Abstract
The introduction of Japanese manga to Indonesia has triggered a big impact toward the community, a proof of a successful intercultural reception. The widely reception of manga showed manga enormous capability in attracting the attention of Indonesian readers, which came from a different cultural background. Previous studies on manga (Schodt, 1983; McCloud, 1993 and 2006; Natsume, 2010) suggested that manga’s advantages specifically lay on its visual ability in putting the readers inside its universe or immersion, which is referred as narrative engagement (Busselle and Bilandzic, 2009), identification (Cohen, 2001), or experiencing the story (Jones, 2008). Immersion here referred to the feeling of being in the same universe as the characters, to participate within the story and to relate personally toward the characters. Developing from the field of cognition and perception, this study investigated the level of immersion among Indonesian readers while reading manga, as the influential factor behind manga’s successful reception. 59 young Indonesians between 15-24 years old were participated in an online questionnaire which explored their perception on manga visual attractiveness and the level of immersion constructed when reading particular scenes of manga. Utilizing specific form of questions, the participants were asked to rate manga visual attractiveness based on McCloud’s manga visual storytelling techniques (2006) and the visualization of particular manga scenes in relating to their feeling of immersion. Results indicated that beside the emotionally expressive effects as the most attractive factor of manga visual, Indonesian readers had the tendency to find their selves being part of the story, establishing a deep emotional attachment with manga. These findings further acknowledged manga’s capabilities in immersing its readers as an important factor in its successful intercultural reception.
Keywords
Manga, perception, emotional attachment, immersion
Citation
Ahmad, H., Hibino, H., and Koyama, S. (2012) Engagement while Reading Manga: Measuring Indonesian readers’ immersion within manga’s universe, in Israsena, P., Tangsantikul, J. and Durling, D. (eds.), Research: Uncertainty Contradiction Value - DRS International Conference 2012, 1-4 July, Bangkok, Thailand. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2012/researchpapers/2
Engagement while Reading Manga: Measuring Indonesian readers’ immersion within manga’s universe
The introduction of Japanese manga to Indonesia has triggered a big impact toward the community, a proof of a successful intercultural reception. The widely reception of manga showed manga enormous capability in attracting the attention of Indonesian readers, which came from a different cultural background. Previous studies on manga (Schodt, 1983; McCloud, 1993 and 2006; Natsume, 2010) suggested that manga’s advantages specifically lay on its visual ability in putting the readers inside its universe or immersion, which is referred as narrative engagement (Busselle and Bilandzic, 2009), identification (Cohen, 2001), or experiencing the story (Jones, 2008). Immersion here referred to the feeling of being in the same universe as the characters, to participate within the story and to relate personally toward the characters. Developing from the field of cognition and perception, this study investigated the level of immersion among Indonesian readers while reading manga, as the influential factor behind manga’s successful reception. 59 young Indonesians between 15-24 years old were participated in an online questionnaire which explored their perception on manga visual attractiveness and the level of immersion constructed when reading particular scenes of manga. Utilizing specific form of questions, the participants were asked to rate manga visual attractiveness based on McCloud’s manga visual storytelling techniques (2006) and the visualization of particular manga scenes in relating to their feeling of immersion. Results indicated that beside the emotionally expressive effects as the most attractive factor of manga visual, Indonesian readers had the tendency to find their selves being part of the story, establishing a deep emotional attachment with manga. These findings further acknowledged manga’s capabilities in immersing its readers as an important factor in its successful intercultural reception.