Anime and Manga - History Of

The History of Manga starts in the 19th Century. A common misconception made by Westerners is that the term 'manga' simply refers to anime and animated projects. While this is true to a certain extent, the word manga itself actually means 'Comic'.

The first manga appeared early in the 19th Century - in 1814. This was called the Hokusai manga, and consisted of a series of sketchbooks by a Japanese artist named Hokusai. Each sketch in the Hokusai manga is based on various topics including gods, monsters, mountains, flowers, and birds - the sketches were loosely if not at all related to each other.

It is important to remember that at that stage, the images in the Hokusai manga weren't representative of the manga we see today. The Hokusai manga style was that of sketchings, and it wasn't until later, when the influence of the western world set in, that we began to see the drawing style we see in manga today. This was known as Ponchi-e - when Japanese artists began to concentrate on effectively using thick lines, colours, and forms. The era of Ponchi-e also went hand in hand with animated films, and in the 20th Century we saw the first emergence of manga animation - today commonly known as 'anime'.

Animation quickly became very popular in Japan due to the under-developed 'live action' entertainment industry it had at the time. The 1980's saw a boom in production of anime, as mainstream Japan began accepting it more and more readily. In the 1990's and 2000's Japan's anime influence spread overseas, and currently there are anime series' that broadcast almost on a global scale. An example of this is the ever popular Dragon Ball Z anime, which broadcasts all over America, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Europe.

Today, we see western countries like America becoming more and more enravelled in the jap-anime style of drawing. Safe is it to assume that anime will live on, and the background and history, of anime and manga will spread and diversify due to exposure from western cultures, and the more advanced animation technologies we have today.