Manga outside Japan
Encyclopedia
Manga
, or Japanese comics
, have appeared in translation in many different languages in different countries, including Brazil
, Korea
, mainland China
, Hong Kong
, Taiwan
, France
, Germany
, Mexico
, Argentina
, Spain
, Italy
, and many more. In the United States
, manga comprises a small (but growing) industry
, especially when compared to the inroads that Japanese animation
has made in the USA. One example of a manga publisher in the United States
, VIZ Media
, functions as the American affiliate of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan
and Shueisha
. VIZ Media has published many popular titles such as Dragon Ball, One Piece
, Detective Conan
, Neon Genesis Evangelion
, Rurouni Kenshin
, Naruto
, Yu-Gi-Oh!
, Fullmetal Alchemist
, Bleach
and the various works of Rumiko Takahashi
. The UK has fewer manga publishers than the U.S.
) did not approve of their work being modified this way, and requested that foreign versions retain the right-to-left format of the originals. Soon, due to both fan demand and the requests of creators, more publishers began offering the option of right-to-left formatting, which has now become commonplace in North America. Left-to-right formatting has gone from the rule to the exception.
Translated manga often includes notes on details of Japanese culture that foreign audiences may not find familiar.
One company, TOKYOPOP
(founded 1997), produces manga in the United States with the right-to-left format as a highly publicized point-of-difference. They are widely credited with starting a boom in manga sales, particularly amongst teenage girls. Some critics have complained that their aggressive publishing schedule emphasizes quantity over quality, and might be responsible for translations which many feel to be of sub-optimal quality. Many also frown upon the company for their frequent localization changes, including additions such as American slang, excessive swearing that is not to be found in the Japanese originals of the same titles, and joke rewrites, among others. The critics tend to admit that their contributions to the success of manga in America have been considerable.
have published Hong-Kong authors (Andy Seto
, Yu & Lau) or Korean authors (Kim Jae-hwan
, Soo & Il, Wan & Weol and Hyun Se Lee) in their manga collection during 1995/1996 which is quite uncommon. Also, some Japanese authors, such as Jiro Taniguchi
, are relatively unknown in other western countries but received much acclaim in France.
In cultural terms, the sheer popularity and diversity of manga in France may result from that country having a well-established and respected comics-market of its own. Also, an exceptionally reduced number of TV channels in the 1970s and 1980s may explain the powerful impact the Japanese animation had on the audience: since viewers had little choice, Japanese animation quickly became mainstream. Since its introduction in the 1990s, manga publishing and anime broadcasting have become intertwined in France, where the most popular and exploited shōnen
, shōjo
and seinen
TV series were imported in their paper version. Therefore, Japanese books ("manga") were naturally and readily accepted by a large juvenile public who was already familiar with the series and received the manga as part of their own culture. A strong parallel backup was the emergence of Japanese video games, Nintendo
/Sega
, which were mostly based on manga and anime series.
One major reason for the success of manga in France may lie in the fact that its corollary, the Japanese animation
, had previously appeared in that country on public television-channels in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Unlike other European countries, at this time there were only three TV channels. All of them were public and hosted shows for children. Shōnen and Shōjo series like UFO Robot Grendizer, Captain Future
, Candy Candy
and Captain Harlock
are iconical of this era.
Producer Jean Chalopin
quickly contacted some Japanese studios, such as Toei (who did Grendizer); and Tokyo Movie Shinsha
, Studio Pierrot
and Studio Junio produced French-Japanese series. Even though made completely in Japan by character-designers such as Shingo Araki
, the first Chalopin production of this type, Ulysses 31
took thematic inspiration from the Greek Odyssey
and graphic influence from Stanley Kubrick
's 2001: A Space Odyssey
. Ulysses 31
went on sale in 1981, other shows produced by DiC Entertainment
followed in 1982, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
, Mysterious Cities of Gold, later M.A.S.K.
, etc. Such series were enough popular to allow the introduction of licensed products such as tee shirts, toys, stickers, mustard glass, mugs or keshi
. Also followed a wave of anime adaptations of European tales by Studio Pierrot and mostly by the Nippon Animation
studio, e.g. Johanna Spyri
's (1974), Waldemar Bonsels
's (1975), Hector Malot
's (1977), Cécile Aubry
's (1980), or Jules Verne
's Around the World with Willy Fog
(1983), notable adaptation of American works were Mark Twain
's Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(1980) and Alexander Key
's Future Boy Conan
. Interesting cases are Alexandre Dumas, père
's The Three Musketeers
adapted to Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds
(1981) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
become Sherlock Hound
(1984), both turned human characters into anthropomorph
animals.
Such anthropomophism in tales comes from old and common storytelling traditions in both Japanese and French cultures, including the Chōjū giga emaki (the true origins of manga) of Toba Sōjō
(1053–1140), and the animal fables of Jean de La Fontaine
(1621–1695). Changing humans to anthropomorphized dogs reflects a known form of Cynicism
, the European philosophy evident in many modern countries: etymologically speaking, the bite of the Cynic comes from the fact he is a dog (cyno means "dog" in Greek). The adaptations of these popular tales made easier the acceptance and assimiliation of semi-Japanese cultural products in countries such as France, Italy or Spain. The localization including credits removal by Saban
or DiC
, was such that even today, twenty or thirty years later, most of French adults who have watched series like Calimero
(1974) adapted from an Italian novel, Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum (1975), Barbapapa
(1977) adapted from a French novel, or Monchichi (1980) as kids don't even know they were not local animation but "Japananimation" created in Japan, South Korea
, China
or North Korea
.
In 1986 and 1987 three new private or privatized television channels appeared on French airwaves. An aggressive struggle for audience, especially on children television shows, started between the two public and the two private channels. After the private channels lost market share, they counter-attacked with a non-Japanese lineup, mostly American productions such as Hanna-Barbera
. This ploy failed, and TF1 remained pre-eminent in children's TV shows with its Japanese licenses.
In 1991 French theaters showed an anime feature-film for the first time: Katsuhiro Otomo
's Akira
, a teen-rated, SF movie supported by manga publisher Glénat but poorly distributed and a limited success. TF1 Video edited the video (VHS
) version for the French market, and Akira quickly became an anime reference. However, Japanese animation genre became massively exploited by TV shows from the late 1980s onwards, most notably the cult Club Dorothée
show (mostly dedicated to Toei
anime
and tokusatsu
series). In fact, the commercial relationship between the Japanese studio and the French show producers were so good, that the French presenter was even featured in a Metal Hero Series episode as guest star.
Just as in a Japanese manga series magazine, Club Dorothée audience voted by phone or minitel
to select and rank their favourite series. Top-rank series continued the following week, others stopped, then a hundred of series aired the show. This imported Japanese marketing method had never previously operated in France, and never has since. The most popular series were Dragon Ball and later its sequel, Dragon Ball Z, which became number one, and was nicknamed le chouchou (the favorite") by the show presenter, Dorothée. As the series kept number one for several months, Dorothée invited Akira Toriyama
(Toei Animation
), creator of the series, on the TV show studio to introduce him to the French audience and award him a prize in the name of the TV show.
Saint Seiya
became the second anime series to achieve popularity in France. It too belonged to the seinen genre, and thus showed more violence - directed towards an older audience - than the Nippon Animation studio shōnen/shōjo series of the 1970s and 1980s. Notable Toei and non-Toei anime series broadcast by that time on French TV included Captain Tsubasa
, Robotech
, High School! Kimengumi
and Kinnikuman
. This cult TV show ran from 1987 to 1997 and had unpredicted effects and a deep influence on French culture. Not only it created a generation of Japanophile
, but it did set a strong base for a durable and massive exploitation of manga publishing and anime video (DVD) in the following decade. The reason is most broadcast anime series were adaptations of existing manga, and that the grown up children would be later able to buy manga and DVD boxsets (TF1 Video and others) of their favourite childhood series.
published the first manga issued in France, Akira
, in 1990 — supported by the respected newspaper Libération
and by the national TV channel Antenne 2. Followers included Dragon Ball (1993), Appleseed (1994), Ranma 1/2 (1994) and five others. In the mid-1990s, both anime and manga became a social phenomenon in France, with different magazines in B5 size like Kameha (Glénat) and later Manga Player (MSE).
At the same time a controversy arose among some parents. In particular, the conservative association Familles de France started a media polemic about the undesirable contents, such as violence, portrayed in the Club Dorothée, a kids' TV show. By this time, a generational conflict had arisen between the young fans of "Japanimation" (in use until anime became mainstream) and the older Japoniaiseries (a pejorative pun for Japonaiseries, literally "Japanese stuff" and "niaiseries", "simpleton stuff") . Ségolène Royal
even published a book, Le Ras le bol des bébés zappeurs in which Manga are described as decadent dangerous and violent. She hasn't changed her position on that topic yet. The same adult content controversy was applied to hentai
manga, including the notorious, "forbidden", Shin Angel by U-Jin
, published by pioneers such as Samourai Editions or Katsumi Editions and later to magazines. The first hentai series magazine, "Yoko", featured softcore series like Yuuki's Tropical Eyes. It was first issued in late 1995. The same year, the noir and ultra-violent series, Gunnm (aka Battle Angel Alita), was serialized in a slim, monthly, edition. Around the same period a hardcore version of Yoko magazine Okaz was issued.
and City Hunter
late at night for a teen and adult audience. French television finally discontinued these edited series, and the Club Dorothée, broadcast on private channel TF1
, started to replace Japanese content with European or American animation series (imitating their rival public-channel television shows) and with French sitcoms. Even though the French-Belgian animation studios got rid of serious competition, the show lost its phenomenal audience and stopped in 1997. The mistake made by the Club Dorothée producers had to do with a cultural view: in France, as in most Western countries, animation was seen as a genre in its own right, a product dedicated to children not adults. An animation feature was not considered the same as a live-action film, which is totally different in Japan. Series were massively licensed to Toei without consideration of age ratings.
