One of the most popular manga cartoons is Dragon Ball Z. It was only a matter of time before a chess set featuring the main characters would appear and be on display at the Chessmen Museum. Time for a closer look at Japanese manga.
August 1945. World War II had ended and Japan had lost. American armed forces occupied the island for seven years after and supervised the restoration and the implementation of democracy. The emperor was allowed to stay on, but had no direct political power. During this time, American soldiers introduced comic books in the country. The Japanese were fascinated by the colors, the way in which movements were drawn, and the little text balloons in the drawings. Imitations followed soon after.
Antique cartoons
The Japanese were not unfamiliar with stories made up of drawings, the oldest ones of which stemming from the twelfth century. Myths and battles were drawn up on book rolls of up to six meters long. Artist and astronomer Toba Sōjō (1053-1140) added some humor to his drawings by depicting -amongst others- priests as rabbits, monkeys and frogs.
Detail from one of the book rolls by Toba Sōjō from the 12th century
A different kind of drawn-up story, the ukiyo-e, was popular from the seventeenth through to the nineteenth century. This ‘comic’ consisted of a colored reproduction of one drawing, carved out of wood. The image represented a series of events and the characters’ lines were written on the side. The theme of the illustrations could be anything, from a passionate night with a courtesan, to a sumo competition or a samurai training his students. In 1814, Katsushika Hokusai, one of these wood carving artists, published a book with drawings about daily life in a new, more casual style. He thought up the term manga for his images. The literal definition of manga is ‘uncontrolled or random brush strokes’.
The end of the samurai
Humor made its way back into pictures halfway through the nineteenth century, after the western world got involved. The westerners were superior to the Japanese regarding warfare and they forced their way onto the secluded island to establish a trade connection between the eastern and western world. This finally led to the abolition of the war nobility, called the shogun, as the leaders of Japan. 1868 marked the start of the Meiji period, with emperor Mutsuhito governing the country. He drastically modernized the country on a scientific, technological, economic and social level.
British army officer Charles Wirgman lived in Japan in that period and he launched the Japanese Punch. This was a magazine for foreigners living in Yokohama, inspired by the British weekly Punch. Wirgman drew politically critical and satirical cartoons consisting of one picture, which were soon very successful. During the era of the shogun it was forbidden to draw critical pictures or represent individuals that actually existed, but now Japanese artists started drawing mocking and poignant illustrations. Soon, these cartoons were called manga.
American example
Post-war American comics have had a big influence on the style of manga cartoons as we know it today. The way in which the characters move, the text balloons and the lay-out of manga are an unmistakable copy of the American cartoons. From 1946 onwards –as one of the first- artist Osamu Tezuka has produced hundreds of manga comics and anime (animated cartoons), taking the American comics as an example and shooting the new manga style to fame.
Ever since that moment manga has become more and more popular. The comics are like western soap operas: the cliffhangers make you want to read on as soon as possible so you rush out to buy the next episode. The pictures are drawn in black-and-white and are printed on thin paper so the books are cheap to produce. Just like our newspapers manga is read anywhere and everywhere and when finished they are left on the train or passed on to another interested reader. What’s more, there is a manga series for every age and every target audience: the offer is endless. There are even manga cafes where you can read tens of thousands of comics for a low price.
Dragon Ball Z
The most popular manga have been made into animated movies and a selection of them has reached the Dutch audience. Dragon Ball Z is one of them. Main character Son Goku, an extremely strong boy with a monkey tail takes on enemies who are planning on conquering or destroying the earth. He gets a little help from his friends and uses martial arts: battles are an important part of this somewhat dark cartoon and can take up various episodes.
At the beginning of the 21st century, at the height of the popularity of the show, a special promotional campaign made it possible to collect a Dragon Ball Z chess game. One of the complete sets can be found at the Chessmen Museum, where Son Goku (dressed in orange) is the king trying to beat his enemies.
You must be logged in to post a comment.