Rating: 
Summary: this book feels like it's for already-successful, american..
Review: This book feels like it's for already-successful, American-style comic artists, so that they can learn to morph their styles, manga-like, and produce pseudo-manga.I enjoyed this book as a quick look-through-and-read-the-interesting-sections. And there are lots of interesting sections. But, if you want to learn how to draw as a beginner (not already experienced in drawing), this is not for you. This is a good introduction to some of the stereotypes, normal assumtions of manga, and face- and body-structures.
The eye sections are very good.
The fight-stuff is very good.
The villain and anti-heros sections are very good.
And the interview with Bill Flanagan of Viz is fascinating -- especially his breakdown of why people like manga vs. American comic books. There are also sections on elves, children, fuzzy sidekicks, giant robots, points-of-view, panels, and "manga babes."
>makes face< Okay. Anyway, it's a good introduction to pseudo-manga, and an interesting take on many of the concepts manga is based on. Don't try to copy the style too exactly, and you'll be O.K. Look through it in Borders if you get the chance, to see if you want to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Clash of The Comics!
Review: Wow! this book is so helpful!! I am a college student and I am studying art and I found this book to be a great stepping stone in learning Manga (FYI Japanese style comic book art is called manga.) This book is designed to help the western artist learn the differences between Japanese comics and ours so you can add their style to your art. That has been done by many, companies cough**Disney** cough.
Anyways this book gives great instruction on folds, shade and diferent media (robots, cars ect.) I like this book most though because it is made by western writers and artists, so it looks a little bit like western comics,(hey don't worry it's much easier read that way:) But it is much easier to learn the Japanese style and then move on to more advanced Manga books because of it. BUT!! DO NOT forget this book is intended for people with some art experence so if your looking to learn the very basics on drawing get another book, practice with that, then get this one. But trust me this book is really fun and worth your time:)
Rating:
Summary: It's decent
Review: This book helped me out with dynamic postures and positions along with some fantasy and the main idea of manga.If you're a beginner, this is a good book for you. More advanced artists wouldn't need this book though. Overall, it's a great book. Much better than those anatomy books from the Society for the Study of manga techniques. Christopher Hart is a great author to get drawing books from. If I were a person without one, I'd take it!
Rating:
Summary: good
Review: very good, highly recommended. The pictures are pretty good and show the different spectrum of anime. The styles range from the more innocent manga forms in Metropolis, to the more serious look found in Ninja Scroll, to the fantasy and robotic style of Mega Man X. This book won't show you everything in order to draw flawless pictures, even though it does give good examples when provided. You'll probably like this book more if you know how to draw already, or something to that extent. If you wanna learn to draw first, I suggest Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. If you know how to draw somewhat, this book is a great way to SHOW you how to draw manga really well. It also gives tons of creative ideas that never would have crossed my mind unless i read them here. Its really good to spark creativity. Enjoy. I know I will.
Rating: 
Summary: It's good but it's not manga.
Review: Well, actually I got it as a present during the summer vacations from my aunt so I feel pretty bad critizing it though it wasn't anime. Before I begin on the good side I think I should start on the flaws. The noses were pathetic! They were totally not Japanesse (though if it had been for western comics I guess it wouldn't fit there either). The eyes were excellent though they were the hardest bit and were hardly explained at all. The colored pictures looked too Western (though they were very pretty to go through if you aren't learning how to draw Anime/Manga)and the shading and hands and feet were hardly explained when the bits that need to be explained to most as they are usually the weakness for most artisits. Apart from these flaws it was quite allright. The panneling and elven bits were exceptionally good and the interview at the end was more than helpful. But then again you can get all these from the net tutorials.... which, if you were seriously going pro, you would've probably gone through. The book lacked Japanesse Drawing though it was pretty good (if you just wanted to draw).
Rating:
Summary: Accept it for what it is, and it's quite good.
