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				What is Manga by Sean Russell (Naruto)
			In the world of one thousand channels and TIVO, it's hard to believe that people still read. Besides the occasional magazine or best selling novel, Americans are major consumers of digital media. In Japan, reading isn't a lost art. Popular in print are weekly or biweekly magazines called Manga. These magazines read like newspapers and are thrown away. The backbone of the Manga industry are trade books called Tokoban. They are more expensive anthologies of single titles, found in one of the many Manga magazines. Popular Manga titles are then produced into animation to further support the sale of the collectable Tokoban. Manga sells five to six million copies a week in Japan. They are comprised of magazines the size of phone books, although smaller in length and width. Inside, you can find up to ten stories from different writers and artists. This is in comparison to translated Manga that sells thirteen thousand copies a month in the United States of America. Manga in Japan reads like a newspaper. For the massive amount of content, they cost four dollars. Due to space constraints, they aren't collected. The average Japanese consumer reads one page every four seconds. It has been estimated that an average Manga can be finished in twenty minutes. This is enough time for a book to be read on the way to work. Manga is purchased by young and middle-aged males and females. They are made from cheap recycled paper and are inexpensive to produce. Only the front covers have color illustrations. Little money is collected from Manga magazines. Popular titles are collected into an anthology called Tokoban. This is similar to Trade paper backs in the USA. They are printed on a higher quality of paper and are sold to collect. Anime and Manga are interrelated. Most popular Manga is turned into Anime; aimed towards teenage males. It's rare for any other demographic to watch or purchase Anime in Japan. Another reason Anime is created is to boost Tokoban sales. It would be rare for someone in Japan to have seen an Anime title and not have read the accompanying Manga. However, in an America, the phenomenon is reversed. Sale of Anime eclipses the market for translated Manga. It's extremely popular with males from teenage to middle-age. .