199

The Possibilities of Manga
楠田寛大（Stephen Richmond ゼミ）

1. Introduction
1.1 Manga across borders
One day, when I was talking with myHow often Japanese people read manga? I thinkthat manga always give me a hope, impression
and courage. Why do they experience suchemotions?

friend about manga, a foreign friend joined

In our current information technology age,the conversation and talked knowledgably andthe amount of printed media is declining. Will

passionately. It was a surprise to me, so I asked

manga be all right? I like manga very much,a question them how they knew of this Japaneseand I am not alone. Can manga remain alive incomic. They answered“This book is popular inthis age for sure? These days, even in the train,

our country too.”people are not reading manga but everyone

This was a wonderful shock for me. My

fiddles with their mobile phone. But it’s not only

favorite manga is loved by all over the world. I

manga that are disppearing. Newspapers, books

was deeply moved. If the manga is known acrossand magazine are seen in fewer hands. It mightborders, we can talk about knowing a commonbe because we receive more of our information

work. I had a lot of questions.“How do Japanesefrom the data in a smartphone.

manga cross over to other countries?”“How wasthe story?”“How much do foreign countries and

1.2 Importance of this study

regions read Japanese manga?”“Do different

I am anxious about the above trends. I grewcountries have different popular manga?”“Whenup with manga. I always read manga when I

the Japanese manga at the first started andbefore going to bed, riding on the train, studying

spread to the world?”I have more questions.

in my study breaks and in my free time. There

Which Japanese manga are recognized and readare genres I like and dislike. At that time thereby a lot of countries?

was too much erotic manga, and for that reason

I believe manga is an artform that can evoke

I feel the story in those manga is too light.

emotions and response in its readers. Sometimes

There was too much death in manga, and for

we hold the books with sweaty hands,

that reason I believe we have a generation ofsometimes we laugh out loud, and at other times

kids thinking lightly of death. But it’s not only

cannot read without shedding teardrops. Youkids; it seems all Japanese people changed theirmight say that, manga can feed our hearts andway of thinking about death. For that reason,souls. Since I found about the worldwide appeal

most parents don’t want their children to readof manga, I have though about common values

the manga. This is not what manga is about. Iand interests from there.

believe that manga is one way of learning about

In this paper I would like to investigate howcommon knowledge and society. They shouldJapanese manga is read by Japanese and people

be of value to Japanese culture. Thus I want toin other countries, and what its future might

include in this essay my feelings about manga

hold. How many Japanese people read a manga?

writer and readers.

200

2. The Possibilities of Manga
2.1 History of Manga
The first manga were simply defined as funnyor foolish cartoon art. However, this definition

many other Japanese woodblock print artists
drew caricatures to express manga. Only themanga written by them was not to be sold as aproduct, so it is simply a form of entertainment
for them.

doesn’t cover all of its use today. The wider

A picture book of yellow backed novel isdefinition of manga is not simply to makehumorous reading material what is drawing

readers laugh. Its scope also includes cartoons,the painting with a sentence. One of them,stories, scribbling and anime. Manga is just thethere is Kinkin Sensei Eigano Yume （1775）bygeneric name for all of these types of drawing. ItHarumachi Koikawa. Out of Those, scene of theis said that the original Japanese manga would

seeing dream is used an effusion. Contemporary

be the Chōjū-giga .

manga’s techniques were already being used inThe Chōjū-giga is a long picture scroll thatthese days. At the time, Jippensha Ikku, famous

belongs to a temple in Kyoto’s Ukyo-ku. It’sfor Tokai Douchu Hiza Kurige , was the firsta Japanese national treasure. This picture scroll

artist to draw pictures with written words.

is drawn in the expressionistic style of modern

However, since he is devoted to the writing ofmanga. The hero of the story succeeds inoriginal work, the responsibility for drawing

passing gas, shown by the lines drawn beside

pictures would come to be entrusted to anotherthe character, very much like a modern manga.

artists. In other words, it was a complete

The other one has including to a constituent look

relationship between original author and manga

like a technique. However, picture scrolls wereartist in the same way as today’s manga.

not accessible to common people at the time. InIn the Late Edo period, Japan’s first comic

the eighteenth century, cartoons began to bemagazine was published for the first time. Its

distributed in the form of the commodity thattitle was Japan Punch . Its publisher was anwe call manga.

