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Mangaman

by Barry Lyga, Colleen Doran (Illustrator)

3.31 of 5 stars 3.31 · rating details · 357 ratings · 110 reviews

East meets West in this innovative and very smart graphic novel by Barry Lyga,illustrated by Colleen Doran. Sci-fi adventure meets love story—and East meets West—in Mangaman, an original
graphic novel for teens.
Ryoko, a manga character from a manga world, falls through the Rip into the “real” world—the western world—and tries to survive as the ultimate outsider at a typical...more

Hardcover, 144 pages

Published November 15th 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

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19th out of 42 books — 24 voters

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Community Reviews

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Jul 23, 2011 Crowinator rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, arcs, gns-and-manga, ya, parody-satire

Actual rating: 3.5 stars. Four stars for the initial premise and the hilarious and clever parody of manga techniques, 2 stars for the wispy plot and minimal resolution.

Yo, man, this book is so awesomely meta.

Ryoko, a bishonen (beautiful boy), is from a typical manga world, where the norm is demon attacks, high school rumbles, and dudes dressed as girls because they magically change sexes. He accidentally falls through a Rip and ends up in our world, where he’s baffled by the different (Western)...more Actual rating: 3.5 stars. Four stars for the initial premise and the hilarious and clever parody of manga techniques, 2 stars for the wispy plot and minimal resolution.

Yo, man, this book is so awesomely meta.

Ryoko, a bishonen (beautiful boy), is from a typical manga world, where the norm is demon attacks, high school rumbles, and dudes dressed as girls because they magically change sexes. He accidentally falls through a Rip and ends up in our world, where he’s baffled by the different (Western) narrative techniques evident in the high school he’s forced to attend. Suddenly, everything he does is either wrong or downright off-putting: when he turns into the overly cute chibi version of himself; when he sees a pretty girl and his eyes turn into hearts that pop out; when he thinks of a person and has their head appear over his shoulder (causing cries of “OMG is that a disembodied head?”); when he moves too quickly and the action lines he leaves in his wake poke people and then fall to the ground and the janitor has to sweep them up; where he sweat drops and everybody is grossed out. In one particularly hilarious scene, he gets in a fight with a boy at school and is baffled when the boy ends up hospitalized, because nobody in his universe ever sustains any real lasting injuries.

So, a lot of the fun of this graphic novel is looking for all of the manga techniques Lyga and Doran parody (some totally obvious and some very subtle) and seeing how they play in the so-called “real” world (which is drawn in a hyper-realistic style). It’s pure genius. And it’s trippy, because even in this world, Ryoko is still aware of the interstitial spaces between panels (finally, I can use the word “interstitial” in a review!) that are the norm in all comics, and is able to convince his love interest Marissa that her world, despite the differences, is just like his. She is at first freaked out, thinking her world is not real, but eventually, like him, learns to use the space between panels to travel (for example, using the interstitial spaces to step from her bedroom to her friend’s bedroom, a kind of inter-dimensional shortcut).

It’s a cool premise and, like I said, a lot of fun. The story itself is barely there, existing only to fuel the meta: there’s a romance between Ryoko and Marissa and the brief conflict with her ex-boyfriend; meanwhile, Ryoko’s guardian (I forget his exact job, but he’s basically a secret government agent) attempts to fix the Rip, as a bunch of manga-style demons are attempting to cross over as well, and then send Ryoko home before it closes completely. Since Ryoko and Marissa fall in love, then they have to decide what to do about their different worlds. The resolution is disappointing and doesn’t entirely make sense (maybe because it happens in two seconds), and the characters are, ya know, flat (Flat! Get it! Hahahaha!), but this is totally worth a read, particularly for manga/anime fans. I only wish it could have been longer, long enough to actually develop the characters and plot so it could be more than just a clever and hilarious exercise in comparing Eastern and Western comic book techniques.
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Apr 22, 2013 Monica! rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013, whee-pictures, manly-man-man-man, what-is-this-feeling, funny-strange-or-funny-ha-ha, genres-are-so-last-week

I went into Mangaman not expecting much and finished with those expectations of not-much-ness having basically been met.

