Manga

Manga (漫画, Manga^?) is the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons. Outside of Japan, it usually refers specifically to Japanese comics. As of 2006, manga represents a $5 billion global market. Manga developed from a mixture of ukiyo-e and foreign styles of drawing, and took its current form shortly after World War II. It comes mainly in black and white, except for the covers and sometimes the first few pages, and in some Animanga all the pages are colored. Popular manga are often adapted into anime (Japanese for animation) once a market interest has been established. (Manga is sometimes mistakenly called “anime” even when not animated.) Adapted stories are often odified to appeal to a

more mainstream market. Although not as common, original anime is sometimes adapted into manga (such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop).

Origins

Literally translated, manga means “random (or whimsical) pictures”. The word first came into common usage in the late 18th century—with the publication of such works as Suzuki Kankei’s “Mankaku zuihitsu” (1771) and Santo Kyoden’s picturebook “Shiji no yukikai” (1798)—and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa’s “Manga hyakujo” (1814) and the celebrated Hokusai manga containing assorted drawings from the sketchbook of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. However, gi-ga (literally “funny pictures”, esp. tyo-jyu-jinbutu-gi-ga|tyō-jyū-jinbutu-gi-ga (鳥獣人物戯画), literally “funny pictures of animals and humans”) 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 foreign art movements. When the United States began trading with Japan, Japan tried to modernize itself and catch up with the rest of the world. Thus, they imported foreign artists to teach their students things such as line, form and color, which were never concentrated on in ukiyo-e as the idea behind the picture was normally considered more important. Manga in this period was known as Ponchi-e (Punch-picture) and, like its British counterpart Punch magazine, mainly depicted humor and political satire in a short, 1- or 4-picture format.

Osamu Tezuka

Manga as people know it in the 20th and 21st centuries only really came into being after Dr. Osamu Tezuka, widely acknowledged to be the father of story-based manga became popular. In 1945, Tezuka who was studying medicine, saw a war propaganda animation film called Momotarou Uminokaihei whose style was largely influenced by Disney’s Fantasia. As a children’s film, the main theme of Fantasia was peace and hope in a time of darkness. Tezuka was greatly inspired by the film and later decided to become a comic artist, which at the time (and even now) was an unthinkable choice for a qualified medical doctor. He later commented that a part of reason he went to medical school was to avoid conscription and that he actually did not like seeing blood

Tezuka introduced film-like storytelling and character in comic format in which each short film-like episode is part of larger story arc. The only text in Tezuka’s comics was the characters’ dialogue and this lent the comics a cinematic quality. Tezuka also adopted Disney-like facial features where a character’s eyes, mouth, eyebrows and nose are drawn in a very exaggerated manner to add more distinct characterization with fewer lines, which made his work popular possible. This somewhat revived the old ukiyo-e like tradition where the picture is a projection of an idea rather than actual physical reality.

Initially, his comic was published in a children’s magazine. Soon, it became a specialized weekly or monthly comic magazine of its own, which is now the foundation of the Japanese comic industry. Tezuka adapted his comic to almost all film genres of the time; his manga series range from action adventure (e.g. Kimba the White Lion, also known as Jungle Emperor Leo) to serious drama (e.g. Black Jack) to science fiction (e.g. Astro Boy), horror (e.g. Dororo, The Three-eyed One.) Though he is known in the West as a creator of the children’s animation Astro Boy, many of his comics had some very mature and sometimes dark undertones. Most of his comics’ central characters had a tragic background. For instance, Atom (Astro Boy) was created by a grieving scientist who wanted to create an imitation of his dead son and later abandoned the boy; Kimba’s father was killed by human hunters and the conflict between man and nature was a recurring theme for the comic; Hyakkimaru in Dororo was born severely crippled because his father offered 48 parts of Dororo’s infant body to 48 demons.

Some criticize Tezuka’s extensive use of tragic dramatization in his stories. As the manga generation of children grew up, the market for comics expanded accordingly and manga soon become a major cultural force of Japan. Tezuka also contributed to the social acceptance of manga. His qualification as a medical doctor as well as the holder of Ph.D in medical science as well as his serious storylines were used to deflect criticism that manga was vulgar and undesirable for children. He also mentored a number of important comic artists, such as Fujiko Fujio (creator of Doraemon), Fujio Akatsuka and Shotaro Ishinomori.