Review: My little brother took this book out of his high school library for me, and now I plan to purchase it, as I found it an invaluable resource for figure drawing, Manga technique, and especially storytelling technique. First off, this book is basically a primer for beginners, dealing with "Americanized" Manga. If you are looking for a book for experts, or one that really delves deep into what the anime/manga die-hard snobs call "true" manga (whatever that is supposed to mean -- while there are certain stylistic differences between your epic anime or manga fantasy Japanese original and your Pokemon, the same basic techniques are employed to varying degrees, depending upon the genre), then this is not that book. This book IS: 1.) A good primer on figure drawing. Not great, but very good. I already knew a little bit about figure drawing before I started this book, but since having worked with it, my figure drawing skills have improved dramatically. 2.) A good primer on techniques used in Manga. I personally found the sections on eyes and expression very helpful. Because Hart doesn't spell it out for you all the time, sometimes when reading this book you have to interpret the drawing samples in tandem with Hart's instruction to figure it out on your own. 3.) An EXCELLENT book about storytelling. Having studied film and theatre (and thus storytelling theory) extensively, this book is highly valuable in that regard. It offers information on techniques for how to visually tell your story effectively, particularly in the sections about comic book panels. For this reason, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in film or theatre, even if they have no interest in drawing. This book also offers at the end a section about "making it" as a manga artist. I found this section rather blah and unhelpful, though it would be informative and somewhat helpful for young people (i.e., children and teens). This book has several minor weakness in its structure and style, but nothing worth going into detail about in this limited space, so long as you don't take the style in which the book is constructed too seriously (come on -- "Drop-Dead Manga Babes???" Of COURSE you're not supposed to take the style of the book seriously!). Overall, this is an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their figure drawing skills (even if not manga), the beginning/novice manga artist, and anyone who would like to learn more about storytelling technique. I would not necessarily recommend this for anyone who is a more advanced manga artist.
Rating:
Summary: Worth it! Hate to contradict.
Review: I'm not an Otaku. I'm not some obssesed drooling anime fangirl. But I AM an anime fan AND an artist who takes their work seriously. I don't know what all those other people are talking about with this book. It's very well done. No it doesn't take you through complete anime stylings. In fact Christopher Hart seems very biased in this book. Especially towards the end in the section where he compares anime and western stle comicking. He PURPOSELY draws western style anime like [stuff]. It's kinda funny. But in all seriousness. No this is not a book for those who want to be complete anime artist. BUT he does make some good points in this book. He gives a good explaination of the genres that exist (although not good drawing samples)and will help you with your ideas if you plan on starting you own little comic. That's why this book is worth it. IF YOUR STARTING YOUR ANIME BASED COMIC! It'll get you on the right track I think. It helped me. Then again my style IS American and Japanese art combined. I love both styles equally. Don't knock this book. If your just starting out in anime it's the book that's REALLY help shape you into a manga artist. From there STOP with his little mania series. After that they aren't worth SPIT. Go into the "How to draw Manga" series after this title. It makes an awesome primer!
Rating: 
Summary: Manga Mania
Review: Manga Mania was recommoned to me by a firend who I've alawys considered a good artist. She told me that this book would really help me skills, so I bought it.
I should have saved the [$]. The author spends the first chapter comparing manga to western comics. It seems the Mr. Hart finds manga much better than western comics. What this has to do with drawing manga, I don't know. Why he wastes that chapter talking about that is beyond me.
And then there is the acutal chapters. The only one I benfited from was about magical creatures. Everything else was fluff and most of the drawings were not manga. For someone who feels manga is better than western drawings, his look an awful lot like them. Not only that, the coloring in this book was also terrible and did not enhance the drawing in anyway.
All in all, Mr. Hart does have some talent for drawing, but if you are looking for a book about drawing MANGA, leave this one on the shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: Good with the pencils, but lacking in other areas
Review: When I borrowed this book from my library and looked through it with a friend, I found the pencil sketches for the hair and eyes pretty skilled. The comic panels were shown pretty well, too. Also, it was rather enjoyable to read the part at the end with the interview (Those images from VIZ were a real treat!). Many of the pencil images, such as the samurai, martial artists, and elves were done quite impressively.
However, we both agreed that the color pictures were, for the most part, just not manga. The book gave a whole section on a bunch of "dynamic poses" for characters to have the most depth, but they weren't very well explained and the color images were a bit coarse. Also, I didn't like the way the girls' waistline was too exaggerated at several areas.
This book is better for people who are used to drawing Western comics and want to blend in some Japanese characteristics. (I believe that the author also has guides for Western comic drawing.) It offers some basic guidelines for faces and bodies, but doesn't go into creating characters. Instead, there are a bunch of characters done in color that the reader can imitate.
In general, this is probably a book that you'll like to flip through every now and then for the pretty pictures and very basic reference, but not much else, once you've read through it. Still, it's worth reading for a taste of what art can look like if you mix Eastern and a little but of Western comic styles. However, if you're after a guide to really show you how to apply various techniques in manga, you're probably better off reading the "How to Draw Manga" series, which is much more specialized and is more similar to actual Japanese manga.
Rating:
Summary: Manga Mania Review
Review: This book is great for learning the basics and some more advanced tecniques in the art of manga. If you are a biginer or advanced you should pick this one up. He shows yoou how to draw characters,robots,cars,elves,how to make your drawing look more dramatic,has an iterview with a important worker at Viz Comics, and even a japanese phrase sectin that helps yo learn what to say. This is a great book.And it really healped me.
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