Toonami has been the premier source of anime for ‘90s kids in the US and though it was off the air for a while, it did eventually make a big comeback, now the home of shows like Dragon Ball Super and My Hero Academia, among others. The channel is now making big strides by producing its own anime, with the upcoming Uzumaki adaptation from Junji Ito to the recently announced Fena: Pirate Princess.
During an interview, Toonami cofounder Jason Demarco was asked about what he thinks are the major differences between popular manga and Western comics from Marvel and DC. The cofounder gave a pretty interesting answer, stating that the authors and artists of manga have much more creative control over the stories they want to tell.
Honestly, that's pretty debatable since the Shonen Jump editorial has made major changes to popular series' before. They infamously shortened the Bleach manga, which ended up getting a rushed ending that nobody liked. We can also assume that they had a hand in extending the length of series' like Naruto but that's just a theory.
Admittedly, Demarco isn't completely wrong here. Despite numerous delays, both Hunter X Hunter and Berserk haven't been handed over to another mangaka because they really do belong to the people who created them. In Marvel and DC, if the writer of something like Spider-Man disagrees with the current editorial direction of the character, they could just end up being replaced.
What are your thoughts about Toonami and manga? Do you prefer Western comic books? Let us know in the comments below.
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