well the originality part is a big part in making a manga successful. but i mean if its in the same subject doesn't mean one will thrive while the rest perish. take sport mangas for example.

In soccer and basketball there are countless of titles. Giant Killing (Soccer) is told through the story of Tastumi (Manager) while Whistle! (Soccer) is told through a player/team. Both mangas share the same theme and subject but they are different.

Creators put what they want to draw, they dont necessarily copy themes from others. Its like Naruto and Nabari No Ou. Both ninja related. Nabari No Ou's author didnt start writing because he saw wealth in creating a ninja manga because naruto was. He was inspired to create one

i feel its not really mangas "being the same thing over and over again" but Manga in general is not really popular throughout the world.

I think the themes are redundant because people want to use what works. It's an entertainment industry. The people creating the stuff are more likely to get a project funded that has a familiar theme and plot that they know sells rather than something original that could be a hit or miss.

i thought death note and code geass were pretty good, how they used semi-lunatics as protagonists and had another person who was a "hero" be the antagonist. the story itself, while is mostly driven by the personalities of the characters, can also be driven on how interesting the story develops especially on major twists that are completely off mark. another truth is that sometimes i think there are too much fan service in manga. cage of eden actually has a good story line, but i dont like how its heavily relying on fan service while the story is already good enough. something i also noticed, idk if its just me or not, ive actually started to get interested in more of the animes that dont come from manga, but from short story novels, for instance: Ano Hana, Ano Natsu de Metteru, Hyouka, and Kokoro Connect. these stories actually hold similar styles, while these styles appear in novels, i barely see them in manga, unless i just havent noticed yet :P. i think it would be more interesting if mangakas started to apply these type of styles in writing romance stories, rather than completely fan serviced filled manga pages. there have been pretty interesting romance mangas, one of my favorites is Kare Kano, where people's characteristics, personalities, and back stories are implanted into the story line to make it more "psychologically" tense and interesting. im going to agree that protagonists that are strong headed like Naruto (Naruto), Ichigo (Bleach) and Natsu (Fairy Tail) are starting to get cliched and there should be some change. i read these mangas and i like the mangas, more than the animes it self. but mangakas should put some thought into creating characters when making a manga, naruto started a good over 10 years ago, along with bleach, when those mangas came out, people of that generation were different from people (kids that read manga) of this generation. i think manga and anime are heavily influenced by the age difference, even if there is only one year apart from age. i can remember one year ago i was still fired up about naruto and bleach but now im more interested in the animes i listed above, which i will remind once again, arent even from mangas, but from novels. there still are good mangas, and i would prefer manga over anime anytime. one reason i think manga is dying out is the heavy stereotype of the manga reading anime watching society, where we are considered "Otakus" while it carrying a negative cantonation to it. this stereotype is probably just as bad as how asians/indians/jews are considered cheap, while even trure, shouldnt hold a negative schema to it. another thing about anime and manga is that many people think its just simply hentai, while its not completely true. its just a dark side of anime and manga, like how theres is a dark side to politics, it actually helps run a country, even if its not the best. there will always be a dark side to something and i think hentai (while the true translation of this japanese word actually means "pervert" not "porn") is just overly emphasized since the world has made itself overly indulged in this portion of "entertainment." @cloluna @Johtoh @twelve

I think the industry is more to blame than the audience (which are eager to read original manga) and creators. Even if manga with a hot-headed-clumsy-main-surrounded-by-babes which ends being super-strong-due-to-some-hidden-capacity are frequent I thinks it's due to the industry searching for the next Naruto/DBZ/Bleach/One Piece (IOW another best seller) I see many complaints about ecchi, I don't mind it myself (in fact I thinks it's part of the manga and even if it don't add anything to the story, I think it add to the art) About magazine being outdated and needing to be replaced.... I don't know ^^ Maybe e-books can be cool... again the industry is to affraid to try anything (the fear of losing money IMO if you wonder)

Very interesting articles anyways and thanks for sharing ;)

The only thing I know is that the ability to properly use a coma is dying. The amount of run-ons in this thread is staggering.

Well, whatever, its pretty predictable what would happen on the manga industry.Characters are stereotype, drawings are stereotype, theme is a ripoff that's why I switched to reading western comics, with their recent reboots(52 and marvel now), there are more reasons to read western comics again. But there are still genuine manga titles right now like WorldGodOnlyKnows, its pretty original, i think. Even if they showcase some common anime girls, its mythology mix and dating tips are very entertaining. If u guys know where the theme of WGOK came from, i d like to know, always fun to read originals

finding a manga that has an original story, i find it hard to do at times. when reading romance, i can pretty much predict what will happen after about a chapter or two. but i have read a couple that were different than i thought and had twists in the plot that i was happy to come upon. but were those different ones my favorite? acually when i think about, they were. interesting characters as well strange (at times) plot twists made me want to read more. this goes to all types of manga for me.

Well, manga isn't exactly dying, but is going through a creative crisis, the same creative crisis that affects to other things like tv programms or films too. And that is is happening because of the money. I mean, if they notice that a kind of manga, or film, or whatever, sells a lot, they start to make things like that, because the public demands it. Anyway, if you know how to search, and even if it's harder than ever, you can find truly treasures in the manga world.

Yo minna~

In my opinion, I think it really depends on what the readers are craving for lately. I think there are some mangas that are still really good. I will however admit that there are a number of mangas that pretty much has the same storyline, plot, characteristics and all that which really needs to be taken up a notch. I can't even read one volume of a particular manga without already finding out what's happening next. I suppose they don't create them like they used to but I do hope maybe one day, someone will point out that its okay to be different because it's what keeps us holding on to it and craving for more. I do not think it's dying but I do think that it may be stirred in the wrong direction because of majority demands on a specific storyline that eeeeeeeverybody knows about. I apologize if this offends anyone, I didn't mean for it to, it's just an opinion of mine is all.

Bye Bye Bee~~

I don't think manga is really dying it's just hard to make something new when the current "themes" have been so popular, as for the future of manga I think there will be changes toward a new theme that we'll all get tired of :)