Del Manga Al Anime:Tercer Borrador

OriginsWhat is the origin of manga? The word itself was popularized by the famous woodblock print artist Hokusai, but, contrary to a popular myth, it was not invented by him.

A millennium before Hokusai applied the term to a collection of his less serious works, there were "cartoonish" drawings to be found in Japan, but whether or not pictures drawn in such a style constitute manga is a tricky question. The first clear examples of such sequential art are the picture scrolls of medieval Japan, which combine pictures and text to tell stories or describe events. These scrolls look and work like modern manga or comics in many ways.These type of manga was in the Edo Period(1600 to 1868)

Like modern-day manga, they dealt with a variety of subjects, including humor, drama, fantasy, and even pornography. the ancestor of the modern manga, believe it or not, is the European/American-style political cartoon of the latter 19th Century, and the multi-panel comic strips that flowered in American newspapers in the last years of the 19th Century and the first years of the 20th Century.

Some suggest that the Japanese have a historically-rooted affinity for such visual media as manga, but for the first half of the twentieth century, American comics were more popular and diverse than were Japanese manga. So why have manga flourished while American comics have floundered?

Perhaps the single most important factor in the creation of the modern manga industry was the work of one artist, the late Osamu Tezuka, known in Japan as the "god of manga.

OSAMU TEZUCA:(The God of Manga)

“Until that time, most manga were drawn from a two-dimensional perspective. The interactions of actors appearing from stage left and stage right were composed as if from the viewpoint of someone seated in the audience. I began to introduce cinematic techniques into

my composition. I thought the potential of manga was more than getting a laugh; using themes of tears and sorrow, anger and hatred, I made stories that didn't always have happy

endings”.

Publishers responded immediately and enthusiastically, and had no trouble finding young artists eager to emulate Tezuka's revolutionary style. Most of these artists--Shohtaroh Ishimori (later Ishinomori), Fujiko Fujio, Fujio Akatsuka, Hideko Mizuno--went on to become giants of the postwar manga industry.

Tezuka's innovations led the children to don't stop reading manga when they were raised.

It is important to note, though, that Tezuka was able to exert so much influence because he happened to be in the right place at the right time. Some prewar cartoonists, such as Noboru Oh-shiro, were using many of the "cinematic techniques" said to be invented by Tezuka when Tezuka was a still a child, and were also more technically skilled than Tezuka. But they were confined by the standards of Tokyo publishers (who felt that manga for children should be entertaining and educational, but not too "stimulating") and also by government censors.

The Manga BoomAfter seven or eight years of talking with what must amount to hundreds of Japanese readers of manga ("comic books"), they finally came to a certain realization: there is a surprisingly clear line that separates the "pre-manga generation" from the "manga generation," and that line can drawn somewhere around 1950. I've met a handful of Japanese born prior to 1950 who love manga, and I've met many born after 1950 who have no interest in manga, but for the most part, the former generation considers manga to be "kids' stuff," and stopped reading manga by the time they entered middle school, while the latter generation has always taken manga for granted as just another medium that can be enjoyed by adults as well as children.

Why 1950? Although Tezuka helped transform manga from a simple form of children's entertainment into a sophisticated medium that children were reluctant to abandon as they grew older. Japan that was undergoing rapid economic development, and the other media followed suit. In 1956, Japan's first weekly magazine appeared, setting off a boom in weeklies. Initially, these magazines were conceived of as general education and entertainment magazines, with manga usually occupying no more than forty percent of each issue. But circulations were low, as were those of the traditional monthly children's magazines. It didn't take long for publishers to figure out that they could raise sales by increasing the space dedicated to manga.

In terms of content, adventure and science-fiction stories of the kind pioneered by Tezuka continued to dominate the shônen ("boys') magazines, yet the readership for manga was growing older. Teenagers, young laborers and college students began to turn to the then-popular "rental book shops," where a new genre of sophisticated and serious manga (known as gekiga, meaning "theatrical pictures") had been developing since the late 1950s. These rental manga emphasized realism, in both drawing style and content, and were often grim, pensive, or violent.

"Girls' Stuff"Considering that in most of the English-speaking world comic books are generally seen as

"boys' stuff," it is only natural that the genre of shôjo manga, or "girls' comics," should be met by that world. English girls just as foreigners are surprised to hear that Japanese girls and women are such good consumers of comics.

