When comes to the comic books, there are several schools. If you are from the Balkans and general south, south-eastern part of Europe, you will probably know about the Italians and Alan Ford, Dylan Dog or Corto Maltese. If you are a bit further up north Tin-Tin, Asterix and Smurfs are the domestic names. When it comes to the UK and USA, there are a lot of superheroes DC and Marvel that hardly need to be named. Sure, there are other genres and characters but what we often overlook is eastern hemisphere and manga.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, manga are comics created in Japan, by Japanese authors (called mangaka in Japanese) in Japanese and in the style that was developed in the late 19th century. Just like some western schools of comics influenced others nearby, so did manga. In China, Hong-Kong and Taiwan they are called manhua and in South Korea manhwa. Also there are some western forms, OEL (Original English Language) manga in USA and “la nouvelle manga” comics in France drawn in manga influenced style. There are whole communities of manga readers and lovers, like MangaFox.Me, but we’ll get back to that later.
So, What is Manga?
Although manga is originally used as a term that describes cartooning, comics and animation, in its current form it is mostly used for Japanese comic books. In Japan, people of all ages read manga and all kinds of genera are covered: romance, action-adventure, sports, historical drama, horror, comedy, science fiction, sexuality and many others. There are different manga names for the different age groups: children manga is self explanatory, Shōnen and Shōjo are aimed at teenage boys and girls respectively, while Seinen and Josei manga are aimed at adult males and females respectively.
One of the most popular Shōjo manga releases is Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon that is internationally known in its manga and anime form. It includes few of the main subgenres like romance, superheroes and girl sentai groups. On the other hand Dragon Ball is one of the most popular Shōnen manga (and anime). It is action-adventure that involves male heroes, slapstick humor, themes of honor, and sometimes explicit sexuality.
Controversies and Censorship
When it comes to sexual content, there is a common misconception of hentai. While in Japanese it describes any kind of perverse or bizarre sexual behavior, not a genre of manga or anime, internationally it is a catchphrase to describe any kind of anime or manga pornography, perverse or not. Although censorship relaxed a bit during the 1990’s in 2010 it was restricted to forbid any harmful content.
When it comes to one of the most infamous fetishes, tentacle porn, it was a way to avoid censorship. In the Criminal Code of Japan, any publication of obscene materials is forbidden, such as male to female sexual intercourse or pubic hair (but not bare genitalia!). In 1986, Toshio Maeda tried to avoid censorship of sexual intercourse by creating tentacle sex, because in the eyes of the law, tentacles are not considered genitalia. That lead to unexpected boom of similar work, and thus this infamous fetish was born.
Style and Genre
To slightly move away from sexual content, some of the most popular manga genres are Yaoi and Yuri. Those are usually written by female authors and depict relationships between two males (Yaoi) or two females (Yuri) that include both romantic and sexual parts of the relationship. Harem is genera with main romantic plot that describes one male or female main protagonist that is surrounded by several members of the opposite sex and/or love interests. To step away from romance, Magical Girl is genre that features, well, girls that use magic, and Mecha Anime is a genre that features robots in battle.
What separates manga from the rest of the comic styles is its distinct style. Best recognizable in the facial features, eyes are often exaggerated, while mouth and nose are small. Other visual conventions are often, for example cruciform popping veins (that express anger) or large sweat drop (that expresses confusion, embarrassment, shock, etc.). Manga is usually black and white, but there are few colorized exceptions. In Japan, manga is usually published in large manga magazines that contain one episode of many stories. If the series is popular, manga chapters are often published in tankōbon, a paper book or sometimes made into anime. And lastly, manga panels are read from right to left, consistent with traditional Japanese writing.
Where To Start?
Now to circle back to MangaFox.Me. It is an online community that is centered on manga and people who enjoy it. With more than 8000 manga available online for free, it is organized online directory and archive in English. Register, read and bookmark your manga so you can continue where you stopped. To extend the experience, you can join their forum or many of the groups and connect with other manga lovers. Organized and efficient, with this community you will never feel alone in your appreciation of manga.
This was just a brief history and some of the manga features. Don’t be afraid to explore more because it is not all robots, tentacles and transforming sentai. Humor, romance, horror or adventure and more await. Click on MangaFox.Me and start exploring!
The post More Than Tentacles: The Art, History, Tradition and Romance of Manga appeared first on Domain.ME.