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by Sam P

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Japan now has the largest comic book industry in the world. There are dozens of major publishing houses, the largest of which include Shueisha, Shogakkan and Kodansha, with dozens of others publishing hundreds of series respectively. The roots of manga can be dated back to the 19th century: the famed artist from this period, Hokusai produced many satirical and humorous works that contained imagery we can identify with current publications. Modern day manga draws it's origins from one man however; Osamu Tezuka. At 19 years old, he wrote 'New treasure island' based on the original novel by R.L. Stevenson, selling half a million copies and inspiring a boom in Japanese graphic art. The progression throughout the decades can be associated to the aging of its early young readers, growing into adulthood and driving a need for more sophisticated works to be produced.

The way in which manga is published is unique as it is serialised before major publication. This means they are segmented into 10-30 page portions and published weekly in one of the many magazines printed to this end. One of the most notable examples would be Shonen Jump in which series such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin and One Piece began. Once the manga reaches a certain level of popularity or attracts the attention of a publishing house, it will be re-published in book form.

Anime, as the name suggests, is the animated manifestation of a manga series. Most anime draw from an original comic book series as inspiration although this is not always the case. Pokemon, one of the most successful anime franchises began as a computer game for the gameboy.

Sales figures for manga in Japan average around 500 billion yen yearly. This is equivalent to almost 4.5 billon dollars!

Learn more about this author, Sam P.

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