Manga and Anime

August 27, 2006

Manga and Anime are recently popular artforms emerging from Japan. Manga are Japanese comics, and Anime is the Japanese version of animation. Anime is usually, but not always, the animated version of popular manga

Japan has had a long history of line drawings and cartoon art, with humorous ink drawings of animals and caricatured people from hundreds of years ago.  The simple lines and stylized features are still evident in modern day Manga, although there is also a Chinese and later Western influence. Osamu Tezuka, the "father" of modern manga, was influenced by Disney and Max Fleisher.

Japanese Manga and Anime cover a gamut of topics catering to all sorts of people. The realities of life, emphasis on a work ethic, and positive attitude to technology are all explored in detail. Manga are usually the vision of a single writer.
The unique Japanese Manga and Anime visual style is distinctive and fairly easy to recognize. Within a broad common stylistic ground, each Manga artist's technique is distinct and unique. The stereotype is of characters with huge hair and large eyes, but there are many, many variations, from L. Matsumoto's seemingly unevenly drawn squash-shaped "ugly" protagonists, to the soft-edged figures in Miyazaki's work. Gender stereotypes are uncommon, and characters tend to have unique and aesthetic tastes in fashion.

The best Manga and Anime are truly creative works of Art.