Other than the way they look, what is the difference between the American comics and the mainstream Japanese manga?
Well actually there is more than one difference. American comics are mainly targeted at the teenagers, Japanese Manga for younger generation. Comics are pencilled, drawn, inked and painted by a group of people. Manga is entirely done by a single cartoonist. Most comics deal with super-heroes, while most mangas deal with characters you can empathise with. Finally, comics characters do not age; manga characters do.
Similarly, the American animation industry is mainly independent from comics. The two genres are separate entities. But in Japan, most animations, which they call 'anime', are created from successful manga characters.
Although the American comics and animations that remain the mainstream drawn-out medium world-wide, Japanese manga and anime are actually a much bigger industry. Because of their different approach to this medium and their high aesthetic standards, Japanese manga and anime in recent years have become a world-wide phenomenon.
These are some observations of President of Trans Art Anime Company and Vice Chairman of Tokyo's Suginami Anime Development Association Mr. Kuroki.
This company has created or partnered in hundreds of anime titles for the Japanese television from 1968. Some of these titles include Heidi, Lupin III and of course the Prince of Tennis.
The Japanese anime industry has grown so big and costly now that it now out-sources 70 to 80 percent of its animation works to China and some other countries, keeping the heart and brains of the anime inside Japan.
Dialogue with the chief of Trans Art Animation Company
Sitting in their Tokyo studio during the second week of this month, Kuroki and Trans Art chief of drawing Onikawa explain to The Daily Star why the Japanese manga and anime industry makes more money than that of the USA by generating billions of dollars every year.
“The demand for anime is so high here that roughly 100 animation episodes are produced every month for Japan,” says Onikawa, “Besides about 20 animated films are released every year. The seasons of spring, fall, and autumn, and year-ends are typically good times for animated films.”
Although there is a great demand for Japanese anime abroad, there has actually been few exports as these are mainly made for the domestic market.
Veteran animator Kuroki explains, in his medium sized studio of 16 people, why Japanese anime looks different. “The Disney-type cartoons use 24 frames per second. But when we started production, we made our anime 8 frames per second to save time and labour. Although it was not appreciated at first, it is now a global standard. Because now we know that when there is a clear story telling and clear characters, the anime is accepted by the audience.”
“When they made only 8 frames per second, we made each of our frames more significant with detailed artwork and shadows. The end result was high quality pictures,” Kuroki adds.
“The Japanese anime is based on the publishing culture. We have high number of manga magazines which have been popular for decades. When there is a hit manga series, there is already a clear story in it. It becomes very easy for us to develop those manga into animation series,” he quips.
China and South Korea are now following Japan's trend in manga and anime. “The Koreans have high skills in animation, but they lack in their stories,” Kuroki notes, “
On the other hand, although China is doing 70- 80 percent of the work for Japanese cartoons, they can not suddenly become very creative.”
To create a successful anime, the animators follow three principles: strong character, clear stories and a well-flown story telling. “If one of these components is missing, that anime is dead,” he opines.
Because of the sector's popularity, there is tremendous peer pressure on the manga-artists and the animators to make high quality works. “Quality can not be compromised, it's a prime issue here,”
The reflection of this popularity is visible from the fact that there are three high quality magazines on the animation industry itself. There are 10 specialised schools on animation while many other schools teach computer aided graphics.
“Disney does not equal animation, Japan does. The term Japanimation (American sarcasm referring to the 8-frame per second anime in the past) is a dead word. No matter what they say, people love anime,” Kuroki points out.
In Japan, there are literally thousands of manga titles for all ages. You better believe that from kids to old people, every age group in Japan reads manga whenever it can. It's a unique culture where drawn out stories are not looked down as a silly medium. Rather, many scholars attribute Japanese visual reading culture to the growth of the imagination level especially among the students.
“Before the Second World War, manga existed in Japan but not in the mainstream. After the war 60 years ago, manga started in a big way in Japan. The reason why the Japanese older generation read manga is the manga stories are serialised for a long time. They start reading them from their childhood, and they just keep on reading (to find out what happened next) when they grow up,” Kuroki quips.
Giving his words of encouragement for Bangladesh upon learning that there is an emerging popularity of anime here, Kuroki says, “Bangladeshi publishers should go for creating a culture for comics so that artists and animators can flourish. It may take many years, but you can do it if you believe you can.
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