Category: Manga

The Important Impact Of Ponchi-e On The Medium Of Manga

Published July 11, 2022

I’ve spoken before about the history of manga but it was more of a synopsis than anything else and it left the door open for me to expand on various aspects of manga history. I was recently perusing manga topics and I came across the term “Ponchi-e”. Understandably, I first thought it had something to do with ukiyo-e but I very quickly realised that it was entirely separate and a topic worth discussing. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the important impact of ponchi-e on the medium of manga.

In order to explain the etymology of ponchi-e, I first need to discuss its origins. Soon after the end of the isolationist period of Japan, a British man named Charles Wirgman traveled to Japan. Having worked as a sketch artist for the Illustrated London News, the world’s first illustrated newspaper, he soon set up a magazine called Japan Punch. The name appears to have been based off of the British magazine “Punch” but this also explains the term “Ponchi-e” which is a katakana version of the word punch while attaching it to the kanji 絵 which means picture.

Leave a Comment

The Interesting Format Of Vertical Scrolling Comics

Published June 20, 2022

As a fan of Osamu Tezuka, you can imagine that I was quite interested to hear that a comic remake of Dororo is being done as a South Korea-Japan coproduction. However, there was a term that I found surprising given that I had never heard of it before, “Vertical Comic”. As you might imagine, I was immediately intrigued and began to search for information relating to these vertical comics. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to share what I learned about the format of vertical scrolling comics and, amusingly, why I was unaware of it before.

Let’s start by explaining what a vertical scrolling comic is. Basically, the format developed as a way to display comics effectively on the screen of mobile devices and consists of panels stacked atop each other that you scroll through. If you’re familiar with me and my tastes, you will quickly understand why it was that I was unfamiliar with this format. I primarily consume my media in physical formats and vertical scrolling comics are very heavily associated with webcomics. It makes sense then why I wouldn’t have heard of it before.

The cover for the first volume of Tower of God.

Leave a Comment

Interesting Manga That You Might Have Missed – Recommendations

Published May 16, 2022

I’ve previously recommended manga that I would consider to be less popular but still great and, given how popular that article has turned out to be, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some manga that you might have missed and give some recommendations. The goal of this article will be to try to appeal to both those who are very familiar with manga and those who are just looking for some manga to get started with.

Utsubora, also known as Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist, was released by Vertical in 2013 and was originally released in Manga Erotics F, an experimental manga magazine. The manga opens up with a young woman committing suicide and Shun Mizorogi, an author with a mysterious relationship with the young woman, comes across her sister who resembles her in nearly every way. What follows is a very compelling mystery drama that manages to grip your attention as you figure out what is going on. The artwork is also very stylised with some excellent use of negative spacing. There is some strong sexual content so those that are squeamish may want to avoid Utsubora but others should definitely seek it out.

Leave a Comment

Why You Need To Know About Authorized Books Of Japan

Published May 5, 2022

Piracy continues to plague the manga industry and while I’ve spoken about my opposition to piracy in the past as well as listing several ways to read manga online legally, it’s clear that there is still so much more I can do to help combat this issue. Recently, I came across a new stamp that has the potential to be incredibly helpful in the battle against piracy and, since I’m sure many people are still unaware of this and what it means, I thought I’d take a look at why you need to know about Authorized Books of Japan.

As far as I can tell, Authorized Books of Japan was first trademarked in 2019 with the goal of providing clarity on which websites provide manga legally and which ones distribute manga illegally. When you access a website that has been approved by the Authorized Books of Japan, you’ll be able to find their mark on the webpage, typically at the bottom, that tells you that the website is selling copies of manga legally.

Leave a Comment

Some Of The First Manga That I Ever Read

Published April 21, 2022

I recently wrote an article called “Some Of The First Anime That I Ever Watched” and I thought it would also be quite interesting to take a look at some of the first manga that I ever read, some of which may be quite obvious and some of which may be quite unusual.

Interestingly, the first manga that I ever read was an OEL manga. Around the time, I was really into World of Warcraft and was eager to consume anything Warcraft related. I was in Waterstones and I remember coming across a book called “Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy – Shadows of Ice”. The book was an OEL manga produced by Tokyopop and I didn’t realise that Shadows of Ice was the second volume in the trilogy. Still, I remember enjoying it and it would only be later on, when I learned what manga was, that I would realise that I had an OEL manga already.

Leave a Comment

The Interesting Difference Between A Mangaka And A Gensakusha

Published April 7, 2022

If you’re familiar with the manga industry, you’ve probably come across the term “Mangaka” plenty of times. However, it’s quite possible that you may have missed the term “Gensakusha” which is also worth knowing. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the difference between a mangaka and a gensakusha and why you should know the difference.

