Why are Japanese comics backwards?
In Japan, writing is read from right to left. Japanese comics used to undergo a process called ‘flopping’ to try and make it more comfortable for Western audiences. However, flopping is a flawed process, as it flips the artwork and makes things look backwards. Some Japanese comic artists believe this alters their original intentions, so now the comics are put in the original right-to-left format.
Because that’s how Japanese people write. When I went to Japan, I bought magazines, TV guides, and text books. They’re all written in the same format, right to left. The reason why companies stopped flipping manga is because reversing images changes the artwork from what the artist intended. For example, in Parasyte, Migi is named “migi” because he’s in the right hand (“migi” is Japanese for “right”). When it was flipped, his name had to be changed to “lefty”. There are also characters with scars and such, and flipping would switch around which side of the face the scar was on. Flipping also was more work for the people editing it. @ nikki.fira Just for your information. Not all Eastern countries read and write from right to left.