In 1996 the production group of Club Dorothée set up a cable/satellite channel dedicated to manga and anime. The new channel changed its name to Mangas in 1998: the concepts of anime and manga have become intertwined in France, and manga actually became the mainstream generic term to designate the two media. The channel broadcasts former discontinued series from the Club Dorothée both to nostalgic adults and to new and younger generations.
gave critical acclaim to Hiroyuki Okiura
's Jin-Roh
, and in 2000, Hayao Miyazaki
's Princess Mononoke
became a commercial success, probably the biggest for an anime feature.
In 2004, Mamoru Oshii
's Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 became the first animation finalist in the prestigious International Film Festival of Cannes
, which demonstrates a radical perspective change and a social acceptance of Japanese anime/manga. Since 2005, contemporary Japanese series such as Naruto
, Initial D
, Great Teacher Onizuka
, Blue Gender
or Gunslinger Girl
appeared on new, analog/digital terrestrial (public) and on satellite/broadband (private) channels. As the highly aggressive competition who raged once between, the sole two or three available channels no more exists in the new, vast, and segmented French TV offer, the anime is doing a revival in France.
, adapted manga using the Western reading direction and its induced work of mirroring each panel and graphical signs, and also using a quality paper standard to the Franco-Belgian comics , while others, like J'ai Lu, were faithful to the original manga culture and not only kept the original, inverted, Japanese direction reading but also used a newspaper standard, cheap quality, paper just like in Japan. The Japanese manga was such an important cultural phenomenon that it quickly influenced French comics authors. A new "French manga" genre emerged, known as "La nouvelle manga" ("lit. the new manga") in reference to the French Nouvelle Vague.
manga being released by Conrad in the late 1990s, during the Pokémon boom.
In 2002, Conrad published Saint Seiya
and Dragon Ball
(both titles already well known, since the equivalent anime had become highly successful in the 1990s). After the success of these titles, Conrad released not only trendy manga like One Piece
, Vagabond
, Neon Genesis Evangelion
, and Slam Dunk
, but also classic manga like Osamu Tezuka
titles (including Adolf
and Buddha
), Nausicaä
, and less known titles like Bambi and Sade.
In 2003, the Japanese-Brazilian company Japan Brazil Communication (JBC) started publishing manga, releasing Rurouni Kenshin
, Rayearth and Sakura Card Captors. JBC publishes Clamp titles, like X/1999, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic, and popular titles like Negima!, Fruits Basket
, Death Note
, Fullmetal Alchemist
, Yu-Gi-Oh, Love Hina
and Video Girl Ai
, having also taken over the publishing rights for Neon Genesis Evangelion in the same year.
In 2004, Panini started publishing manga, with the release of Peach Girl
and Eden
. The editor was criticized because of bad translation and for releasing flipped titles, but since then started publishing in the original way. Panini publishes the most popular manga in Brazil: Naruto
and Bleach
, as well as titles like Black Lagoon
, Highschool of the Dead
, Full Metal Panic!
and Welcome to the N.H.K.
.
Originally, Brazilian manga appeared with about half the size of a tankoubon (about 100 pages of stories and two to eight pages of extras), but most manga is released in the original format, with the exception of the ones published by JBC.
Shōjo
-manga fans criticized publishing houses for ignoring shōjo manga with only Peach Girl, CLAMP titles, Fruits Basket, Angel Sanctuary
and Fushigi Yuugi
available in this genre until 2006. However, in 2006 several of shōjo manga series were started: MeruPuri
, Kare Kano
, Gravitation
, Bijinzaka and Zettai Kareshi are currently being published with titles like Vampire Knight
, Paradise Kiss
, Nana
, Princess Princess
, among others already licensed.
A volume of Barefoot Gen
was licensed in Germany in the 1980s, as was Japan Inc., published by small presses. Akira
s first volume was not very popular. Paul Malone attributes the wider distribution of manga in the late 1990s to the fledgling commercial television stations showing dubbed anime
, which lead to the popularity of manga. Malone also notes that the native German comics market collapsed at the end of the 1990s. Manga began outselling other comics in 2000.
With a few other series like Appleseed in the following years, the "manga movement" picked up speed with the publication of Dragon Ball, the first un-flipped German manga, in late 1996. Today, manga account for approximately 70–75% of all comics published in Germany, with female readers outnumbering male manga fans.
The first German manga magazine, Manga Power by Feest Comics, was launched in 1996. The first issue featured Ranma 1/2, Hellhounds Panzer Cops (based on the American edition of Kerberos Panzer Cops), and AD Police.
is now one of the biggest manga markets outside of Japan. Manga in Indonesia is published by Elex Media Komputindo
, Acolyte, Level Comic
, M&C and Gramedia, and has greatly influenced Indonesia's original comic industry.
The wide distribution of scanlations actually contributes to the growth of publication of bootleg manga, which is printed in lower quality. One of the most notable publisher is Seventh Heaven which publishes bootleg version of One Piece
. Many popular titles, such as Bleach
, Loki, Magister Nagi, Rose Hip Zero, and Kingdom Hearts
, have been pirated, which draws controversy toward manga readers in Indonesia.
Some people support the piracy because the local publishers do not publish the demanded popular titles, but legal manga supporters argue that the bootleg releases risk the local publisher to publish the manga because the original Japanese licensor will see this as negative stance of manga market in Indonesia. Most of the bootlegs are also sold with the same or even higher price than the legal version.
are distributed by Madman Entertainment
.
, only few Marvel
's titles being a moderate success. Russian readers traditionally considered them children's literature
, so the manga market developed late. A strong movement of anime fans helped to spread manga. The general director
of Egmont Russia
Lev Yelin commented that the most popular manga series in Japan are comics which "contain sex and violence", so they probably won't be published in Russia. A representative of Sakura Press
(the licensor and publisher of Ranma ½
, Gunslinger Girl
and some other titles) noted that although this niche is perspective, it's hard to advance on the market, because "in Russia comics are considered children's literature". It is also impossible for publishers to predict the success or failure of any specific title. On the contrary, Rosmen's general director Mikhail Markotkin said the whole popularity of comics doesn't matter, as only artistic talent and good story make a successful project, and only such manga "will work" on the market.
The first officially licensed and published manga series in Russia was Ranma ½. Sakura Press released the first volume in 2005. Since then several legal companies appeared, including Comics Factory
and Comix-ART
. Comix-ART, which is working in collaboration with Eksmo
, one of the largest publishing houses in Russia, was the first company to publish Original English-language manga
(usually called "manga" or just "comics"), such as Bizenghast
, Shutterbox
and Van Von Hunter
.
publishes manga in English and Chinese
in Singapore
; some of Chuang Yi's English-language titles are also imported into Australia
, New Zealand
and the Philippines
.
, before 1992, almost all available manga were fast, unlicensed, poor quality bootlegs. However, due to copyright laws, this has changed and copyrights protect nearly all published manga. Thailand's prominent manga publishers include Nation Edutainment, Siam Inter Comics, Vibulkij, and Bongkoch.
Many parents in Thai society are not supportive of manga. In October 2005, there was a television programme broadcast about the dark side of manga with exaggerated details, resulted in many manga being banned. The programme received many complaints and issued an apology to the audience.
's Astro Boy published by Gold Key Comics
starting in 1965. The first manga to be published in the US with its original artwork intact was a ten-page story by Shinobu Kaze, "Violence Becomes Tranquility", which appeared in the March 1980 issue of Heavy Metal
. In December 1982 the San Francisco-based publisher Educomics released a colorized and translated version of Keiji Nakazawa
's I Saw It. Four translated volumes of Nakazawa's major work Barefoot Gen
were also published in the early 1980s by New Society Publishers. Short works by several Garo
-affiliated artists including Yoshiharu Tsuge
and Terry Yumura appeared in May 1985 in RAW
s no. 7 "Tokyo Raw" special.
In 1987, Viz Comics, an American subsidiary of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan
and Shueisha
, began publishing translations of three manga series - Area 88
, Mai the Psychic Girl
, and The Legend of Kamui
- in the U.S. in association with the American publisher Eclipse Comics
. Viz went on to bring English translations of popular series such as Ranma ½ and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some other American publishers released notable translations of Japanese comics in this period, such as First Comics
' serialization of Lone Wolf and Cub
which started in May 1987. However, the first manga to make a strong impression on American audiences was Katsuhiro Otomo
's Akira
, which was brought to the United States in colorized form in 1988 by Epic Comics
, a division of Marvel
.
