That new Avengers movie just came out. Let’s be topical and discuss something about it.
I’m not a big fan of Marvel movies. They’re mostly fine movies, but I’m of the opinion that they’ve overstayed their welcome for a bit and that the investment into the whole “cinematic universe” gimmick puts quantity above quality. I could rant for a while about my gripes with the MCU, but let’s tie it into manga and keep ourselves on brand.
The Marvel cinematic universe is a web of movies based off of various Marvel comic superheroes. This all started with the first Iron Man movie in 2008 and continues now as well as into the future. The term “cinematic universe” refers to how these are all movies that take place in the same world and all contribute to one long, intricate narrative. These movies overlap with characters and plot points that all help to paint the overall picture of the world as opposed to being individual movies with standalone stories.
Marvel comic universes are structured in a similar way where each series primarily supports the world as a whole with the protagonists of their respective series being put as a somewhat distant second. Everything from storylines to characters to settings to small details is weaved together to provide a strong canvas upon which more stories can be told. This can all be seen as a form of investment to give more resources to future projects. Introducing new aspects is made much easier by surrounding them with things that the audience is already familiar with, which makes it easier to market new characters or storylines since they will be supported by a familiar setting.
This format works much better in comic form than in movie form due to the comics having the freedom to assemble pretty much any cast it could want or need at any moment. With movies there are issues with the actors such as scheduling conflicts and pay negotiation that can hurt potential plans, but there are no actors for comic characters. Each character is ink on paper, and that ink can be put on any paper it needs to be on. There may be some smaller inter-company conflicts that prevent some plans from coming together for Marvel, but these conflicts would be much easier to resolve than trying to will a human being to show up at a specific place during a specific time.
All of this method of worldbuilding is perfectly fine and makes a lot of sense for a company trying to consistently keep multiple IPs afloat for long periods of time, but a company is still a company. Marvel takes advantage of having a world with multiple active storylines in it by threading those storylines between each other. Each individual series is not strictly limited to that series. For example, if a fan like Spider-Man and only really care about following Spider-Man, they may buy twenty consecutive issues of Spider-Man but still be missing part of the story due to a development taking place in an issue of Iron Man. That development may primarily focus on Iron Man due to being in his general narrative, but Spider-Man is still there to a lesser degree to play a role that benefits his own narrative as well.
This is a marketing tactic, plain and simple. The goal here is to use that fan’s investment in Spider-Man to withhold part of Spider-Man’s story so they will purchase an issue of Iron Man with the hopes that they may enjoy Iron Man’s story enough to invest in that as well. Even if that fan ends up only caring about Spider-Man’s role in that issue, Marvel still sold an issue of Iron Man. The problem with this is that Spider-Man’s story is not complete without the development from that issue of Iron Man. A person who purchased 20 issues of Spider-Man and chose to not purchase that issue of Iron Man now has a plot hole. This is not due to bad writing, carelessness, or oversight; That stretch of time exists in the Marvel world, just not where one would think it is.
Plot holes like these that are caused not by an omission of content but by clever redistribution also apply to Marvel’s movies, but in much larger ways. If a fan cares about Spider-Man and only Spider-Man, they cannot understand Spider-Man: Far From Home having only just seen Spider-Man: Homecoming. Two Avengers movies came out between those movies with such huge universe-changing developments as Thanos wiping out half of the life in the universe in Infinity War and [message deleted] in Endgame. A basic understanding of each of those movies is needed, if not a full viewing, just to be up to date with Spider-Man in time for Far From Home. Once again, this is just clever marketing to encourage people to invest more.
Whereas Marvel, and more brands as time goes on, treats their world as a web of entwined series that all make sense of each other, the vast majority of manga series treat their worlds as straight lines with additional content branching off of that line but not impeding its progression. Spinoffs and side content are just that: Supporting material that gives the audience more of the series without taking away from the main product. These additions are rarely required to fully understand the main storyline and only serve to give the audience more, usually by focusing on well-liked side characters by giving them their own adventure or delving into their past a bit.
There is one series that comes to mind that does require the audience to read a side story to fully understand the main story: Mahou Shoujo Site. The companion series, Mahou Shoujo Site Sept, tells the story of a secondary character’s origins and introduces a character who helps connect that character to the main cast. This is a very small example, but it does share parallels with Marvel’s method of storytelling. There is a plot hole, however small, in Mahou Shoujo Site that can be filled, just not directly through Mahou Shoujo Site.
The title for today’s article includes a series by the name of Ashita wa Doyoubi, written by Soichiro Yamamoto. This series is a collection of side stories for the similarly authored series Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, which recently received an anime adaptation. Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san focuses on a boy named Nishikata as he is teased mercilessly by his classmate Takagi, all the while trying to get back at her while coming to terms with his budding feelings for her.
Ashita wa Doyoubi is a prime example of the typical manga side story. The focus here is on the secondary characters of Mina, Sanae, and Yukari, who are three classmates of Takagi and Nishikata. Each of the three has their own distinct personality: Mina is noisy and hyperactive but lacks common sense, Sanae is monotone and can be rude at times, and Yukari is the serious and responsible one with a weakness for talks of love. There is a simple comedic dynamic between these three as Mina sets up the jokes while Sanae supports them with dry input and Yukari plays the straight man.
Whereas the stories in Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san have clear-cut beginnings and ends due to revolving around individual antics, Ashita wa Doyoubi has a much looser story structure that casually provides background information on the lesser-seen characters of the main series. Nishikata and Takagi still appear in the background and are shown to still be active parts of the world, but Ashita wa Doyoubi only ever highlights them to give an in-universe outsider’s perspective on their antics. None of this takes away from the main series; This is all just supplemental content that helps give the audience more of the world without detracting its main goal.
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san is a wonderful series to pick up and read the side material for due to the inclusion of an additional series called Karakai Jouzu no (Moto) Takagi-san, which centers around Takagi and Nishikata raising their child after getting married. The primary series has a western release under Teasing Master Takagi-san, but unfortunately the side stories have yet to be licensed. We stan most fan translators, though, so you know the deal.
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