Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Some of you might not know what manga and anime is, so I'm going to explain it to you.
Manga is the japanese word for comic, though fans rearly refere to it as "comic" exept when they're trying to explain it to someone else who doesn't know what it is.
Manga was created in the 18th century. These comical drawings were used to illustrate Buddistic learning sentences. These pictures were painted on the sealing of temples, and on scrolls as illustrations. A nomal theme was scenes of Hell, and even if the theme was very serious the illustrations were very comical. Later these pictures developed into illustrations of scenes from ordinary day-to-day life.
Manga is different from American comics. In the American comics we constantly follow one main character, while in manga we follow many of the different characters in the series. In American comics there also hardly any development of the characters, we might see the main character once or twice as a child and som flashbacks here and there, maybe a few times as a teenager and as a grownup and these tinghs are differently connected than in manga where we see a progression in character development. But one of the major differences is that American comics are in colour while as manga is in black and white. so if it is in colours it’s either a fake or a special, sometimes the first pages are in colour in a book or magazine. And you rarely see for an example Superman cry, while as the manga heroes can cry, sulk, scream out in terror, get pissed like really pissed and be really, really happy. The drawing style and the way that the story is made are also different.
The people who write and draw the manga are called mangaka, there are many different mangaka in Japan who each have their own series. I do not know how many there are, but there has to be quite a few hundreds if not thousands; including amateurs and pros. A mangaka don’t only have to be good at drawing but at writing and producing a good storyboard which is interesting and will catch peoples attention.
There are numerous genders of manga, some are about sports, war, games, computers, school, aliens, demons, angels, magic, criminal gangs, people, love, affairs, relationships and more. So there is definitely a manga for everyone whether you’re old or young, boy or girl and no matter what you’re into you’ll find a manga that suits you well.
In Japan millions of people buy manga everyday, children and older people. It’s normal to
First buy the magazine format and after you’ve read it, you simply throw it in the trash; I suppose manga has its own bin. And then you buy the book format.
In Japan they have a famous university that specializes in the art of manga. This is the Kyoto Seika University.
What’s typical for manga design:
• Women: Tall, slim and lots of curves.
• Men: Tall, smaller eyes than women bigger necks, shoulders and hands.
• Children: Big heads with large eyes.
• Emotional expressions: A lot more evident than in a Disney cartoon.
• Chibi: Small versions of characters with big heads and eyes, small arms and legs.
• Hair is very important; you can recognize a person by their hair.
Of course every mangakas style is different from one another. And of course some are better than others when it comes to drawing various things; like behinds meaning back and buttocks. And intestates and other things like that.
Manga is aimed at:
• Shounen – aimed at young boys
• Seinen – aimed at young men
• Shoujo – aimed at ladies, young women, daughters, little girls
• Josei – aimed at young women
There are no specific ages just older and younger, but I suppose that the line between older and younger is about 15. Since you come of age when you’re 20 in Japan.
Anime is the animated version of manga, in Japan anime has its own TV channel; anime 24/7!
Anime is drawn by hand and frame by frame, since one second ha 24 frames meaning that a 24 minute episode has about 34560 frames drawn by hand.
Sometimes the anime is a little different from the manga, in terms of the storyboard. Since anime is drawn by hand its format is 2D-animeasjon. The anime is also different from the manga which is in black and white while as the anime is in colours.
OVA is a anime special, which lasts for 30 minutes or more.
There are also many anime movies, both form anime series and other stories. We don’t have many anime series or movies in here in Norway, because of the law about commercials on TV. The only anime movies to run in Norwegian cinemas are: Howle’s moving castle and steam boy. And the only anime series to hit Norwegian TV-screens are: Pokemon, Digimon, Bayblade, Duel Masters and Hamtaro.
But what most anime series have in common are the way emotions are expressedon the screen.
Her are some pictures of emotions:
The two first pictures are taken from Fullmetal Alchemist and show: Anger and shock.
The rest are taken from Inuyasha and show: I’m doomed, if you mess this up your dead. What on earth are you doing?, Just do it, or else And Uah… I have to do something but I can’t I have to stay put.
The after effects of manga and anime: in Japan it is fashion to dress like your favourite manga and/or anime character, this is called coseplay.
Fan art: which of course is art made by Fan’s.
Fan Fiction are stories written by Fans, these are all based on the persons imagination and has nothing to do with the actual series. However many of them are quite good.
Merchandise are things like key chains, small models, stuffed toys and CD’s with the music from the series. Many Japanese bands and artist write and sing song for anime series.
The manga and anime can create an interest in people for things like: sports, games or history and legends etec.
Here I have two pictures: the first is a coseplay picture from the series Naruto, the other is a Fan Art picture from the same series.
Where you can get manga and anime here in Norway:
Outland which can be found at Østbanehallen in Oslo S, and at Paléet.
Narvesen or some in your local store.
On the web at www.mangawiever.com which is a free service but it has a lot of adds. Or you can just search on google and yahoo.
Some basic terms that you are bound to hear while watching anime:
• [Onii-chan] – older brother, term used on boys older than one self.
• [Onee-chan] – Older sister, Used about girls older than one self. (Both terms are used on people you do and don’t know)
• [Senpai] – used on people/students the year or more above you.
• [-Kun] – term used on young boys
• [-chan] – Normally a term for small girls or very young boys.
• [-san] – a term used on any one
• [-sama] – means master and is used on people you highly respect or of high position.
• [sensei] – means teacher.
Drama series based on Manga
There are many such series. Or so I think. I've only seen three thus far. One was Hana-Kimi(Taiwanese but based on Japanese manga with the same title), IWGP(Japanese) and Boys over Flowers or Hana Yori Dango(Japanese). It's really different when you see one of these series whit real people compared to the manga. Boys over Flowers is a manga and an anime. The differences are noticable. You can't really find someone who looks exactly like a manga/anime figure, unless of course the character is based on a real person.
Thanks to these manga based Drama series, I've stated watching other dramas such as Lunch Queen and Sore wa Totsuzen Arashi no You ni(It was sudden, like a storm). Both of which are really funny and/or interresting.
Here are two sites where you can check out these series further:
