Mohar 1 Oodie Mohar Ms. Dasher British Literature 7 December 2016 The Use of Manga: Its History and Importance Throughout the ages, Japanese art has evolved into what it is today through various methods. This art ranges from several varying art forms, and has adapted from the innovation or sinification of other previously unused resources. This art style has adapted more than from just China, as the West is a major source of inspiration for this art as well. Debatably the most important art form that the Japanese have created would be graphic novels, also known as manga. Japanese manga is unique in the style it is formatted in that it is inspired from other works of art seen in the past; it has evolved into its own unique styles such as animation, and the process behind how manga itself is created and individualized. Manga has had its own evolution as the rest of the world has taken that grasp on such works and stylized the novel to each own design, including the infamous work known as anime. All of these aspects and several more make manga what it is today. Japanese manga is inspired from other works of art seen in the past. The history behind Japanese art goes back several hundreds of years. "The earliest art of Japan, probably dating from the 3d and 2d millennia B.C., consisted of monochrome pottery with cord-impressed designs " (Japanese Art). Obviously, paper was not used until it was brought over from China after it was invented. The author proves that Japanese artists are always thinking of new ways to create expressions, even before the earliest manga. Not only is this important for history, but
Mohar 2 these books have told events of the past that humans would never have known otherwise. This would make it a historical medium as well as both a fictitious and non-fiction source of information. So, fictitious stories are able to innovate, as proven in this quote, "anime include high-tech cyberpunks and teen characters with troubled relationships, as well as monsters, fantasy warriors, and giant robots" (Japanese Art). Not only non-fiction, but also fiction can expand to any vast land in any imagination. "Japanese-style comics, characterized by big-eyed, dynamically posed characters, are in vogue among today's American teens" (Francisca). This quote supports the previous quote and its example. Their stories publishing in book formats for the general book trade, rather than targeting the comics specialty market, manga has emerged as the most popular comics category (Reid). In Japan, Astro Boy was one of the manga books that made the industry boom, and it is often credited as the catalyst to the manga industry. "(Osamasu Tezuka's) manga biography is fittingly massive, dramatizing the artist's life over some 900 pages of cheery cartoon action" (Tezuka). This shows how important it was to the industry, and how big of an impact it had on the authors life to write so much. Graphic novels have evolved into its own unique styles such as animation. Anime which is short for animation is the equivalent of a stop-motion book, as this adapted art style is drawn frame by frame in a 2-d style. Anime has its own original music sound tracks called OST s, and professional voice acting for the characters as well as a team of sixty or more animators per studio. Anime takes around six months to one year to finish a single episode depending on the content and time. Several episodes must be in the work at once, which stretches the animation team. Over twenty thousand panels are typically drawn per episode which is around twenty-three minutes of screen time. This includes any flash backs, reused animation, an intro, and an outro. Not only anime, but several other sources have evolved from manga,
Mohar 3 including real life adaptions put into movies. manga represent a powerful medium for perpetuating received narratives and for transmitting the texts' value not simply because of their potential for dispersion but also because of their capacity to express, in just a few frames, the key markers cited by scholars to justify the texts' canonical status (Mark). These movies more often than not have a superlatively high budget that rivals Hollywood films. They also have intense, high quality graphics which can compare to high quality movies across the globe. Again, these movies have a set group of actors and a production set which makes the movie individualized and unique. Oftentimes, the movies and even anime do not follow the exact script or even storyline of the adaption they are borrowing from. This is called filler and is a common method using in these mediums as to prolong the plot. If no filler was added what-so-ever, then these films would last only a few minutes at the longest, which makes additional dialogue or gaps in between scenes or motions to be extended or added in altogether. The process behind how manga itself is created and individualized is long and tedious. There are many fundamentals in the process of creation: Brainstorming, Styling and Designing, Detailing, World Building, Storyboarding, Line Art, Inking, and Publishing. To begin the process, a creator needs to brainstorm, then they need a time and a place. This includes thinking of a genre, which is different in manga than in most outlets. For example, The word `shonen,' in Japanese, means boy, but it has a secondary meaning as well that means pure of heart (Bauer). In manga, the word shonen is often a substitute for the word action-drama or some variant where the main character is a boy that must overcome some obstacles. Following this, they will need to think of characters which will need to be unique and have their own personalities. After this, the creator will have to decide on their main character and the struggles they will be facing in their environment. Finally, everything must be linked and a timeline has to be created as the
