So What Is Whole Thing About?Well, to begin from the very basics, we need to know some simple terminology. Or words in Japanese. Manga is the Japanese word for "comics", while Anime is the Japanese world for Japanese "cartoons". Anime are usually based on a manga, especially those that run on as episodes, but not always.
An Otaku is someone who is unashamably in love with Manga and/or Anime. In Japan, this is generally confined to nerd-dom and social dorkism, but in other countries it is recognised to include a wide spectrum of people. People who are otaku are usually veterens of the whole idea of manga and anime, though anyone can be an otaku provided they go crazy enough over it.
The illustrator and/or writer of a Manga is a
Manga-ka.
Though they usually split into illustrators and story-makers;
some multi-talented people are capable of producing both skilfully.
The voice actors in Anime have an industry of their own, and are
expected to be multi-talented too. Apart from being able to voice-act
a character's voice, they are also expected to sing theme songs (well)
and have concerts. These people are called
Seiyuu, and are very versatile with the
roles they play. Because their lifestyle depends on getting a role,
that's why.
Before I got into Manga, as a child I had fervently
read Chinese comics, so I think I can give you a
brief background to how Chinese art influenced the
Japanese Manga. A common myth is that the Japanese
"stole" comics from the West; that is blatantly not
true. The Japanese has had their own form of artistic
expression and drawings for centuries, much of which
are heavily influenced by Chinese art.
The Chinese Comic Industry
Artists back then drew for the
sake of drawing, reflecting the harsh reality of
everyday life in their comics. Looking back, some
of these comics were both sad and entertaining,
as they were about situations everyone could
reflect on. Thus, they were extremely popular with
children and even adults. There were comics for
everybody; the retelling of myths for the boys,
comics on clothes and dressing-up for the girls,
and social/political comics for the adults. They
all aimed to get an instaneous message across, or
to preach a moral, so they were often very short.
The art style was very basic; each artist had a
different "style" of drawing that was recognisable.
Depending on the artist, the artwork ranged from
not very detailed to the very detailed, from the
thin strokes to the thick brush strokes and from
the neat presentation to the frenzied one. The
earlier types of comics consists of a book with
a single large square on each page, with the
content drawn in the large square. It usually
either comes with a caption or a speech bubble,
like a political cartoon. This eventually evolved
into a single page with four squares, depicting
a sequence of events. Each of these pages will
have a title, usually consisting of four words
(the standard number for a saying in the Chinese
language) explaining the situation. This was as
far as the Chinese comic industry went, followed
by the rise of the Japanese Manga industry.
The Japanese Manga Industry
First of all, Manga is entirely different from the comics you read
in the Sunday paper. This is in more than one way (besides the
obvious) - though you must burn it into your mind that manga
are NOT comics:
What Is The History Of Manga?
Chinese comics has been around for centuries, and
had always been fairly basic in it's layout and
what it depicts. This will mostly focus on the Hong
Kong's comics industry, from the 1950's onwards.
It was the post-war period, and the economy was
struggling to get back on it's feet in all parts
of Asia. People were poor and had few forms of
entertainment, so at that time the comic industry
took a giant leap forward with comics providing
a mean to pass the day. Sad to say the Hong Kong
comic industry didn't really go anywhere, and
remains the same size today (in the face of the
ever-increasing popularity of Manga).
At around this time the Manga industry was
beginning to find it's place in Japanese culture.
At the forefront of the assault was the
father of all Manga,
Tezuka Osamu,
who is now dead but had a very distinguished career.
He started off with a Doctor of Medicine degree from
Oosaka uni, but decided he wanted to be a Manga-ka.
And so he did; infact he became one of the most
revered Manga-kas of all time.
How Are "Manga" Different To "Comics"?
Difference
Comics
Manga
Age Bracket
When a grown adult is spotted reading
Garfield or The Phantom, people wonder. Why is that adult reading
comics? is the first thought that goes through their head.
In the Western World, comics (except political cartoons and other
such mediums) are kid's stuff; they belong in the domain of child
entertainment. It is expected comics is something people
miraculously grow out of when they become an adult.
In Japan, manga has a large popular culture
following and is considered a "serious" form of literature.
To the Japanese (and other Asians), pictures are another form of
expression; hence there are comics for all walks of life. There
are comics especially for children, teenage boys and girls and adults.
It is not strange or immature to read "comics" in Japan as an
adult; there are comics especially designed for the mature
reader. The readership depends on the wide range of themes present
in manga.
Themes
For some strange reason, Western comics keep on
repeating a theme which has been done to the death; the superhero
defeats villain saves damsel-in-distress story. For an even
stranger reason, people still aren't sick of it. I am aware of
other comics which do not have such themes, and are based on
everyday life (eg. Archie). These comics are fewer in number
and less well-known, which leaves the "SuperHero" theme to
dominate the market.
