- This article is about the Japanese medium. "Manga" can also refer to La Manga (a place in the Mar Menor, Murcia, Spain) and Manga Entertainment (an American and British distributor of anime, but not
manga).
Manga (漫画) is the Japanese word
for comics; outside of Japan, it usually refers specifically to Japanese
comics. Because most Japanese nouns have no plural form, manga can be used to refer
to multiple comics, although mangas is sometimes used in English.
Mangaka (漫画家) is the corresponding Japanese word for a manga author/artist.
Manga should not be confused with manhua or manhwa, Chinese and Korean comic
books, respectively.
Origins
Literally translated, manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures". The word first came into common usage after the
publication of the 19th century Hokusai Manga, containing assorted
drawings from the sketchbook of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. However, gi-ga (lit. "funny pictures") drawn in the 12th century by
various artists contain many manga-like qualities such as emphasis on story and simple, artistic lines.
Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and Western art movements. When the
United States began trading with Japan, Japan tried to modernise itself and catch up with the rest of the world. Thus, they imported Western artists
to teach their students things such as line, form and colour (things which were never concentrated on in ukiyo-e as the idea behind the picture was normally considered more important). Manga as people know it in
the 21st century only really came into being after World War II when the
government bans on any non-propaganda were lifted and many publishers sprang
up.
In the 20th century, manga came to refer to comics. Though
roughly equivalent to the American comic book, manga hold more importance in Japanese culture than comics do in American culture.
Manga is well respected both as an art form and as a form of popular literature. Like its American counterpart, manga has been
criticized for being violent and sexual; however, there have been no official inquiries or laws that have tried to limit what can
be drawn in manga, except for fuzzy decency laws that apply to all published materials, stating that "overly indecent materials
should not be sold". This freedom has allowed artists to draw manga for every age group and about every topic.
Manga format
Manga magazines usually have many series running concurrently with approximately 30–40 pages allocated to each series
per issue. These manga magazines, or "anthology magazines", as they are also known, are usually printed on low-quality newsprint
and can be anywhere from 200 to more than 850 pages long. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and various four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series can run for many years if they are successful.
When a series has been running for a while, the stories are usually collected together and printed in dedicated book-sized
volumes, called tankōbon. These volumes use higher-quality paper, and are
useful to those who want to "catch up" with a series so they can follow it in the magazines or if they find the cost of the
weeklies or monthlies to be prohibitive. Recently, "deluxe" versions have also been printed as readers have gotten older and the
need for something special grew. Old manga have also been reprinted using somewhat lesser quality paper and sold for 100 yen each
to compete with the used book market.
Manga are primarily classified by the age and gender of the target audience. In particular, books and magazines sold to boys
(shōnen) and girls (shōjo) have
distinctive cover art and are placed on different shelves in most bookstores.
Japan also has manga cafés, or manga kissaten. At a manga kissaten, people drink coffee and read manga.
Many things appear in manga format, including wanted posters for criminals (see [1] (http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0409/0925gouto.html)).
Manga outside Japan
Manga has been translated into many different languages in different countries including China, France, Italy, and many more.
In the USA, manga is still a rather small industry, especially when compared to the inroads that Japanese animation has made in the USA. An example of a manga publisher in the United States is Viz, the American
affiliate of publishers Shogakukan (小学館
Shōgakukan) and Shueisha (集英社
Shūeisha). They have many popular titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragon Ball
Z, Tenchi Muyō!, Rurouni Kenshin, YuYu Hakusho,
(Yūyū Hakusho), Yu-Gi-Oh! (Yūgiō) and the various
works of Rumiko Takahashi.
Since Japanese is usually written right-to-left in works of fiction, manga is drawn and published this way in Japan. However,
when various titles were first translated to other languages, the artwork and layouts were flipped and reversed in a process
known as "flopping", so that the book may be read from left-to-right. However, various creators (such as Akira Toriyama) did not approve of their work being modified this way, and
requested that foreign versions retain the right-to-left format of the originals. Soon, due to both fan demand and the requests
of creators, more publishers began offering the option of right-to-left formatting, which has now become commonplace in North
America. Left-to-right formatting has gone from the rule to the exception.
Another company, TOKYOPOP, is producing manga widely in the United States, with the right-to-left format as a highly publicized point. They
are widely credited with starting the current boom in manga sales, particularly amongst teenage girls. Some critics have
complained that their aggressive publishing schedule emphasizes quantity over quality, and might be responsible for translations
which many feel to be of sub-optimal quality. However, even their critics tend to admit that their contributions to the success
of manga in America have been considerable.
France is noted for having a partiuclarly strong and diverse manga market. Many
works that are published in France fall into generas that aren't well represented outside of Japan, such as adult oriented drama,
or experimental and avant garde works. Authors such as Jiro Taniguchi
who are relatively unknown in other westren countries have recieved much acclaim in France. Part of the reason for the sheer
popularity and diversity of manga in this country is due to it having a well established and respected comics market of its own
(see Franco-Belgian comics).
