Komaga

, literally "dramatic pictures", is a style of Japanese comics aimed at adult audiences and marked by a more cinematic art style and more mature themes. ''Gekiga'' was the predominant style of adult comics in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It is aesthetically defined by sharp angles, dark hatching, and gritty lines, and thematically by realism, social engagement, maturity, and masculinity.

History

In the 1950s, mainstream Japanese comics (manga) came from Tokyo and was aimed at children, led by the work of Osamu Tezuka. Before Tezuka moved to Tokyo, he lived in Osaka and mentored artists such as Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Masahiko Matsumoto who admired him. Although influenced by Tezuka and his cinematic style, Tatsumi and his colleagues were not interested in making comics for children. They wanted to write comics for adults that were more graphic and showed more violence. Tatsumi explained, "Part of that was influenced by the newspaper stories I would read. I would have an emotional reaction of some kind and want to express that in my comics." The name ''gekiga'' was coined in 1957 by Tatsumi and adopted by other more serious Japanese cartoonists, who did not want their trade to be known by the more common term "manga", meaning "whimsical pictures".

Irma Nunez of '' The Japan Times'' wrote that "rather than simply use 'gekiga' as a banner to legitimize adult content and realism in manga, ... they developed a whole new aesthetic." Matsumoto's son said that these artists felt that the shorter stories Tezuka started writing after moving to Tokyo, narrowed his expression as action needed to be explained in speech bubbles. Nunez explained, "Structural integrity was one of the pioneers' primary concerns. They experimented with how best to blend images with the text; how a closeup might express the interiority of a character; how to synchronize a story's action with the pace of the reader's gaze as it covered the page."

Rather than working for the mainstream publications, the ''gekiga'' artists worked in the rental manga industry; where the work of several artists were printed in collections, that readers borrowed from stores and then returned like video rentals. In November 1956, Masahiko Matsumoto used the term to describe his work ''Kyūketsu-jū'', instead of manga. Matsumoto's son later claimed this work was the basis for what would later be known as ''gekiga''. Yoshihiro Tatsumi's work ''Yūrei Taxi'' was the first to be called ''gekiga'' when it was published at the end of 1957. Other names he considered include ''katsudōga'' and ''katsuga'', both derived from ''katsudō eiga'' or "moving pictures", an early term for films, showing the movement's cinematic influence.

In 1959, the formed in Tokyo with eight members, including Tatsumi, Matsumoto, and Takao Saito. The group wrote a sort of "Gekiga Manifesto" that was sent to various publishers and newspapers declaring their mission. The Gekiga Kōbō disbanded in 1960 over internal divisions;Booker, M. Keith. ''Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas'' (ABC-CLIO, 2014), p. 162. although as an organized group it was very short-lived, its influence was long lasting.

The avant-garde magazine '' Garo'', founded in 1964, was an outlet for experimental and unconventional works that were "visually or thematically too challenging for the mainstream market". With works like Sanpei Shirato's ''Kamui'', it quickly gained a following among college students. In response to the success of ''Garo'', Tezuka founded the magazine ''COM'' in 1967 for more experimental works.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the children who had grown up reading manga wanted something aimed at older audiences and ''gekiga'' provided that niche. The Cartoon Museum describes the ''gekiga'' audience: "Drawn in a more realistic and atmospheric style with grittier story lines, gekiga attracted older teenagers, university students and eventually adult readers." That particular generation came to be known as the "manga generation" because it read manga as a form of rebellion, which was similar to the role that rock music played for hippies in the United States.

Some authors use the term ''gekiga'' to describe works that only have shock factor. In 1968, Tatsumi published ''Gekiga College'' because he felt ''gekiga'' was straying too far from its roots and wanted to reclaim its meaning. In 2009, he said, "Gekiga is a term people throw around now to describe any manga with violence or eroticism or any spectacle. It's become synonymous with spectacular. But I write manga about households and conversations, love affairs, mundane stuff that is not spectacular. I think that's the difference."

The Cartoon Museum wrote that by the 1980s, ''gekiga'' became integrated into various types of manga. "For some younger people the term gekiga is now consigned to the history books, but its legacy lives on."

For a long time ''gekiga'' was not translated into other languages, but after 2000 more and more publishers dedicated to graphic novels began to explore the history of Japanese ''gekiga''. More recently, publishers like Drawn & Quarterly began publishing several English editions of works by Tatsumi and Yoshiharu Tsuge, among others, gaining more attention for the genre in the Western graphic novel market.

Notable artists

The following is a list of manga artists known to have created ''gekiga''.

* Seiichi Hayashi (''Red Colored Elegy'')
* Ryoichi Ikegami ('' Spider-Man: The Manga'')
* Ikki Kajiwara (''Karate Jigoku-hen'')
* Noboru Kawasaki (''Star of the Giants'')
* Kazuo Koike ('' Lone Wolf and Cub'')
* Goseki Kojima (''Lone Wolf and Cub'')
* Masahiko Matsumoto ('' Cigarette Girl'')
* Takao Saito ('' Golgo 13'')
* Sanpei Shirato (''Kamui'')
* Yoshihiro Tatsumi (''A Drifting Life'')
* Osamu Tezuka ('' Phoenix'', ''Ode to Kirihito'', ''Apollo's Song'', '' MW'')
* Tadao Tsuge (''Slum Wolf'')
* Yoshiharu Tsuge ('' Screw Style'')

See also

* Alternative manga, broad Western term for outlying Japanese comics, including ''gekiga''
* ''Josei'' manga, targeted towards adult women
* ''Seinen'' manga, targeted towards adult men

References

Further reading

* Schodt, Frederik L. '' Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics''. New York: Kodansha International, 1983. pp. 66–67, 124–125. .
* Schodt, Frederik L. '' Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga''. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1996. pp. 34, 54, 231, 242, 283–284. .

{{Comics

Anime and manga terminology
1950s neologisms