Manga outside Japan
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Manga has been translated into many different languages in different countries including Brazil, Korea, China, Taiwan, France, Germany, Italy, and many more. In the United States, manga is a small but growing industry, especially when compared to the inroads that Japanese animation has made in the USA. An example of a manga publisher in the United States is VIZ Media, the American affiliate of publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha. They have many popular titles such as Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Fullmetal Alchemist and the various works of Rumiko Takahashi. The UK has fewer manga publishers than the U.S.
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[edit] Flipping
Since Japanese is usually written from right to left in works of fiction, manga is drawn and published this way in Japan. When various titles were first translated to other languages, the artwork and layouts were flipped and reversed in a process known as "flopping", so that the book could be read from left-to-right. However, various creators (such as Akira Toriyama) did not approve of their work being modified this way, and requested that foreign versions retain the right-to-left format of the originals. Soon, due to both fan demand and the requests of creators, more publishers began offering the option of right-to-left formatting, which has now become commonplace in North America. Left-to-right formatting has gone from the rule to the exception.
Translated manga often includes cultural notes for details of Japanese culture that may not be familiar to foreign audiences.
Another company, TOKYOPOP, is producing manga widely in the United States, with the right-to-left format as a highly publicized point. They are widely credited with starting the current boom in manga sales, particularly amongst teenage girls. Some critics have complained that their aggressive publishing schedule emphasizes quantity over quality, and might be responsible for translations which many feel to be of sub-optimal quality. Many also frown upon the company for their frequent localization changes, including additions such as American slang, excessive swearing that is not to be found in the Japanese originals of the same titles, and joke rewrites, among others. The critics tend to admit that their contributions to the success of manga in America have been considerable.
[edit] France
[edit] "French exception"
France is noted for having a particularly strong and diverse manga market. In the 1990s, France became the second country, after Japan, reading manga worldwide. Many works that are published in France fall into genres that aren't well represented outside of Japan, such as adult oriented drama, or experimental and avant-garde works. Early editors like Tonkam have published Hong-Kong authors (Andy Seto, Yu & Lau) or Korean authors (Kim Jae Hwan, Soo & Il, Wan & Weol and Hyun Se Lee) in their manga collection during 1995/1996 which is quite uncommon. Also, some Japanese authors, such as Jiro Taniguchi, are relatively unknown in other western countries but received much acclaim in France. A cultural reason for the sheer popularity and diversity of manga in this country is due to it having a well established and respected comics market of its own. Other reasons are socio-historical, an exceptionnal reduced number of TV channels in the 1970s and 1980s explains the powerful impact the Japanese animation had on the audience, since there was not much choice Japanese animation quickly became mainstream. Since its introduction in the 1990s, manga publishing and Anime broadcasting are intertwined in France, where the most popular and exploited Shonen, Shojo and Seinen TV series were imported in their paper version. Therefore Japanese comics were naturally and early accepted by a large juvenile public who was already familiar with the series and received the manga as part of their own culture. A strong parallel backup was the emergence of Japanese video games, Nintendo/Sega, which were mostly based on manga and anime series.