Throughout the 1990s, manga slowly gained popularity as more was released for the US market. Viz Media, Dark Horse
and Mixx (now Tokyopop
) were all significant contributors to the growing pool of translated manga. Both Mixx and Viz published manga anthologies: MixxZine (1997–1999) ran serialized manga such as Sailor Moon
, Magic Knight Rayearth
and Ice Blade
, while Viz's Animerica Extra
(1998–2004) featured series including Fushigi Yugi
, Banana Fish
and Utena: Revolutionary Girl
. In 2002 Viz began publishing a monthly American edition of the famous Japanese "phone book"-style manga anthology Shōnen Jump
featuring some of the most popular manga titles from Japan, including Dragon Ball Z, Naruto
, Bleach
and One Piece
. Its circulation far surpassed that of previous American manga anthologies, reaching 180,000 in 2005. Also in 2005, Viz launched Shojo Beat
, a successful counterpart to Shonen Jump aimed at female readers.
In 2002, Tokyopop introduced its "100% Authentic Manga" line, which featured unflipped pages and were smaller in size than most other translated graphic novels. This allowed them be retailed at a price lower than that of comparable publications by Viz and others. The line was also made widely available in mainstream bookstores such as Borders
and Barnes & Noble
, which greatly increased manga's visibility among the book-buying public. After Tokyopop's success, most of the other manga companies switched to the smaller unflipped format and offered their titles at similar prices.
a large number of small companies in the United States publish manga. Several large publishers have also released, or expressed interest in releasing manga. Del Rey
translated and published several Japanese series including xxxHolic, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
and, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi
, while Harlequin has brought its Ginger Blossom line of manga, originally released only in Japan, to the United States as well.
s (or scanslations). Typically, a small group of people scan the original version of a series with no current license in the language which they wish to translate it to, translate it, and freely distribute it; usually through the use of IRC or BitTorrent. Most scanlation groups
request that downloaders cease distribution and purchase official copies in the event that their projects become licensed, though it is a common concern that readers will continue to use these unauthorized copies. Many readers prefer scanlations due to the frequent changes found in official translations, though scanlations are more likely to have some unintentional mistakes due to the varying degrees of skill employed by the unpaid translators. Some scanlators do make edits, though it is rare, especially compared to the official manga translation industry.
, Oni Press
, Seven Seas Entertainment
and TOKYOPOP, as well as long-established publishers like Marvel
and Archie Comics
, to release their own manga-inspired works that apply the same artist stylings and story pacing commonly seen in Japanese manga. One of the first of these such works came in 1985 when Ben Dunn
, founder of Antarctic Press
, released Mangazine and Ninja High School
.
While Antarctic Press
actively refers to its works as "American Manga", it does not source all of these manga-inspired works from the United States. Many of the artists working on Seven Seas Entertainment
series such as Last Hope
and Amazing Agent Luna
are Filipino
and TOKYOPOP has hired a variety of Korean and Japanese artists to work on titles such as Warcraft
and Princess Ai
. Many of these works have been classified on the Internet with titles such as OEL Manga, MIC, and World Manga, although none of these terms have actually been used by manga companies to describe these works on the books themselves.
In Germany, as manga began outselling domestic comics in 2000, German publishers began supporting German creators of manga-styled comics. Jürgen Seebeck's Bloody Circus was not popular amongst German manga readers due to its European style, and other early German manga artists were affected by cancellations. After this, German publishers began focussing on female creators, due to the popularity of shōjo manga, leading to what Paul Malone describes as a "home-grown shōjo boom", and "more female German comics artists in print than ever before". However, to seem genuinely manga-influenced, stylistic conventions such as sweatdrops are employed to ensure "authenticity", original German works are flipped to read in a right-to-left style familiar to manga readers, author's afterwords and sidebars are common, and many German manga take place in Asia.
The Arabic language manga "Canary 1001" is by a group calling themselves Amateam, whose director is Wahid Jodar, from the United Arab Emirates. Another Arab language manga is Gold Ring
, by Qais Sedeki, from 2009, also from the United Arab Emirates. Both groups of artists use the word "manga" for their work.
In May 2010, Glenat
Spain introduced their new line of works known as Linea Gaijin which showcases the works of several Spanish and Latin American comic book artists. This is an effort on the part of Glenat to bring fresh new content and breed a new generation of manga-insipired artists that grew up reading manga. The line began with tittles such as Bakemono, Dos Espadas, and Lettera that were shown on the Salon de Manga de Barcelona in October 2010, but it would later introduce other works as well.
Many Western webcomics are influenced to varying degrees by manga. Some, like Megatokyo
, follow traditional manga artwork and plotlines closely. Others, like Sinfest
or Girly
, incorporate Western techniques and do not follow traditional Japanese manga story elements.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, or Japanese comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
, have appeared in translation in many different languages in different countries, including Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and many more. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, manga comprises a small (but growing) industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
, especially when compared to the inroads that Japanese animation
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
has made in the USA. One example of a manga publisher in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, VIZ Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
, functions as the American affiliate of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...
and Shueisha
Shueisha
is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
. VIZ Media has published many popular titles such as Dragon Ball, One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
, Detective Conan
Case Closed
Case Closed, known as in Japan, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since February 2, 1994, and has been collected in 73 tankōbon volumes as of September 2011...
, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga)
is a long-running manga series by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and published by Kadokawa Shoten. It began in the February issue of Shōnen Ace in December 1994. It consists of 13 volumes, each composed of several "stages" or chapters...
, Rurouni Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin
, also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to...
, Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yu-Gi-Oh!
is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...
, Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution...
, Bleach
Bleach (manga)
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
and the various works of Rumiko Takahashi
Rumiko Takahashi
is a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...
. The UK has fewer manga publishers than the U.S.
Flipping
Since written Japanese fiction usually flows from right to left, manga artists draw and publish this way in Japan. When first translating various titles into Western languages, publishers reversed the artwork and layouts in a process known as "flipping", so that readers could follow the books from left-to-right. However, various creators (such as Akira ToriyamaAkira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...
) did not approve of their work being modified this way, and requested that foreign versions retain the right-to-left format of the originals. Soon, due to both fan demand and the requests of creators, more publishers began offering the option of right-to-left formatting, which has now become commonplace in North America. Left-to-right formatting has gone from the rule to the exception.
Translated manga often includes notes on details of Japanese culture that foreign audiences may not find familiar.
One company, TOKYOPOP
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
(founded 1997), produces manga in the United States with the right-to-left format as a highly publicized point-of-difference. They are widely credited with starting a boom in manga sales, particularly amongst teenage girls. Some critics have complained that their aggressive publishing schedule emphasizes quantity over quality, and might be responsible for translations which many feel to be of sub-optimal quality. Many also frown upon the company for their frequent localization changes, including additions such as American slang, excessive swearing that is not to be found in the Japanese originals of the same titles, and joke rewrites, among others. The critics tend to admit that their contributions to the success of manga in America have been considerable.
"French exception"
France has a particularly strong and diverse manga market. Many works published in France belong to genres not well represented outside of Japan, such as to adult-oriented drama, or to experimental and avant-garde works. Early editors like TonkamTonkam
Tonkam is a prominent French publisher of manga and was one of the first publishers of manga in French, issuing its first titles in 1994. It was founded by Sylvie Chang and Dominique Véret with the financial assistance of a Parisian bookseller, Yu-Chi Chang...
have published Hong-Kong authors (Andy Seto
Andy Seto
Andy Seto is a comic artist who specializes in martial-arts based stories.-Biography:Seto's works include his main series, "Cyber Weapon Z." He has also drawn a graphic novel adaptation of the earlier Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon novels, the King of Fighters series, and also created a graphic...
, Yu & Lau) or Korean authors (Kim Jae-hwan
Kim Jae-hwan
Kim Jae-hwan is a Korean graphic novel author and artist. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his work on King of Hell and Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy.-Bibliography:* Dew Kai* Rainbow* King of Hell...
, Soo & Il, Wan & Weol and Hyun Se Lee) in their manga collection during 1995/1996 which is quite uncommon. Also, some Japanese authors, such as Jiro Taniguchi
Jiro Taniguchi
is a Japanese manga artist.- Biography:He began to work as assistant of the late manga artist Kyota Ishikawa. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kareta Heya , published in the magazine Young Comic....
, are relatively unknown in other western countries but received much acclaim in France.
In cultural terms, the sheer popularity and diversity of manga in France may result from that country having a well-established and respected comics-market of its own. Also, an exceptionally reduced number of TV channels in the 1970s and 1980s may explain the powerful impact the Japanese animation had on the audience: since viewers had little choice, Japanese animation quickly became mainstream. Since its introduction in the 1990s, manga publishing and anime broadcasting have become intertwined in France, where the most popular and exploited shōnen
Shonen
The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...
, shōjo
Shojo
The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...
and seinen
Seinen
is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
TV series were imported in their paper version. Therefore, Japanese books ("manga") were naturally and readily accepted by a large juvenile public who was already familiar with the series and received the manga as part of their own culture. A strong parallel backup was the emergence of Japanese video games, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
/Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
, which were mostly based on manga and anime series.
