While western comics were the main focus at the Spring Carnival, there was plenty of attention given to Japanese manga and Chinese manhua. The latter was relatively more obscure than the former, even though it was technically easier for westerners to read as it read left-to-right rather than right-to-left like manga. Though the main reason that manhua was being represented was because the Five Elements were likely to be represented in a series. In fact, they were there to look at the various eastern comics that were being displayed.
"Honestly, I'm not sure I get the big difference," said Jinxing, looking between a manhua book and a manga book, "I mean, the manhua is a little easier to read, but is there much difference besides that?"
"Well, as you can see, manhua keeps with an artistic style that is quite similar to western comics while manga has a more simplified and...less proportionate style," said Tuxing.
"If you're referring to the super-deformed parts of manga, I totally see what you mean," said Huoxing, "Though some designs are far from simple."
"I'm not sure which would capture our looks better," said Muxing. It didn't particularly matter to her. Whichever series they'd be doing would undoubtedly be showing them with unrealistic element powers. Muxing would rather be depicted for her martial arts skills.
"Actually, there's a caricaturist who's been drawing people in manga style," said Shuixing, walking over, "Me and Nate got a picture together." She was glad that Nate was able to come over for the Spring Carnival. It was a little awkward to reintroduce him to the uplifted cows from his farm, but he seems to be having a fun time.
"Oh, really?" asked Tuxing, "What do you look like?"
"See for yourself," said Shuixing, holding out a large piece of paper. The paper had a picture of Nate and Shuixing together, with a waterfall background. The caricatures did do a pretty good job of capturing Nate and Shuixing's likeness, even if their features were not very detailed.
"Is it me or did he emphasize your bust more?" asked Jinxing.
"I don't think he could have emphasized it more if he wanted to," said Muxing dryly. While the Five Elements weren't cosplaying, they were wearing preliminary designs for what their eventual series could look like. They didn't really consist of much besides leotards with deep necklines and personalized colors for each one. Though simple designs were best for martial artists. They didn't need long, flowing sleeves or sweeping dresses to trip them up.
"You think he could make a drawing for me?" asked Jinxing.
"Ooh, I want a caricature too," said Huoxing.
"We should all get one," said Tuxing, "So we'd get a good idea of how we'd look in a manga."
"Wouldn't we be in a manhua?" asked Muxing.
"I'm pretty sure a manga publisher would be interested in us," said Tuxing, "There's no reason why we can't have a Chinese TV series and a Japanese manga series."
"I just want to know when they're going to get around to it," said Muxing.
"So which way's that artist?" asked Jinxing.
"He's over this way," said Shuixing before leading her sisters away.