Another question then, do you think a manga needs strong characters to survive? I mean that by quality of the writing, for reference.
Asking because, talking to my JP friends, it seems that half of the community values such things quite a bit.
Was (re)reading the Kishimoto/Togashi interview recently, and remembered:
Togashi Sensei: It would be nice if you could bring that system into manga, but manga first needs to be interesting based on character relationships. So even if a manga was like a game, it would be meaningless because you couldn’t interact with it. What makes a manga great is whether or not you can relate to the characters that the manga artist creates.
And then talking about sports series specifically:
Kishimoto Sensei: Take sports as an example. Pretty much everyone knows baseball, so I believe it’s easy to relate to.
JUMP GIGA: That makes sense.
Kishimoto Sensei: But if you bring in a niche sport, people don’t know the rules, so they can’t even tell what’s going on. So…and I apologize to people who play it, but something like kabaddi, the game from ancient India.
Togashi Sensei: For someone who’s never seen it before, kabaddi would be a fantasy world.
Kishimoto Sensei: Yes, they wouldn’t recognize it. So they can’t relate to it. So how do you suck someone into a story about kabaddi? You focus on the players. Why are they playing the sport? The drama of their motivations will interest the reader, and I think they will eventually learn the rules of the sport.
Togashi Sensei: It’s amazing how you can enjoy anything as long as there’s drama. You don’t need to know the rules. That’s one of the greatest strengths of storytelling.
Kishimoto Sensei: So first focus on the players, then the rules. Get that far, and the reader will enjoy it even if they didn’t know about the sport before.
JUMP GIGA: You’re right. Sports manga usually save the rules for after you’re interested in the characters.