[edit] Nippon Animation era (1978~1986)
One of the major reason for the manga success in France is its corollary, the Japanese animation, was prior introduced in the country on public channels, in the late 1970s, early '80s. Unlike other European countries, by this time there were only three French TV channels, both were public and had minor children TV shows. Shonen and Shojo series like UFO Robot Grendizer, Captain Future, Candy Candy and Captain Harlock are iconical of this era. Quickly, producer Jean Chalopin contacted some Japanese studios, such as Toei ¹, who did Grendizer, and French-Japanese series were created by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Studio Pierrot or Studio Junio ¹. Even though it was totally made in Japan by character designers such as Shingo Araki, the first show was thematically inspired by the Greek Odysseus and graphically influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey. Ulysses 31 was released in 1981, other shows produced by DiC Entertainment followed in 1982, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Mysterious Cities of Gold, later M.A.S.K., etc. Such series were enough popular to allow the introduction of licensed products such as tee shirts, toys, stickers, mustard glass, mugs or keshi. Also followed a wave of anime adaptations of European tales by Studio Pierrot and mostly by the Nippon Animation studio, e.g. Johanna Spyri's Heidi (1974), Waldemar Bonsels's Maya the Bee (1975), Hector Malot's Sans Famille (1977), Cécile Aubry's Belle and Sebastian (1980), Selma Lagerlöf's The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1980), or Jules Verne's Around the World with Willy Fog (1983), notable adaptation of American works were Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1980) and Alexander Key's Future Boy Conan. Interesting cases are Alexandre Dumas, père's The Three Musketeers adapted to Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (1981) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes become Sherlock Hound (1984), both turned human characters into anthropomorph animals. A such anthropomophism in tales comes from an old and common storytelling tradition in both Japanese and French cultures through Toba Sōjō's (1053-1140) Chōjū giga emaki, the true origins of manga, and Jean de La Fontaine's (1621-1695) beast fables. Changing humans to anthropomorph dogs is also a known form of Cynicism, the antic European philosophy shared in many modern countries, since etymologically speaking, the Cynic's mordant comes from the fact he is a dog ("cyno" means dog in Greek). These popular tales adaptations made easier the acceptance and assimiliation of semi-Japanese cultural products in countries such as France, Italy or Spain. The localization including credits removal by Saban or DiC, was such that even today, twenty or thirty years later, most of French adults who have watched series like Calimero (1974) adapted from an Italian novel, Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum (1975), Barbapapa (1977) adapted from a French novel, or Monchichi (1980) as kids don't even know they were not local animation but but "Japananimation" created in Japan, South Korea, China or North Korea.
[edit] Toei era (1987~1996)
Between 1986 and 1987, three new channels were created, both were private. An aggressive struggle for audience, especially on children TV shows, started between the two public and the two private channels. Later the losing market private channels counter attack with a non-Japanese lineup, mostly American productions such as Hanna-Barbera. This tentative failed, and TF1 kept leader of the children TV shows with its Japanese licenses. In 1991, the first anime feature film was released in French theaters, Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, a teen rated, SF movie supported by manga publisher Glénat but poorly distributed and a limited success. Not surprisingly, the video (VHS) version was edited in the French market by TF1 Video, then quickly Akira became an anime reference. However, Japanese animation genre became massively exploited by TV shows since the late '80s, most notably the, cult, Club Dorothée show mostly dedicated to Toei anime and sentai series. In fact, the commercial relationship between the Japanese studio and the French show producers were so good, that the French presenter was even featured in a Metal Heroes trilogy episode as guest star. Just like in a Japanese manga series magazine, the Club Dorothée spectators voted by phone or minitel to select and rank their favourite series. Top rank series were continued the following week, others stopped, then a hundred of series aired the show. The importation of this Japanese exploitation method was never seen in France, and never had since. The most popular series were Dragon Ball and later its sequel, Dragon Ball Z, who became number one, and was nicknamed "le chouchou" (the pet") by the show presenter, Dorothée. As the series kept number one for several months, Dorothée invited Akira Toriyama (Toei Animation), creator of the series, on the TV show studio to introduce him to the French audience and award him a prize in the name of the TV show. The second popular anime series was probably Saint Seiya, both of them were Seinen, i.e. more violent and destined to an older audience than the '70/80s Nippon Animation studio Shonen/Shojo series. Notable Toei and non-Toei anime series broadcasted by that time on French TV were Captain Tsubasa, Robotech, High School! Kimengumi and Kinnikuman. This 1987-1997 running cult TV show had unpredicted effects and a deep influence in the French culture. Not only it created a generation of Japanophile, but it did set a strong base for a durable and massive exploitation of manga publishing and anime video (DVD) in the following decade. The reason is most of broadcasted anime series were adaptations of existing manga, and that the grown up children would be later able to buy manga and DVD boxsets (TF1 Video and others) of their favourite childhood series.
