I recently wrote an article titled “The Amazing History Of The Medium Of Manga” and during that article, I decided to devote a paragraph to the gekiga movement. However, when I was perusing my older articles, I realised that, despite mentioning them several times, I’d never written an entire article devoted to gekiga. Therefore, I decided that it was important that I quickly rectify this and write about the interesting history of the gekiga movement.
In order to explain the gekiga movement, I first need to explain the reason why they came about in the first place. Prior to the rise of gekiga, manga was predominantly aimed at children and avoided topics and themes that would be considered too adult. One of the first mangaka to express his disapproval of this was the legendary Yoshihiro Tatsumi who would go on to coin the term “Gekiga” in 1957 which replaced the character 漫 in the word 漫画 (manga which literally translates as whimsical pictures) with the character 劇 to create 劇 画 (gekiga which literally translates as dramatic pictures).
In 1959, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, along with several other mangaka including the incredibly popular and famous Takao Saito, formed the Gekiga Kōbō, a group that sent a manifesto to several publishers and newspapers declaring their intent. While the group fell apart within a year, they, incredibly, managed to lay the foundations for the later gekiga movement. This foundation included storytelling that included a lot more graphic content, a more realistic art style and more complicated themes.
In 1964, a magazine called “Garo” was founded to facilitate more experimental manga with one of the first series released being the highly influential manga “Kamui” by Sanpei Shirato, a series that’s notable for becoming exceptionally popular amongst college student and adults for covering themes such as repression and authoritarianism. Garo proved to be quite popular initially although it began to struggle later in its life and was eventually shut down in 2002. Nonetheless, numerous important mangaka saw their beginnings in this magazine and there were even some competitors such as COM, an experimental manga magazine established by Osamu Tezuka.
Speaking of Osamu Tezuka, he was initially resistant to the gekiga movement. After all, many of the things they were rebelling against were techniques and styles that Osamu Tezuka had been developing for decades. However, he was waning in popularity as his works were viewed as antiquated and old-fashioned. Around the late 1960s, Osamu Tezuka began to produce more work aimed at adults and incorporated many aspects of gekiga such as a more realistic art style that still incorporated many of the cartoony elements of his earlier works and stories with more violent and sexual content.
As time has progressed, less and less manga is referred to as “Gekiga” and it’s now considered to be past its heyday. However, many of the ideals and styles of gekiga can still be found in modern manga with manga series now covering a much wider range of genres, themes and art styles aimed at several demographics. While the term gekiga may be, for the most part, consigned to the history books, its legacy cannot be understated as its influence has permeated the medium that we have come to love and adore.
Let me know your thoughts on the interesting history of the gekiga movement, whether you have read any gekiga manga, your thoughts on the impact that gekiga has had on modern manga, whether you think gekiga is consigned to the history books or whether you think any modern manga series can be referred to as gekiga and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!