From Manga to Anime

Michael Burke

Dr. Matthew Mizenko

East Asian Studies 299

December 9, 2014

Japanese Visual Culture from Cinema through Manga to Anime

            Japanese manga and anime are art forms that are extremely popular in Japan. They reflect Japanese culture and are made up of various genres appealing to a wide range of Japanese people.  Unlike in the West where it is mainly children who read comics and watch animated shows, people of all ages read manga and watch anime in Japan. Genres have been created in response to the people’s many diverse interests. As Frederik L. Schodt wrote in the foreword of Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime, “They are an open window onto the Japanese id, a view – not necessarily of reality itself – but of a culture’s aspirations, dreams, nightmares, fantasies and fetishes.” In the Japanese culture, people tend to be reserved and do not readily share their feelings with others. Through anime and manga we have a look into the Japanese people’s dreams, their interests and their values.  

            Manga and anime have become popular as well throughout the world. People in the West find the Japanese anime and manga to be quite different from the animated films and cartoons they are used to. They are drawn to the interesting stories, different animation and the memorable characters. They like escaping from their own lives for a while and getting to know the fictional characters. Also, manga and anime can be seen as a way for foreigners to better understand the Japanese culture.

            Japan has had a long and successful history of producing visual art, and the artists in the various art forms have studied and assimilated aspects of each other’s forms. Japanese films were considered extremely well made and were very popular for many years. The manga and anime industries have been influenced immensely by the film industry. Manga artists incorporate cinematic techniques in their work to produce a distinct style of comic.  And manga in turn has had a major impact on anime. Anime creators frequently turn to manga for stories and many of the cinema effects and other techniques found in manga are also used in anime.

            While anime and manga have been created in Japan for a long time, the modern anime and manga industries got their start after World War II. The Japanese artists have been influenced by Western comics and animated movies, from Walt Disney and others, but these artists created their own unique style which is quite different from that of the West.

            During the post-war period of the late 1940s and 1950s there was a lot of social and cultural change in Japan and the people turned to manga because they were cheap entertainment and helped raise morale (Ito, 35). An increase in anime production was seen in the 1960s with the rise in TV ownership.  This gave the anime artists a new audience for their shows and they started to make made-for-television series (Poitras 50). The economic boom of the 1980s and the introduction of VCRs inspired more demand for both art forms. Anime studios began creating original video animation (OVA) and releasing them directly on videocassettes (Drazen 27). In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Japanese economy, the anime market grew because the Japanese people turned to anime as a cheap form of entertainment (Poitras, 54). Over time, more genres have been developed adding new audiences and the popularity of anime and manga around the world has added to the demand as well.

            The West has become enamored of manga but some Western critics have compared it to Western comics and have been critical of manga because it does not follow the same format. The comics from Europe and America use text to narrate and explain what is going on. And therefore, they do not rely on the images to carry the story. They are a little bit more like books in this respect. Manga however use images for this purpose. They do not turn to text to tell the story and most of the text found in manga is in the form of dialogue. Their use of text is more like that of a film, where most of it is in the form of characters sharing conversation, which moves the story forward (Rommens). Manga uses this and several other cinema techniques to fill out the story.

            Manga artists will use several frames to show what is happening, so the reader follows the story in a way similar to watching a film. This technique of letting pictures tell a lot of what is going on stems from a belief that adding text in would just be redundant as you can tell what is happening by looking at the pictures. In a way this makes manga similar to cinema. The artists have to choose images that will get the message across without resorting to adding narrative text. In manga, many pages can contain no text at all, so that reading manga often requires reading images like we do when watching a movie. We look for clues in the characters’ expressions and the iconographic symbols found in manga.

            The artists also need to choose what type of shot to use in each frame such as wide angle or close up as these different shots serve different purposes. They change how people look at the pictures and what they take away from them. The artists usually incorporate a mix of different shots from different points of view within a scene. They must rely on these to get across emotions and tensions between characters and the general atmosphere in the scene. The resulting montage allows for a continuous visual stream similar again to that of film.

            Manga in turn has had a major impact on anime. In many ways manga has led the direction the anime industry has taken. New anime are often adapted from manga and new genres in manga often lead to new genres in anime. Manga artists, such as Osamu Tezuka, have helped to give anime its distinctive style and many of the cinematic techniques used in manga are incorporated in anime as well. Also, manga have been and continue to be the     greatest source of stories for anime.

            Many manga artists began working on anime by the late 1960s, but anime has Osamu Tezuka to thank for much of its distinct style. While he wanted to be an animator he started working as a cartoonist. He soon became Japan’s most popular manga artist and earned the title of God of Manga for his contributions (Ito 35). Osamu Tezuka had a serious effect on anime and manga. He developed the style of manga that is popular today. He changed the style in which stories are told in manga from a straightforward stage like fashion to a more action and emotionally oriented style, developing what is known as story manga (Phillipps 68). He wrote complex stories that would stretch scenes out over several pages, creating manga that unfolded like films, using cinema techniques to tell the stories and get emotions across.

            One of Tezuka’s big contributions to anime and manga was the design of his characters. Tezuka made his characters with rounder heads and big eyes. These characteristics enable a character to express a wide range of emotions, and for this reason, this style of character continues to be used to this day.

            Tezuka started working in anime for Toei Animation in 1958. His first project was an anime adaptation of Wu Cheng-en's The Pilgrimage to the West called Alakazam the Great (Dragon Ball was inspired by this). He then went on to found the Osamu Tezuka Production Animation Department, later known as Mushi Productions. He created Tetsuwan Atom or Astro Boy, which just missed being the first domestically produced animated TV show shown in Japan and was the first anime to be broadcast outside of the country. It was based on his manga series also called Tetsuwan Atom and is “generally taken to mark the beginning of a new age in Japanese animation” (Clements 116). Because of his revolutionary work in both fields, Tezuka is often referred to as the father of manga and anime.

