A manga with a lot of readers becomes the basis for an anime. But more often than not, the plot of the anime and character descriptions differ from the original. Because manga and anime use different techniques, some moments in the anime cannot be repeated.

The main genres of manga

• Kodomo is a manga for children under the age of 12. There is no rudeness and cruelty, cartoonish drawings, a simple and understandable storyline for most children. Examples of kodomo: “Maya Bee”, “Grendaiser”, “Speedy Rider”.
• Shonen manga for boys aged 12-18. A fast-paced storyline, fast-paced action, a lot of humor, male friendship, martial arts, beautiful girls, sports, competition – this is what distinguishes this genre from the others. Examples of shonen: “.hack/sign”, “Enma’s Hell Patrol! Let’s Give the Heat!”, “Arata: The Legend.”
• Shojo is a manga for girls ages 12-18. Romantic story, tender feelings for a beautiful young man, girls’ adventures, magic – the main themes of the plot of such anime. Examples of shoujo: “Sailor Moon”, “Oran High School Guest Club”.
• Seinen is a manga for men under the age of 25. Anime is based on: psychology, erotica, characters’ personalities and their development. Examples of Sainen: “Maison Ikkoku”, “Ghost in the Shell” , “Monster”, “Berserk”.
• Josei is a manga for women. It most often tells the story of a Japanese woman’s life, her memories of school, or her love story. Examples of josei: “The Perfect Husband and I, or How to Steal 55 Kisses”, “Cheese in a Mousetrap”.

Types of manga by setting

The setting is the environment in which the main characters of the manga are set.

• Cyberpunk. Distinctive features: the future, cyber technology, artificial intelligence, coalitions that have replaced the leadership of all countries. The grim style of drawing and the tense atmosphere sets this type apart from the rest.
• Steampunk.Distinctive features: science fiction, alternate reality – the emergence of technology and flying machines. The basis of the plot – the confrontation between new technologies and the established way of life.
• Fantasy. Distinctive features: magic, magic, fairy-tale characters, mythological stories. Many anime of the shonen genre are created from fantasy manga.
• Space opera. Distinctive features: the future, spacecraft, battles in space, black holes, aliens and unexplored civilizations.
• Apocalyptic. Distinguishing features: natural and technological cataclysms, end of the world, global catastrophe.
• Post-apocalyptic. Distinguishing features: end of the world, emergence of a new civilization, a sea of violence and cruelty.

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The second obvious difference is that manga, like any Japanese literature, must be read from right to left. So, having opened the volume, don’t be surprised if you find the phrase “To be continued…”. However, these are only external differences!

More importantly, a manga is a purely personal work, on which one author, the “mangaka”, is working. The plot, storyboards, sketches, outlines, halftones, backgrounds, sounds and text are all created by one person. In contrast are Western comics, where, to suit the appetites of the industry, the production of a comic becomes the result of the work of a whole team of professionals. Popular mangaka, whose manga have gained momentum and have to be published every week, also hire assistants, but they do the smallest of tasks.

Sometimes working on a manga series becomes a life’s work. For example, the world famous hits Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, One Piece by Eiichiro Oda and many other series on which the permanent author has been working for years. It’s quite rare to find the same character development in Western comics as in manga, because the authors often change each other and the series is fragmented into disjointed parts. There are exceptions, of course, but they get lost in the general mass. In manga, changing authors is unthinkable! Long manga series, created over the years, are an opportunity not to limit imagination and tell the story of the characters from beginning to end.

However, it is not always a sign of quality to be a lone author. When a well-coordinated team of screenwriter and artist takes on the case, each of their work can become a hit. The genius duo of Tsugumi Ooba and Takeshi Obata became famous for their Death Note and Bakuman manga.

Death Note mystery thriller tells the story of a young man, who has an artifact from the world of the dead, which allows with the stroke of a pen to rule people’s fates. The noble goal of eradicating crime leads the protagonist on a slippery slope, collides with an oddball and genius detective and leads to a dramatic denouement. In Japan alone this manga has been published in 30 million copies, a very popular anime series, computer games, several movies with live actors and even… a musical!

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According to Mark McWilliams, the first Japanese comic strip appeared as early as the 12th century. Its author was a Buddhist monk, Toba Shozo, who drew four scrolls called teojugiga, “funny pictures of animal life.” What is so remarkable about these drawings? Each scroll tells a story that must be read from right to left (like a manga). The largest scroll – as much as 11 meters in length – shows the life of Japanese people in the 12th century, depicted in the form of animals. The scrolls are a national treasure of Japan and are kept in museums in Tokyo and Kyoto. Later, in the mid-seventeenth century, two new trends in art became popular: otsu-e and ukiyo-e. Otsu-e – folk art, pictures, most often depicting simple satirical subjects, with explanatory captions. Ukiyo-e were well-known prints that showed monsters, sumo wrestlers or beautiful geisha. As time went by, stories began to be decorated with such pictures, calling them “ehon” – “book of pictures”. It wasn’t long before the term “manga” was coined in 1798.

Everything flows, everything changes. No matter how deep the roots of manga were in the Japanese tradition, it was only in the 1950s that this form of art found its modern form. Advances in economics and printing gave artists the opportunity to create something new and allowed them to tell delightful stories to the whole country. Every unusual work that came out at the time created a new genre, becoming a breakthrough.

While a special committee on censorship in comics known as the Comics Code Authority stymied the development of comics in the United States for decades, turning them into entertainment exclusively for children, in Japan manga flourished and felt quite free. Now it is a whole industry that has become a symbol of Japan on a par with samurai, sakurai and anime. In her homeland, manga is read by everyone, from the young to the old. This demand has spawned a huge variety of genres; you can find anything in manga from giant robot fighters and pirates to witches and catgirls. Sports, comedy, drama, romance, martial arts, horror, science fiction, detectives and fantasy are just some of the genres represented in manga.

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