Anime and manga are just Japanese words for Cartoon and Comic. They are interchangeable really, we just call them anime/manga because it creates a distinguishing feature between the two to help specify the discussion. The only difference is the culture of origin. I say culture because cartoons are cartoons in most english speaking countries.

When the question can an American Comic be a manga as the "OEL manga" thing, where anime fans copy the Japanese style, and I think since the influence is there and most of the time the artist WANTS it to be called manga, you might as well, but it really makes no difference. It's all comics anyways.


Also, what Nick Simmons did is what plenty of mangaka do. Personally, I think his lawyers and publishers are too high strung. His story was far enough removed etc. Although even now Japan is forsaking the old ways and becoming more "American" with that sort of BS...

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