Englishman named Charles Wirgman, who

In the nineteenth century, Japanese woodblock

published it at the Yokohama foreign concession.

prints influenced by manga began to appear.

However, it was not written in Japanese, but

They has a advantage of being reasonably-English. Just the same, both engravers andpriced, made possible by development insliding nurses were Japanese and also, Japaneseengraving’s printing technology. In this way,

paper was used. At the start the firm publishedengraving helped influence the development

and circulated comic magazines.

of manga as well. In the Edo period, engraving

Kyosai Kawanabe and Robun Kanagaki

and printing developed even further. Japanesewoodblock prints began to permeate society as apublished the satirical paper E-shinbun nippon
chi influenced by Japan Punch . Furthermore,form of mass entertainment.

Kisho Shinbun were published and thisIt was at this time that Hokusai Katsushika’s“Hokusai manga”trend arrived around thewhole country. It is said that this art had awas followed in 1877 by Dandan Shinbun , arepresentative publication of the Meiji period.
This magazine was the first to start serial

huge effect on European art. Just this“Hokusaicomics in Japan. The piece of writing wasmanga”is textbook wrote for Katsushika’s

Enoshima Kamakura Choutan Ryokou , bydisciples, so this book wasn’t available to theBeisaku Taguchi. It main characters were Cho

general public. However, his pupils drew manga（‘Long’） and Tan （‘Short’）, and it was ato make samples of his work. And not only them,

comic story about a sightseeing trip. In 1915,201The Possibilities of Manga

Ippei Okamoto established what was the first

this answer. Surprisingly, it seems that manga

cartoonist association in Japan. It name was thehas quite an effect on our quality of life.

Tokyo Comic Party, later renamed the party

Next, we should think about what exactly

was renamed the Japan Comic Party. Ippei

this good influence is rooted in. Most people

Okamoto started to publish the written serial

answered that they had a positive influence fromGame of Life in the Tokyo Asahi newspaper.

manga. What exactly is this? There are positive

This is said to be the prototypical story manga.

effects much as widening social circles throughs Adventure and Easygoing
In 1923, Sho-chan’reading the shared literary work. Having a

Father were released. Later the segmentationcommon topic to talk about is enjoyable forof manga segment became established aspeople. A good influence is seems to be therepresentative techniques of manga. And in

most popular reason（44.2%）. The second mostthe same year, a new comic faction group waspopular reason（14.2%）is changing their view

created by a young member of cartoonists suchof life and sense of values. Unquestionably,

as Hidezo Kondo, Yukio Sugiura and Ryuichi

characters in manga display a variety ofYokoyama. These it cartoonists created work

lifestyles. After that, readers answered that they

but not with writing brush, so they used a pen

gain some knowledge through reading manga.

for drawing manga. This style brought JapaneseThis is another positive effect of reading manga.

original nonsense manga to a major style, which

Sometimes manga are written with great detail

was influenced by European comics.

of information. Some manga are used as a formof mass media. In this information society age,

2.2 Manga in Japan

manga are used as another form of collecting

As we have seen, Japanese manga has quite

information, rather than simply entertainment.

a long history. But, how do Japanese people feel

Looking at responses by age, 12.3 percent of

about manga nowadays? What is it that Japanesemale readers in teenagers to twenties answered

people see in manga? There is some interesting‘to meet people 12.5 percent of reader in theirdata, based on the results of a survey by Culture

thirties to forties answered‘to start a lesson’,Convenience Club Inc. It posed questions such as

while 24 percent of females aged in their 50’s to“Is manga a good influence on your life?”“How60’s answered that reading was a way‘to start

many manga do you read?”and“What do youa journey’. It seems then, that manga contribute

think about when you are reading manga?”

