Japanese Anime and Manga

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Japanese Anime and Manga

The word Manga was coined by the famous woodblock print artist Hokusai. He combined two Chinese characters--the first meaning "in spite of oneself" or "lax" (  ) and the second meaning "picture" (  ) to describe the comical doodles he drew. Although the form can be traced back to ninth-century Buddhist scrolls, it was not until early medieval Japan that artists combined pictures and text to tell stories or describe events. Even then, their works differ from what is currently considered manga in one crucial respect: whereas modern-day manga are produced for mass consumption, these picture scrolls were singular works of art produced for an elite audience. The earliest Manga to take the form of books rather than scrolls were a product of the wealth of Japan’s merchant class during the Edo period - bound in silk, they often took the form of slim volumes of drawings accompanied by explanatory text, with the stage an especially popular theme. Usually drawn in black-and-white, the books sometimes had dashes of color using natural dyes. Another popular subject was daily life: many early examples of pastoral scenes survive.

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Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom

Manga’s transition into the televised on cinematic form, anime occurred during the fifties. Although an animated short, Momotaro (based on the legend of Peach Boy) had been released as early as 1918, it was not until the fifties that anime really took off in Japan. In 1956, Toei Animation, acorporation dedicated to making animated features was founded and, two years later, the company released its (and Japan’s) first reciognizably anime feature - The Tale of the White Serpent. In the same year, Osamu Tezuka, the giant of manga books, began working on his own feature ...

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It is probably true that "the success of Japanese animation is set to continue for a long time" but the essay has not really explained why this is the case, because it has not gone into any detail about the style, content and consumption of Manga or Anime. Overall, this is an informative but superficial historical account that could do with a bit more reflection on what is unique about the form, the content, and the audience of these two artforms. 3 stars.