Defining Settings

A setting is where you take the reader of your manga, as with a writer, a manga artist needs to work hard on getting the setting to be realistic to the purpose of the story, no matter how fanciful the story is, a world has its own rules, and it is those that give the binding fibres to your plot and creates atmosphere for your reader.

These are settings based on real locations. Cities and towns that exist in our world. Artefacts and cultures derived from existing ones. The best way to do these is to go out and take photos, make sketches and the like of a setting that suits you, and learn all you can about the one you choose to use.

Most romantic, comedy and crime manga take place in Real World Settings, since it is important to give the reader a sense of logical, realistic background to make the story more captivating. This setting usually does not give way to fantasy beyond simple everyday things like tarot readings.

Once you know the basic skeleton of your world, you can create races. In most futuristic manga, a 'race' is not so much segregated by blood as they are by modifications to their body or the technological advances they possess. In fantasy manga, it is another matter, usually races appear very different from one another and tend to have different 'powers'. A classic example of this can be found in RG Veda.

Another important element in a setting is its culture and wildlife. It helps fill out the empty spaces since manga is largely a visual art. Go to the zoo and study some animals, then you'll know what kind of adaptations your creatures might have to live in the terrain you've chosen for it. By studying anthropology papers you might find interesting titbits on what your people and your buildings should look like and what markings they should have. National Geographic helped me a lot... Happy hunting.

Picture sources: X/1999 © CLAMP, BLAME! © Nihei, Gundam Wing © ?