mmph

But there's something happening! It's more psycological than physical matter though.

Exactly, there is a lot of internal action and there is personal growth. Action isn't always moving around, fighting or arguing or burning stuff or etc.

I know, I know. But compared to samurai manga, I was merely talking about "visible" action.
Besides, even in a psychological story, I personally would make the script less static, by changing the camera standpoints, giving the drawings more dramatic intensity, tricks of the trade, you know. I would never make the same scene last for several frames or even pages, without so much as changing the setting. A Belgian publisher would consider that a capital sin in script-writing. That's what I mean. The drawings are totally awesome though. Except, for a real captivating comic, being able to draw beautifully pictures isn't enough. Right?

I get what you're saying. But not all directors work the same way. I've watched critically-acclaimed films that never changed much in setting or camera angle. I guess I don't mind it if other things engage me. If nothing engaged me, then I'd be, "Why don't they do this and that." But your criticism is often what an editor might recommend. :)

yeah, as long as the art's so good and it has fans, telling how you'd do it differently is not really meant as criticism. I 've noticed (mainly) the Korean stories are sometimes very static, and focus a lot more on rendering an atmosphere or a mood, rather than on action. The average Japanese manga is a lot more energetic and epic, with lots of storylines and subplots entertwining, while Korean mangaka seem to be content to make gorgeous images, and their readers don't ask for more than that. It could be because the characters of the mangaka differ, or the mentality of the publishers! I know for sure that if I were to present a story like this to a Belgian publisher, he'd tell me right away to go home and draw a story where there's actually something happening! And I'm pretty sure many Belgian kids, reading this story, would drop it after 2 pages and cry BOOOORIIINGGG!!!! Especially the boys...

I assume the principal audience for this is female. And the principal reading demographic for romances are female. I've read probably a thousand romance novels of all types, and many are static--lots of emotive thinking and lots of conversations between the he/she pairing. Perhaps this is why a static romanctic story doesn't disappoint me, as long as I get the emotional fix. Hence, my POV is different. Editors of romances don't look for action (unless it's suspense/thriller), but for emotion. Shoujo manga often have very, very little action, too. It could be that my affinity for romance (novels and manga/manwha) make me less sensitive to the lack of activity?

Well, it could be because you're a girl, ;-) , or because Belgian mangaka have it much harder finding an editor for their work, since there are very few editors and they're all mainly shonen type-minded, even seinen, if we're going to keep the Japanese terminology. Typical girls' stories are practically unknown, and yaoi is totally unexisting. In Japan, there are many more niche-publics: women, men, boys, girls, gay boys, gay men, little kids, every group in society has it's own stack of manga to choose from. In America, it's even more restricted: there's comedy Garfield-type, .... and superhero-stuff. In France, artistic comics are more successful; in Belgium an editor would send you away immediately. They know we have not much choice, since we HAVE to have an editor, if we want to be published, right? So we're condemned to adopt their opininons about genre and everything else. Regardless whether the readers agree or not.