Manga’s were created to broaden the minds of its readers. It employed artists with greater creativity and gave a sense of responsibility in upholding life values and lessons. It is said that manga originated in the 12th century, representing the right-to-left reading style. The word Manga came into usage in the late 18th century. Manga is a Japanese term that can be translated as “comic”; Historians and writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern manga. Their views differ in the relative importance they attribute to the role of cultural and historical events following World War II versus the role of pre-war, Meiji, and pre-Meiji Japanese culture and art.
Cultural and Ethnic background of Manga
Japanese cultural and aesthetic traditions were implied by the manga writers as central to the history of manga in order to get the local readers interested. Writers include Frederik L. Schodt, Kinko Ito, Adam L. Kern, and Eric Peter Nash. Schodt points to the existence in the 13th century of illustrated picture scrolls that told stories in sequential images with humor and wit.
While there are disputes over whether Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga or Shigisan-engi was the first manga, both scrolls date back to about the same time period. However others like Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli co-founder and director, contends there is no linkage with the scrolls and modern manga
Post World War II, Policies and Art
After World War II, Japanese artists gave life to their own style, when a previously militaristic and ultranationalist Japan was rebuilding its political and economic infrastructure. Although policies specifically prohibited art and writing that glorified war and Japanese militarism, those policies did not prevent the publication of materials like manga. In 1947 Japanese Constitution (Article 21) prohibited all forms of censorship.
This resulted in growth of artistic creativity in this period. This gave rise to popular mangastream series and characters that influenced much of the future history of manga. These are namely Osamu Tezuka‘s Mighty Atom or Astro boy (1951) and Machiko Hasegawa’s Sazae-san (1946).
Women Manga Artists and the outlook of characters
In 1969, a group of women manga artists later called as the Year 24 Group or also known as Magnificent 24s made their shōjo manga debut. The group included Hagio Moto, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Ōshima, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Yamagishi which marked the first major entry of women artists into manga. Thereafter, manga would be drawn primarily by women artists for creating interest among girls and young women.
In 1971, Ikeda began her immensely popular manga Berusaiyu no Bara or The Rose of Versailles, a story of Oscar François de Jarjayes, a cross-dressing woman who was a Captain in Marie Antoinette‘s Palace Guards in pre-Revolutionary France. In the end, Oscar dies as a revolutionary leading a charge of her troops against the Bastille. Likewise, Hagio Moto’s work challenged Neo-Confucianist limits on women’s roles and activities as in her 1975 They Were Eleven, a science fiction story about a young woman cadet in a future space academy. These created mangas which further empowered the characters to take up challenging female roles. Those stories are interesting to read and all age of people can learn it.
These women artists also created considerable stylistic innovations. Basically focusing on the heroine’s inner experiences and feelings, shōjo manga are “picture poems” with delicate and complex designs that often eliminate panel borders completely to create prolonged, non-narrative extensions of time. All of these innovations depict women to be strong and independent female characters, intense emotionality, and complex design which remain characteristic of shōjo manga up to the present day.
In the mid-1980s and thereafter, as girls who had read shōjo manga as teenagers matured and entered the job market, shōjo manga elaborated subgenres directed at women in their 20s and 30s. This “Ladies Comic” subgenre has dealt with themes of young adulthood: jobs, the emotions and problems of sexual intercourse, and friendships or love among women.
Conclusion
As writers growing up, we also have felt that Mangas have influenced our childhood. Starting from Astro to Dragon ball Z to its games and series. The stories kept us interested depicting the quality of its writers and plot & share your business story. If you have not tuned in to any Manga or Anime series we highly recommend you to watch one. The Manga stories are loved by all group of age people around the world.