In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Yonezawa Yoshihiro, Murakami Tomohiko, Takeuchi Osamu and other critics who had been nurtured by story-manga claimed a legitimate status for this medium in two ways: on the one hand, they had to strengthen manga’s position against “high” culture, and on the other hand, they were bent on promoting story-manga against traditional forms of manga. Such publications include explorations of the development of story-manga in the postwar period (especially from the perspective of mass-media, youth culture and manga literacy), inquiries into the history of manga criticism and research 4, and also investigations into the specific language – or “expression” – of manga 5. At present, story-manga form the main subject of studies on manga as can be inferred from the body of publications available in Japanese. Therefore, they are often rendered in a simplified pictorial language, stylistically tied to the conventions of the genre the respective magazine is marketing 3, and highly responsive to the demands of their readers. These comics are usually published in special weeklies or monthlies, and produced in close collaboration with editors. The story-manga, or graphic novel, on the other hand, has been typically seen as a type of entertaining fiction for younger readers which has come to dominate the realm of manga gradually since the late 1950s with the birth of the manga magazine format. Until the 1970s, manga as cartoons were mainly addressed to an adult audience, published in newspapers and credited a higher cultural status for their political and social messages. 5 See Natsume Fusanosuke’s publications including Inoue (ed.) 1995 Yomota 1994.ĢInternationally, “manga” is automatically identified as story-manga 2, but in Japan the term also designates the short forms of the one-panel caricature and the four-panel cartoon strip.4 See Takeuchi and Murakami (eds.) 1989 Takeuchi 1997 Uryū 1998.3 The advertising giant Dentsū’s “Information and Media White Paper” divides manga magazines commerc (.).2 Since even the word “manga” has entered English and other languages, I do not feel it is necessary (.).Seika’s manga studies department is noteworthy also in its two-section structure, one for “cartoons”, and the other for “story-manga” (as graphic novels are called in Japan): This shows its acknowledgement not only of comics as a legitimate academic subject, but also of the importance of the previously marginalized graphic novels.
Faculty in the department even announced the launching of an Association for Manga Studies in the summer of 2001. Renamed the Department for Manga Studies ( manga gakka) in April 2000, it now offers courses on manga history and criticism in addition to technical training in the art of comics. Initially, the department’s curriculum favored the teaching of practical skills with a focus on caricature and the short comic-strip. Established in 1973, it was the first academic institution for the training of manga artists. The restructuring of the Manga Department ( manga-ka) at Seika University in Kyoto is particularly revealing of this trend. The number of dissertations on manga has increased, universities have set up new courses on the subject as part of their curricular reforms, and in May 1998, the Japan Art History Society held a special symposium exclusively on manga. Wo japanische Ku (.)ġ In the past few years, the study of manga (comics) in Japan has gradually established itself in the academic realm. 1 This essay is partly based on my publication in German: “Verkunstung” des Comics.