The company Chuang Yi publishes manga in English and Chinese in Singapore; some
of Chuang Yi's English-language titles are imported to Australia and New Zealand.
In Indonesia, manga has quickly become one of fastest growing consumer
industries, and Indonesia has become one of the biggest manga markets outside of Japan. Manga in Indonesia is published by
Elex Media Komputindo, Garuda publishing, Gramedia, and many other companies. Manga has
greatly influenced Indonesia's original comic industry.
Another popular form of manga distribution outside of Japan is through the Internet as scanlations (or scanslations).
The manga style
The most popular and recognizable style of manga is very distinctive. Emphasis is often placed on line over form, and the
storytelling and panel placement differ from those in Western comics. Panels and pages are typically read from right to left,
consistent with traditional Japanese writing.
While the art can be incredibly realistic or cartoonish, it is often noted that the characters look "Western", or have large
eyes. Large eyes have become a permanent fixture in manga and anime since the 1960s when Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and considered the
father of modern manga, started drawing them that way, mimicking the style of Disney cartoons from the United States.
Being a very diverse artform, however, not all manga artists adhere to the conventions most popularized in the west through
anime such as Akira,
Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Ranma 1/2.
A fair number of manga artists don't feel that their stories and characters are set in stone. So a set of characters may build
relationships, jobs, etc. in one set of stories ("story arc") only to have
another story arc run where the same characters do not know each other. The Tenchi series in particular is known for this; there are more than thirteen different pretty-much
unrelated story arcs based around Tenchi and his friends.
International Influence
Manga has started to have an influence on international comics. American alternative comics artists such as Frank Miller
and Scott McCloud were somewhat influenced by manga in some of their
works.
Other artists such an American artist Becky Cloonan (Demo) and Canadian artist Bryan Lee O'Malley (Lost
At Sea) are heavily influenced by the mainstream manga style and have received acclaim for their work outside of anime/manga
fan circles. These artists have many other influences that make their work more palatable to non-manga readers. These artists
have their roots in the anime/manga subculture of their particular regions.
American artist Paul Pope worked in Japan for Kodansha on the manga anthology Afternoon. Before he was fired (due to an editorial change at Kodansha) he was developing many
ideas for the anthology that he would later publish in the US as Heavy Liquid. As a
result his work features a strong influence from manga without influences from international otaku culture.
In France there is a "nouvelle manga" movement started by
Frédéric Boilet which
seeks to combine mature sophisticated daily life manga with the artistic style of traditional Franco-Belgian comics. While the movement also involves Japanese
artists, a handful of French cartoonists other than Boilet have decided to embrace its ideal.
In addition, there are thousands and thousands of amateur artists who are influenced exclusively by the manga style. Many of
these have their own small publishing houses, and some webcomics in this style have
become very popular. For the most part, these artists are not yet recognized outside of the anime and manga fan community,
however. Many people outside of those circles view those works as being too focused on the American anime subculture, and not
focused enough on telling stories that resonate with a wider audience. As manga's popularity grows and the manga market continues
to expand, it may still be difficult for these cartoonists to break out of fan circles, because of their lack of exposure to a
broader view of comics beyond mainstream manga.
Off the main path
Some manga artists will produce extra, sometimes unrelated material, which are known as omake (lit. "bonus" or
"extra"). They might also publish their unfinished drawings or sketches, known as oekaki (lit. "sketches").
Unofficial fan made comics are called dōjinshi. Some dōjinshi
continue with a series' story or write an entirely new one using its characters, much like fan fiction. In addition other dōjinshi is produced by small amateur publishers outside of the mainstream
commercial market in a similar fashion to small-press independently published
comic books in the United
States. Comiket, the largest comic book convention in
the world with over 400,000 gathering in 3 days, is devoted to dōjinshi.
Types of manga
Many of these genres apply equally well to anime and Japanese computer games.
By target audience
Genres
Popular Shōnen Manga Series
Popular Shōjo Manga Series
Popular Seinen Manga
Categories of pornographic manga
Commonly called "hentai" manga in English, in Japan they are more often referred to
as seijin or ecchi manga. These categories are also used for anime, H games, and other Japanese-style erotic art.
Distributors of manga
Major Japanese distributors
Major English-language distributors
Other English-language distributors
Major French-language distributors
- Asuka
- Casterman
- Delcourt
- Génération
comics
- Glénat
- J'ai lu
- Kana
- Kabuto
- Pika Édition
- Tonkam
- Végétal Manga
Major German-language distributors
Major Indonesian-language distributors
Major Spanish-language distributors
Major Italian-language distributors
- Star Comics
- Planet Manga (Pannini Comics)
Major Polish-language distributors
- JPF (http://www.jpf.com.pl)
- Waneko (http://www.waneko.pl)
List of manga magazines
See: List of manga magazines
References
- Schodt, Frederik L. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1996. ISBN 188065623X.
- Schodt, Frederik L. Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics. New York: Kodansha International, 1983. ISBN 870117521, ISBN 4770023057.
External links
|
