Manga

So what is manga? Well that’s a simple answer. It’s a form of a comic book.

 Manga is a form of art style that is used mostly in Japan. Historians still argue when the exact date of manga was first created. Some historians believe that the very first manga was created sometime in the 12^th century. Manga did not get famous until after the early 1940’s. This was around the time that the United States was occupying Japan. At the time, Japan had to follow the policies of censorship that prohibited any kind of glory to the Japanese army. It wasn’t until 1951 when the series called “Astro Boy” came out and started to get the worlds attention on manga. This was the time when manga started to get popular. Astro Boy was used as a symbolic character of a changing world of peace. Astro Boy would become one of the most popular anime/manga characters to date.

  During the 1950’s and 60’s there were two very popular types of manga. You had “shonen”, which is a type of manga aimed more to a boy audience (such as “Astro Boy”, Dragon Ball Z”, and “One Piece”). In the shonen genre, you will find that it is more likely that it will have more violence and adventure circle around there storylines. Then the genre known as “shojo” which is more based at a girl audience (such as “Fruits Basket, “Ouran High School Host Club,” and “Vampire Knight”). In the genre of shojo you’ll find that its main plot points are based more about school, and romantic relationships.

Manga has always been popular in Japan. In the United States, the only manga that was translated into English before the 1980’s was Astro Boy. But it still took until 1965 for the first issue of Astro Boy to come out. But during the 1980’s, a company called “Viz Entertainment” decided to start translating manga’s into English. Manga like “Lone Wolf and Cub,” and “Akira.” But the popularity of manga did not come until the mid 1990’s. It wasn’t until 1997 that manga had huge success in the United States.  This was around the time that companies started publishing manga like “Sailor Moon,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Naruto,” and “One Piece.” This was also during the time of the booming success of anime. But, like anime, the manga industry took a huge drop in popularity after the recession hit the United States. The popularity of manga like One Piece had kept the manga industry opened during the time of the recession. But, during the recession there were many companies closing down. But like the anime industry, the popularity of manga is coming back. There are many publishing companies who are reopening and translating manga in the United States.

Here are a few Manga I recommend:

Berserk by Kentaro Miura

Drifters by Kouta Hirano

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue

Hunter X Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi

Doubt by Yoshiki Tonogai

Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama

King of Wolves by Kentaro Miura

And….. Hellsing by Kouta Hirano