Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 2004.
"Now we are living in the age of comics as air" --Osamu Tezuka
"Manga, Manga 1985-90." Comics, the 9th Art. Videocassette. Dir. Alejandro Vallejo. 28 min.
Manga: a publication of weekly or bi-weekly Japanese comics, sometimes in excess of 200-300 pages.
History: Post WWII, American occupation under General MacArthur. Japanese culture begins to adapt to American ideals. Osama Tazuka becomes the "father of Manga" His style incorporates narrative methods similar to American cinematography and the introduction of movement in the story to increase range. Tetswan Adam is his most famous character, a robot created in the image of his deceased son. Using three distances far, medium and near to show spatial movement and passage through time.
Since the signing of several treaties after the war, Japan has been prohibited from rearming itself. The countries budget works to create technological innovation. In this way it rises once more as a world power.
Kosei Ono: the focus in Manga on movement over dialogue makes them easy to read quickly. Because of the popularity of Manga that featured this cinematographic style, newspapers began to sell them at a rapid rate. To keep up with the demand, newspapers began to print more and more Manga inside of their pages.
Hiroshi Hurata: Developed a Manga series on the Samurai beginning in 1959. These were graphic stories that retold the classical tales of Samurai culture.
Lone Wolf and Cub becomes the most popular Manga on the Samurai, written by Goseki Kojima, who tells the story of his invitation to translate his stories for American readers. He refuses because Japanese stories are written and read from right to left. American readers, then, would be reading his stories in reverse, and the Kimonos on the characters would be appear to be crossed backwards. This was entirely inappropriate and unacceptable to Kojima.
American values begin to influence Japanese culture even further in the 1960's. Exportation of Japanese made products brings great prosperity to the country's economy. Area 88, the story of a fighter pilot gains in popularity. Go Nagai creates a series on Manga robots, controlled by people. This became the Imaginer Z series. Romance and adventure Manga become popular forms for women and girls.