Due to the wide age bracket of readership, manga themes are
wide and varied; ranging from kid's stuff
to witless porn (strictly adults). There are even mangas
based on cooking, business and politics. However, because the
competition is so intense, manga-kas are expected to
produce terribly exciting stories with cliffhanger endings at
the end of each issue. If the story is cliched, dull or gets no
where, the editor performs their famous axe-manoever; forcing
the manga-ka to wrap things up quickly. Many an example
exists in the Shonen Jump magazine.
Characters
With "flawless vanguards of justice in skin-tight clothing
flushing out all manners of evil from the streets of [insert
city/country name here]" written all over them. I think you
know who or what I'm talking about; the characters in the
comics are quite predictable. There are also comics
with ordinary people and ordinary happenings in them (eg.
Archie again), with lives so close to the readers they can
really relate to the characters.
Usually ordinary people with ordinary ambitions and
dreams, but not always. You can't really have it all sometimes.
Manga characters often has a special ability which sets them
apart from the norm; whether it be ESP or demons for friends,
the character's aim is to master this gift and use it appropriately.
Either way, the author's aim to teach a moral message;
the process of growth in a character is often painful and
sometimes embaressing. In this way the reader can relate to
the character and it is intended that the reader will also
benefit this way.
Author(s)
Most comics (especially the Marvel Super
Heroes type) are the product of a number of authors, each
writing a separate story on the main character. Though is
efficient, it leaves little room for character development
and any real depth in each of the stories.
Mangas are usually
the product of one person; at the most two or three. Though
this means that the stories are slow to come out and has
highly-personalised themes, this allows the author(s) to write
the manga as a complete story - like a novel.
Story Continuity
Comics has story continuity in the form of
"adventures", where the story will be written as a whole
with parts published in each issue. There are also others
which are written in short story format or a collection of
a few squares.
Many mangas are like novels;
where the story revolves around the same plot from the
beginning to the end. There are also mangas which come
in a collection of stories, revolving around the same
characters but in different situations. The more popular
are the "novel-style story" ones; they have more room for
character development and complicated storylines.
Why Do Manga Characters Look The Way They Do?
 |
This is a fun question. People wonder about manga
characters, because they see something which look more
like martians than humans. The characteristic manga
character has huge hair, glistening eyes the
size of watermelons, mouths the size of peas, little
noses and legs a mile long. And
so to the outsider they look weird.
The first thing people say is that manga characters don't look like real people. Well, there's a reason for this, and it's a good one. Unlike the western comic industry, Japanese comics revolve a lot around character development, and the behaviour or each character is just as important as the storyline. This is to give each character their own personality and idiosyncrasies. And so, the expressions of the characters must be clearly and accurately |
Next, the huge glistening eyes and pea-sized mouths. Well, there is a good reason for this disproportion of the features. It has something to do with culture, the perception of beauty and Japanese history. The modern Japanese perception of beauty hasn't changed much over the past hundred year or so. The idea of a beautiful woman is: large, clear eyes; a small, delicate mouth; long, glossy hair; sweet, feminine nature; shapely torso; and long legs. And that is what manga characters are meant to represent, though the need for exaggeration caused the size of the features to grow or shrink. When the manga industry first emerged, it didn't have that sort of exaggeration in it; that came on gradually as the industry expanded.
As you may know, the father of modern manga is Tezuka Osamu, and he was the one who first started the ball rolling with his manga characters. If you look at the Tezuke characters, they don't look like Ranma in Ranma 1/2. They looked more human with smaller eyes, big mouths and has bad hair days. In fact, no manga character looked like that at the start of the manga revolution; it just got exaggerated over the decades to create a more "cute" form. If you look at what was "in" in the 70's (stuff like Star Blazers), none of the characters then sported such large eyes and miniscure mouths. Only in the 80's and 90's when the world started to notice the Japanese manga industry, did it in the name of improvement changed the proportioning of facial features.
Like everyone on this planet (and possibly others), the Japanese are attracted to beautiful-looking things - especially cute-looking things. Kawaii is a very useful word in the Japanese language. And manga characters reflect the idea of Japanese beauty, both male and female. This was started in the 80's with Anime like Creamy Mami, went into transitional stage and reached it's pinnacle with the Ranma OVAs. I remember I used to think that Creamy Mami characters were so cute, but they pale in comparison (in cuteness) to the Ranma characters. The industry just continues to produce cuter and cuter characters to attract audience, and their finished product are characters like Ranma.
So, I think I have sufficiently explained why manga
characters look the way they do; a result of culture
and the growth of an industry thrown together. May I
also add that I have nothing against Ranma & co, I'm
just using him as a comparison and representation of
modern manga and Anime.
