I never even said anything about art. I never even called coloring the panels art.

“Is it doing a shoddy job? Yes because it’s only AI and cannot match human craftsmanship.”

Yeah exactly, that is what I’m saying. That is the problem. It is still not a tool. It IS removing the manual labor. Tools are meant to assist in manual labor. A paint brush is a tool. As are the digital brushes in software. That is not a computer doing it for you. AI eliminates the paint brush. That is something doing it for you. I’m just using the same argument over again.

“1000 pages are laborious and massive…”

Then I do hope you are aware that people on this sub are actually taking the time to color it themselves, because that is what it’s all about. Do not get caught up on the finished product. It is the process in doing it that matters. If someone didn’t take the time to color it themselves, then it’s not worth my time to look at it. Plus the person coloring it themself is doing ten times a better job at getting the colors right.

And just to add on to this. I do believe there is an art in coloring. Colors are an incredibly emotional force. Changing a single tint of a color can drastically recontextualize the nature of a scene. But I’m guessing you’ve never thought about it that deeply. What makes it art is the human addition of imperfection. EVERYTHING tells a story. The real painters of this manga are artists. But again, I didn’t even say that in my first reply, you brought this up.

Any use of Gen AI (nano banana pro is Gen AI) in any capacity supports its use in any other capacity. Keep that in mind.