In the 1950's and early 1960's, the majority of shôjo manga were created by male artists, most of whom also worked in the shônen genre. The number of professional women artists working in shôjo manga prior to 1960, they could almost be counted on the fingers of one hand. The stories featured primary school girls, and generally fell into one of three categories: humor, horror, or tear-jerker.

By the end of the 1970s, shôjo manga had ceased to be a monolithic and homogenous genre. A number of subgenres, such as fantasy and science fiction, or stories focusing on homosexual romance between boys (known as "boys' love," or sometimes "yaoi"), had become firmly established, distinct from the "mainstream" of (heterosexual) love-comedies that themselves had become more sophisticated and less governed by taboo.

The History of manga:The first view emphasizes events occurring during and after the U.S. Occupation of

Japan(1945–1952), and stresses that manga was strongly shaped by United States cultural influences, including U.S. comics brought to Japan by television, film, and cartoons (especially Disney).

For Murakami and Tatsumi, trans-nationalism (or globalization) refers specifically to the flow of cultural and subcultural material from one nation to another. In their usage, the term does not refer to international corporate expansion, nor to international tourism, nor to cross-border international personal friendships, but to ways in which artistic, aesthetic, and intellectual traditions influence each other across national boundaries.

Firsts examples of Manga

Japanese wood block illustration from 19th century

However, other writers stress continuity of Japanese cultural and aesthetic traditions as central to the history of manga.

Similarly, Inoue sees manga as being a mixture of image- and word-centered elements. In his view, Japanese image-centered or "pictocentric" art ultimately derives from Japan's long history of engagement with Chinese graphic art, whereas word-centered or "logocentric" art, like the novel, was stimulated by social and economic needs of Meiji and pre-War Japanese nationalism for a populace unified by a common written language. Both fuse in what Inoue sees as a symbiosis in manga.

Thus, these scholars see the history of manga as involving historical continuities and discontinuities between the aesthetic and cultural past as it interacts with post-World War II innovation and trans-nationalism.

Paper Warriors and Propaganda Messengers

With Japan’s entry in to World War II in 1937, government officials cracked down on dissident artists and artwork that was counter to the party line. Cartoonists were required to join a government-supported trade organization,

Manga that appeared in this period included gentle, family-style humor making light of the shortages and ‘make-do’ inventiveness of wartime housewives or images demonizing the enemy and glorifying bravery on the battlefield.

Manga’s ability to transcend language and cultural barriers also made it a perfect medium for propaganda. As Tokyo Rose’s radio broadcasts encouraged allies to give up the fight, illustrated leaflets created by Japanese cartoonists were also used to undermine the morale of the Allied soldiers in the Pacific arena.

But the Allied forces also fought this war of images with manga, thanks in part to Taro Yashima, a dissident artist who left Japan and resettled in America. The comic was often found on the corpses of Japanese soldiers in the battlefield, a testament to its ability to affect the fighting spirit of its readers.

After World War II

In the forefront of this period are two manga series and characters that influenced much of the future history of manga. These are Osamu Tezuka's Mighty Atom (Astro Boy in theUnited States; begun in 1951) and Machiko Hasegawa's Sazae-san (begun in 1946).

ASTRO BOY:was both a superpowered robot and a naive little boy. Tezuka never explained why Astro Boy had such a highly developed social conscience nor what kind of robot programming could make him so deeply affiliative. Both seem innate to Astro Boy, and represent a Japanese sociality and community-oriented masculinity differing very much from the Emperor-worship and militaristic obedience enforced during the previous period of Japanese imperialism. Astro Boy quickly became (and remains) immensely popular in Japan and elsewhere as an icon and hero of a new world of peace and the renunciation of war.

By contrast, SAZAE-SAN (meaning "Ms. Sazae") was drawn starting in 1946 by Machiko Hasegawa, a young woman artist who made her heroine a stand-in for millions of Japanese men and especially women rendered homeless by the war. Sazae-san does not face an easy or simple life, but, like Astro Boy, she too is highly affiliative and is deeply involved with her immediate and extended family. She is also a very strong character, in striking contrast to the officially sanctioned Neo-Confucianist principles of feminine meekness and obedience to the "good wife, wise mother"ideal taught by the previous military regime.

