Manga 101
When the WG team got the chance to partner with Drops of God, not all of us were familiar with manga. We soon found out: manga may look like a comic book, read like a comic book, and have the joy of a comic book, but manga is serious business. And we’re totally obsessed.
Manga — pronounced maawn-gah — are Japanese comics and graphic novels. Stylized art has been made in Japan for popular entertainment since the 12th century. But modern manga, (the kanji, or written characters, for the word are ‘man,’ which translates to whimsical or impromptu, and ‘ga,’ meaning pictures), really took hold post WWII, during the American occupation of Japan. With few resources to produce or buy hard cover books, inexpensive ‘red book’ comics appeared, many by the proliferate Manga-ka (manga creator) Osamu Tezuka. Hailed as the God of Manga, his work Shintakarajima, inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, sold over 400,000 copies. That was in 1947, the depths of postwar depression. And before manga had global fans.
Even today, Tezuka’s imprint on the art form is indelible. Inspired by comics and foreign films he loved in youth, he created a cinematic style in which each frame became the lens of a camera. Within a single page, close ups, landscape pans, off-screen shots and even sound effects combine to create the drama. Art, rather than text, tells the story.
Manga, like comic art, is a format, with genres within it from children’s fairytales to adult pornography. If the term brings to mind doe-eyed, lithe-limbed femme fatales and chiseled, wispy-haired heroes, keep reading: like all art, manga ranges from the campy to the sublime. Characters, too, have great breadth: Superheroes, vampires, animals, pals, families, supernatural beings and even sommeliers, like Shizuku Kanzaki in DOG, star in their own series.
With no otaku — manga nerd — among us, we had to learn a few things up front. Here’s a quick primer:
Manga vs. Anime. Just in case you’re wondering — we did! — manga is a book format, while anime, co-opted from the English word animation, are animated cartoons. Characters and stories are developed using both formats, but not all manga is made into anime, and not all anime starts with manga.
Read right to left. Japanese is read right to left, and so manga is drawn right to left as well. As only the words — not the pictures — change when manga is translated to English, most remain right to left. So don’t be surprised when you pick up a volume and read the author bio where you think the front cover should be.
Tankoban are bound volumes of serialized manga. Much like cartoon strips drawn for U.S. newspapers, manga chapters are published one at a time. Tankoban, therefore, come with a stamp of approval from Japanese readers, as the series was popular enough to collect into a series so fans could read from beginning to end. Many series run for years, and have multiple volumes.
Not all manga are happy. The art form tells stories, yes, but is more like Western culture’s literary tradition than its comic book art. Hardship, death and evil are honestly depicted.
Pay attention! Writers of adult manga are reaching sophisticated audiences demanding ever more complex stories. Characters are multi-faceted and, well, human. The heroes are flawed, and the villains have relatable backstory. And the plots are twisty, too.
Be prepared to be obsessed. There are two types of manga fans, otaku, and those brushed with the (derogatory) term weebulo. The former is a term you’d proudly call yourself. The latter is one your mates will sling if you stay in a dark room for months without bathing to read manga.
The Drops of God, a manga about two half-brothers competing in a high-stakes wine tasting for their late father’s wine collection, is a fine place to start. Stay tuned: Amazon just announced the translation of 8 of the 44 volumes to English. If you want to start before that, try the bathroom at Air’s Champagne Parlor in NYC, where the gorgeous manga adorns the walls of the loo.