Mohar 4 world building process begins. At some point before the physical process begins, authors will need to go out and get the correct supplies which varies per person. Specifically, correctly sized paper, inking pens including specific ink which is likely going to be from India, pencils and mechanical pencils, high quality erasers, any digital device, a blue colored pencil, and any other supporting object any artist needs to help them draw a graphic novel. Next, using the idea, it is finally time to put these skills to paper. To go more in-depth, some more advanced steps include "storyboarding, sketching, perspective, the basics of animating, and the functioning of an animation studio" (Lombardo). First is the story boarding, which is getting a rough penciled sketch along with rough sketches of where the panels will be. They make sure to plan every detail out, including the word bubbles for when they decide to include the text. After planning everything out and making sure that everything is exactly where it needs to be, an author may begin the next process. Creating the manga in and of itself is a very long process which begins with a penciled rough draft to make everything neat and in place. Once that is done, the process of inking needs to be done to permanently place the lines. Make sure to include every detail as well as consider a light source in all panels. Finally, do any visual edits online, which includes fixing any rough patches and considering shading or even potentially coloring the manga. It is important to make sure to include the text digitally at this point, otherwise this will have to be done by hand. Manga creators always have a take away in a story that can either leave the reader with a satisfying life lesson or clinging to know what happens next. "Sabaou's more recent shonen manga series, Houma Fighter, similarly orients its stories towards the construction and promotion of a new, more positive masculinity" (Turek). There should always be an overhanging motif or overall moral in every story that can relate to how the audience lives their lives despite what happens in the story.
Mohar 5 Graphic novels have had a deep and thorough history. Once manga popularized in Japan, the industry exploded across the world which takes the Japanese aspect out of some Japanese manga. Manga has had a long, impacting history on the world, and has even evolved into greater visual mediums. "Nagatomo's... Manga... has the obvious advantage of having been created in Japan." (Lombardo). This quote represents the struggles that American authors have to go with to achieve as much success as the place of origin. Even though they have been brought over, their origins still have the advantage. Today, manga is booming more than ever and the industry is not likely going to slow down as it is only gaining momentum through similar visual mediums such as anime, comics, video games or even posters advertising manga. It is clear that manga is very important to the world from a factual and fiction stand point, as the authors continue to provide readers with new information every day.
Mohar 6 Works Cited "Analysis: Magazine Shonen Jump promotes anime and manga." All Things Considered 9 Jan. 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. Dennis, Mark. "Manga as historical medium: depictions of Prince Shotoku's authorship of the Sangyogisho in Japanese comic books." Forum for World Literature Studies 3.1 (2011): 25+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. Goldsmith, Francisca. "Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics." Booklist July 2001: 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. Gueydan-Turek, Alexandra. "Cute girls, tough boys: performing gender in Algerian manga." European Comic Art 7.1 (2014): 85+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. "Japanese Art." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2016): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 6 Sept. 2016. Lombardo, Daniel. "Nagatomo, Haruno. Draw Your Own Manga: Beyond the Basics." Library Journal 15 Nov. 2005: 69. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. Lombardo, Daniel. "Hart, Christopher. Anime Mania: How to Draw Characters for Japanese Animation." Library Journal 15 Nov. 2002: 70. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. "The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime." Publishers Weekly 29 Aug. 2016: 76. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016. Reid, Calvin. "Manga is here to stay: Tokyopop's format leads manga into the bookstore market." Publishers Weekly 20 Oct. 2003: S6+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.