Tezuka and Hasegawa were also both stylistic innovators. In Tezuka's "cinematographic" technique, the panels are like a motion picture that reveals details of action bordering on slow motion as well as rapid zooms from distance to close-up shots. More critically, Tezuka synchronised the placement of panel with the reader's viewing speed to simulate moving pictures. Hence in manga production as in film production, the person who decide the allocation of panels (Komawari) is credited as the author while most drawing are done by assistants. This kind of visual dynamism was widely adopted by later manga artists. Hasegawa's focus on daily life and on women's experience also came to characterize latershōjo manga.

With the relaxation of censorship in Japan after the early 1990s, a wide variety of explicitly drawn sexual themes appeared in manga intended for male readers that correspondingly occur in English translations. These depictions range from mild partial nudity through implied and explicit sexual intercourse through bondage and sadomasochism (SM), zoophilia (bestiality), incest, and rape.

Post-War Manga: Red Books and Rental Libraries

The years immediately following the war were filled with hardship, many restrictions on artistic expression were lifted and manga artists found themselves free to tell a variety of stories once more.

Humorous four-panel comic strips about family life such as Sazae-san were a welcome reprieve from the harshness of post-war life. Created by Machiko Hasegawa,

The shortages and economic hardships of the post-war years made purchasing toys and comic books a luxury that was out of reach for many children. However, manga was still enjoyed by the masses through kami-shibai (paper plays). Traveling storytellers would bring their mini-theater to neighborhoods, along with traditional sweets that they’d sell to their young audience and narrate stories based on the images drawn on cardboard.

Sampei Shirato (creator of Kamui Den) and Shigeru Mizuki (creator of the Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro) made their mark as kami-shibai illustrators. The heyday of kami-shibai slowly came to an end with the arrival of television in the 1950’s.

Another affordable option for readers were kashibonya or rental libraries. For a small fee, readers could enjoy a variety of titles without having to pay full-price for their own copy. In the typically tight-quarters of most urban Japanese homes, this was doubly convenient, since it allowed readers to enjoy their favorite comics without taking up extra storage space.

25 Manga Milestones: 2000 - 2009

Call it the "Aughts," the "00's," or "the decade from hell" -- the first decade of the 21st century was pretty momentous for manga . It was a time of incredible growth, as more manga was published and sold in America than ever before. Many comics fans learned how to "read backwards" and were introduced to gekiga , yaoi manga and mahw

Gekiga

Gekiga literally means "drama pictures" and refers to a form of aesthetic realism in manga. Gekiga style drawing is emotionally dark, often realistic, sometimes very violent, and focuses on the day-in, day-out grim realities of life, often drawn in gritty and unpretty fashions. Gekiga arose in the late 1950s and 1960s..

From Manga to AnimeThe popularity of anime television shows in the mid-1960s led to increasing opportunities for

animators to work in the film industry. In the 1970s, animation studios primarily produced films

based on anime television shows, but with the 1980s and 1990s, more original material found its

way onto Japanese and, eventually, Western movie screens.

Common Genres and ThemesInitial anime series like "Astro Boy" were aimed at children, principally boys. For instance,

"shoujo," anime and manga focused around a young female character. "Hentai" anime deals with

erotic and/or pornographic themes, while the "yaoi" genre deals with homoerotic themes and is a

popular genre with young women.

Anime in America

Many contend that anime made its first introduction to American audience with the popular,

although briefly broadcast, series "Speed Racer," which ran from 1967 to 1968. In the 1990s, the

overwhelming popularity of series such as "Pokemon," "Dragon Ball Z" and "Naruto" cemented

anime in the mainstream American mindset. Anime films such as "Akira" (made in Japan in 1988

but released in American in 1990) introduced adult audiences to the distinct style and complex

themes of Japanese animation. Today, legendary Japanese anime director Hiyao Miyazaki has

achieved huge critical and financial success in the West with films such as "Princess Mononoke

(1997)," "Howl's Moving Castle (2004)," and "Spirited Away," for which he won the 2002 Academy

Award for Best Animated Feature.

History of AnimeThe History of Anime begins in the early 19th Century. The common assumption made by people of

western original is that anime came way, way after C19th, but infact it is true that anime has its

roots in Manga. Manga is the common term for Japanese Comic.

The modern style manga saw the first birth of manga animation, which today is commonly known

as 'anime'.

