Manga

**Manga** are Japanese-based comics or graphic novels were it´s mostly aimed for all age-groups.The word manga was used in Japan to apply both comics and cartooning outside Japan and the word is usually used to relate to comics originally publishes in the country. Manga were so popular around the world that they were translated into other languages. Majority of times manga stories are usually printed in black and white due to artists thinking coloring could lessen the impact of the artwork and also it´s more cheaper. In Japan, manga are usually serialized in large manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If a manga series is successful enough in terms of sells they might be animated after or during it´s run.Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly in Algeria ("DZ-manga"), China, Hong Kong, Taiwan ("manhua"), and South Korea ("manhwa").

## History

   The history of manga is said to originate from scrolls dating back to the 12th century, and it is believed they represent the basis for the right-to-left reading style. During the Edo period (1603–1867), *Toba Ehon* embedded the concept of manga. The word itself first came into common usage in 1798, with the publication of works such as Santō Kyōden's picturebook *Shiji no yukikai* (1798), and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's *Manga hyakujo* (1814) and the *Hokusai Manga* books (1814–1834). Adam L. Kern has suggested that *kibyoshi*, picture books from the late 18th century, may have been the world's first comic books. These graphical narratives share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes. Some works were mass-produced as serials using woodblock printing.Regardless of its source, an explosion of artistic creativity occurred in the post-war period, involving manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka (*Astro Boy*) and Machiko Hasegawa (*Sazae-san*). *Astro Boy* quickly became (and remains) immensely popular in Japan and elsewhere, and the anime adaptation of *Sazae-san* drawing more viewers than any other anime on Japanese television in 2011.

Tezuka and Hasegawa both made stylistic innovations. In Tezuka's "cinematographic" technique, the panels are like a motion picture that reveals details of action bordering on slow motion as well as rapid zooms from distance to close-up shots. This kind of visual dynamism was widely adopted by later manga artists. Hasegawa's focus on daily life and on women's experience also came to characterize later *shōjo manga*. Between 1950 and 1969, an increasingly large readership for manga emerged in Japan with the solidification of its two main marketing genres, *shōnen manga* aimed at boys and *shōjo manga* aimed at girls.

In 1969 a group of female manga artists (later called the *Year 24 Group*, also known as *Magnificent 24s*) made their *shōjo* manga debut ("year 24" comes from the Japanese name for the year 1949, the birth-year of many of these artists). The group included Moto Hagio, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Ōshima, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Yamagishi. Thereafter, primarily female manga artists would draw *shōjo* for a readership 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).

Modern *shōjo* manga romance features love as a major theme set into emotionally intense narratives of self-realization. With the superheroines, *shōjo* manga saw releases such as Pink Hanamori's *Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch* Reiko Yoshida's *Tokyo Mew Mew*, And, Naoko Takeuchi's *Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon*, which became internationally popular in both manga and anime formats. Groups (or *sentais*) of girls working together have also been popular within this genre. Like Lucia, Hanon, and Rina singing together, and Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus working together.

   Manga for male readers sub-divides according to the age of its intended readership: boys up to 18 years old (*shōnen* manga) and young men 18 to 30 years old (*seinen* manga); as well as by content, including action-adventure often involving male heroes, slapstick humor, themes of honor, and sometimes explicit sex.

Boys and young men became some of the earliest readers of manga after World War II. From the 1950s on, *shōnen* manga focused on topics thought to interest the archetypal boy, including subjects like robots, space-travel, and heroic action-adventure. Popular themes include science fiction, technology, sports, and supernatural settings. Manga with solitary costumed superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man generally did not become as popular.

The role of girls and women in manga produced for male readers has evolved considerably over time to include those featuring single pretty girls (*bishōjo*) such as Belldandy from *Oh My Goddess!*, stories where such girls and women surround the hero, as in *Negima* and *Hanaukyo Maid Team*, or groups of heavily armed female warriors (*sentō bishōjo*).