The basic premise is that a guy named Ryoko falls through a rip (in time? in a page?) into the “real” world, which unbeknownst to its inhabitants is actually just a Western-style comic. Real World People are familiar with manga, recognize Ryoko as a comic book character come to life, and for the most part seem to be torn between kicking his ass and making out with him. (“I did...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 04, 2013 Pygmy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic_novels

The premise sounded fascinating, but the execution left me cold and uninterested. Perhaps I am entirely the wrong audience, and is better suited for newcomers to the world of manga, rather than someone who's been involved since the 90s and is no longer amused by wacky manga conventions.

I've followed Colleen Doran's blog for some time, and while I admire her work ethic and knowledge garnered from years of experience, I don't particularly like her attempts to play chameleon with her art style. I...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Cornerofmadness rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. MangaMan is a homage to both American Graphic Novels and manga. Oddly enough I used to pen pal sporadically with the artist, Colleen Doran back in the 80’s (and wow, she had a bigger career than I knew, how cool). In many ways, this is cute, almost too twee for my tastes in some places.

Ryoko is from a manga world but a rip in interdimensional space has deposited him in the ‘real’ world. He’s being helped by Dr. Capeletti, scientist, Army major, manga fan. Capeletti encourages him to go to the ho...more MangaMan is a homage to both American Graphic Novels and manga. Oddly enough I used to pen pal sporadically with the artist, Colleen Doran back in the 80’s (and wow, she had a bigger career than I knew, how cool). In many ways, this is cute, almost too twee for my tastes in some places.

Ryoko is from a manga world but a rip in interdimensional space has deposited him in the ‘real’ world. He’s being helped by Dr. Capeletti, scientist, Army major, manga fan. Capeletti encourages him to go to the homegoing party to meet kids his age while Capeletti works on a way of sending him home and sealing the rip because tentacle (naturally) monsters are also trying to get through.

Ryoko, long girly hair sweeping, goes to the dance and meets Marissa who also didn’t really want to be there, especially since she’s broken up with her jock (and often drunken and jealous) boyfriend. And here is where the too cutesy for me happens. Ryoko is accompanied in physical form by every manga convention, speed lines, sound effects, chibi crap (which I don’t even like IN the manga I read) so when his eyes turns to hearts upon seeing Marissa, everyone sees it (and trips over his speed lines or get hit by sound effects etc). I will give them this, they don’t miss a trick right down to and including the invisible penis (which about killed me.)

Naturally Ryoko falls for Marissa and vice versa and Chaz, the jock ex, and his jock dunderheads want to kill Ryoko. Beyond that romance trope, there really is some good underlying story. Finding your place in this world not the least among those story lines. Ryoko teaches Marissa to see her world in new ways but even as he does, it’s more and more obvious that he can’t fit in here. For one, his fighting prowess and the ability to take more hits than human and give them out (ala most shonen manga) make him dangerous and the army wants to send him home.

Overall, this was a lot of fun, twee aside. Colleen’s art is outstanding. Marissa’s world is beautifully detailed in black and white (with no need of color to make it gorgeous) and Ryoko, well he’s done in the shojo style that was popular back when I used to write to her. Honestly, I haven’t seen guys looking like this in manga in at least a decade if not more but it was definitely the style back then and it is well know (broad shoulders, no hips, pointy chin, huge eyes, you get the idea). Fans of comics and manga, if they have a sense of humor about their fandoms, will probably get a kick out of this.

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Jun 07, 2012 Brian Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book fell into the very small group of books that I have ever given five stars to. That means I believe it accomplished everything it set out to do in story, characters, and artwork.
Going into reading this I was torn because to be honest the last few Barry Lyga books I didn't care much for but on the other side of the road Colleen Doran is one of my favorite artists and I want to read everything she is involved with. Honestly I thought I'd end up enjoying the art but skipping through the...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, graphic-novel, humor, manga, romance, school-story, science-fiction, young-adult

