A Brief History of Japanese Manga
The history of Japanese Manga can be traced back to the 12th Century. The reading style of Manga is often right to left. I would however like to tell the story of Manga as we see today.
The World War II had just ended and Japan was reeling under the shear burden of lifting a society that was economically, socially and mentally devastated. The insignificance of human life was clearly visible due to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was at this time that Osama Tezuka, who can be called as the Godfather of Modern Japanese Manga and Anime brought about 112 chapters of a powerful android created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma. Dr. Tenma created Astro to replace his son Tobio, who died in a self-driving car accident. He built and adopted Astro in Tobio's memory and treated Astro as lovingly as if he was the real Tobio. This was the birth of the Anime “Astro boy”.
This story has a connection with the Japanese people as most of the population had lost a loved one in the war. It so happened that it brought about a cultural revolution in Japan such that the Manga/Anime industry grew to be $10 billion strong by 2020. The plot of having a robot as a son also inspired the technological revolution that took place in the late nineties and early 2000s.
Mangas in sense have shown a great pride in Japanese history and the influence of the American culture. Today Goku, Naruto and Luffy are names that inspire kids, young adults and many more about principles one must uphold. Some stories have been inspired by Buddhism and philosophies from across the world like the Manga “Vagabond” or the ongoing Anime “Vinland Saga”.
Over the past seven and a half decades Japanese Manga and Anime industry have inspired generations of individuals in the creative space. Mangakas or the writers and artists who draw the Manga are respected throughout Japan and the world. A great part of Manga involves character building. The amount spent in serializing a story in live action format is way higher than that as an art. This means that in a budget, one can tell a story to the rest of the world. Thus the world today knows the Japanese culture pretty well. In the Indian context Yugo Sako created the famous anime movie “Ramayan: The Legend of Prince Ram'' which is an animated version of the Epic of Rama originally written by Valmiki.
The world of Mangas is growing and with it the respect of individuals towards artists and writers. This trend can be taken up as a stimulant to promote culture across the world.
Article by Dhyumanth Moudgalya