Japanese Manga

One of my Japanese Pen-friend, Shingo-san, who is also an excellent dancer, suggested me to read and know more about Japanese Manga. I was little confused whether Manga is something similar to Mango in English, because in my native language - Malayalam, manga means mango. Then, I went on knowing more about Japanese Manga. As suggested by Shingo-san, I went to Akihabara. Akihabara is a sea of Manga and electronics and many other modern Japanese life styles.

Manga is Japanese word for comic, popularly known in Japan as komikku コミック. In their modern form, manga date from shortly after world war II, but have a long history in earlier Japanese art.

Manga are widely read by people of all ages, so that a broad range of subjects and topics includes in manga, ranging from action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business and commerce, among others.

It is said that a Managa have a claim of 481 billion Yen market in Japan in 2006. Manga are typically printed in black and white and people travelling in trains are often seen engaged themselves busy in reading Manga. 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.

History of Japanese Manga

Some people believe that it is during and after the US occupation of Japan, manga was shaped by U.S. cultural influences, including U.S. comics brought to Japan.

Modern manga originates in the US occupation and post-occupation years, when a previously militaristic and ultranationalist Japan was rebuilding its political and economic infrastructure. There was an explosion of artistic creativity in this period from manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) and Machiko Hasegawa (Sazae-san)

Astro Boy became immensely popular in Japan and elsewhere, and Sazae-san is still running today. Tezuka and Hasegawa were both stylistic innovators

A group of female manga artists later called the Year 24 Group, also known as Magnificent 24s made their shōjo manga debut In 1969. The group included Hagio Moto, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Oshima, Keiko Tekemiya and Ryoko Yamagishi. They marked the first major entry of women artists into manga. Thereafter, shōjo manga would be drawn primarily by women artists for an audience of girls and young women.

In the following decades (1975-present), shōjo manga continued to develop stylistically while simultaneously evolving different but overlapping subgenres. Major subgenres include romance, superheroines, and "Ladies Comics" (in Japanese, redisu レディース, redikomi レディコミ, and josei 女性).

Manga groups & Modern Manga

Manga for male readers can be divided by the age of its intended audience.

Boys up to 18 years old - shōnen manga
Young men 18- to 30-years old Seinen manga.
Contentwise grouping, including action-adventure often involving male heroes, slapstick humor, themes of honor, and sometimes explicit sexuality.

There are different kanji for two closely allied meanings of seinen—青年 for youth, young man and 成年 for adult. This referring to sexually explicit manga for grown men, also called seijin manga. All three - Shōnen, seinen, and seijin manga share many features in common.

The role of girls and women in manga for male readers has evolved considerably over time to include those featuring single pretty girls.

In modern shōjo manga romance, love is a major theme set into emotionally intense narratives of self-realization. "Pretty Girl Soldier Sailor Moon", became internationally popular in both manga and anime formats. The superheroine subgenre also extensively developed the notion of teams of girls working together.