Magazine

Manga or Japanese Comics

Some people think that comic books are a marginal genre only of interest to children and teenagers. This is definitely not the case in Japan. Comics or manga are read by all age groups - in fact some manga series are specifically directed at specific age groups. Manga are also read by all social groups - in this sense there are also specifically targeted manga, from serious works with historical themes (or the transformation of a classic work of literature into manga form) to pornographic manga. Some manga are even educational in focus, for example teaching appropriate behavior in the workplace.

Some statistics will help to illustrate the popularity of manga. In 1995, 265 titles were published totaling some 1.594 billion copies, which amounts to thirteen copies for every man, woman and child, regardless of age. In other words, manga form about a quarter of the magazine market and each resident of Japan spends about fifty dollars a year on manga. The Japanese manga are good business and for well-known publishing houses they represent an important source of revenues, which enables them to publish less commercial, more expensive publications.

Why are manga so popular in Japan? There are several answers to this question. We must first go back into history. The first comics are considered to be whimsical or humorous pictures and folk drawings of honorable temple decorators - the earliest of these was found on the ceiling of the Golden Hall (Kondo) and the Five-storied Pagoda (Gojuno-to) at the Horyuji Temple complex (Nara Period, 710-783 AD). Although humorous pictures of birds and animals, known as chojugiga are considered to be the predecessors of manga, the first true series illustrated with woodblock printed pictures were the kibyoshi, thus called for their yellow covers. These were published for a relatively brief period between 1775 and 1806. They contained relatively little text and many illustrations because they were designed for the masses, most of whom were only partially literate. Within this short period, some 2000 titles were published and even at this time there were lending rooms where the kibyoshi could be borrowed for relatively small sums. The second peak in the popularity of serialized comics dates to the hectic period following the opening up of the country in 1868 and the incorporation of Western-style newspapers into Japanese culture. What was published at this time tended to be shorter humorous anecdotes in the style of the English magazine Punch. The true boom of this genre dates however to the period after the Second World War.

The second answer to the question can be found in the way in which Japanese is written. The characters adopted from Chinese contain meaning in their graphic form. This means that the characters are perceived differently than Europeans perceive letters. If you see a Japanese person quickly turning the pages of a manga, you might get the impression that they are only leafing through the text. But they are really reading because they are able to very quickly grasp the meaning of the picture. It should be mentioned here that manga are black-and-white and drawn in such a way as to allow the meaning to be quickly grasped. Written text is kept to a minimum.

The third answer is in the wide availability of these "magazines." They are inexpensive (one of the reasons that only the cover is colored) and are not bought with the idea of keeping them on a shelf. They are read right away and then put into the recycling bin. In the 1990s specialized libraries or cafés with a library, known as manga kissa, where readers pay a small fee that includes a coffee or other beverage and borrows a magna, reads it and puts it back on the shelf, began to be opened. This type of café is very popular at train stations or when waiting for a business meeting, etc.

A final reason perhaps why the manga are so popular is the fact that the artists are true masters of this field. One who stands out is Tezuka Osamu (1928-1988), the true king of manga literature - there is in fact an entire museum dedicated to him in Japan. From the age of 18 he devoted himself to drawing manga series and developed an interesting style of various sized pictures - focusing in on detail as if in a sequence of frames from a movie. In fact some of his works were later transformed into animated movies.

Manga are more and more closely aligned with animated films and the literature of science fiction. The modern world of interconnected computers has greatly helped to aid in the spread of manga. Japanese manga have successfully spread throughout Southeast Asia - helped by similarities in culture and history and a similar way of perceiving writing and pictures. In the Americas and Europe, manga are only read by dedicated fans, usually younger in age. But the day when they will become increasingly popular is certainly not far off in spite of the fact that the translation of these works is not easy - both because they are read from right to left and the fact that the black-and-white pictures seem rather monotonous to spoiled European and American readers. Another barrier is the demands of the reader, who desire more complex stories and not simple, relaxing reading.

In closing, let me explain the meaning of the Japanese word "manga." In Japanese, it is written using two characters. The first has the meanings "humorous," "continuing," or "never ending." The second character means "picture." The term was fist used by the master woodblock printer Hokusai, who drew pictures from everyday life. The pictures were published, bound in slim volumes and first appeared in 1814. These are still referred to as Hokusai manga. So the word "manga" has survived into the twenty-first century, even though the content is a little different than in the era of Hokusai.

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