That was a bit tongue in cheek.
I guess my problem with anime/manga "hyping" is that once you strip the stories of their "manga-ness" there's no more "there" there than in any other storytelling medium. Their distinctiveness comes
from the medium, not from the actual content.
Without the particularities of Japanese drawing styles the stories themselves are just something I could read in a book, just as from any other culture, without needing subtitles. There are only so many stories in the world, it's the means in which they are presented that give them uniqueness.
At any rate, Japanese cartooning tends toward melodrama and soap opera tropes anyway, take away the mecha, aliens and "energy" (the things that distinguish Japanimation) and I have no more reason to be interested in their soap operas than I do the "unique" telenovelas on Univision.
Aaaaah, the intense meaning only manga can provide...
Ah yes. One medium (comics/graphic novels/manga, call them what you will) is painted with a broad brush because of the most sensationalist work. Manga (and anime, for that matter) is a medium, not a genre. Maybe we should judge all American movies based on the porn industry.
But then I'm odd. When I meet someone who thinks they have anime or manga pigenoholed I like to make them read or watch Maison Ikkoku. No giant robots, no weapons, no aliens, no rape, no alien tentacles, no half dressed sexpots (okay, *one* half dressed sexpot, but with Akemi it's more of a running joke than anything truly sexual). Just a good story that goes on for 96 episodes of a TV series or 15 volumes of manga.
