipe Smith (I think that was his name) made a hilariously funny Manga that I didn't know it was written by a Western Comic artist living in Japan at the time. Another example, Banzai Girl from Jinky during the early 2000s, she made a Sailor Moon style of comic in America and even though she was from from East Asia living in America, she had all the best elements parts of Sailor Moon with a mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a bit of Terminator lore about changing the future preventing a disaster, Banzai Girl got my attention even though it was an American comic.
Complete BS. I’m also not a fan of diversity, but manga is an art style, period. There’s nothing more to it. Just because it originated in Japan, doesn’t mean you should copy them. Even Oda once said that he wants people to create manga that represents their reality. And not to pretend to be Japanese
there is a reason i don't like american manga, i think its because americans try to interject their politics and themes into a japanese meduim making it not feel any different from western comics, the only difference is a japanese influenced artstyle.
@@Chibikurokun Don't know what American mongos you've been reading but the ones I've already never had that problem they oftentimes do feel like Is a Japanese manga