Nippon Animation era (1978 – 1986)
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, had previously appeared in that country on public television-channels in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Unlike other European countries, at this time there were only three TV channels. All of them were public and hosted shows for children. Shōnen and Shōjo series like UFO Robot Grendizer, Captain Future
Captain Future
Captain Future is a science fictional hero pulp character originally published in self-titled American pulp magazines during the 1940s and early 50s.-Origins:...
, Candy Candy
Candy Candy
is a Japanese novel, manga, and anime series. The main character, Candice "Candy" White Ardlay is a blonde American girl with freckles, large emerald green eyes and long, curly hair, worn in pigtails with bows. Candy Candy first appeared in a prose novel by famed Japanese writer Kyoko Mizuki in...
and Captain Harlock
Captain Harlock
is a fictional character created by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto.Harlock is the archetypical romantic hero, a space pirate with an individualist philosophy of life. He is as noble as he is taciturn, rebellious, stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes, whether they be earthborn or alien...
are iconical of this era.
Producer Jean Chalopin
Jean Chalopin
Jean Chalopin is a French producer and writer. In 1971, Chalopin created the company DIC Audiovisuel, which later evolved into DIC Entertainment, and wrote and produced programs animated by Japanese studios. Jean Chalopin is married to Chinese/Singaporean ex-Model, Ethel Chalopin...
quickly contacted some Japanese studios, such as Toei (who did Grendizer); and Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Tokyo Movie Shinsha
, formerly known as , is a Japanese animation studio, founded on October 1946. One of the oldest and most prominent anime studios in Japan, it has also produced numerous animated series airing in other countries such as France, the United States, and Italy. The company currently uses "TMS...
, Studio Pierrot
Studio Pierrot
is a Japanese animation/animation studio, founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production. Its headquarters is located in Mitaka, Tokyo.The company has a simple logo of the face of a clown...
and Studio Junio produced French-Japanese series. Even though made completely in Japan by character-designers such as Shingo Araki
Shingo Araki
was a Japanese animation artist and character designer. He developed an interest for drawing at age five. He graduated in Aichi Prefecture. In 1955, at age eighteen, he debuted as a cartoonist in the "Machi" magazine. He then joined Mushi Production as animator in 1965 and later founded Studio...
, the first Chalopin production of this type, Ulysses 31
Ulysses 31
is a Franco-Japanese animated television series that updates the Greek mythology of Odysseus to the 31st century. The show comprised 26 half-hour episodes and was produced by DIC Audiovisuel in conjunction with anime studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha...
took thematic inspiration from the Greek Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
and graphic influence from Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
. Ulysses 31
Ulysses 31
is a Franco-Japanese animated television series that updates the Greek mythology of Odysseus to the 31st century. The show comprised 26 half-hour episodes and was produced by DIC Audiovisuel in conjunction with anime studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha...
went on sale in 1981, other shows produced by DiC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
followed in 1982, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is a French/North American animated TV show which first aired on September 16, 1985. It was produced by DIC Entertainment , and animated by Japanese animation studios Sunrise, Shaft, Studio Giants, Studio Look and Swan Production...
, Mysterious Cities of Gold, later M.A.S.K.
M.A.S.K.
M.A.S.K. is an animated television series directed by several uncredited Japanese studios, KK C&D Asia, Studio Juno, Studio World, Ashi Production , and produced by the French-American DIC Enterprises, Inc and also the toyline of the same name sold by Kenner.-History:A total of 75...
, etc. Such series were enough popular to allow the introduction of licensed products such as tee shirts, toys, stickers, mustard glass, mugs or keshi
Keshi
Keshi aka keshigomu is the Japanese for eraser. Modern reference to "keshi" is related to a collectible manga/anime character mini figure made of coloured hard gum. However, keshi is not restrictive to its etymology but a generic term as several gum types are used, from matte to transparent...
. Also followed a wave of anime adaptations of European tales by Studio Pierrot and mostly by the Nippon Animation
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City....
studio, e.g. Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri was an author of children's stories, and is best known for her book Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.-Biography:In...
's (1974), Waldemar Bonsels
Waldemar Bonsels
Waldemar Bonsels was a German writer of children's books.Waldemar Bonsels wrote only one children's book in the strict sense, Die Biene Maja . "People in the sky" is not a proper children's book but has a much deeper mystical layer showing the unity of all creation and its relationship to God...
's (1975), Hector Malot
Hector Malot
Hector Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale.His first book, published in 1859, was Les...
's (1977), Cécile Aubry
Cécile Aubry
Cécile Aubry was a French film actress, author, television screenwriter and director.Born Anne-José Madeleine Henriette Bénard, Aubry began her career as a dancer...
's (1980), or Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's Around the World with Willy Fog
Around the World with Willy Fog
Around the World with Willy Fog is a cartoon adaptation of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. The cartoon was produced by Spanish studio BRB Internacional with animation by Japanese studio Nippon Animation...
(1983), notable adaptation of American works were Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer no Boken
is a Japanese anime series, directed by Hiroshi Saitô which was aired in 1980. It is based on the well-known and popular novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain....
(1980) and Alexander Key
Alexander Key
Alexander Hill Key was an American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author...
's Future Boy Conan
Future Boy Conan
is an anime series, which premiered across Japan on the NHK network between April 4 and October 31, 1978 on the Tuesday 19:30-20:00 timeslot. The official English title used by Nippon Animation is Conan, The Boy in Future....
. Interesting cases are Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
's The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
adapted to Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds is an animated cartoon adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas story of d'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers. Most of the characters are anthropomorphizations of dogs, hence the title of the cartoon...
(1981) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
become Sherlock Hound
Sherlock Hound
is an anime television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series where almost all the characters are depicted as anthropomorphic dogs. The show featured regular appearances of Jules Verne-steampunk style technology, adding a 19th-century science-fiction atmosphere to the series...
(1984), both turned human characters into anthropomorph
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
animals.
Such anthropomophism in tales comes from old and common storytelling traditions in both Japanese and French cultures, including the Chōjū giga emaki (the true origins of manga) of Toba Sōjō
Toba Sojo
, also known as , was a Japanese astronomer, an artist-monk, and the son of Minamoto-no-Takakuni.Although he is frequently credited as the artist of the famous picture scroll Chōjū-giga, there is no conclusive proof of this claim.- References :...
(1053–1140), and the animal fables of Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
(1621–1695). Changing humans to anthropomorphized dogs reflects a known form of Cynicism
Cynicism
Cynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
, the European philosophy evident in many modern countries: etymologically speaking, the bite of the Cynic comes from the fact he is a dog (cyno means "dog" in Greek). The adaptations of these popular tales made easier the acceptance and assimiliation of semi-Japanese cultural products in countries such as France, Italy or Spain. The localization including credits removal by Saban
Saban
Saban Entertainment , was a worldwide-served independent American television production company formed in 1984 by music and television producers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy as "Saban Productions", a U.S...
or DiC
DIC
- Science :* Differential interference contrast microscopy, an illumination technique in optical microscopy* Diisopropylcarbodiimide, a reagent in organic chemistry* Digital Integrating Computer, a digital implementation of a Differential Analyzer...
, was such that even today, twenty or thirty years later, most of French adults who have watched series like Calimero
Calimero
is an Italian/Japanese cartoon about a charming, but hapless anthropomorphized cartoon chicken; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens. He wears half of his egg shell still on his head...
(1974) adapted from an Italian novel, Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum (1975), Barbapapa
Barbapapa
Barbapapa is both the title character, and name of the "species" of said character, of a series of children's books written in the 1970s by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor, who resided in Paris, France. The books were originally written in French , and were later translated into over 30 languages...
(1977) adapted from a French novel, or Monchichi (1980) as kids don't even know they were not local animation but "Japananimation" created in Japan, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
or North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
.
Toei era (1987 – 1996)
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
. This ploy failed, and TF1 remained pre-eminent in children's TV shows with its Japanese licenses.
In 1991 French theaters showed an anime feature-film for the first time: Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
's Akira
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
, a teen-rated, SF movie supported by manga publisher Glénat but poorly distributed and a limited success. TF1 Video edited the video (VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
) version for the French market, and Akira quickly became an anime reference. However, Japanese animation genre became massively exploited by TV shows from the late 1980s onwards, most notably the cult Club Dorothée
Dorothée
Dorothée , the stage name of Frédérique Hoschedé, is a French singer and TV presenter.- Biography :1. Her childhood :...
show (mostly dedicated to Toei
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and tokusatsu
Tokusatsu
is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
series). In fact, the commercial relationship between the Japanese studio and the French show producers were so good, that the French presenter was even featured in a Metal Hero Series episode as guest star.
Just as in a Japanese manga series magazine, Club Dorothée audience voted by phone or minitel
Minitel
The Minitel is a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. It was launched in France in 1982 by the PTT...
to select and rank their favourite series. Top-rank series continued the following week, others stopped, then a hundred of series aired the show. This imported Japanese marketing method had never previously operated in France, and never has since. The most popular series were Dragon Ball and later its sequel, Dragon Ball Z, which became number one, and was nicknamed le chouchou (the favorite") by the show presenter, Dorothée. As the series kept number one for several months, Dorothée invited Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...
(Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
), creator of the series, on the TV show studio to introduce him to the French audience and award him a prize in the name of the TV show.
Saint Seiya
Saint Seiya
, also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1991, and adapted into an anime TV series by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989.The story follows...
became the second anime series to achieve popularity in France. It too belonged to the seinen genre, and thus showed more violence - directed towards an older audience - than the Nippon Animation studio shōnen/shōjo series of the 1970s and 1980s. Notable Toei and non-Toei anime series broadcast by that time on French TV included Captain Tsubasa
Captain Tsubasa
, also known as Flash Kicker, is a popular long running Japanese manga, animation, and video game series, originally created by Yōichi Takahashi in 1981...
, Robotech
Robotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
, High School! Kimengumi
High School! Kimengumi
is a manga series written by Motoei Shinzawa which ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1982 to 1987. The title literally translates to High School! Funny-face Club or High School! Weird Face Club. An anime TV series and movie based on the series were also released...
and Kinnikuman
Kinnikuman
is a manga created by the duo of Yudetamago , which is composed of Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada. The manga was published in Shueisha's Weekly Jump, and received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga in 1985...
. This cult TV show ran from 1987 to 1997 and had unpredicted effects and a deep influence on French culture. Not only it created a generation of Japanophile
Japanophile
Japanophilia is an interest in, or love of, Japan and anything Japanese; its opposite is Japanophobia. One who has such an interest or love is a Japanophile...
, but it did set a strong base for a durable and massive exploitation of manga publishing and anime video (DVD) in the following decade. The reason is most broadcast anime series were adaptations of existing manga, and that the grown up children would be later able to buy manga and DVD boxsets (TF1 Video and others) of their favourite childhood series.
Generational conflict around manga (1990 to 1995)
GlénatGlénat (publisher)
Glénat Editions SA is a French publisher with its head office in Grenoble. The company publishes many things, including comic books and manga in France, Benelux, and Spain; it was founded by Jacques Glénat. The Spanish subsidiary has its head office in Barcelona. The Benelux subsidiary, Glénat...
published the first manga issued in France, Akira
Akira (manga)
is a manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, the work uses conventions of the cyberpunk genre to detail a saga of turmoil. Initially serialized in the pages of Young Magazine from 1982 until 1990, the work was collected in six volumes by Japanese publisher Kodansha...
, in 1990 — supported by the respected newspaper Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
and by the national TV channel Antenne 2. Followers included Dragon Ball (1993), Appleseed (1994), Ranma 1/2 (1994) and five others. In the mid-1990s, both anime and manga became a social phenomenon in France, with different magazines in B5 size like Kameha (Glénat) and later Manga Player (MSE).
At the same time a controversy arose among some parents. In particular, the conservative association Familles de France started a media polemic about the undesirable contents, such as violence, portrayed in the Club Dorothée, a kids' TV show. By this time, a generational conflict had arisen between the young fans of "Japanimation" (in use until anime became mainstream) and the older Japoniaiseries (a pejorative pun for Japonaiseries, literally "Japanese stuff" and "niaiseries", "simpleton stuff") . Ségolène Royal
Ségolène Royal
Marie-Ségolène Royal , known as Ségolène Royal, is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party...
even published a book, Le Ras le bol des bébés zappeurs in which Manga are described as decadent dangerous and violent. She hasn't changed her position on that topic yet. The same adult content controversy was applied to hentai
Hentai
is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
manga, including the notorious, "forbidden", Shin Angel by U-Jin
U-Jin
is a Japanese manga artist specializing in lewd and pornographic manga. U-Jin has created many manga over his career and is well known for his portrayals of cute pneumatic female figures.-Works:* Angel...
, published by pioneers such as Samourai Editions or Katsumi Editions and later to magazines. The first hentai series magazine, "Yoko", featured softcore series like Yuuki's Tropical Eyes. It was first issued in late 1995. The same year, the noir and ultra-violent series, Gunnm (aka Battle Angel Alita), was serialized in a slim, monthly, edition. Around the same period a hardcore version of Yoko magazine Okaz was issued.
Anime clearance and manga emergence (1996 to 1998)
In Japan, television broadcasters scheduled series such as Hokuto no ken, Saint SeiyaSaint Seiya
, also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1991, and adapted into an anime TV series by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989.The story follows...
and City Hunter
City Hunter
is a hardboiled manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo, published by Shueisha in the Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1985 to 1991. The manga was adapted into an animated television series by Sunrise Studios in 1987...
late at night for a teen and adult audience. French television finally discontinued these edited series, and the Club Dorothée, broadcast on private channel TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
, started to replace Japanese content with European or American animation series (imitating their rival public-channel television shows) and with French sitcoms. Even though the French-Belgian animation studios got rid of serious competition, the show lost its phenomenal audience and stopped in 1997. The mistake made by the Club Dorothée producers had to do with a cultural view: in France, as in most Western countries, animation was seen as a genre in its own right, a product dedicated to children not adults. An animation feature was not considered the same as a live-action film, which is totally different in Japan. Series were massively licensed to Toei without consideration of age ratings.
In 1996 the production group of Club Dorothée set up a cable/satellite channel dedicated to manga and anime. The new channel changed its name to Mangas in 1998: the concepts of anime and manga have become intertwined in France, and manga actually became the mainstream generic term to designate the two media. The channel broadcasts former discontinued series from the Club Dorothée both to nostalgic adults and to new and younger generations.
Cultural integration and revival (1999 to 2005)
In the 2000s anime feature films, and by extension manga, are regarded with more respect than before. In late 1999 respected newspapers such as Le MondeLe Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
gave critical acclaim to Hiroyuki Okiura
Hiroyuki Okiura
is a Japanese animation director and animator.Okiura, who entered the industry at the age of 16 with no academic background , is known for his detailed effects animation in, for example, the chopper attack scene in Patlabor The Movie 2, and more recently his highly realistic character animation in...
's Jin-Roh
Jin-Roh
is a 1999 Japanese animated feature film directed by Hiroyuki Okiura. The film is the third adaptation of Mamoru Oshii's Kerberos saga manga, Ken-Roh Densetsu, after The Red Spectacles released in 1987 and StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops released in 1991 in Japanese theaters.The film takes place in...
, and in 2000, Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 epic Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster...
became a commercial success, probably the biggest for an anime feature.
In 2004, Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
's Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 became the first animation finalist in the prestigious International Film Festival of Cannes
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, which demonstrates a radical perspective change and a social acceptance of Japanese anime/manga. Since 2005, contemporary Japanese series such as Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
, Initial D
Initial D
is a manga by Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 1995. It has been adapted into a long-running anime series by OB Planning, Studio Comet, Studio Gallop, Pastel, and A.C.G.T, and a live action film by Avex and Media Asia...
, Great Teacher Onizuka
Great Teacher Onizuka
, officially abbreviated as GTO, is a Japanese shōnen manga written and illustrated by Tohru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from May 1997 to April 2002. The story focuses on 22-year-old ex-bōsōzoku member Eikichi Onizuka, who becomes a teacher at a private high...
, Blue Gender
Blue Gender
is a 26-episode anime created by Ryōsuke Takahashi broadcast in Japan from 1999-2000. Blue Gender was created by the Japanese animation studio, AIC and is distributed in the United States by Funimation Entertainment...
or Gunslinger Girl
Gunslinger Girl
Gunslinger Girl is an ongoing manga by Yu Aida. It first premiered in the November 2002 issue of the monthly shōnen magazine Dengeki Daioh. The chapters are also being published in tankōbon volumes by ASCII Media Works. 13 volumes have been released in Japan as of April 2011...
appeared on new, analog/digital terrestrial (public) and on satellite/broadband (private) channels. As the highly aggressive competition who raged once between, the sole two or three available channels no more exists in the new, vast, and segmented French TV offer, the anime is doing a revival in France.
Manga made in France
A surge in the growth of manga publishing circa 1996 coincided with the Club Dorothée show losing its audience - which eventually led to the show going off the air. Some early publishers like GlénatGlénat (publisher)
Glénat Editions SA is a French publisher with its head office in Grenoble. The company publishes many things, including comic books and manga in France, Benelux, and Spain; it was founded by Jacques Glénat. The Spanish subsidiary has its head office in Barcelona. The Benelux subsidiary, Glénat...
, adapted manga using the Western reading direction and its induced work of mirroring each panel and graphical signs, and also using a quality paper standard to the Franco-Belgian comics , while others, like J'ai Lu, were faithful to the original manga culture and not only kept the original, inverted, Japanese direction reading but also used a newspaper standard, cheap quality, paper just like in Japan. The Japanese manga was such an important cultural phenomenon that it quickly influenced French comics authors. A new "French manga" genre emerged, known as "La nouvelle manga" ("lit. the new manga") in reference to the French Nouvelle Vague.
Brazil
Before the 1990s some trial marketing of manga took place in Brazil, including Mai - The extra sensitive girl, Akira (which was cancelled) and Lone wolf and cub. The Brazilian comic market started in the mid-1990s with Ranma 1/2, although the publication did not prove successful. It was followed by the PokémonPokémon (manga)
There are various Pokémon manga series. The manga are usually published in Japan by Shogakukan, and translated into English in North America by Viz Media and Chuang Yi in English in Asian countries...
manga being released by Conrad in the late 1990s, during the Pokémon boom.
