Manga – history and popularity in the world - PART I

Manga is a phenomenon on a world-wide scale, that is harder to define than it would seem. Manga is at the same time a mass production and a unique form of art, pop culture and history, reality and fantasy all at once. Do you agree?

Manga originates from scrolls dating back to the 12th century, being part of the many works of art of the old masters. The diligent monk Toba (1053-1140) left behind a series of scrolls containing paintings that told of the adventures of frogs and turtles battling an army of enemy hares. However, whether these scrolls are actually to be considered the first manga is still disputed, though its believed that the right-to-left reading style was based one them. Can you find any other differences between usual comics and a manga?

Other authors report origins closer to the 18th century. The genius of art Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is believed to be the creator of the term 'manga' itself.




One of the first Manga.










The word ''manga'' in Japanese generally means ''comics'' / ''cartoon''. The literal meaning of the term is ''whimsical sketches''.
Although the manga based on scroll paintings and sketches was present in Japan for many centuries, manga as a comic, refered to as ''komikkusu'' by the Japanese, was first introduced into Japan right after the official birth of comics in America at the end of the 19th century. Later in the beginning of the 20th century, the first Disney movies were made, which also had a large influence on the shaping processes of modern manga. Do you have any fovorite disney animation?



However, the real boom for comics took place in the 1950s, after the shutting-down of the American Occupation headquarters. Unfortunately, at that time manga artists often sought the easy way out when creating their works. They did not look for references in their own culture and history, instead they simply made use of the already existant schemes, and thus the Japanese legion of ''supermen'' was born, such as Super Giant, who was Japan's first modern TV superhero and the role model for many others to come, or Condor. Of course there was also the Japanese version of Tarzan, in this case called Brooba, and many other characters that were nearly clones of previously created characters and American superheroes. Can you give any more examples ?

Super Giant, known
as the first Japanese
celuloid superhero.
Movie poster for
Super Giant 7.

Luckily, after a short time two new stars among manga artists were discovered. They were Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, and Machiko Hasegawa, with her series ''Sazae-san''. Both of these series and their characters greatly influenced the future history of manga. Do you know them ? What is you opinion of them?

Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy was a child robot gifted with superpowers and at the same time he was nothing more than a naive little boy. His creator never really explained why he had given Astro Boy such a highly developed social conscience, nor why the robot's programing gave him the possibility to experience emotions, unlike the other robots.



In no time at all, Astro Boy became inmensly popular in Japan, as he still remains to this day. He was seen as an icon and a hero fighting for the peace of a new world.

''Astro Boy'' promotional art.

Machiko Hasegawa, a young female artist, started drawing ''Sazae-san'' in 1946 and continued for many years. Her character, the titular Ms. Sazae does not have an easy or simple life, but despite this she manages to pull through many hardships, supporting both her immediate and her extended family along the way.



She is a very strong and determined character, opposing the usual feminine obedience and meekness, going against the ''good wife, wise mother'' ideal. She faces the world from an optimistic point of view and was dubbed by Hayao Kawai ''a woman of endurance''.




Sazae-san (far left) with her family.













Over the next 50 years, ''Sazae-san'' sold more than 62 milion copies.

Both Osamu Tezuka and Machiko Hasegawa are also considered the creators of a certain style.






Osamu Tezuka







Tezuka used a cinematographic technique in his work, the panels were like a motion picture that had both slow motion-like action as well as rapid zoom-ins. His way of showing visual dynamism was later adopted by many other manga artists.





Machiko Hasegawa







On the other hand, Hasegawa's focus the experience of women and the view of daily life became an important characteristic of shojo manga. Dou you know any other famous manga woman?

In the late 1950s, manga was devided into two main marketing genres to satistfy the increasingly large audiences: shonen manga directed at young boys, and shojo aimed at girls and young women. Up until 1969, shojo manga was drawn mainly by men.

Two of the most popular manga created by male authors were Osamu Tezuka's ''Princess Knight'' and ''Sally the Witch', written ad drawn by Matsuteru Yokoyama in 1966. Did watch any of them on Polonia 1 ?