[edit] Generation conflict around manga (1990~1995)
The first manga issue in France is Akira, published in 1990 by Glénat and supported by respected newspaper Libération and national radio Antenne 2. Followers are Dragon Ball (1993), Appleseed (1994), Ranma 1/2 (1994) and five others. In the mid-1990s, both anime and manga became a social phenomenon in France, with different series magazine in B5 size like Kameha (Glénat) and later Manga Player (MSE). However, in the same time a controversy raised among some parents, particularly the conservative association Familles de France started a mediatized polemical about unadequate contents -such as violence- portrayed in the Club Dorothée, a kids TV show. By this time, a generation conflict opposed the young "Japanimation" contraction of "Japanese" & "animation", in use until anime became mainstream) fans versus the older Japoniaiseries (a pejorative pun for "Japonaiseries", lit. "Japanese stuff" and "niaiseries", "simpleton stuff") opponents. The same adult content controversy was applied to hentai manga, including the notorious, "forbidden", Shin Angel by U-Jin, published by pioneers such as Samourai Editions or Katsumi Editions and later to magazines. The first hentai series magazine, "Yoko", featured softcore series like Yuuki's Tropical Eyes. It was first issued in late 1995. The same year, the noir and ultra-violent series, Gunnm (aka Battle Angel Alita), was serialized in a slim, monthly, edition. Around the same period a hardcore version of Yoko magazine was issued Okaz.
[edit] Anime clearance & manga emergence (1996~1998)
Actually the controversed TV series, e.g., Hokuto no ken, Saint Seiya or City Hunter were broadcasted in Japan, later at night, for a teen to adult audience. These edited series were finally discontinued in France, and the Club Dorothée, broadcasted on private channel TF1, started to replace Japanese contents with European or American animation series, getting closer to public channel rival TV shows, and with French sitcoms. Even though, the French-Begian animation studios got rid of a serious concurrence, the show lost its phenomenal audience and stopped in 1997. The mistake done by the Club Dorothée producers had to do with a cultural view, in France, animation was seen as a genre in its own, a product dedicated to children not adult. An animation feature was not considered the same as a live-action film, which is totally different in Japan. Series were massively licensed to Toei without consideration of age ratings. In 1996, a cable/satellite channel dedicated to manga and anime was created by the production group of Club Dorothée. The new channel was renamed Mangas in 1998, as anime and manga are intertwined in the country, and manga actually became the mainstream generic term to designate the two things. The channel broadcasts former discontinued series from the Club Dorothée, to both nostalgic adults and new kid generations
[edit] Cultural integration & revival (1999~2005)
In the '00s, anime feature films, and by extension manga, are regarded with more respect than before, in late 1999, Hiroyuki Okiura's Jin-Roh was critically acclaimed including by respected newspapers such as Le Monde, and in 2000, Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke became a commercial success, probably the biggest for an anime feature. In 2004, Mamoru Oshii's Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 became the first animation to get finalist in the prestigious International Film Festival of Cannes, which demonstrates a radical perspective change and a social acceptance of the Japanese anime/manga. Since 2005, recent Japanese series such as Naruto, Initial D, Great Teacher Onizuka, Blue Gender or Gunslinger Girl were introduced on new, analog/digital terrestrial, public and, satellite/broadband, private channels. As the highly aggressive competition who raged once between, the sole two or three available channels no more exists in the new, vast, and segmented French TV offer, the anime is doing a revival in France.
[edit] Manga made in France
A significant fact is the manga publishing exploitation's explosion, circa 1996, coincided with the lost of audience of the Club Dorothée eventually leading to its discontinuation. Some early publishers like Glénat, adapted manga using the Western reading direction and its induced work of mirroring each panel and graphical signs, and also using a quality paper standard to the Franco-Belgian comics , while others, like J'ai Lu, were faithful to the original manga culture and not only kept the original, inverted, Japanese direction reading but also used a newspaper standard, cheap quality, paper just like in Japan. The Japanese manga was such an important cultural phenomenon that it quickly influenced French comics authors. A new "French manga" genre emerged, known as "La nouvelle manga" ("lit. the new manga") in reference to the French Nouvelle Vague.
- For more details on this topic, see La nouvelle manga.
- For more details on this topic, see Franco-Belgian comics.
[edit] Germany
Although the German comic market is rather small and usually reacts slowly in comparison to other European countries, manga created a new boom. After an unimpressive start in the early 1990s, the "manga movement" picked up speed with the publication of Dragon Ball in 1997. The first manga series magazine was launched in 1996, Manga Power, published by Feest Comics. The first issue featured Ranma 1/2, Hellhounds Panzer Cops, based on the American edition of Kerberos Panzer Cops, and AD Police. Today, manga account for approximately 75-80% of all comics published in Germany, with female readers outnumbering male manga fans.