In 2002, Conrad published Saint Seiya
Saint Seiya
, also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1991, and adapted into an anime TV series by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989.The story follows...
and Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...
(both titles already well known, since the equivalent anime had become highly successful in the 1990s). After the success of these titles, Conrad released not only trendy manga like One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
, Vagabond
Vagabond (manga)
is an ongoing manga by Takehiko Inoue, portraying a fictionalized account of Miyamoto Musashi's life, on a loose adaptation of Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi....
, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga)
is a long-running manga series by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and published by Kadokawa Shoten. It began in the February issue of Shōnen Ace in December 1994. It consists of 13 volumes, each composed of several "stages" or chapters...
, and Slam Dunk
Slam Dunk (manga)
is a sports-themed manga series written by Takehiko Inoue about a basketball team from Shōhoku High School. It was first serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996 and had also been adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation which had been broadcast worldwide,...
, but also classic manga like Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
titles (including Adolf
Adolf (manga)
Adolf, known in Japan as is a manga series made by Dr. Osamu Tezuka.Adolf was published in English by Cadence Books and VIZ Media. The English manga is flipped to read left to right to conform to Western practice....
and Buddha
Buddha (manga)
is a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka and is Tezuka's unique interpretation of the life of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The critically acclaimed series is often referred to as a gritty, even sexual, portrayal of the Buddha's life. Buddha received the 2004, 2005 Eisner Award...
), Nausicaä
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga)
is a post-apocalyptic manga written and illustrated by acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. It was serialised intermittently from 1982 to 1994 in Japan...
, and less known titles like Bambi and Sade.
In 2003, the Japanese-Brazilian company Japan Brazil Communication (JBC) started publishing manga, releasing Rurouni Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin
, also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to...
, Rayearth and Sakura Card Captors. JBC publishes Clamp titles, like X/1999, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic, and popular titles like Negima!, Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket
, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro...
, Death Note
Death Note
is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
, Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution...
, Yu-Gi-Oh, Love Hina
Love Hina
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine by Kodansha from October 21, 1998 to October 31, 2001 and was published in 14 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. The series tells the story of Keitaro Urashima and his attempts to...
and Video Girl Ai
Video Girl Ai
is a manga series created by Masakazu Katsura and published by Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump. It also has an anime adaptation. The manga is published in English by Viz Communications...
, having also taken over the publishing rights for Neon Genesis Evangelion in the same year.
In 2004, Panini started publishing manga, with the release of Peach Girl
Peach Girl
is a Japanese shōjo manga series by Miwa Ueda. It was published in Japan by Kodansha in Bessatsu Friend from 1998 to 2003 and collected in 18 volumes...
and Eden
Eden: It's an Endless World
Eden: It's an Endless World! is a manga by Hiroki Endo, published monthly in the magazine Afternoon. It is published in the United States by Dark Horse Comics, in the United Kingdom by Titan Books, and in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime...
. The editor was criticized because of bad translation and for releasing flipped titles, but since then started publishing in the original way. Panini publishes the most popular manga in Brazil: Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
and Bleach
Bleach (manga)
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
, as well as titles like Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon
is a manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe, and published in Shogakukan's Sunday GX since 2002. An animated television series based on the manga aired in Japan from April 8, 2006, to June 24, 2006, totaling twelve episodes. A second season, subtitled "The Second Barrage", ran for twelve...
, Highschool of the Dead
Highschool of the Dead
is a manga series written by Daisuke Satō and illustrated by Shōji Satō. The story follows a group of high school students caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse...
, Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic!
is an ongoing series of light novels written by Shoji Gatoh and illustrated by Shiki Douji. The series follows Sousuke Sagara, a member of the covert anti-terrorist private military organization known as Mithril, tasked with protecting Kaname Chidori, a spirited Japanese high school girl.Individual...
and Welcome to the N.H.K.
Welcome to the N.H.K.
is a Japanese novel written by Tatsuhiko Takimoto, with a cover illustration by Yoshitoshi ABe, and was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on January 28, 2002. The novel was first published in English by Tokyopop on October 9, 2007...
.
Originally, Brazilian manga appeared with about half the size of a tankoubon (about 100 pages of stories and two to eight pages of extras), but most manga is released in the original format, with the exception of the ones published by JBC.
Shōjo
Shojo
The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...
-manga fans criticized publishing houses for ignoring shōjo manga with only Peach Girl, CLAMP titles, Fruits Basket, Angel Sanctuary
Angel Sanctuary
is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki. Originally serialized in Hana to Yume from February 1995 to February 2001, the chapters were collected and published in twenty tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha; the first volume was released in 1997 and the final volume was published in...
and Fushigi Yuugi
Fushigi Yugi
, also known as Curious Play, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yu Watase. Shogakukan published Fushigi Yûgi in Shōjo Comic in its original serialized form from May 1992 through June 1996. Viz Media released the manga series in English in North America starting in 1999...
available in this genre until 2006. However, in 2006 several of shōjo manga series were started: MeruPuri
MeruPuri
MeruPuri, originally titled , is a four-volume manga series by Matsuri Hino.Matsuri Hino burst onto the manga scene with her title Kono Yume ga Sametara , which was published in LaLa DX magazine...
, Kare Kano
Kare Kano
, is a manga series by Masami Tsuda. It was serialized in LaLa from 1996 to 2005 and collected in 21 tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha. It depicts the romance between "perfect" student Yukino Miyazawa and her academic rival Soichiro Arima, and the relationships of several of their friends.The series...
, Gravitation
Gravitation (manga)
is a shōnen-ai manga series written by Maki Murakami.The story follows the attempts of Shuichi Shindo and his band, Bad Luck, to become Japan's next musical sensation and his struggles to capture Yuki's heart...
, Bijinzaka and Zettai Kareshi are currently being published with titles like Vampire Knight
Vampire Knight
is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa magazine and is still on-going. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with eleven volumes currently released in Japan. The manga series is licensed in...
, Paradise Kiss
Paradise Kiss
, abbreviated to "ParaKiss", is a manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It appeared as a serial in the Japanese manga magazine Zipper. Shodensha collected the chapters into five volumes...
, Nana
Nana (manga)
is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, serialized in Cookie published by Shueisha. The manga derives its title from the name of the two main characters, both of whom are called Nana. Nana Komatsu is a small town girl who goes to Tokyo to follow her boyfriend and...
, Princess Princess
Princess Princess (manga)
is the title of a fictional series written and illustrated by Japanese author Mikiyo Tsuda about the lives of three high school boys and the school they attend. The series is contained within multiple media pieces which began as a manga first serialized in the manga magazine Wings starting in 2002...
, among others already licensed.
Germany
Although the German-language areas support a relatively small comic market and usually react slowly in comparison to other European countries, manga created a new boom.A volume of Barefoot Gen
Barefoot Gen
is a Japanese manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen lives with his family...
was licensed in Germany in the 1980s, as was Japan Inc., published by small presses. Akira
Akira (manga)
is a manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, the work uses conventions of the cyberpunk genre to detail a saga of turmoil. Initially serialized in the pages of Young Magazine from 1982 until 1990, the work was collected in six volumes by Japanese publisher Kodansha...
s first volume was not very popular. Paul Malone attributes the wider distribution of manga in the late 1990s to the fledgling commercial television stations showing dubbed anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, which lead to the popularity of manga. Malone also notes that the native German comics market collapsed at the end of the 1990s. Manga began outselling other comics in 2000.
With a few other series like Appleseed in the following years, the "manga movement" picked up speed with the publication of Dragon Ball, the first un-flipped German manga, in late 1996. Today, manga account for approximately 70–75% of all comics published in Germany, with female readers outnumbering male manga fans.
The first German manga magazine, Manga Power by Feest Comics, was launched in 1996. The first issue featured Ranma 1/2, Hellhounds Panzer Cops (based on the American edition of Kerberos Panzer Cops), and AD Police.
Indonesia
Manga has become one of fastest-growing consumer industries, and IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
is now one of the biggest manga markets outside of Japan. Manga in Indonesia is published by Elex Media Komputindo
Elex Media Komputindo
Elex Media Komputindo is a major Indonesian publisher of literature on computers as well as comic books. In addition to local comic books, it also publishes Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, and Chinese manhua. Founded on 15 January 1985, Elex Media Komputindo is within the publishing arm of the...
, Acolyte, Level Comic
Level Comic
Established in 2005, Level Comics is a new division of Elex Media Komputindo that publishes seinen and josei manga in Indonesia. Elex Media Komputindo has been publishing manga in Indonesia since 1990...
, M&C and Gramedia, and has greatly influenced Indonesia's original comic industry.
The wide distribution of scanlations actually contributes to the growth of publication of bootleg manga, which is printed in lower quality. One of the most notable publisher is Seventh Heaven which publishes bootleg version of One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
. Many popular titles, such as Bleach
Bleach (manga)
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
, Loki, Magister Nagi, Rose Hip Zero, and Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
, have been pirated, which draws controversy toward manga readers in Indonesia.