The latter was influenced by the U.S. TV sitcom ''Bewitched''. Yokoyama's ''Sally the Witch'' is to a large extent responsible for creating the presently very popular ''magical girl'' sub-genre of shojo manga.

In 1969, the Year 24 Group consisting of several female manga artists, made their debut and with that marked the first major entry of women artists in manga. From that point on, shojo would be drawn mainly by women for a female audience.
These female artists were also responsible for many significant innovations. Most importantly, shojo manga focused on the heroines' feelings and inner experiences. The characters were usually strong and independent women. Do you know any? This along with the intense emotionality and the complex design became characteristics of shojo manga and remain as such until today.

After World War II, boys and young men became some of the first readers of manga. Starting from the 1950s, shonen manga focused on a variety of subjects that were expected to catch the interest of boys, such as robots, space-travel, action and adventure manga. Some of the most popular themes at the time included sports science fiction and technology. The earliest examples of the robot sub-genre included the aformentioned Astro Boy and Fujiko Fujio's Doraemon (1969), which tells the story of a robot cat and the boy he lives with. This manga was aimed mainly at younger boys. On the other hand, manga with solitary superheros comparable to Batman or Superman didn't gain as much popularity. Why is so ?

Besides the mainstream genre directed at the younger male audience, there are also the two genres ''seinen'' and ''seijin'' that are aimed at men from the ages 18 to 30. The first genre includes slapstick humor, themes of honor or action-adventure most often involving a male hero. The second, ''seijin'', consists mainly of explicit sexual themes and is aimed at grown men. The kanji used for both these genres have very close meanings: ''seinen'' for ''youth/young man'', and ''seijin'' for ''adult''. Despite these genres all being directed at differen age groups, they all have much in common and share similar features. What do you admire most in mangas ?

In the begining, all the major roles in shonen manga were played by boys or men. Women and girls only appeared as second plan characters: mothers, sisters, sometimes girlfriends. This began to change in the 1980s, when female characters started appearing in more important roles in shonen manga. The major turning point was Akira Toriyama's ''Dr.Slump'' (1980), in which the main character was a mischievous little robot girl named Arale Norimaki, who despite her playfulness and child-like appearance, was very powerful.

Another manga type directed most of all at men was Gekiga, a genre that came into existance at the end of the 1950s and developed during the next decade. The literal meaning of the term ''gekiga'' is ''drama pictures''. It refers to a type of aesthetic realism in manga. The drawing style of the genre in usually very dark emotionally, strongly realistic, often containing a lot of violence. It focuses mainly on the grim realities of everyday life and is often drawn in a raw and gritty fashion. Can you give me any well known titles of that genre not mentioned by me?

One of the many examples of this manga genre is ''Ninja Bugeichou'' created by Sampei Shirato. It tells the story of Kagemaru, a peasant rebellion leader living in the 16th century and deals primarily with class struggle and opression. Another example is ''Satsuma Gishiden'' by Hiroshi Hirata, which deals with the uprisings that took place against the Tokugawa shogunate.

Later on, when the social protests began to fade, gekida took on a more avant-garde style and shifted towards mature drama and social conciousness.

An example of this is ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' by Koike and Kojima and the apocalyptic ''Akira'', a tale of street war, motorcycle gangs and the inner transformations of children that live in the future Tokyo depicted by the author. Another good exaple id Tezuka's manga ''MW'' (1976), which is a bitter tale of the aftermath of World War II.

Panel from the manga ''Lone Wolf and Cub''

The aspect of social conciousness of gekida still remains alive in some of today's manga, and is present in titles such as Sena Aritou and Ira Ishida's ''West Gate Park'' (2001), which tells the story of street thugs and vengeance taking place in the slums of Ikebukuro, a wealthy district of Tokyo. Can you find and share any influncens from the real world that shaped mangas or animes (Like Gundam Wing that was strongly influenced by the wars)?