Manga

Manga is the Japanese version of comic art; its modern form came into prominence in Japan following World War II, when artists like Osama Tezuka created the big-eyed style associated with Japanese comics. Tezuka's drawing style was influenced by the Disney and Fleischer Studios – and can still be seen in modern manga series.

As a form of popular entertainment, manga has a huge audience in its native country – with stories and series aimed at a wide range of ages and tastes: action, romance, comedy, horror, even hard-core erotica (a.k.a. hentai). This diversity, in part, has been a factor in the comics' most recent success in Western countries. Where American mainstream comics have primarily aimed their product at an adolescent superhero-focused readership, shojo manga series like Fruits Basket have pulled in a young girl readership.

It should be noted, however, that one of the most popular concerns in the U.S., Shonen Jump, is a monthly magazine featuring serialized stories for an older boy readership. The best-selling series Naruto has been steadily serialized in SJ before getting released in paperback volumes. Magazine serialization followed by paperback collection is the primary delivery system for manga storytelling, with Shonen Jump and its distaff counterpart Shojo Beat being the most successful magazine titles in the U.S.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “Manga”

• Tales from the Con Roundtable: Zenkaikon 2009

  
  Geekadelphia — Authority: 131
  Last weekend Joe and I attended the local anime convention Zenkaikon , and it was there we decided to do something a bit different from my normal con review for this post. We had the idea we would do a sort of roundtable ‘Tales from the Con’ post from 2 very different perspectives. Mine from having been in anime ...
  5 hours ago

• Aftermath Of Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance

  
  Wcloudx (kumo)'s Blog - Ramblings about Figures, Gunpla, & More!! — Authority: 134
  Just finished watching Evangelion 2.0 movie over at Orchard Cineleisure . Bought the 1st time slot in the morning and pretty much empty. I think there was less than 20 people watching ^^; All I can say is that it was a great a movie, much better than the 1st. Just like the 1st movie , it’s the retelling of the ...
  10 hours ago

• Celebrities attending Mango New Collection launch party at “Caja Magica” in Madrid

  
  J!-ENT entertainment news pop culture TV music DVD Blu-ray reviews fashion celebrity USA Asia UK — Authority: 521
  Celebrities attending Mango New Collection launch party at ‘Caja Magica’ on November 11, 2009 in Madrid, Spain.
  10 hours ago

• HATE FUN 2003! Tantei Gakuen Q

  
  AWESOME ENGINE — Authority: 142
  More detectives? Really? Did you think you stood a chance against Detective Conan? That’s HIS genre now, so you better bring something better than a school for detectives. What’s that? You did pretty well in the ratings and you got a live-action adaptation too. Oh well, maybe a school for detectives was a ...
  14 hours ago

• VIZ MEDIA OFFERS AN EMOTIONAL MIX OF THE REAL AND IMAGINARY IN THE DEBUT OF TAIYO MATSUMOTO’S GOGO MONSTER

  
  J!-ENT entertainment news pop culture TV music DVD Blu-ray reviews fashion celebrity USA Asia UK — Authority: 521
  New Manga Release Blends Bold Art And A Clever Story Of A Young Boy Who Tries To Balance His Own Lonely World With a Fantastic Supernatural Realm Only He Can SeeSan Francisco, CA, November 10, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, ...
  17 hours ago

• BAM manga festival

  
  The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log — Authority: 622
  Paul Fisher, a library development officer in the London borough of Bexley, tells us that a group of otaku – the Bexley Manga Network – are planning a festival of anime and manga for February, with plans for manga workshops, a ninja school, cosplay (of course!), screenings of classic anime at the nearby Cineworld ...
  17 hours ago

• St. Dragon Girl vol. 1 Impression

  
  Anime Sentinel blogs on Anime, Manga, Video Games and More. — Authority: 418
  When it comes to Shojo manga, for the ladies, I am not an expert but I do enjoy the change in story telling, art and overall direction from the Shonen titles. There is usually no lack of action or intrigue but rather most of the good stuff from Shonen titles comes across with more, well heart to pick Viz cheese-tastic ...
  18 hours ago

• MangaViews.com Launches!