Some people support the piracy because the local publishers do not publish the demanded popular titles, but legal manga supporters argue that the bootleg releases risk the local publisher to publish the manga because the original Japanese licensor will see this as negative stance of manga market in Indonesia. Most of the bootlegs are also sold with the same or even higher price than the legal version.
Oceania
In Australia and New Zealand, many popular Japanese- and Chinese-language manga and animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
are distributed by Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
.
Russia
Comics never gained high popularity in RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, only few Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
's titles being a moderate success. Russian readers traditionally considered them children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
, so the manga market developed late. A strong movement of anime fans helped to spread manga. The general director
General Director
In CIS corporate governance, the general director is the highest executive position in a company, analogous to a US CEO or a UK managing director...
of Egmont Russia
Egmont Publishing
The Egmont Group is a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise media generally....
Lev Yelin commented that the most popular manga series in Japan are comics which "contain sex and violence", so they probably won't be published in Russia. A representative of Sakura Press
Sakura Press
Sakura Press is a Russian licensor and publisher of manga with headquarter in Moscow. The company was established in 2002. It is headed by general director Sergei Kharlamov. According to their official website, it is the first Russian company who started to publish manga . The first two volumes of...
(the licensor and publisher of Ranma ½
Ranma ½
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi with an anime adaptation. The story revolves around a 16-year old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts...
, Gunslinger Girl
Gunslinger Girl
Gunslinger Girl is an ongoing manga by Yu Aida. It first premiered in the November 2002 issue of the monthly shōnen magazine Dengeki Daioh. The chapters are also being published in tankōbon volumes by ASCII Media Works. 13 volumes have been released in Japan as of April 2011...
and some other titles) noted that although this niche is perspective, it's hard to advance on the market, because "in Russia comics are considered children's literature". It is also impossible for publishers to predict the success or failure of any specific title. On the contrary, Rosmen's general director Mikhail Markotkin said the whole popularity of comics doesn't matter, as only artistic talent and good story make a successful project, and only such manga "will work" on the market.
The first officially licensed and published manga series in Russia was Ranma ½. Sakura Press released the first volume in 2005. Since then several legal companies appeared, including Comics Factory
Comics Factory
Comics Factory is a comics imprint of major Russian book publisher AST. It serves as a translator and the licensor of European graphic novels, Japanese manga, manhwa, Taiwan and Hongkong manhua, Original English-language manga. It also released Russian-language manga of Russian and Ukrainian...
and Comix-ART
Comix-ART
Comix-ART is a comics imprint of russian book publisher Domino It serves as a translator and the licensor of graphic novels, manga, manhwa and Original English-language manga. Comix-ART, founded in 2008 with headquarter in Saint Petersburg, releases its titles in collaboration with Eksmo, another...
. Comix-ART, which is working in collaboration with Eksmo
Eksmo
Eksmo is one of the largest publishing houses in Russia. Eksmo and its rival AST together publish approximately 30% of all Russian books.Established in 1991 as a small book-selling company, they gradually developed into a major player on the Russian market, discovering and developing detective...
, one of the largest publishing houses in Russia, was the first company to publish Original English-language manga
Original English-language manga
Original English-language manga or OEL manga is the term commonly used to describe comic books or graphic novels in the "international manga" genre of comics whose language of original publication is English...
(usually called "manga" or just "comics"), such as Bizenghast
Bizenghast
Bizenghast is an ongoing original English-language manga series written and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow. It is currently being published in North America by Tokyopop, which has released seven volumes as of July 2010, and is expected to conclude with the eighth book...
, Shutterbox
ShutterBox
ShutterBox is an original English-language manga written by Rikki Simons and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons. The first volume was published by Tokyopop in 2003. The second volume was published in July 2004. The third volume was released in August 2005 and the fourth volume was released in September 2007...
and Van Von Hunter
Van Von Hunter
Van Von Hunter is a weekly, hand drawn parody-manga begun in 2002 by Cleveland, Ohio-based artists Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch of Pseudomé Studio. It has since been published in newspapers, books, and as a webcomic...
.
Singapore
The company Chuang YiChuang Yi
Chuang Yi Publishing Pte Ltd. is a publishing company based in Singapore that specializes in producing domestic and imported comics and comics-related merchandise, in English and simplified Chinese. Chuang Yi distributes all or some of its products in Singapore, Malaysia, India, and the Philippines...
publishes manga in English and Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
; some of Chuang Yi's English-language titles are also imported into Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
Thailand
In ThailandThailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, before 1992, almost all available manga were fast, unlicensed, poor quality bootlegs. However, due to copyright laws, this has changed and copyrights protect nearly all published manga. Thailand's prominent manga publishers include Nation Edutainment, Siam Inter Comics, Vibulkij, and Bongkoch.
Many parents in Thai society are not supportive of manga. In October 2005, there was a television programme broadcast about the dark side of manga with exaggerated details, resulted in many manga being banned. The programme received many complaints and issued an apology to the audience.
United States
The growth of manga translation and publishing in the United States has been a slow progression over several decades. The earliest manga-derived series to be released in the United States was a redrawn American adaptation of Osamu TezukaOsamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
's Astro Boy published by Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
starting in 1965. The first manga to be published in the US with its original artwork intact was a ten-page story by Shinobu Kaze, "Violence Becomes Tranquility", which appeared in the March 1980 issue of Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
. In December 1982 the San Francisco-based publisher Educomics released a colorized and translated version of Keiji Nakazawa
Keiji Nakazawa
is a Japanese manga artist and writer.He was born in Hiroshima and was in the city when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945. All of his family members who had not been evacuated died in the bombing except for his mother, and an infant sister who died several weeks after the bombing...
's I Saw It. Four translated volumes of Nakazawa's major work Barefoot Gen
Barefoot Gen
is a Japanese manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen lives with his family...
were also published in the early 1980s by New Society Publishers. Short works by several Garo
Garo (magazine)
was a monthly manga anthology magazine in Japan, founded in 1964 by Katsuichi Nagai. It specialized in alternative and avant-garde manga.-History:...
-affiliated artists including Yoshiharu Tsuge
Yoshiharu Tsuge
is a Japanese manga artist and essayist. He was active in comics between 1954 and 1987. The content of his works range from tales of ordinary life to dream-like surrealism, and often show his interest in traveling about Japan...
and Terry Yumura appeared in May 1985 in RAW
RAW (magazine)
RAW was a comics anthology edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly and published by Mouly from 1980 to 1991. It was a flagship publication of the 1980s alternative comics movement, serving as a more intellectual counterpoint to Robert Crumb's visceral Weirdo, which followed squarely in the...
s no. 7 "Tokyo Raw" special.
In 1987, Viz Comics, an American subsidiary of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...
and Shueisha
Shueisha
is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
, began publishing translations of three manga series - Area 88
Area 88
is a Japanese manga series by Kaoru Shintani serialized between 1979 and 1986. The story is about a young pilot named Shin Kazama and his experiences at Area 88, a mercenary air force base secluded in the desert of a war torn country...
, Mai the Psychic Girl
Mai the Psychic Girl
Mai, the Psychic Girl, known simply as in Japan, is a manga written by Kazuya Kudō and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami.The main character is Mai Kuju, a 14-year-old Japanese girl with powerful psychic abilities. She is being pursued by the Wisdom Alliance, an organization which secretly strives to...
, and The Legend of Kamui
The Legend of Kamui
is a manga by Sanpei Shirato. Set in feudal Japan, it tells the story of a low-born ninja who tries to flee his clan. The series combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions...
- in the U.S. in association with the American publisher Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
. Viz went on to bring English translations of popular series such as Ranma ½ and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga)
is a post-apocalyptic manga written and illustrated by acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. It was serialised intermittently from 1982 to 1994 in Japan...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some other American publishers released notable translations of Japanese comics in this period, such as First Comics
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
' serialization of Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub
is a manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.Lone Wolf and Cub...
which started in May 1987. However, the first manga to make a strong impression on American audiences was Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
's Akira
Akira (manga)
is a manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, the work uses conventions of the cyberpunk genre to detail a saga of turmoil. Initially serialized in the pages of Young Magazine from 1982 until 1990, the work was collected in six volumes by Japanese publisher Kodansha...
, which was brought to the United States in colorized form in 1988 by Epic Comics
Epic Comics
Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...
, a division of Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
Throughout the 1990s, manga slowly gained popularity as more was released for the US market. Viz Media, Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
and Mixx (now Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
) were all significant contributors to the growing pool of translated manga. Both Mixx and Viz published manga anthologies: MixxZine (1997–1999) ran serialized manga such as Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...
, Magic Knight Rayearth
Magic Knight Rayearth
is a Japanese manga series created by Clamp, a manga artist team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Ageha Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi and Mokona. Rayearth combines elements from the magical girl and mecha anime genres with parallel world fantasy....
and Ice Blade
Ice Blade
is manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Takahashi, published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1992 to 1999. It was announced by Afternoon's October magazine that a new Jiraishin series would be in the magazine good! afternoon and would be known as Jiraishin diablo, which is...