What would happen if a manga character--complete with speed lines, chibi forms, visible mental imaging, and of course big eyes and long hair--appeared in our world? Ryoko isn't sure how he got there, but it has something to do with a rip in reality, possibly caused by the kaiju creatures who live in the white space between panels--and realities. While the government tries to figure out how to send him back, he goes to high school and falls for the beautiful Marissa, who's trying to get over a dr...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-book, romance, sci-fi-speculative, teen-fiction

Oh, now this is clever: take a manga character and drop him into an American comic world. Said character not only looks like he's ripped straight out of a manga, he even embodies many of the conventions used in the manga format. He's referred to as an "extra-scientific event" by scientists, viewed as a threat to his fellow male high-schoolers, and simply can't seem to find a way to fit in. I suppose that's to be expected when giant drops of sweat appear on your forehead when you're embarrassed o...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 09, 2011 Jessica Fure rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was my own fault - the audience for this book is obviously younger than me, and I don't mean that as a derogatory comment. I think this would be a real delight for someone who is new to the Japanse comics genre or to the idea of metafiction; unfortunately, I am neither. Actually, given Doran's old school manga influence - the Mangaman character's design stems from the pre-1990 romance manga style - it might even be a nice hit of nostalgia for some readers who are quite familiar with that hi...more This was my own fault - the audience for this book is obviously younger than me, and I don't mean that as a derogatory comment. I think this would be a real delight for someone who is new to the Japanse comics genre or to the idea of metafiction; unfortunately, I am neither. Actually, given Doran's old school manga influence - the Mangaman character's design stems from the pre-1990 romance manga style - it might even be a nice hit of nostalgia for some readers who are quite familiar with that history.

However, the story left me completely cold. It was awkward in places, unexplained in others, and more of a drive-by homage than a detailed trip into either concept. Lyga's work has no real there there, and while a light read is just fine, I was hoping for something - I'm not sure what, just something more. If I had to guess, I'd say he's a relatively new author, but even a quick check here says he most certainly isn't. I'm not going to make a catty, caustic comment; I'm going to say with absolute sincerity that he must have a better grasp of what a Young Adult novel's limitations must be, and that the bulk of the problem lies with me as a jaded reader. Reaching for more depth might be nice, but presumably, you risk losing a large segment of your target audience, so one can't blame the author for not pleasing an additional audience at the expense of his intended readers.

I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not actually tired of Doran's art, either. Again, there's absolutely nothing *wrong* with it, and anyone seeing it for the first time will be as blown away as anyone who had their first glimpse of her work in A Distant Soil's first preview pages. But it hasn't changed, and the story she tells with it hasn't, either, whether she's the author or pairs with someone else.

In the end, I can't say it was a bad book. I simply did not like it at all. That's no reflection on its merits for others, especially tweens and teens. My own preferences run so counter to it that I can't judge the quality of what it does have. Maybe I should stick with this: if you are the kind of person who likes this thing, then this will be the kind of thing that you like.(less)

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Dec 06, 2011 Hollowspine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel

East meets West, comics that is. Manga and Comic worlds collide when a tear in reality shoves Ryoko into another dimension, one where giant sweat drops appearing on one's forehead and going 'chibi' are not regular occurrences. Will he be an outcast for the rest of his life?

Enter Marissa, a high school girl who has got it all, cool jock boyfriend, prom queen...but is that all life is? When she spots Ryoko at a party it's love at first read.

Will circumstances keep them apart? Will the world be ren...more

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Dec 04, 2011 Karin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: manga, graphic-novel, spoof, funny, young-adult-fiction, shoujo, relationships, relationship-problems, teenagers, high-school, exes, friendship, star-crossed-lovers, other-worlds, book-world, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 06, 2011 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, ncbla

When Ryoko, an attractive young man with a blend of feminine and masculine features, falls through a rip in time and space and lands in our world, he is shunned by many of those he encounters. After all, he is truly an outsider in the high school pecking order because he is so very different. But he catches the eye of Marissa Montaigne, a popular, beautiful high schooler who is bored with her current life and her on again, off again relationship with a football player who spends more time drinki...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Ramie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

Okay first off this is very cute. It is one of those things that masters honoring and yet making of a genre all at once.

