Fred Schodt with his new book, DREAMLAND JAPAN.

Fred Schodt is a longtime manga enthusiast and expert, and author of the books MANGA! MANGA! THE WORLD OF JAPANESE COMICS and DREAMLAND JAPAN. We caught up with Fred at Comic Con International; he was kind enough to share his thoughts on a wide variety of topics related to anime and manga.

EX: What got you interested in manga?

FS: When I was attending a university in Japan, I studied Japanese and lived in a dorm. The classes were intense--eight hours a day and five days a week. My Japanese dormmates were reading these enormous manga instead of studying, so I picked one up and started reading. It really helped me learn Japanese and I loved it! Manga are a written introduction to the living language, and much closer to what people actually speak.

EX: How is your new book, DREAMLAND JAPAN different from MANGA! MANGA!?

FS: It's a sequel, not a revision, and it's in a very different format. It's a collection of short essays--sort of a "Whitman's Sampler" of manga.

EX: How did you decide what topics to write about?

FS: The topics are derived from my last 14-15, 16, 17 years of work (laughs). Originally, I was planning a revision of MANGA! MANGA!, but publishing problems prohibited this. Then, in 1989, a friend and I had completed 85% of a book. But there was a corporate upheaval at the publishing company, and everyone quit. As a result, most of the support for the book was gone and we eventually asked to be released from our contract. We were and the project was shelved. Later, some of this research showed up in DREAMLAND.
I also write a monthly column about manga for the MAINICHI DAILY NEWS, and some of my work from these columns is in the book, too.

EX: What do you think is the one fact about manga that is most unknown by Americans?

FS: I think the main thing is that people here don't realize that manga are a full-fledged medium of expression in Japan, on par with films and novels in the United States. For example, in Japan, almost all the major publishers now issue manga.
Also, I think that even the fans here in America are generally unaware of how unrepresentative what they are reading is. The manga that come to America are skewed to the American market, which is inevitable (and not necessarily bad). But, it does skew people's perceptions of the material.

EX: What manga do you enjoy reading?

FS: More of the off-beat stuff. My interests are part culture, part language. I'm interested in learning about thought processes and new ideas, not just about manga.

EX: So do you find that manga reflects mental attitudes?

FS: Yes. The Aum comics are a good example. (Editor's note: The now-infamous Aum Shinrikyo was publishing a line of comics in Japan). People are doing both good and bad things in the medium of manga.

EX: What role do you see manga playing in American culture?

FS: Some people think that manga will revitalize the American comic industry. Maybe this is true... I don't know. But manga DO demonstrate a much greater potential for comics as a medium of expression.

EX: Do you believe that manga and anime will enjoy continued growth in the U.S.?

FS: Right now they're on the verge of becoming mainstream. There several companies publishing translated manga and lots of companies releasing anime geared for the mainstream market.
What I worry about is a glut of low-quality material that will prejudice people. For example, if many more people publish "Lolita complex" manga in America, it may cause problems for manga in America. (Editor's note: "Lolita complex" manga are those depicting young girls as objects of sexual desires).

EX: Do you think that there is a genre of manga that hasn't been introduced to America that ought to be?

FS: Women's/girls' comics (shoujo comics). Viz has tried valiantly but they really haven't taken hold.

EX: How can that be changed?

FS: Well, first you would have to change American reading habits, which isn't an easy thing to do. You have to change perceptions of who comics are for. Right now the perception in the U.S. is that they are for primarily males, and mostly young males at that. (continued)