''Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics'' is a 1983 book by

Frederik L. Schodt Frederik L. Schodt (born January 22, 1950) is an American translator, interpreter and writer. Biography Schodt's father was in the US foreign service, and he grew up in Norway, Australia, and Japan. The family first went to Japan in 1965 wh ...

Published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

by the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese publisher

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

, it was the first substantial English-language work on Japanese

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

, or ''

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

'', as an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

istic,

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and

sociological Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...

phenomenon. Part of Schodt's motivation for writing it was to introduce manga to English speakers. The book is copiously illustrated and features a foreword by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

. It also includes translated excerpts from Tezuka's ''

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'',

Keiji Nakazawa was a Japanese manga artist and writer. Biography Nakazawa was born March 14, 1939 Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan and was in the city when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb in August 1945. Most of his family members who had not evacuated died as ...

's ''

Barefoot Gen is a Japanese historical manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen Nakaoka liv ...

'', and

Riyoko Ikeda is a Japanese manga artist and singer. She is included in the Year 24 Group, by some, although her status as one of them has been debated due to a focus more on epic stories than the internal psychology of those mangaka. She was one of the most ...

's ''

The Rose of Versailles , also known as ''Lady Oscar'' and ''La Rose de Versailles'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in the manga magazine '' Margaret'' from 1972 to 1973, while a revival of the s ...

'', and the Reiji Matsumoto

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

"Ghost Warrior". ''Manga! Manga!'' was enthusiastically reviewed in the mainstream and comics press and received a prominent endorsement from

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

. In 1996, Stone Bridge Press published Schodt's "sequel" to ''Manga! Manga!'', '' Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga''. In the introduction to this book, Schodt states that a Japanese bistro in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

took its name from ''Manga! Manga!''

# Foreword by Osamu Tezuka # A Thousand Million Manga ## Themes and Readers ## Reading, and the Structure of Narrative Comics ## Why Japan? # A Thousand Years of Manga ## The Comic Art Tradition ## Western Styles ## Safe and Unsafe Art ## Comics and the War Machine ## The Phoenix Becomes a Godzilla # The Spirit of Japan ## Paladins of the Past ## Modern-Day Warriors ## Samurai Sports # Flowers and Dreams ## Picture Poems ## Women Artists Take Over ## Sophisticated Ladies # The Economic Animal at Work and at Play ## Pride and Craftsmanship ## Mr. Lifetime Salary-Man ## Mah Jongg Wizards # Regulation versus Fantasy ## Is There Nothing Sacred? ## Social and Legal Restraints ## Erotic Comics # The Comics Industry ## Artists ## Publishers ## Profits # The Future ## The New Visual Generation ## Challenges for the Industry ## First Japan, Then the World?

Notes

External links

* 1983 non-fiction books Books about manga Kodansha books {{manga-stub

Contents

Notes

External links