Animation became popular in Japan very quickly in the 1980's, there was a rapid increase in the

production of anime and began to accept anime more readily.

In the 2000's the influence of Japan's anime spread overseas, a prime example of this being the

incredibly popular Dragon Ball series, which currently broadcasts all over Canada, America,

Australia, Europe and South Africa.

As you probably know there is a manga and an anime about Naruto. Although the anime stays very

true to the manga, there are some small differences between them.

Because the anime is based on the manga, the story is a lot more ahead in the manga compared

to the anime's. The anime only picked the main storyline back up with the

second Naruto installment, called: "Naruto Shippuuden". The manga is still running, so who knows

how long the series will continue?

Neji's mark on his forehead looks a little different from the one shown in the manga. In the manga the

mark looks more like a swastika.The symbol is most famous as "The Nazi Symbol" after all.

Starting off, a simple explanation is in order for this report. Manga is Japanese for comic, and anime is

Japanese for animation. Every anime will have several million images in it, sometimes reaching

billions depending on the length of the episode or show. Cels are created in batches to form

complete sequences or actions in a movie. In contrary, manga have relatively few images. Instead of

creating frames, manga are drawn in panels. Each page is laid out and separated, then each picture is

drawn to create a storyboard. Even more space is used as rectangular and balloon shapes are

reserved in order to place words into the story. So manga has much less space and immensely less

pages than an anime. Manga have variably little space to convey images. However, often there is a

front cover, back cover and inside cover to exhibit the characters, in full color, over the entire page.

This is the source for almost all colors in manga. Without the covers most the looks and colors of

most manga characters would be debatable. Pin-ups and specials also offer another chance to

expose the manga in full color. Anime are always in full color. The colors are sharper, less detailed

and not as soft as colors in a manga. People in anime are often less concentrated on, while the

backgrounds can range from intensely beautiful to very plain. In long series single frames are

concentrated on less, leaving the characters and their surroundings sometimes appearing strange or

contorted in favor of creating a smooth scene. 

      Needless to say, manga cannot afford to have unsatisfactory images. Having one sloppy picture

can ruin a panel. A ruined panel is an entire page less appealing than the rest of the manga. It's

essential in manga to keep the pictures as lovely as possible or else risk diminishing the value of the

manga. In anime it's very common for several frames to appear odd individually. Many comedic

aspects are lost in the anime, leaving only a few of the more outstanding pieces to sprinkle through. 

      Background is another important feature. Anime must have a background. Any anime that has a

character pacing back and forth on a pure white screen will be discontinued quickly. Each scene

requires a background to show the place of action. Manga can easily get away without a

background. A panel showing only a picture of a character menacingly observing his foes will easily

pass without having to add a potted plant next to him. Since manga must show what appears

attractive, the motto "Less is more" applies. All he needs to do is pose with an impish smirk etched

on his face, with his name shouted in large lettering next to him. It can be automatically assumed he

has swooped into the scene without having to draw everything around him. 

      There's a huge difference between anime and manga, despite the fact that most manga are

developed into anime. The differences range from small to large: obvious to subtle. No matter how

hard a manga tries it can never be an anime, or the other way around. They journey hand in hand,

influencing each other heavily and never quite attaining every characteristic the other has. Most

would like it to stay as it is, as well. After all, if manga and anime became the same thing one

couldn't delight in two versions of their favorite series.

Early Days

In 1914, cartoonists were among the first Japanese artists to experiment with animated motion pic-tures. Japan's first world-wide success was Kitayama Seitaro's short film Momotaro(1918). Al-though the Japanese animation industry continued to grow slowly, its one, last pre-war milestone was Chikara To Onna No Yononaka. Appearing in 1932, the short film was the first animated "talkie" in Japanese.

The undisputed leaders in the field were Walt Disney and the Fleisher Brothers. People now forgot what a shock it was for Disney to even consider producing a full-length animated feature. But, when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appeared in 1937 to overwhelming popular acclaim, Disney demonstrated that animation could be just as expressive and viable a medium as live-action film.

The Sophisticated '70s

Japanese animated television series seemed in the 1960's, most were created strictly for childen. This all changed in the 1970's, when a mangaka named Monkey Punch had a program with all kind of animations. Lupin Sansei had as main character a man who was a master thief. Inspired by satyri-cal mysteries, the show was part comedy and part adventure, having adult humor and slapstick vio-lence too. That serie had an older audience.

