what's MANGA!?
Etymology
Manga, literally translated, means "whimsical pictures". The word first came into common usage in the late 18th century with the publication of such works as 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. The first user of the word "manga" as its modern usage is Rakuten Kitazawa.
Manga (漫画, Manga?) is the Japanese word for comic (sometimes also called komikku コミック) and print cartoons. In their modern form, manga date from shortly after World War II but have a long, complex history in earlier Japanese art. In Japan, manga are widely read by children and adults of all ages, so that a broad range of subjects and topics occur in manga, including action/adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business and commerce, among others. Since the 1950s, manga have steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a 481 billion yen market in Japan in 2006 (approximately 4.4 billion dollars). Manga have also become increasingly popular worldwide. In 2006, the United States manga market was $175-200 million.
Manga are typically printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist (e.g. Colorful). In Japan, manga are usually serialized in telephone book-size manga magazines, often containing many stories each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in paperback books called tankōbon. A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run. although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films (e.g. Star Wars) .
Manga as a term outside of Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan. However, manga and manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly in Korea ("manhwa") and in the People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong ("manhua").In France, "la nouvelle manga" is a form of bande dessinée drawn in styles influenced by Japanese manga. In the United States, manga-like comics are called Amerimanga, world manga, or original English-language manga (OEL) manga.
To many Westerners, one of the hardest things to understand about the Japanese is their voracious appetite for manga or comics (though the recent launch of an English version of Shonen Jump manga in the US was hugely successful). In particular, the fact that middle-aged men can sit with their heads buried in comic books on rush-hour trains without any sense of embarrassment. While in the West mainstream comics are almost entirely for children, in Japan there many types of manga and some of them are very definitely NOT suitable for children. Graphic violence and sex (but with restrictions on the visibility of actual organs) have been commonplace in manga for years. A law introduced to curb child pornography (most of the world's supply being from Japan) for some reason excluded manga - probably something to do with it being a ¥500-billion-a-year industry.
Manga come in two main forms: weekly, twice-monthly and monthly magazine style manga and paperback books, usually in a series. These series often spin off from the magazines and in turn are made into TV shows or movies. For some examples, see the sections on Animated movies and TV cartoons.
Many manga carry full-color advertisements for muscle-building devices and pheromone sprays. As you might have guessed, most manga are geared toward shonen (young guys). But there are also shojo (young girl) manga. They deal mainly with science-fiction, sports and romance and tend to portray male characters as stereotypically as the guy's manga do with female characters. A popular girl's manga is Sailor Moon, which also became a successful TV show and several movies. Naturally, they're popular with girls but also with a certain number of boys and young men. This and the popularity of animated porn is, I'm afraid, beyond my understanding. Suffice to say that the world of manga and anime (animation) is huge in Japan and beyond and there are countless Web sites dedicated to it.
Most weekly manga are the thickness of a telephone book. Even though they are printed on recycled paper, the price of around 200 yen seems ridiculously cheap. But with weekly sales in some cases of over five million copies and the most popular stories going on to become paperback collections, TV cartoons or dramas and even full-length movies, manga are very big business. Just two examples are given below.
Shonen Magazine The magazine is published by Kodansha, who also publish a variety of other magazines in six categories: General/Men; Women; Children; Literature/Arts; Comics for Men; Comics for Women. |
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Shukan Shonen Jump The pub |