First, let’s define each role. A mangaka, the term people are more likely to be familiar with, is written 漫画家 in Japanese with 漫画 referring to manga while one of the many definitions of 家 refers to specialist. The role of the mangaka is to primarily draw the artwork of the manga itself. On the other hand, a gensakusha is written 原作者 in Japanese with the characters meaning original, create and person respectively. The role of the gensakusha is to write and compose the story, characters and dialogue of the manga. It’s also worth noting that the gensakusha provides a basic, often crudely drawn, storyboard to act as a guide for the mangaka.

The cover of the Dark Horse Omnibus edition of Lone Wolf and Cub. — Observe how two names appear on the cover of Lone Wolf & Cub, Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima.

2 Comments

The Underappreciated Manga Technique Of Mihiraki

Published March 28, 2022

I think it’s easy for a lot of people to look at manga and to not realise how complicated and difficult it is to produce. From the black and white artwork to the way the panels are structured, there is so much to appreciate when it comes to manga and I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what I consider to be quite an underappreciated manga technique, mihiraki.

If you’ve read even a cursory amount of manga, it’s quite likely that you’ve come across mihiraki without even realising it. The most basic definition of mihiraki, 見開き in Japanese, is literally “two pages opposite each other“. That by itself can be a little confusing but, with regards to manga, it refers to manga artwork that is spread across two pages. This can result in two pages depicting a single panel or it can simply display a panel across two pages with other panels around it.

An example of a double page mihiraki from Akira.

Leave a Comment

Moe: An Intrinsic And Important Part Of Otaku Subculture

Published March 24, 2022

It’s quite likely that, if you’re into anime, manga or any other aspect of otaku culture, you’ve probably heard of the term “Moe”. My own personal thoughts on moe are quite mixed and so I thought it would be pretty interesting to take a look at moe as an intrinsic and important part of otaku subculture while also expressing my own opinions on moe.

Moe is a Japanese slang term, spelt 萌え, that is pronounced in two syllables, mo and e, in contrast to the given name which is only one syllable. Moe is defined by Lexico as “the quality in a fictional female character of being youthfully innocent and vulnerable . . . eliciting feelings of affection or protectiveness“. Within anime and manga, this usually takes the form of young females, typically teenagers but sometimes young adults, with large eyes and colourful hair. Unfortunately, the origin of the term with context to otaku culture is unknown with a wide variety of theories regarding how it began although it’s fair to say that the term came into use sometime around the late 80s and early 90s.

Three characters associated with the origin of moe.

Leave a Comment

Henshin Heroes And Their Prevalence In Japanese Popular Culture

Published March 21, 2022

As someone who’s recently become fascinated by tokusatsu, I’ve been coming across various terms that I was previously unaware of before. One of these terms stood out to me though since it’s actually surprisingly applicable to various forms of entertainment outside of tokusatsu. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Henshin Heroes and their prevalence in Japanese popular culture.

First off, I should explain what a Henshin Hero is. The Japanese word “Henshin” literally translates to transformation or metamorphosis. Thus, when we refer to a Henshin Hero, we are referring to a heroic character who transforms in order to gain access to their powers. I’m sure many of you can already think of various examples when it comes to Japanese media that this term applies to but let’s take a look at a few specific genres and examples.

Kamen Rider transforming while shouting “Henshin!”.

Leave a Comment

The Best Editions English Language Manga Publishers Have Released

Published March 14, 2022

As much as the art and story of any manga series is crucial to me, I’m always happy to see an English language manga publisher take the extra step to make their release a little special. Taking that into account, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the best editions that English language manga publishers have released. However, I also want to stress that when I’m praising a manga’s presentation, I’m specifically praising the presentation. My thoughts regarding the manga itself are entirely separate which I may or may not mention.

Having said all that, the first edition that I want to take a look at is actually a category of releases that Viz Media used to release. VizBigs were a type of edition that Viz Media released across six different series, Dragon Ball, Fushigi Yugi, Hot Gimmick, Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshin and Vagabond. These editions were presented in a larger trim size, higher-quality paper with pages originally in colour actually in colour, were three volume omnibuses and, best of all, were quite affordable. Unfortunately, it seems Viz Media have lost interest in releasing VizBigs and simply keep some of them in print rather than releasing any new series in this format. Understandably, I think this is a shame and I’d love to see Viz Media return to VizBigs someday.

Some colour pages from Rurouni Kenshin. — An example of some of the colour pages in the VizBig editions of Rurouni Kenshin.

Leave a Comment