The Untold History – From Manga To Anime (12th Century to Present) – A Case Study – Part 1

The Untold History – From Manga To Anime

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From childhood till now knowingly or unknowingly many Cartoons, Anime American Animation, French Animation and many more animations we have seen on our TV. But out of all these animations the animations we all like the most “Japanese Animation”. Which is also known As Anime. If you are listening this name (Anime) for the first time, then you must be wondering – well what is this ‘Anime’.

Anime is nothing but your favorite Doraemon, Shinchan, Kiteretsu…Kochikame, Perman, Hagemaru, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Beyblade, Detective Conan, One Piece, One Punch Man And other amazing Anime Series. And these are just Animation Series.

Anime Movies are more amazing than series. Like A Silent Voice, Your Name, Ponyo, Grave Of Fire Flies and many other legendary Anime Movies. After watching these movies your reaction will be like this –Woowww….. Till here it’s allright. But now I want to ask you that do you know, in Japan the main source of making Anime is ‘Manga’.

Now… what is Manga? So without wasting time.. lets get started to know something exiting. So in simple language Manga is the comic book that are made in Japan. Like, If I talk about India, there are many different types of comics available like, Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, Champak, Lot Pot, Amarchitra Katha and so on…

And once upon a time many characters of these comics were also very famous. Like-Chacha Chaudhary, Bahadur, Nagraj, Detective Moochwala, etc… In India, comic books are known as ‘Chitra Katha’. Similarly, the comics that are made in Japan is known as ‘Manga’. And this is nothing… In different countries of this world Comic Books are known by different names.

Like Korean Comics are known as Manhwa. French Comics are known as Manfra. And Chinese Comics are known as Manhua, etc. And in Japan, people of every age group reads Manga. And he/she can be a child or an adult or an old person. This is also because in Japan, every genre is available. Not a single genre is left for making Manga.

For Example – Action, Adventure, Business and Commerce, Comedy, Detective, Drama, Historical, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction Fantasy, Sports, Suspense. In all these genre thousands of Manga are available. In Japan, Manga Stories are created and printed in Black And White color. This is because the artwork done by artist can come out beautifully. And second reason is saving money.

Few Mangas are made colorful also but still most of them are black and white. In Japan, Mangas are serialised in magazine and one episode is published at once. Which is continued in next issue. When multiple episodes of a Manga story are issued in magazine, then all the episodes of a Manga story are collected together and republished in Tankōbon Volumes.

Now, What Is Tankōbon?

In Japan any independent book is said to be Tankōbon in which Manga stories are republished chapterwise. The biggest example of Tankobon in Japan is Jump Comics. In Japan, Manga Artist is known as Mangaka. Manga Artists have assistant with them and they work in a small self made studio.

They are also associated with the editor of commercial publishing company If any Manga Series becomes more popular then that Creative Officer works to convert that Manga Series to Anime Series. Yess.. our favorite Doraemon is also made from Manga…

Ethymology Of Manga

Etymology means study of the origin of any word. In Ethmology we get to know how a word is formed. Like Manga word is made from ‘Man’+’Ga’ where ‘Man’ means Impromptu [Without First Thinking] ‘Ga’ means pictures. So Manga is the group of pictures which are never imagined. And this is true every character of Manga Series are created by the imagination of writer which no one would have thought. The word manga first came into use in the late 18th century.

Late 18th Century means the years that lies between 1790 to 1800. Like this is 21st century not 20th century.

The History Of Manga

Manga is believed to have started in the 12th century. And these manga were drawn on the scroll which later came in the form of books. At that time the style of reading Manga was from right to left.

For example – This is the page of a Manga in which you have to read dialogue [1] first. Then 2, 3, 4 and so on [As Shown In Fig.]. Its first page is in the right side. And second is in the left side. Basically, reading style of books in Japan was from right to left. But as the time passed, Japan also adopted the western style of book reading.

And today almost every books are published in Western Style. Means from left to right. The image which you are seeing on the screen right now is one of the Manga that are made in 12th century and it was created by an artist whose name was KaKuyū. As I told you Manga word came into usage in late 18th century when the picture book of Santō Kyōden [Manga Artist] named as ‘Shiji No Yukikai’ was published.

Also in the staring of 19th century, many artist contributed in making Manga popular. Like the Manga ‘Manga Hyakujo’ created by Aikawa Minwa and Hokusai Manga that came betweem 1814-1834, etc… Till 1945 many Manga Artists worked to bring Manga in front of this. World War 2 ran from 1945 to 1952 all over the world. And after World War 2, Modern Manga and Anime came into existence.

And that was the time when history of Future Manga was created. And Osamu Tezuka was born who is also known as Godfather Of Manga.

Osamu Tezuka ‘The God Father Of Manga’

Osamu Tezuka was born on 3 November 1928. When you will know about this person then you will realise that Fujiko F Fujio would never be Fujiko F Fujio.

Because Osamu Tezuka is the person who converted Manga Into Anime for the first time. When Osamu told his friends that he will make animation movies from Manga. Then his friends told him – Are you mad or what? Do you know how hard It Is? and how much will it cost? And really, at that time it was no child’s play. But… by creating Anime from Manga, he added a new chapter in the history of Japan ‘History Of Anime’. ‘Astro Boy’ the Anime created by Osamu Tezuka.

The Anime that can never be forgotten. In this Anime, there is a small robot boy with some super powers and human emotions. It is said that Osamu Tezuka is equivalent to American Animator Walt Disne.y

Conclusion

The importance of Astro Boy in Japanese animation is just like the Importance of Mickey Mouse in American Animation. 9 February 1989, when Osamu Tezuka died then his last words were –

“I am begging, Let me do work”

Osamu Tezuka

These words were heard by a nurse when she was snatching Osamu’s sketch book and brush.

If you want to ask me any question then DM me on my Instagram – @Animation_Vibes. Share this video everywhere so that everyone can know, what is Manga and Anime. I’ll meet you in the next exciting video. Till then, stay tuned, stay happy.