, while Viz's Animerica Extra
Animerica Extra
Animerica Extra is a monthly shōjo manga magazine that was published in North America by Viz Media from 1998 until 2004. Established as a complement to its monthly review magazine Animerica, Animerica Extra was the first manga anthology to be published by Viz.The titles published in Animerica Extra...
(1998–2004) featured series including Fushigi Yugi
Fushigi Yugi
, also known as Curious Play, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yu Watase. Shogakukan published Fushigi Yûgi in Shōjo Comic in its original serialized form from May 1992 through June 1996. Viz Media released the manga series in English in North America starting in 1999...
, Banana Fish
Banana Fish
Banana Fish is a classic shōjo manga by Akimi Yoshida which ran from 1985 to 1994 and spawned several mini-spin-offs: Private Opinion, Angel Eyes, X Men, and The Garden with Holy Light. The series was very popular in Japan....
and Utena: Revolutionary Girl
Revolutionary Girl Utena
is a manga by Chiho Saito and anime directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. The manga serial began in the June 1996 issue of Ciao and the anime was first broadcast in 1997. The anime and manga were created simultaneously, but, despite some similarities, they progressed in different directions. A movie, was...
. In 2002 Viz began publishing a monthly American edition of the famous Japanese "phone book"-style manga anthology Shōnen Jump
Weekly Shonen Jump
is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
featuring some of the most popular manga titles from Japan, including Dragon Ball Z, Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
, Bleach
Bleach (manga)
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
and One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
. Its circulation far surpassed that of previous American manga anthologies, reaching 180,000 in 2005. Also in 2005, Viz launched Shojo Beat
Shojo Beat
Shojo Beat is a shōjo manga magazine formerly published in North America by Viz Media. Released in June 2005 as a sister magazine to Shonen Jump, it featured serialized chapters from six manga series, as well as articles on Japanese culture, manga, anime, fashion and beauty...
, a successful counterpart to Shonen Jump aimed at female readers.
In 2002, Tokyopop introduced its "100% Authentic Manga" line, which featured unflipped pages and were smaller in size than most other translated graphic novels. This allowed them be retailed at a price lower than that of comparable publications by Viz and others. The line was also made widely available in mainstream bookstores such as Borders
Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores....
and Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, which greatly increased manga's visibility among the book-buying public. After Tokyopop's success, most of the other manga companies switched to the smaller unflipped format and offered their titles at similar prices.
a large number of small companies in the United States publish manga. Several large publishers have also released, or expressed interest in releasing manga. Del Rey
Del Rey Manga
was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...
translated and published several Japanese series including xxxHolic, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably xxxHolic. The plot follows how Sakura, the princess of the Kingdom of Clow, loses her soul and how Syaoran, a young...
and, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi
Negima!: Magister Negi Magi
Negima! Magister Negi Magi, known in Japan as is a manga and anime series by Ken Akamatsu . The manga is currently being published by Kodansha and serialized in Shōnen Magazine in Japan. Del Rey Manga published the English translated version in the United States and Canada prior to Kodansha...
, while Harlequin has brought its Ginger Blossom line of manga, originally released only in Japan, to the United States as well.
Other distribution methods
Another popular form of manga distribution outside of Japan involves Internet scanlationScanlation
Scanlation is the scanning, translation and editing of a graphic novel from a foreign language into a different language. Scanlation is done as an amateur work and is nearly always done without express permission from the copyright holder. The word scanlation is a portmanteau of scan and translation...
s (or scanslations). Typically, a small group of people scan the original version of a series with no current license in the language which they wish to translate it to, translate it, and freely distribute it; usually through the use of IRC or BitTorrent. Most scanlation groups
Scanlation
Scanlation is the scanning, translation and editing of a graphic novel from a foreign language into a different language. Scanlation is done as an amateur work and is nearly always done without express permission from the copyright holder. The word scanlation is a portmanteau of scan and translation...
request that downloaders cease distribution and purchase official copies in the event that their projects become licensed, though it is a common concern that readers will continue to use these unauthorized copies. Many readers prefer scanlations due to the frequent changes found in official translations, though scanlations are more likely to have some unintentional mistakes due to the varying degrees of skill employed by the unpaid translators. Some scanlators do make edits, though it is rare, especially compared to the official manga translation industry.
Manga influences
Manga has proved so popular that it has led to other companies such as Antarctic PressAntarctic Press
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "American Manga" style comic books.Founded by Ben Dunn in 1984, Antarctic Press has produced over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million...
, Oni Press
Oni Press
Oni Press is an American independent comic book publisher based in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1997 by Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack with the goal of publishing the kinds of comics and graphic novels they themselves would want to read...
, Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...
and TOKYOPOP, as well as long-established publishers like Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
, to release their own manga-inspired works that apply the same artist stylings and story pacing commonly seen in Japanese manga. One of the first of these such works came in 1985 when Ben Dunn
Ben Dunn
Ben Dunn is an American comic book artist. Although born in Taiwan, he grew up in Kentucky, Taiwan and San Antonio, Texas. It was in Taiwan that he was first exposed to Japanese manga. In 1984 he founded Antarctic Press, an American comic book company specializing in Manga-style titles...
, founder of Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "American Manga" style comic books.Founded by Ben Dunn in 1984, Antarctic Press has produced over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million...
, released Mangazine and Ninja High School
Ninja High School
Ninja High School is a comic book series created, written, and illustrated by Ben Dunn, and currently published by Antarctic Press. It was at first published by Eternity Comics...
.
While Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "American Manga" style comic books.Founded by Ben Dunn in 1984, Antarctic Press has produced over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million...
actively refers to its works as "American Manga", it does not source all of these manga-inspired works from the United States. Many of the artists working on Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...
series such as Last Hope
Last Hope
Last Hope is an original English-language manga series written by Michael Dignan, illustrated by Kriss Sison and published by Seven Seas Entertainment...
and Amazing Agent Luna
Amazing Agent Luna
Amazing Agent Luna is an original English-language manga series written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir , with art by Shiei. It is published by Seven Seas Entertainment. The first volume of Amazing Agent Luna was one of Seven Seas Entertainment's four initial releases...
are Filipino
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and TOKYOPOP has hired a variety of Korean and Japanese artists to work on titles such as Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
and Princess Ai
Princess Ai
is a manga co-created by Courtney Love, Ai Yazawa, Misaho Kujiradou, and DJ Milky , and is published in English by Tokyopop.The story deals with an amnesiac girl named Ai who was torn from her homeland, and awakens in present-day Tokyo...
. Many of these works have been classified on the Internet with titles such as OEL Manga, MIC, and World Manga, although none of these terms have actually been used by manga companies to describe these works on the books themselves.
In Germany, as manga began outselling domestic comics in 2000, German publishers began supporting German creators of manga-styled comics. Jürgen Seebeck's Bloody Circus was not popular amongst German manga readers due to its European style, and other early German manga artists were affected by cancellations. After this, German publishers began focussing on female creators, due to the popularity of shōjo manga, leading to what Paul Malone describes as a "home-grown shōjo boom", and "more female German comics artists in print than ever before". However, to seem genuinely manga-influenced, stylistic conventions such as sweatdrops are employed to ensure "authenticity", original German works are flipped to read in a right-to-left style familiar to manga readers, author's afterwords and sidebars are common, and many German manga take place in Asia.
The Arabic language manga "Canary 1001" is by a group calling themselves Amateam, whose director is Wahid Jodar, from the United Arab Emirates. Another Arab language manga is Gold Ring
Gold Ring
Gold Ring is an United Arab Emirates comic written by Qais Sedki and drawn by Akira Himekawa. The book is the UAE's first manga. The comic is printed in Arabic; an English version is available through mail order....
, by Qais Sedeki, from 2009, also from the United Arab Emirates. Both groups of artists use the word "manga" for their work.
In May 2010, Glenat
Glénat (publisher)
Glénat Editions SA is a French publisher with its head office in Grenoble. The company publishes many things, including comic books and manga in France, Benelux, and Spain; it was founded by Jacques Glénat. The Spanish subsidiary has its head office in Barcelona. The Benelux subsidiary, Glénat...
Spain introduced their new line of works known as Linea Gaijin which showcases the works of several Spanish and Latin American comic book artists. This is an effort on the part of Glenat to bring fresh new content and breed a new generation of manga-insipired artists that grew up reading manga. The line began with tittles such as Bakemono, Dos Espadas, and Lettera that were shown on the Salon de Manga de Barcelona in October 2010, but it would later introduce other works as well.
Many Western webcomics are influenced to varying degrees by manga. Some, like Megatokyo
Megatokyo
is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
, follow traditional manga artwork and plotlines closely. Others, like Sinfest
Sinfest
Sinfest is a webcomic written and drawn by Japanese-American comic strip artist Tatsuya Ishida. The first strip as a webcomic appeared on January 17, 2000, although the very first strip appeared in print on October 16, 1991 in the UCLA newspaper, Daily Bruin, while Ishida attended UCLA. A new strip...
or Girly
Girly
Girly is a webcomic created by Josh Lesnick which generally centers around the romantic relationship between two girls named Otra and Winter, as well as other citizens of the city of Cute-Town...
, incorporate Western techniques and do not follow traditional Japanese manga story elements.
See also
- MangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
- Editing of anime in international distribution