to taking a step of opportunity for their new life.

good influence on readers’lives. This topic is a

The next question in the survey was How
often do you read manga? The above data say

so good topic for this thesis because it is linked

a good influenced for many people. Thereupon,

to the idea of possibilities of manga. Fiction andthere is a question what how much is you

The first question is about how manga are a

non-fiction manga are created in a wide range ofusually reading a manga. 40.8 percent said thatgenres, for example history, love story, humanthey read once a month. There are 57.3 percent

drama, sports, fantasy and science fiction. In thispeople who answered once a year. In the age

environment, it seems reading manga is goodrange of teens to twenties, 18.7 percent ofinfluence on Japanese people. Eighty-one point

females read two to three manga every month.

seven percent of people responded that manga

In the thirties to forties, 14.7 percent read one toare a good influence. After there was little

three a week, while a similar number read two

difference across age and sex for this response.

to three a month. In the age range 50’s to 60’s,

For the most part, generation has no effect on

11.3 percent read a manga twice a year or read202

every month. Males and females read a manga

manga. A twenty-year old American said thatas they aged.

she said that overseas manga is for a general

The next question was What is your image

audience, but Japanese manga is for a specificof reading manga? For the most part, it seems

one, and they liked this about it. She continued

Japanese people read a manga once a year. Theby saying that she like the drawings in Japanesemost common answer（41%）was that readersmanga. Even if it the manga narrative is not

don’t feel anything special about reading manga.

completely interesting, the reader can still enjoy

This result hints that manga is now a part ofthe excellent artwork.

usual, everyday culture for Japanese people. The

Another respondent, a twenty-five year old

second most common response（19.8%）was thatmale from Australia, replied that he liked themanga are Accessible. Other answers about thefact that manga has a lot of genres. There

image of manga-reading were（1）that they haveis only really the super-hero, so few genres

abundant topics,（2）they are fun, and（3）theyin American comics. A twenty-four year-old

are nerdy. So relatively, most respondents had aAustralian said that while comedy comics only

positive image. After that there are many people

have a comedy angle, there are serious comics

who say that their humanity has been improved

is too. But Japanese manga mixes comedy andthrough reading manga.

serious stories very well. And he also likes

What is the most popular genre of manga inthat fact that everyone read it, not just young

Japan? The most common response（39.7%）waspeople. A twenty-four year old Frenchwoman

comic strip and comedy. The next most popular

said that drawing a process what character

genres were, in descending order, sports（32.5%）,

learn a new skill, and she is studying Japanesebattle/fighting （28.6%）, romance （27.2%）

by manga from reading furigana on the side ofand fantasy（26.2%）. These results hint thatkanji. A Canadian man said American comics

despite the variety of genres, Japanese readersrealer than Japanese manga about picture andstill surprisingly like manga’s traditional andstory. But Japanese manga is more imaginary

original genres.

than American, and he likes that about it.

2.3 Manga around the world

has a character what is a boy and girls near us.

Another Canadian man said Japanese manga
We have seen that manga have overwhelming
popularity in Japan. But how are manga

He can project himself into the story, and get asense of familiarity from the character.

appreciated overseas? An interesting survey

On the other hand, there were a number ofconducted by Soshio Corporation in August 2012

comments about the negative points of Japanese

to report absurd and interesting facts to public.

manga. A twenty-six year-old German woman

It gives us some hints about manga readership.

replied that she doesn’t like BL manga.
‘BL’s good
The first question was What is a manga’
point? There are heard to foreigner what do you

manga depicting gay relationships. It is very

stands for‘Boy’s Love’- a genre of romantic

like part of Japanese manga? A twenty-six-year

popular in Europe, but this respondent didn’t

old German said that he liked the stories used

like it. An Estonian man（25）said that he didn’in Japanese manga.“For example, Dragonball ist feel positively about either BL manga andbased in Chinese stories. The mythological andharem genre manga, saying there was too muchhistorical base of Japanese manga is so good.”A

sexual description and they are too fan-oriented.