  
  Kuriousity — Authority: 516
  Today MangaViews.com is officially launched! Tagnongat and I have been working on this project for the past few weeks (I did the design while Anna is the genuis mastermind behind everything else) and we hope manga fans take the time to look around and let us know what they think. MangaViews.com is a hub for ...
  19 hours ago

• Black Panther, Thulsa Doom, and Luke Cage:NOIR, in stores today

  
  ghettoManga — Authority: 137
  lots of great comics for you to give a look at your friendly neighborhood comicshop (if you live in the hood, there probably isnt a comic shop in your neighborhood, but you know what i mean), and I got some FREE previews for you courtesy of CBR. first up is Dynamite Entertainments Thulsa Doom #3 (no relation to ...
  22 hours ago

• Spielberg/Smith OLD BOY is no more

  
  THE BEAT — Authority: 666
  Those of you savvy enough to predict that a planned adaptation of the OLD BOY manga by Steven Spielberg and Will Smith was extremely unlikely to ever be made were RIGHT ON THE MONEY, Latino Review reports. Yet, it was not the idea of two of America’s most beloved filmmakers adapting a bleak, violent, ...
  1 day ago

• Everyones A Critic: A round-up of comic book reviews and thinkpieces

  
  Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment — Authority: 688
  Footnotes in Gaza • Tom Spurgeon once again beats everyone to the punch with a review of Joe Saccos new book, Footnotes in Gaza: The first good news to report ... is that the cartoonist is in top form throughout." He also has good things to say about Prison Pit. • Christopher Allen offers 60 ways of ...
  1 day ago

• Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

  
  Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment — Authority: 688
  Wolverine: Old Man Logan Publishing | Comic sales to the direct market fell 14 percent in October , versus the same month a year ago, resulting in the biggest decline since May. Sales of the Top 100 graphic novels plummeted 30 percent -- again due to the brisk sales of Watchmen last fall -- combining for an ...
  1 day ago

• More updates

  
  Manga Underground v3.1 — Authority: 120
  ...... Battle Angel Alita Last Order Phase 91 by Crazyankan & Rippersanime.Cage of Eden V.3 ch.19 by[Red Hawk Scanlations].Freezing by[Ala Atra Scans]ch. 21ch. 22.Gamaran ch.24 by[ryColaa].Rappi Rangai V.5 ch.28 by[Maigo Scans].Sidooh V.5 ch.47 by[Maboshi].Soil V.4 ch.31-32 by[Kotonoha].Veritas ch.58 ...
  1 day ago

• A Retrospective of Osamu Tezuka: “God of Manga, Father of Anime”

  
  Convention Fans — Authority: 428
  Note: While this upcoming event is not a convention, one of my regular Convention Fans readers thought it might be of interests to some of you (and I agree). The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian (Washington, D.C.) are hosting a retrospective of Osamu Tezuka, who has created ...
  1 day ago

• Icarus a top manga pub? | Fugitive in Hawker murder caught

  
  Icarus Publishing — Authority: 506
  Heh… just noticed on a certain for-profit pirate manga site (who shall remain nameless) that they would now be accepting scans of comics by American publishers, and the top 14 publishers who may be bestowed this incredible privilege are: Antarctic Press Arcana Studio Archaia Studios Press Atlantis Studios ...
  1 day ago

• Neon Genesis Evangelion 82

  
  A Product of Wasted Time — Authority: 471
  The military deploys the mass production EVAs to fight Asuka. Its that time again. Summary: The military cuts the Unit 02s power cord, but Asuka is not worried and proceeds to destroy several gunships. In response, the military deploys 9 mass production EVAs, and the mass production units surround Unit 02. ...
  1 day ago

• King no Urashigoto, by FUJINAKA Chise

  
  shoujo-manga.com — Authority: 407
  Title: King no UrashigotoAuthor: FUJINAKA ChiseISBN# 978-4-09-132597-6Flower Comics 2009I have another book by this author, and I am actually rather surprised I haven’t talked about it or this one here yet. This is a ridiculous book, but fun. No, this is not the greatest series ever, and probably won’t appear on ...
  1 day ago

• HATE FUN 2003! Dear Boys

  
  AWESOME ENGINE — Authority: 142
  Given that it preceded Slam Dunk, it’s odd this similarly long running basketball manga full of pretty boys took so long to come to the cartoons. Apparently this is the Initial D of basketball anime, being made by the same production house, similarly low budget and full of Eurobeat. It was released in the US as Hoop ...
  1 day ago

• Games with Me Volume 1 by Tina Anderson and Lynsley Brito.

  
  Rain on the Roof — Authority: 414
  Ex Civil-War surgeon George Callahan is a man haunted by his past. Unwilling to deal with the demons of his childhood he turns to opium, and finds back-alley employment with the heartless brothel keepers of San Francisco’s Chinatown. In Volume 1 of this gorgeously illustrated gay historical drama, Dr. George ...
  1 day ago

• Underwear in the zoo…

  
  Calamitous Intent — Authority: 124
  Oh crap. I was never the greatest supporter of Miyoshi, but she’s growing on me. I used to have no sympathy whatsoever for Aoki but seeing Nakai and their relationship really made me like her (well, him more than her). And then, this absolutely adorable relationship starts stemming between Aoki and Akito! Argh! ...
  1 day ago

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