what are manga and anime

8/10/2019 What Are Manga and Anime

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What are Manga and Anime?Good question. There is no short answer.

So here's a long one. (Pardon me for its length and its wandering; I wasdoing chain-of-thought writing :)

Many people might say Manga are !apanese comics" and #nime is the !apanese $ersion of animation. #nime is usually" %ut not always" theanimated $ersion of popular manga. &hat's partially true" %ut it can %emisleading.

irst of all" though an outsider might thin !apan stole comics fromthe est" this is not true. !apan has %een ma ing cartoonish art for a$ery long time (there are humorous in drawings of animals and

caricatured people from hundreds of years ago" %earing stri ingresem%lances to modern manga). &rue" some aspects of manga areta en from the est (*samu &e+u a" the father of modern manga"was in,uenced %y isney and Ma leisher)" %ut its main features"such as simple lines and styli+ed features" are distinctly !apanese. Itmay %e that /hinese art had more in,uence than estern.

(#lso" spea ing of /hina" I should note that #nime is now a general#sian phenomenon" not 0ust !apanese. I understand there are many1ne wor s of manga and anime %eing produced in many places aroundthe world. 2owe$er" as far as I understand" the roots are in !apan" and

!apan is still considered" at least here in the 3S" the center of theanime world. &his may well change in the future.)

Secondly" !apanese manga and anime come in all types " for all sorts ofpeople. 3nli e the 3.S." which generally seems to %elie$e that comicsare for ids" !apanese manga- a (manga writers) write for e$eryonefrom innocent young children to per$erted se -star$ed men (there ise$en a category for e -0u$enile delin4uent mothers5). 6ut e$en theiddie stu7 tends not to %e as simple-minded as the #merican $ersions(not including intelligent #merican comics" %ut more thin ing of &8shows). /hildren's manga and &8 anime shows in !apan will sometimes

depict death --- while the 3.S. (on children's &8) seems determined torun away from such realities of life (note how the 3.S. $ersion of9o ion ( 8oltron ) deleted all references to one of the protagonist'sdeath). #nd" not surprisingly" much of !apanese manga and animeincludes scenes of students in class or doing homewor " or of peoplewor ing in their o ces. &he wor ethic seems omnipresent in the%ac ground. Manga and anime also tend to protray technology
http://www.mit.edu/people/rei/manga-list.htmlhttp://www.mit.edu/people/rei/manga-list.html


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sympathetically" while some 3.S. comics seem almost to a$oid it" orre$ile it" or simplify it as much as possi%le.

# third ma0or di7erence is the uni4ue !apanese manga and animestyle" which is distincti$e and fairly easy to recogni+e. &his is not to say

the style is limiting. ithin this %road common stylistic ground" eachmanga artist's techni4ue is distinct and uni4ue. &he stereotype is ofcharacters with huge hair and large eyes" %ut there are many" many$ariations" from . Matsumoto's seemingly une$enly drawn s4uash-shaped ugly protagonists" to the soft-edged 1gures in Miya+a i'swor . #nd" of course" there is less emphasis on the superhero worldof the 3.S.. In most manga" the men and women aren't necessarilye aggerated e tremes of their gender stereotypes" and they wearthings other than s in-tight costumes. In fact" manga and animecharacters tend to ha$e uni4ue and aesthetic tastes in fashion. (It'salso true that many modern 3.S. comics ha$e than fully %ro en this

stereotype.)

#nd one minor di7erence %etween !apanese manga and generalsuperhero comics li e ./. /omics or Mar$el /omics (aside from the%lac and white nature of manga)" is that manga are usually the $isionof a single writer (though editors ha$e a large say" and sometimesdirect the story). 3nli e the general superhero type" where manywriters tend to do di7erent plots and stories" manga are more li eno$els" complete and detailed worlds that are the $ision of a singleauthor. &he characters remain consistent" and they are allowed to growand de$elop. *n a related topic" manga also tend to %e drawn for a

wee ly or %iwee ly pu%lication containing numerous other comics %yother authors --- and the editors e pect cli7hangers


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to sympathi+e with the characters" and yet escape from %land" normaldaily life to a fantasy world that is far di7erent.

