Actually, I got into manga back in the 80's. I'm not part of the new crowd that's jumped on the bandwagon. Back then pretty much all of the comics I found in America were generic, monster of the week, one shot, crammed action with and overdose of dialoge, cross-over with another series, inconsistant, lacking in character development... poop. The comics that I loved, like Rom: The Space Knight, were quickly ruined for me by having stories lines come from other comics, cross over and requiring me to buy other comics to follow along. There were some comics by independent publishers, and some of the stuff from Heavy Metal magazine were pretty cool, but nothing like I found in manga. The character development, consistant evolving story lines that keep you wondering what is going to happen next, using action and artwork to explain a scene VS a wordy narration bubble, and some amazing styles and techniques w/o having to drown the linework out with faded colors, swayed me away from most other comics. They weren't easy to come by back then either. But I always kept my eye out for something new, with style. Like I picked up "TMNT" back before there was a cartoon of it, and the "The Tick" was one that caught my eye immediately, and the comedy kept me w/ it. I've picked up Frank Miller's Batman & Ronin, and Scott Mcfarlane's Spawn, and won't deny the artwork that was in it, but I wasn't wowing me like Shiro's and Otomo's manga. Sure not all manga was gold, and not all American comics were poop. And American comics have come a long was since then. But how can an American comic fans not pick up a copy of Masamune Shiro's Ghost In The Shell, or Blade of the Immortal and not be wowed by the artwork!? (Visa Versa as well) When something really nice looking comes along I'll pick it up, like the Heavy Metal Skydoll issue recently. Ceratainly I have my preferences but I'm not closed minded, but my wallet and time also don't allow me to buy and read everything out there either. Heck I can't even keep up w/ manga alone these days..

As for Japanese culture, sure it's Amercianized, they were forced to be that way after WWII. They also love Amercian pop-culture, and follow our fads, and (as it is stereotypically so) tend to make it their own, improve upon it and go overboard w/ it. But they also have a culture that is so unique unto themselves too. Something that makes the Samurai period pieces so interesting. I've visited Japan, and it really is a very interesting culture. So much like America at times, but then you have a festival banging drums, in Kimonos caring shrines down the street the next.

And yeah, I know I've missed out on a lot of the classics. It's only in the last 5 years that I've seen classics like Singing in the Rain, and A Bridge Over the River Kwai. Citizen kane is on the list.

Wow, that was unintentionally long... didn't mean to rant.