[edit] Brazil
The Brazil comic market is rather small. It started in early 1990's.
[edit] Controversy
The first manga published in Brazil were published flipped, and with only a few pages for issue. After the first manga published by Conrad Editora, the current format became right-to-left, with 100 pages for issue (mading one japanese tankobon into two brazilian issues), usually monthly or with a two-week period. Then, when the manga market made money, they started release in the same japanese format, tankobon, but they are monthly. The colored pages of the manga are rarely published in colored.
[edit] Singapore
The company Chuang Yi publishes manga in English and Chinese in Singapore; some of Chuang Yi's English-language titles are also imported to Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] Oceania
In Australia and New Zealand, many popular Japanese and Chinese language manga and anime are distributed by Madman Entertainment.
[edit] Indonesia
Manga has become one of fastest growing consumer industries, and Indonesia is now one of the biggest manga markets outside of Japan. Manga in Indonesia is published by Elex Media Komputindo, Acolyte, Level Comic, M&C and Gramedia, and has greatly influenced Indonesia's original comic industry.
The wide distribution of scanlations actually contributes the rising of publication of bootleg manga, which is printed in lower quality. One of the most notable publisher is Seventh Heaven which publishes bootleg version of One Piece. Many popular titles such as Bleach, Loki, Magister Nagi, Rose Hip Zero, Kingdom Hearts have been pirated, which draws controversy toward manga readers in Indonesia.
Some support the piracy because the local publishers do not publish the demanded popular titles, but legal manga supporters argue that the bootleg releases risk the local publisher to publish the manga because the the original Japanese licensor will see this as negative stance of manga market in Indonesia. Most of the bootlegs are also sold with same price, even higher than the legal version.
[edit] South Korea
In Korea, manga can be found in most bookstores. However it is also common to read manga online for a much cheaper price than a concrete copy of the comic. Publishers such as Daiwon and Seoul Munhwasa give out most of the popular manga in Korea.
[edit] Thailand
In Thailand, before 1992, almost all available manga were fast, unlicensed, poor quality bootlegs. However, due to copyright laws, this has changed and nearly all published manga are copyright-protected. Thailand's prominent manga publishers include Nation Edutainment, Siam Inter Comics, Vibulkij, and Bongkoch.
Many parents in Thai society are not supportive of manga. In October 2005, there was a television programme broadcasted about the dark side of manga with exaggerated details, resulted in many manga being banned. The programme received many complaints and issued an apology to the audience.
[edit] Other distribution methods
Another popular form of manga distribution outside of Japan is through the Internet scanlations, (or scanslations). Typically, a small group of people scan the original version of a series with no current license in the language which they wish to translate it to, translate it, and freely distribute it; usually through the use of IRC or BitTorrent. Most scanlation groups request that downloaders cease distribution and purchase official copies in the event that their projects become licensed, though it is a common concern that readers will continue to use these unauthorized copies. Many readers prefer scanlations due to the frequent changes found in official translations, though scanlations are more likely to have some unintentional mistakes due to the varying degrees of skill employed by the unpaid translators. Some scanlators do make edits, though it is rare, especially compared to the official manga translation industry.
[edit] Manga influences
Manga has proved so popular that it has led to other companies such as Antarctic Press, Oni Press, Seven Seas Entertainment, TOKYOPOP and even Archie Comics to release their own manga-inspired works that apply the same artist stylings and story pacing commonly seen in Japanese manga. One of the first of these such works came in 1985 when Ben Dunn, founder of Antarctic Press, released Mangazine and Ninja High School.
While Antarctic Press actively refers to its works as "American Manga", not all of these manga-inspired works are made by Americans. Many of the artists working on Seven Seas Entertainment series such as Last Hope and Amazing Agent Luna are Filipino and TOKYOPOP has hired a variety of Korean and Japanese artists to work on titles such as Warcraft and Princess Ai. Many of these works have been classified on the Internet with titles such as OEL Manga, MIC, and World Manga, though, none of these terms have actually been used by manga companies to describe these works on the books themselves.