            Many of the cinematic effects used in manga are also incorporated into anime. Like manga, anime use various angle shots to convey different emotions or atmosphere, often combining these different shot angles within a scene.

            Anime artists also use techniques like nonlinear tales, flashbacks and foreshadowing (Poitras 62). These techniques are seen in Naruto episodes where the creators would have flashbacks in an episode or have whole episodes about a character’s past. These techniques often help in character development. We would learn more about why a character behaves the way he does by getting a look at his personal history.

            Anime artists also alter the pacing of the scenes to create tension within the story. Dragon Ball Z was famous for using slow pacing, having the fight scenes take multiple episodes to finish.

            Anime, like manga, often uses iconographic symbols. These are things such as a sweat drop indicating a character's nervousness or embarrassment or a bloody nose indicating arousal (Bryce, Barber, Kelly, Kunwar and Plumb). Knowledge of the meanings behind these symbols helps the viewers better understand the story since they cannot rely on a narrator to explain the characters’ feelings.

            Another manga technique used by anime artists is the use of different sizes and shapes of eyes to give us some insight into the characters’ persona. The authors of "Manga and Anime: Fluidity and Hybridity in Global Imagery" state, “The different size and shape of eyes conveys aesthetic and/or moralistic meaning.”  Children and positive characters are often depicted with large round eyes, which signify cuteness, innocence and good, while adults and villains often have smaller angular eyes which signify evil, coldness or sometimes intelligence (Bryce, Barber, Kelly, Kunwar and Plumb). We can learn a little about the characters just by looking at their eyes.

            In anime, the characters’ hair is usually drawn in an unnatural and wild style and brightly colored. This can be traced back to an attempt to attract children to purchase manga by having brightly colored cover illustrations. There is also exaggerated hair movement in anime to signify emotion or action on the part of the character (Poitras 62).

            Also, like in manga, anime artists “super-deform” their characters as a way to show extreme changes in their mood, such as anger or surprise. Usually the characters are seen as very small with overly large heads. This is done mostly to show cuteness and/or for comic effect.    

                        From Astro Boy to current titles, manga artists have had a major influence on the stories told in anime. Anime artists have continuously turned to manga for a source of stories to adapt for the ever-expanding anime market. Akira Toriyama’s adaptation of his manga series Dragon Ball in 1986 became Japan’s most popular anime TV show. (O’Connell). To this day, manga continues to be the main source of stories for anime.  And what happens in the manga industry often has an impact on the anime industry. Not only do new manga lead to new anime productions, but also new genres in manga lead to new genres in anime.

            Western comics and animation, especially Walt Disney films, have influenced anime and manga artists but Japanese artists have also drawn from their own historical and cultural past to create their own unique product that has attracted significant interest from audiences in nations around the world. Anime's success can be attributed to the creative talent of Japanese artists in different visual media throughout the past century. The artists who create the current anime turn to the work of manga artists and creators of films for sources of creative material and artistic techniques.  Japanese films have been praised for their artistic qualities, and these films have had an impact on today’s manga and anime. Many of the cinematic techniques used in Japanese film were adopted by the artists who developed the distinctive style of manga comics, and these techniques continue to be used today both in manga and in anime. And the manga industry has had a huge impact on anime. Manga artists helped create the modern anime industry not only by designing the template for modern anime and working on creating the anime but also by supplying the great majority of stories on which the anime are based.  “However, while manga established the roots of this style during the postwar period, it was through anime that a broader global audience became aware of a distinctive Japanese visual culture” (Norris 236).  We have seen this effect not only with the popular anime shows on American TV, but also with Hayao Miyazaki’s anime films. The cinema, manga and anime industries in Japan have each exerted an influence over the other.

            Anime have retained their popularity not only for their entertainment value, but also because they give us a window into the Japanese culture and teach us lessons about the human condition.  I believe that anime and manga will continue to be popular in Japan as well as in the West because they are so well made. There are genres to appeal to a wide variety of tastes, with interesting complex stories and well-developed characters whose lives people want to follow and whose fate is important to their audience.

Works Cited

Bryce, Mio, Christie Barber, James Kelly, Siris Kunwar, and Amy Plumb. "Manga and Anime: Fluidity and Hybridity in Global Imagery." Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies January 29, 2010: n. pag. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Clements, Jonathan. Anime: A History. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Print.

Drazen, Patrick. Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation. 2nd ed. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge, 2014. Print.

Ito, Kinko. "Manga in Japanese History." Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. 26-47. Print.

Norris, Craig. "Manga, Anime and Visual Art Culture", The Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture. Ed. Yoshio Sugimoto. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. pp. 236-260. Cambridge Companions Online. Web. 09 November 2014.

O'Connell, Michael. "A Brief History of Anime." Otakon Program Book (1999): n. pag. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

Phillipps, Susanne. “Characters, Themes, and Narrative Patterns in the Manga of Osamu Tezuka.” Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. 68-90. Print.

Poitras, Gilles. “Contemporary Anime in Japanese Pop Culture.” Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. 48-67. Print.

Rommens, Aarnoud. "Manga Story-Telling/Showing." Image & Narrative: Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative 1.1 (2000): n. pag. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.

Schodt, Frederik L. "Japan’s New Visual Culture." Foreword. Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. Vii-Ix. Print.