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| From Books to Movies: Manga | ||
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Roots to Rebels: The Making of an Anime Nation
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Although the first Japanese animated film didn’t make its debut until 1914, most of the styles, techniques, and stories of early and contemporary animation are related to an earlier form of pictorial storytelling, the manga. These manga (the Japanese word is both plural and singular) are what can be loosely defined as Japanese comics. Contemporary manga are book-like volumes of sequential or episodic stories laid out in comic-book fashion, but unlike American comic books, they cater to a wider range of topics, and therefore a wider audience. There are manga for men, women, and children, that cover anything and everything from modern romance, to history, to horror. Their use is not limited to entertainment, either. Manga are often used to teach literature or history, to train business people, or spread public service announcements. In Japan, manga is by far the most popular printed media; the top selling manga Shonen Jump sells more than five million copies per week, five times more than the most popular non-manga periodical. In total, 2.3 billion manga are sold in Japan every year, a testament to its wide and lasting popularity (Yang 46). |
In total, 2.3 billion manga are sold in Japan every year, a testament to its wide and lasting popularity. |
| A word meaning "irresponsible pictures," manga has its roots in the ukiyo-e (woodblock printing) tradition of the Edo Period (1603-1867). In fact, one of the most famous ukiyo-e masters, Hokusai (1760-1849) was the first to coin the term (Thompson). [Click here to see an example of ukiyo-e] The incorporation of elements of "cinematic style," inspired by American animation, fostered a new type of sequential picture book that allowed the reader to view each frame as if it were through the lens of a camera. By changing the shape of the frame and arrangement of characters in it, one can see "close-ups" on a character’s face, "pans" of the landscape, and "off screen" shots. In turn, this Japanese innovation in manga later influenced American comic books (Yang 47). Both Japanese and American comics still use this technique today. |
The incorporation of elements of "cinematic style," inspired by American animation, fostered a new type of sequential picture book that allowed the reader to view each frame as if it were through the lens of a camera.
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| Many of today’s most popular Japanese animations are based on a manga equivalent, just as many American live-action movies are based on books. Although it is not true of every animator or animated film, many Japanese animators, like Osamu Tezuka (who some call the "Walt Disney of Japan") began their careers as manga artists, then later went on to transform their stories into animated films. Osamu Tezuka created the first true manga in 1947, a two-hundred page volume entitled Shin-takarajima, or New Treasure Island, which sold over 400,000 copies in postwar Japan. Tezuka later created Jungle Emperor in 1951, a familiar series about a lion cub and his adventures in the jungle. This same story later won popularity not only in Japan but also in America in its animated form entitled Kimba the White Lion (Yang 46). Arguably, Kimba is one of the driving influences behind the recent Disney release The Lion King, the acknowledgment (or refutation) of which has helped to bring Japanese animation into the entertainment spotlight. | ||
| Certain themes are
present in Japanese animation which not only gives it slight consistency,
but also contributes in other more "cultural" ways.
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