twenty-two-year old Estonian said that he replied

Another twenty-five-year old man said thatthat they learn about Japanese society fromin some manga, the story features numerous

203
The Possibilities of Manga

girls in love with a single boy. This narrativeis in a bad point what violence and obscene

is becoming a pattern and even a parody. Andis centered. In the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese

twenty-five-year old French man said that hemanga such as Dragonball, Slam Dunk and
Detective Conan gained great success all overdidn’t like manga featuring robots and magicalgirls.
It is also true that there are some manga

the world, with their main themes of friendship,effort and victory. However, more than half

which have changed genre from gag to serious.

of the serials in popular weekly comic Shonen

A good example is Silversoul , which is serious

Jump are now discontinued or striped to thewith some comedy. Its narrative has an uneven

buff. This is because of changing mores andpace, so its readers get tired. Most Japaneserules regarding the depiction of violence orpeople say that American comics are based

obscenity these days. The slightly gentler

on superheroes. But what is Japanese manga?

Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine are facing

Japanese manga has many genres, and it seems

difficult conditions in their business. How didthat foreign readers have picked up on this fact.

Japanese manga get to this point? Since about

It also seems are there are many opinions withten years ago, the Japanese manga market has

regards to Japanese manga, and not all manga

been in disorder. Since that time there was an

are equally popular across all readerships.

excess supply of content, which gave rise toa kind of malignant competition. Having a hit

3. Conclusions
3.1 The Future of Manga

product for a few years is seen to be better thanwrite a great literary manga for many years.
In Japan, manga are published one after

As we have seen, Japanese manga has someanother and pushed to the marketplace.

good points and bad points. With regards theHowever, this stream of new manga inevitably

former, it is true that maybe paper medium willresembles the already published ones. However,be lost in a few years. These days we are inreaders are always on the watch for something

an age called the Information Technology age.

fresh. They are deferent age and also school

In the near future, publishing will be changed

career, so to attract more readers, the publishers

to electronic medium from paper. Electronic

create more content and to prosecute instinct.

medium is a better medium than paper for

Recently, too many similar manga are published,several reasons. First of all, the electronicand originality is at a premium. I believe thatmedium is good for the environment; the paper

this mindset must be thrown away and new

medium uses vast amounts of paper and ink,

ideas must be published. If not, manga will be

but electronic media uses next to none. Anotherin danger of going out of fashion. Many readers

reason is that it’s easier to carry. The paper

will give up on manga when they get tired of

medium is bulky, and many people agree on

similar stories.

this. However, electronic manga only requires aWhenever possible, writers of manga shouldsmartphone or PC, and can store a huge amountthoroughly understand readers and manga,of manga in data form. Some fear that the paper

including the history of manga, and how manga

medium will be lost for reasons like this.

has been developed and published. It is also

What is the future of manga? We haveimportant for writer to avoid writing rambling

seen that Japan is a one of the major powers

and arbitrary stories. Of course there arein producing manga. It number increase andwriters who come up with the same idea. But

publication speed is quicker. But like there

the writer should always be celebrated and204developed, otherwise Japanese manga culture
will reach its limits. If the industry only creates
similar manga, they will be of lower quality. Letus hope that original Japanese manga continue
to spread to many other countries.
It is certain that the medium of manga will
evolve from paper to electronic devices. Even
after this happens, the delights of manga will
still reach the readers’eyes and hearts. So, ina way, the situation might not change much.
Manga has given us enjoyment, dreams andhope. I believe that manga will continue to give
us much more from now on.

Bibliography
Bernt, J.（2007）Manga no Kuni Nihon. Tokyo:Kyoei.
Culture Convenience Club（2013）. Manga ni
Taisuru Ankeeto Chosa （Questionnaireabout Manga） Published by Press
Release,Inc., found at: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000201.000000983.html
Accessed January 3rd 2017.
Ishiko, J.（1980）History of Japanese Comics,
First volume, 2nd ed. Tokyo: Otsuki
Ishiko, J.（1979）History of Japanese Comics,
Second volume. Tokyo: Otsuki