=$en in worlds that e ist in the far future" or long ago" the reader isdrawn into a B-dimensional character" one who is far from perfect" one

who has stupid little ha%its or ma0or character ,aws --- and who hashopes and dreams that the reader can sympathi+e with. 3nli e some#merican super heroes" who often seem to 0ust go around defeating=$il (as wonderfully spoofed in #merican comic &he &ic )" !apanesecharacters usually ha$e other goals in life that play large themeswithin their li$es. I heard recently the characteri+ation that manga andanime are character oriented. &he more I thin a%out" the more Ithin this is the right description. /haracters aren't forced into plots"li e a foot into a too-tight shoe; instead" stories grow out of thecharacters. &he heart of manga and anime is in the hearts of thecharacters.

&hat %rings us to three other aspects of manga and anime that I reallyli e: the reality of the world" the spirituality" and the fact that thingsend.

ith comics" the merging of art and words creates a uni4ue medium. &he art pulls in the mind" and the words ma e the reality. # picturemay %e worth a thousand words" while words may con$ey what artcannot" %ut the two types together are truly powerful. #s for #nime"animation can do ine pensi$ely what special e7ects crews couldn'te$en touch until the recent rise of computer graphics. #rt is a limited

form of $irtual reality. #rt" howe$er" re4uires plot to ma e a story cometo life.

#s I'$e said" e$en children's !apanese comics and animation deal withthings li e death. &hey also show that one's enemies aren't !ust =$il. Inseries li e 9undam" you can see that the enemies ha$e hopes anddreams of their own" and do" in fact" ha$e reasons for what they do.

&hey aren't 0ust cra+y" or 0ust plain e$il. &hey're real.

#ctions ha$e conse4uences. If the protagonist screws up" he or she hasto deal with those results ... and" if the person is smart" he or she will

remem%er not to ma e that mista e again5 &he characters grow andchange" learn new s ills" get %etter at old s ills" mature and gainwisdom (unless" of course" it's a comical series li e oraemon :)

#nother trait of manga and anime that I ha$e always li ed (thoughperhaps I hadn't reali+ed it until recently) is their tendency to contain asense of spiritual optimism ... and not 0ust simplistic good-o$er-e$ilstu7. 6ad people can impro$e and 1nd redemption. 3nhappy heroes


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can 1nd themsel$es" through personal crisis" and in doing so 1ndhappiness. ife does ha$e meaning and purpose" though it must %efought for. 2ard wor will pay o7 ... %ut may%e only in the long run.i culties occur" %ut they can %e o$ercome. Strength is found fromhelping others" e$en to the point of self-sacri1ce.... Cot all stories ha$e

these spiritual or philosophical messages " %ut many do. #nd whenthese simple %ut uni$ersal themes are wo$en more or less con$incinglyinto the fa%ric of good plots and characters" magic happens.

#nd 1nally" li e all good stories and all real stories" manga and animeha$e a tendency to end. 2eroes and heroines die" or get married" ordisappear. &he anime series are especially good a%out this. &hey tendto ha$e one of three endings: the hero wins (the throne" the person ofthe opposite se " whate$er)" the hero dies (usually after winning)" thehero sort of wins (%ut at a great loss). *f course" the anime or manga isoften carefully crafted to either 0er tears out of your eyes" or ma e

you stare in wide-eyed a%sorption to the $ery $ery last line of thecredits. I can't descri%e it here" %ut thin of the ending to any trulygood mo$ie" and you pro%a%ly ha$e it.

I guess I'$e wandered 4uite a %it o$er this topic. I also pro%a%lydisplayed a %ias for semi-serious manga

what are manga and anime

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