Expo Manga London

Britain is playing host to the largest exhibition of manga ever staged outside Japan, featuring some 70 titles by 50 artists. The exhibition traces manga's historical roots and explores its transformation into a global cultural phenomenon.

The show incorporates sketches and comics by some of Japan's most celebrated manga artists like Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, and Akatsuka Fujio, the artist responsible for Eel Dog, alongside lesser-known works.

In one interactive display, visitors can browse shelves of popular titles such as Akira Toriyama's Dragonball and Eiichiro Oda's OnePiece, as well as download samples of comics onto smartphones or tablets.

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Exhibition curator Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere said the goal is for visitors to become fluent in manga, even if it is their first encounter with the art form.

We wanted to make it a really immersive and instructive exhibition that you can enter at different levels, Rousmaniere said in an interview with Kyodo News before the exhibition's opening.

The exhibit begins with the basics of understanding manga including how to read mampu, or the onomatopoeic symbols used in many comics to convey sounds, actions and emotions.

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The show then charts the development of comics in Japan, from precursor art forms and the advent of modern manga in the late 19th century to their influence on contemporary media including games and anime.

Among the earlier works thought to have preceded the rise of manga is a 17-meter theater curtain completed in 1880 by Kawanabe Kyosai, on display outside Japan for a final time.

While the exhibition touches upon more adult themes such as horror and sexuality, Rousmaniere said that these are not the focus of the show, saying only we wanted to show that side of manga exists.

Kawanabe Kyōsai « London Visitors

Rousmaniere said she hopes to demonstrate the diversity that exists within the medium, explaining, Whether you think you like manga or not, you find out that there is something for everybody.

This variety helps to explain manga's appeal, according to Rousmaniere. She said, It's very subjective, and we all bring our own experiences to it. You could say the same with a novel, but because manga is a visual medium, it's somehow more immersive.

Rousmaniere conceded some people might be surprised to see such a relatively contemporary art form featured in the British Museum, usually known for its focus on world history.

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However, she insisted that manga has long formed part of the museum's collection and was a natural choice for a major exhibition.

The museum looks at objects in context and the stories we tell ourselves about our own and other peoples' histories. Manga fits in perfectly because it's visual storytelling -- it records moments, histories and feelings, Rousmaniere said.

Rousmaniere added that manga deserves greater recognition as a national art form, alongside ukiyo-e and other iconic genres. She commented, Manga is definitely less respected than other art forms but it should be protected. It's very important that the Japanese government supports the industry by investing in it.

This Was On Display At The British Museum In London's Manga Exhibition.

Nevertheless, Rousmaniere is confident manga will continue to grow in popularity, particularly with the changing nature of media. Globally, our culture is becoming much more visual, she explained, adding, I think manga is the visual language for the 22nd century.

To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox, subscribe here. Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription.It’s a question the Guardian’s reviewer asked about the new summer exhibition that opens today devoted to the comics medium, which originated in Japan.

The answer, I’d say, is quite a lot. We’ve come a long way since sequential art (if you want to use a term for comics that makes you feel a bit more grownup and sophisticated) was dismissed as at best, juvenile trash, and at worst, dangerously corruptive. Graphic novels (another good one for the dinner party) are considered a valid literary form; manga is one of its most prevalent and popular aspects. So why not?

Manga Alley Art Competition London Expo October 2014

I admit to having a dog in this fight (or, more appropriately, this Battle Royale, one of the manga that made the transition to the cinema). I earn some of my living as a writer of American comics, and as such am standing on the shoulders of the mecha-giants of manga. The first manga is thought to date back to 1902, when the artist Kitazawa Rakuten began to draw comic strips for the Jiji Shimpo daily newspaper.

Manga has been phenomenally popular in Japan for over a century, and not so much tarred with the low-culture dismissals that western comics endured up until very recently. Manga isn’t a genre, it’s a medium, and within its very broad church there are science-fiction escapades of course, and bloodthirsty historical epics, but also tender love stories and slice-of-life soap operas, sports dramas, funny-animal juvenilia and, yes, sex. Manga caters for a huge breadth of taste, and is aimed at a wide range of age groups, like cinema or TV or any other medium.

It’s also spread far beyond Japan. Everybody recognises the manga style, often (but not exclusively) typified by big-eyed characters, ultra-dynamic speed lines and sometimes insanely detailed levels of draughtsmanship. According to the worldwide statistics and data compiler Statista, manga sells huge amounts across the globe. Its report on the manga industry in March this year named the One Piece series by Eiichiro Oda as the most popular manga of all time, with 450 million copies being sold. That was followed by Dragon Ball at 300m, and Naruto at 235m (both of those have been successful anime cartoon series).

Mcm Expo London Comic Con 2011

Popularity is not necessarily a measure of artistic value, of course, but manga has a deeper claim to be a cultural force worth celebrating. When my son was younger he was, like many boys, a reluctant reader. I attempted to usher him in through the back door with comics, just as I had become a reader. But the superhero fare of Marvel and DC was too unwieldy with its sprawling continuity and relatively specialist outlets; he instead opted for manga, and I discovered it was a huge thing among boys of his age.

Manga is accessible and easily available; most high-street bookshops have shelves of the stuff, much more than western graphic novels. In Japan, manga has been readily recognised as having an important and positive role to play in children’s education and development. Indeed, a few years ago the Japanese academic Yuichi Higuchi wrote an essay titled Are You A Bad Parent?, which chided adults who denied their children access to manga.

But does it sit uneasily alongside the historical wonders at the British Museum? It’s a question that Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere and Matsuba Ryoko, the editors of the official guide to the exhibition, asked the many creators they interviewed.

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Tetsuya Chiba thinks its “humbling”. Hikaru Nakamura says manga might “look strange in a museum”, but hopes her tales of ordinary Japanese life might one day become a historical reference. Hoshino Yukinobu says it’s “an exciting opportunity that will no doubt kickstart a new cultural dialogue”.

The cultural dialogue should conclude that manga has indeed earned its place in the British Museum. Manga endures and thrives, and its influence is spreading. Young people enjoy manga in its original form, translated yet not appropriated. It birthed anime, which in turn wormed its way into western cinema, most recently visible in the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The British Museum is, of course, noted for its displays of artefacts from the ancient world, sculptures from the Enlightenment, coins from Roman Britain. Is manga too frivolous, too contemporary – despite its roots in the 19th-century – and too disposable to sit alongside the Elgin marbles? Or is it more, as I believe, that the British Museum has rightly recognised the form has contributed rather uniquely to modern culture over at least a hundred years, and continues to do so? If the British Museum is a public institution devoted to history, then perhaps manga is a venerable medium that just happens to be history still in the process of being made.

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Britain didn’t invent manga, we never properly stole it and we haven’t wiped it out. And still its global march continues. And that’s something it is right to celebrate.

David Barnett writes about books and comics for the Guardian, and is the author of The Growing Pains of Jennifer Ebert, Aged 19 Going on 91Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.

Museum employees walk past a historic Manga theater curtain, which was painted by Japanese artist Kawanabe Kyosai for the Shintomi Theater and measures seventeen by four meters, during a press preview for the exhibition 'Manga' at the British Museum in central London on May 22, 2019. (AFP/Daniel Leal-Olivas)

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