I think it’s common when discussing anime and manga with people who are perhaps only barely acquainted with those subjects to hear from them that “anime all looks the same.” You can point to plenty of titles with variation in theme, art style, writing, you name it, but there is still that sense that all anime has a similar feel. Usually I’m the one trying to explain how diverse those comics can be, but in a recent visit to a comic shop, I found myself somewhat on the receiving end.
In this case, it wasn’t manga but rather American comics that gave me pause to consider. Not really keeping up with those comics as I had in the past, I was looking at the rack where they have the weekly 32-page (or so) issues, your Avengers and Batman and what-not mixed with titles from smaller publishers, seeing what might be interesting. Then it hit me. Everything kind of looked the same. I could obviously see that there were many different artists working on each comic, but there were just certain shared elements that made it feel like one big monolith of a wall.
I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I feel like it might just be the sheer emphasis on Olympian physiques which exists in not only superhero comics but other action-type works as well. Be it male characters or female ones, what I can mainly remember from those covers is just how prominent the toned bodies on them are. It could also be something about the characters’ facial expressions.
I know better, and I can point to this or that indie title or graphic novel to show that’s why it isn’t the case, but I think that my reaction might not be that far from the person, let’s say an anime fan, who takes one look at the American comics section and finds little variety in it. At the same time, I’m also aware of how easily something like manga can be perhaps unfairly summarized by just a glance.
OGIUE MANIAX 
Happy to see this discussion come up again. While peers at times express to me about how they feel incapable of figuring out one property from another, I admit to them that it is the same to me regarding superhero comics, and that it has been this way much of my life. But what I’ve come to realize is that the thinking behind these visual decisions often informs much of the cosmetic sameness we see, and may help explain as well as help make each stand out. Whether it be juvenile power fantasies, or a longing for some kind of youth that never seemed to happen, mixed with whatever trends are defining the current climate- we are often at the mercy of this in any kind of mainstream art. But this is where the challenge truly exists, and it in many way divides certain fans since many do not question aesthetic choices, and just go with it. While others are indeed clocking what they see, and are much more particular about what they enjoy.
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*shrug* To me this is nothing all that shocking. People who are not familiar with a subject have a harder time spotting the more finer differences in it. This isn’t with just comicbooks, it’s with everything.
For example, I listen to a lot of metal and used to consider myself a metalhead for quite a while (I left that particular subculture for my own personal reasons) and when I hear a band I can usually pinpoint the subgenre they are playing in in 90% of the time. To me there is a great distance between the sound of Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Dragonforce and Enslaved for example and I would never for the life of me mistake one of those for the other – Yet I always hear people mention to me that it all just sounds the same to them. Loud guitars, strong drums and some guy yelling and screaming and growling into the microphone.
Now a lot of people would hear something like this and just look down their nose, scoff and say “Bah, you’re just ignorant so you don’t know what you’re talking about!” but you know what? It’s actually kind of true. When I was a teenager and was first exposed to metal I have a very distinct memory of hearing a Manowar song and then a Hammerfall one. Today I would never confused one for the other, yet back then I just assumed it was the same band trough the whole thing.
So yeah, it all depends on perspective. I can identify all these different subgenres because I have listened to them for years and have spent time and interest in studying them, examining them and figuring out what makes each one different. And yet to me all hip hop (for example) sounds more or less the same and I can’t for the life of me figure out why one rapper is better than the other.
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The reason you’re on the receiving end of “anime/manga all looks the same” in a US comicbook shop is simple: the top-selling titles in the US are almost entirely shonen properties. And while it’s true that there is certainly huge diversity among manga designs, shonen titles DO share a lot of commonalities in their visuals. Think about it: most of us can look at the cover/splash image for most shonen series and immediately conclude “that is a shonen action series.” Once you go by specific publication–say, Jump–there are even more common aspects due to the fact that the same editors presumably work on multiple titles. So while it’s not right to equate shonen/Jump conventions as “manga style,” I can see why it happens.
But this isn’t unique to manga. While character design philosophy is a debatable aspect regarding the perceived homogeneity of mainstream US superhero comics (by this I mean DC/Marvel), there is something that is more objectively “the same” about them: the lettering and coloring. US comics are, for the most part, no longer lettered or colored by hand; it’s all done digitally. The font of choice used for lettering is relatively consistent from one comic to the next, as is the software and color depth utilized for the digital coloring. While it’s certainly true that computers are heavily utilized in manga as well for many of the same tasks (screen tone, etc), it stands out to the eye more in US comics because color is the most substantial single element on the page. As such, it is certainly possible to look at something and realize “that is a Marvel publication” or “that is a DC publication” based solely on the way the coloring is handled.
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