Rating: 
Summary: *cough*
Review: Skip this book. It's not real anime or manga for that matter. It's very western. Even then, most of the pictures aren't his own artwork. I've even checked out his drawing American comics and it was very bad....save your cash....I would check out
Manga Techniques 1 & 2 (for non-ecchi people)
How to Draw Manga (Ecchi people)
Rating: 
Summary: What the...?
Review: After buying this book, I was mildly amused by his methods...!
His style is poor compared to what I would call true MANGA,
and it's very VERY western-styled... I like his eye-section though, and he's succeded in taking
a few basics, but he's far, VERY far from being anywhere near
proffesional! I'm so lucky to be able to learn to draw, from what
I see, and not tutorials, because this book has almost none. I would NOT recommend buying the How To Draw Manga books instead
though, from what I've seen from them, they're too expensive
and not very good either at teaching you to draw, they need
far more examples, like MANGA-MANIA has, so a mix between
the two would be welcome.
Rating:
Summary: What are his qualifications?
Review: It's amazing how this guy, who has very little experience drawing comics (let alone manga) professionally, has managed to make a lucrative career out of writing "how to" books on cartooning. As many reviewers have noted, Hart draws very poorly. In fact, one gets the impression that he is not even trying. He just dumps another book on the market and waits for the royalties to roll in. By shamelessly jumping on the manga bandwagon, though, he has bitten off far more than he can chew. I personally know dozens of amateur Japanese artists who draw far better than Hart, but who would never presume to write a "how to" book. This is what in Japanese would be called "kodomo damashi," which means "something only a child could be fooled by." And judging by the reviews, it seems it is indeed mostly children who have been fooled into buying this and Hart's other books.
Rating: 
Summary: Review of Manga Mania
Review: I believe this book is a very good book for beginning anime/manga drawers. It touches on many basics, though doesn't go into them too deeply. It aslo includes a section on how to draw elven character, shojo style, and talks about the ways to make your drawings more dynamic. I don't think it would be much help to experienced drawers, however, since it really would only show you the things you already know. As i said, for beginners this will be a good introduction, after that i recomend the How to Draw Anime series. ~Lupus
Rating: 
Summary: So-so, not the best
Review: I just wasn't all that impressed with this book. Some of the art clearly showed (as others have said) american influence, and the only chapter I truly enjoyed was the fantasy chapter. I would suggest for any "hopeful" manga or anime fans to check out some tutorials online and then buying some of the books written by the people who know anime.
Another thing that bothered me was the comic sections, some of the drawings were just terrible. People who buy this book may get into bad habits.
Rating:
Summary: A terrible book
Review: I strongly advise you to stay away from this book, the art is ugly, the "artists" draw like bad fan artists, when the art is in color, the ones that are used are ugly, and the art doesnt have any depth, and this book is stereotypical. These people don't understand what is manga. Manga is just comic books, but with a different pace and narration rythm, it is not about big eyed characters, having lived in Japan, I used to read comics for girls when I was in school, some of the magazines for teenage girls can have quite realistic styles, it depends.
Rating: 
Summary: If you want to draw Japanese comics, this book is a must!
Review: I have used Chris Hart's previous work in a big way...and his latest Manga Mania is as good(and useful) as anything he has done in the past. He proves his versatility here and if you are looking to do any drawing in the category of Japanese comics, this book is one you have to have in your tool kit.
Rating:
Summary: Manga lovers Must
Review: This is my children's first volume of a manga. After learning with Hart's cartooning for beginners we went for the next level... that was no mistake. The book is less then two month in our household and has food, drink and ink stains all over it. It has been utilized by many of our teen friends and has become extremely popular in their household. From basic to not so basic, it illustrates the drawing techniques at different sences. Great choice for anyone from 10 to 100 who truly enjoys anim.
Rating:
Summary: Not the way to go...
Review: I really don't understand what made my fellow review-writers give "Manga Mania" five, four, or even three stars. I would advise against buying it because 1) the style is very Americanized, 2) The computer colored pictures are terrible, and 3) Chris Hart needs to study manga storylines more.
While there is a lot of variation on art style in manga, there is a limit to how much you can warp it. Most of the artists of "Manga Mania" seem to think that the only differences between American and Japanese comic art are big eyes, curvy face shapes, and spiky hair. This assumption is completely wrong! Yes, many, many manga and anime series do sport giant bubbly eyes, spiky, strangely colored hair, and round faces (Saber Marionette J to X), but that's not all there is to it. Styles can range from very realistic to incredibly cartoonish. Not all eyes are big, not all characters are beautiful, and not all hair is spiky.
When coloring pictures for manga, artists have usually used watercolor, copic marker or colored ink. All of the color illustrations in "Manga Mania" are done on the computer. Many of today's popular manga artists, like Yazawa Ai and Tamura Yumi have started using computer coloring programs to draw and color pictures, and even add screen tone, but the majority still use the traditional media previously mentioned. I'm not against computer coloring for manga (I use it myself), but if the images are going to be CG, I think the artists should look a little (okay, a lot) more into manga-style CG.
The thing that bugged me most about "Manga Mania" was not the ugly CG, or even the Americanized drawings. It was the narration and the subjects covered. For example, when Chris Hart is talking about shoujo (girls' manga) storylines, he says that shoujo manga is (and I quote), "filled with innocence and grace, mischief and silliness... They're (the characters) regular kids having a good time." Oh my. This is definitely not an accurate description of the shoujo genre. Take Yuki Kaori's "Angel Sanctuary," a wonderful early nineties manga that fills twenty plot-intensive volumes. It's anything but silly or innocent. For starters, the main character is romantically in love with his sister. The plot is complicated and requires constant thinking. There are dozens of well thought out, serious characters, not to mention lots of gore. Angel Sanctuary is a dark, gothic, and serious manga that, while sometimes depressing, is incredible...
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I love the way Christopher Hart highlights the difference between Western and Manga characters - how to tweak the good guys to be bad guys - BRILLIANT.
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