The description of the book really is the whole plot - Ryoko falls through a rip landing in the western world. Being a high school kid in American high school is tough enough. Being a high school kid in an American high school when your thoughts show up over your head, your eyes turn to your hearts if you like a girl, and your actions create visible lines that get left behind...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Chibineko rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazon-vine, comics, decent-enough, disappointing, get-it-from-the-library, manga, young-adult

I'm going to be up front with you, the reader. This is worth reading but I'd check it out from the library rather than purchasing it sight unseen. There's some great jokes in here but like others have said, the story is very thin.

Let's start off with what I liked. I enjoyed the art style & I loved the little jokes here & there about how various manga antics would be portrayed in the real world. The art really is wonderful to look at. The manga does tend to suffer from "Drawn by an Ameri...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Holly Letson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books, manga-challenge, mangas

Even though there was no real closure at the end, I did indeed still love this story.
It's drawn in an old-school manga-style:

,and--as you can clearly tell--is filled with manga references.
Ryoka comes to "Our World" from "The Manga World" via a interdimensional rip that he he conveniently falls into. Also, there's monsters that exist his world that are trying to find their way into our world.
As anyone would guess, he falls in love with a girl in our world. In the end, she crossover to the man...more

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May 04, 2012 Steven R. McEvoy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012, 2012-best-of, graphicnovels

Even though I am a huge fan of Barry Lyga's writing, this story took me by surprise. The philosophical underpinnings will keep your mind working long after you finish the book. In fact, I read it through twice in one sitting and know I will be going back and reading it again in the near future. It is the story of two teenagers. Ryoko and Marissa meet at a party. But Ryoko is from an alternate world that resembles out manga. He comes from a two dimensional world where the marks of the illustrator...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic-book, graphic-novels, manga

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 23, 2012 Shazza Maddog rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story is both very intriguing and somewhat disturbing. The intriguing idea is that a character from what appears to be a manga shows up in the real world. He doesn't exactly fit in (no surprise), as the typical rules for manga apply to him (he has typical manga sound effects, and speed lines, among other things). He also sparkles...but that's another manga bit. Ryoko immediately falls in love with one of the queen bees of the school, Marissa, who had the typical ex-boyfriend, captain of the...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Maggie Hargrave rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, graphic, multicultural, romance, sci-fi-fantasy, ya

MangaMan is probably one of the most different and unique books I have read. I love the concept of book characters coming to life and inhabiting our world, but to see it from a graphic perspective was very interesting. I was a bit confused at first mostly with deciphering the black and white art work but once I continued to the first chapter and read the blurb on the back the story and art started making more sense. Although the plot was simple, the idea of reality being broken into discrete uni...more

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Sep 14, 2011 Dodie rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a pair! Lyga's sharp dialogue carries right over into the graphic novel format, illustrated by "comics royalty" (as an SLJ blogger recently called her) Colleen Doran. Though I'm not familiar with her other graphic novel work, I can tell you that what she's done with Lyga's story is a knock-out!

Ryoko is manga, living in the 'real' world. He looks, admittedly, a bit freakish. Marissa is the prettiest girl in school, but already has a very manly boyfriend, quite a contrast from Ryoko. Sparks f...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Skip rated it 2 of 5 stars

I don't have a lot to say about MangaMan. The concept of this book was interesting enough to get me to check it out from the library, but the content, like the book, was rather flat.

Not only was the plot a bit rushed, but the strangeness of the main character was pushed so hard as to move it into the realm of the pedantic.

This may date me, but this level of hitting-you-over-the-headness reminds me of a short-lived show called "Automan" (think Tron as a detective in the real world) where they wo...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Sam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, manga

LOVE the idea, the execution... 50/50.