It was in the science fiction genre where televised animation started to make incredible leaps for-ward. Although programs thrilled audiences with their stylish robot and spaceship designs, it was Star Blazers that really captured the imagination of Japanese television viewers. The series followed the crew of the Space Battleship Yamato as they tried to save humanity from destruction while fighting off an alien invasion.

The "giant robot" show had been a mainstay of Japanese animation since come shows. This science fiction sub-genre became important when Mobile Suit Gundam was premiered in 1979. Combining the epic story elements and humanoid mecha, MS Gundam was an intelligent and exciting space show. The story-line detailed a future space war in which the opposing forced fought with mecha-nized battlesuits. Human pilots "wore" the giant robots as a protective shell.

Explosion

In the 1980's, television and film producers began to do more sophisticated and exciting animated programming because of the demand. The home video market exploded onto the scene a few years later. Now Japanese fans could actually buy copies of their favorite animated TV shows and movies.

To keep up with the ever-expanding marketplace, anime producers worked in manga field for mate-rial to adapt. One of the first artists to benefit was Akira Toriyama who’s quirky comedy series Dr. Slump became an instant hit. In 1986, an animated adaptation of his fantasy series Dragon Ball went on to become Japan's most popular animated TV show.

Employing as deft at light comedy and fantasy as Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi dominated televi-sion and video throughout the '80's and '90's. First with the insane alien comedy Urusei Yatsura, then with the gender-bending of Ranma ½ and later with some demons in an alternative world in Inu-yasha.

On the opposite side from Takahashi was Go Nagain, an artist with a reputation for creating "naughty" manga. Anime adaptations of his work began in 1972 with the Devilman TV series. Now

that the direct-to-video market had been established, anime created strictly for adults could bypass the usual restrictions imposed by TV and film sensors.

It was during the 1980's that mainstream science fiction literature received a powerful jolt of tech-nological reality. Japanese manga and anime artists were among the first to really grab this new lex-icon of imagery and run with it. The first and best was artist/director Katsuhiro Otamo. He created an anime film, Akira, a huge international hit and it influenced a new style of anime. A lot of new animes began to born, where the lines between technology and humanity began to blur. They were sci-fi films and shows talking about the man versus the machine.

Not all new anime was like that. Keiji Nakazawa wrote of his experiences as a Hiroshima survivor in the heartrending manga saga Barefoot Gen. Nakazawa adapted his novels into a frank and power-ful 1983 film. Exploring similar territory, Hotaru No Haka (Grave of the Fireflies) followed the struggle of two orphans who survived the fire-bombing of Tokyo. Few live action films have ever come as close to capturing the true horrors of war as this animated film did.

Audiences were now becoming more receptive to animation that wasn't strictly action or comedy oriented. In response, anime producers turned to Japanese literature for inspiration. The success of such films showed that anime had finally broken free from the restraints of its earlier "kids-only" la-bel to enter the realm of high-brow acceptance.

The New Studios

Out of the '80's anime explosion, two production companies emerged that would lead the industry into the 21st Century: Gainax and Studio Ghibli. Founded by Toshio Okada, Gainax brought to-gether a group of creators who were part of the first generation raised on Japanese animation. Gainax produced some of the most significant and popular works of the '80's and 90's.

Studio Ghibli grew out of the association of two long-time anime creators, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. Both worked on various projects during the 1960's. In 1971

Future

As the '90's wind down, optimism comes easily to the anime fan. In Japan, there are celebrations of the anniversaries of a lot of animes, famous authors keep making and drawing their stories and they still make films based on those old shows.

International audiences are enjoying a growing influx of popular anime. Pokémon, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball have delighted children wherever they've been shown. Most significant is the deal that Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli inked to bring all of Miyazaki's masterpieces to American audi-ences. Entertainment Weekly picked the first release under this agreement, Kiki's Delivery Service, as its 1998 Video of the Year. Some years later, look for Mononoke Hime to appear in theaters across the country.

Anime's success can be credited to the dedication of many Japanese artists to fully exploit the possi-bilities of animation as a creative medium. These gifted artists understood that they could do more with moving pictures than just entertain children. This keeps anime as a vital artistic option for filmmakers in the 21st Century.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_manga