It's a seriously cute book. The art is spectacular and you can really feel Lyga in the writing. That being said, the story itself is lacking overall and there is definitely some room to work with.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the best parts of this endeavor are the meta jokes. The janitor having to sweep up motion lines absolutely killed me. I wish it had MORE of that. In an effort to be a tad bit serious it has a too, too stereotypical romance plot and...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Nicole rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, young_adult, manga

This was good, not great. I thought I would really get a kick out of it because I love manga and was really primed to understand all of the insider "jokes" about a manga character dropping into the regular comic world. And it was pretty good. And I did chuckle over the way the manga character's mannerisms and eccentricities were employed (like hearts flying out of his eyes when he saw the girl he liked, or "quick movement lines" appearing around his body and then dropping to the floor). But ther...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Ellen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ryoko falls through the manga/graphic novel continuum and lands in high school America. As a manga character in a western graphic novel universe, he has to contend with the usual tropes - a jock/bully, misunderstanding/mean classmates, and of course, the beautiful popular girl who is so much more. Other issues involve bloated manga monsters who may have followed him, and those annoying slash marks which denote emotion & action in mangaland. In the world he's currently living in, his fellow c...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Liv Chanin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I would really give this book a 3.5 both for the story and the art. I loved the concept of this story, which was smart and thought provoking. There were many jokes that might miss the mark unless you were familiar with both manga and American comics, however. I particularly liked the reference to Article 175, and the line where the hot-tempered ex-boyfriend says, "I'm no cartoon! I'm a real man!" Overall, I the artwork was decent,even if the "manga" bits looked like an American trying to do mang...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Britt Wisenbaker rated it 3 of 5 stars

A fun formalist exercise in contrasting the conventions of Japanese manga and American comics. A manga teenager somehow has stepped through into a western style comic high school environment. The American teens see manga conventions like speed lines and depicted objects in the manga teen's pictorial thought balloons. The "mangaman" sees panel borders and has difficulty with progressive panels lined left to right instead of right to left. The community of the Western High School is acutely mistru...more

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May 22, 2012 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

This review will be a short one but I did want to share this book with you all. Mangaman is a mix between a Eastern manga and a Western comic, done quite well. Because this is more of a graphic novel it was a quick read (and that's why I do not have so much to say). However once I got used to the style of illustration (I am more used to manga then the graphic novels) it was a joy to read. Literally only took me an hour or two at most. I personally am a huge fan of all comic forms so this was of...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Marika rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm not a fan of Manga, though I do enjoy graphic novels. My favorite parts were the more metafictive elements- being hurt by motion lines, having thoughts actually appear over Mangaman's head, and moment between frames. While I didn't find the actual story very interesting, or feel that there was enough character development, I think the book is very strong conceptually. Teen manga lovers will enjoy the comics-geeks-only humor. With its exploration of eastern versus western storytelling techniq...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Savannah Leigh rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was so much fun. It points out and teases (in a good way) all the tropes in both American comics/graphic novels and manga. If you were like me and grew up with a brother reading comics and you liked manga--or you read both, you will at least appreciate this book, if not totally fall in love with the characters and the romance. Ryoko is sweet, funny, and sometimes overly sappy but endears himself to you the moment you meet him. The art style is beautiful, even if the manga visual tropes...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, fiction, read-in-2012, young-adult

When a character climbs into the gutters to travel through time and space more efficiently--that's when you know you have good metafiction. After all, who else can literally break one of their four walls?

Mangaman is what happens when a bishonen winds up in the world of American romance comics. The art and technique is flawless parody, the characters are fun and interesting, and the story itself is compelling. I highly recommend this to fans of either form of comic.

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Jan 01, 2012 Rosalia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, graphic-novels, manga, scifi, young-adult

Ryoko falls into an americanized graphic novel from a manga. He tries going to school and falls in love with Marissa. A lot of people are against the two of them but they keep trying to persevere.

The concept is interesting but it didn't feel fully fleshed out to me. I wanted to like it but it felt like Lyga was relying a little too much on the star crossed lover thing without explaining as much as I wanted. I'm going to put a little more distance between myself and the book and see how I feel t...more

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About Barry Lyga

Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek. When he was a kid, everyone told him that comic books were garbage and would rot his brain, but he had the last laugh. Raised on a steady diet of comics, he worked in the comic book industry for ten years, but now writes full-time because, well, wouldn't you?

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl is his first novel.

http://www.barrylyga.com ...more

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Books by Barry Lyga

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, #1)

Goth Girl Rising (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, #2)

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