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Home , Josei manga, Viz Media

Manga Comes to the Library » This literature medium adds a unique learning opportunity for students and a compelling way for librarians to connect with their young adult patrons.

BY AMY SEIPKE

anga is visual literature, either from MJapan or in the Japanese style. To call “Japanese graphic novels,” is to un- derplay the massive cultural impact it has in Japan (see Exhibit 1). A more apt com- parison is to say that it is akin to paperback books here in the U.S., as manga is not so much a as it is a medium used to con- vey any number of stories and information. Unlike graphic novels, which generally follow the narrative tradition found in prose literature, manga stories are written because the authors (or Manga- ka) have a targeted audience they would like to reach and some specific characters Exhibit 1 they would like to present. In manga, the information and resource needs of the com- they are trendy among their peers. People characters are created first for a specific munity that it serves, and having manga in who may not consider themselves to be audience. Those characters are then used to the collection can help do that. “readers” may feel less hesitant to pick up tell stories which, the Manga-ka hopes, are Many theories of learning postulate a manga book because it does not contra- of interest to the targeted audience. There- that there are some people who learn best dict their self-schema; the visual nature of fore, a good way to divide the broad world through visual stimuli. Manga can be used the medium allows them to think of it as of manga into manageable is to first to help these visual learners gain access to something different than reading a book. determine the audience type, and then to ideas and information, which would not ap- Overcoming resistance to the act of reading establish the theme of the stories or the peal to them presented in other forms. The is, of course, the first step in developing special characteristics of the protagonists. Manga Shakespeare series by Paw Prints engagement with the material presented. Because of this focus on the intended Press in Paradise, CA, is example of audience, the most common launching manga that could be used to expose readers WHAT DO LIBRARIANS NEED TO KNOW platform for manga stories is in periodi- to complex ideas and story structure in a ABOUT MANGA? cals intended for specific audiences. These way that is less intimating. The following five concepts help define the periodicals have huge audiences and very Because of the visual nature of the intricacies of manga. large circulation numbers. The stories are medium and the close relationship be- Manga is a medium, not a genre. Just originally published serially, a chapter at a tween the images and the text, manga also about every story imaginable (even non- time in magazines, with each magazine fea- helps English language learners to access fiction stories) can be told using the manga turing many different stories in each issue. information and stories that may otherwise style. Manga is often based more on the The more popular stories that have gained prove too challenging to be appreciated. development of characters and the natural enough of a following to take on a life of Additionally, because of the popularity actions and reactions of those characters their own are then published as stand-alone of manga in Japan, and increasingly in the rather than being plot driven with the (often serialized) works called a “tankobon.” U.S., it is a familiar form of literature for author striving to get to a certain outcome. Some stories are also published to be a many people who use libraries. Overlooking The manga-ka, or manga artist, creates a stand-alone monograph, which are referred manga in library collection policies would character and allows things to simply hap- to as “one-shot manga.” create a void in the resources offered. pen to his characters rather than thinking Finally, manga is cool! As manga gains of a story he wants to tell and creating WHY DO LIBRARIES WANT MANGA? popularity, reluctant readers may not be characters and situations through which to The purpose of the library is to meet the averse to picking up these books because tell that particular story. Therefore, the way

Strategic Library™ ©2015 <5> of intellectually organizing manga, which Manga most closely matches the way it is written and created, is to begin by dividing it into Many people involved in the creative pro- Single manga-ka or small team: groups based on the intended audience. cess: Work on a small number of stories, very The four major audiences for which Possibly working on several titles at once, invested in their title manga is written are: less invested Shonen – Boy’s Manga Creative compromises Shojo – Girl’s Manga Sienen – Men’s Manga More outlandish, risky, attention seeking More carefully tended or “realistic” plot Josei – Women’s Manga plot lines lines There is also a category for young children where their youth, not their gender, is the fo- cus; the term used for that is “Kodomomuke.” Images moving by at 24 frames per second, Static images meant to have each one The category of sexually explicit material each image is only meant to be seen a frac- studied for adults only is called “Seijin.” Within the tion of a second Seijin category is “,” which refers to materials that are not only explicit but also Lower quality images, less detail (especially Highly detailed include specialized or bizarre fetishes. in background) Of course, within these large groupings there are also other characteristics which Almost always colored Sometimes in the writers focus on and can help to attract an audience that will identify with the char- Exhibit 2 acters. Subcategories such as “ place in the story line. This can cause the However, even at this slow rate, it is still manga,” “robot manga,” “naughty manga,” plot to take very different turns from what going by much quicker than the images on and many others can be considered as happened to the characters in the original the page in a printed book of manga and is genres within each audience (see this blog manga version of the story. therefore able to be of lower quality or less post for a more complete list of the most Manga, on the other hand, is often cre- detailed. These less-detailed images are common genres within manga https:// ated by only a pair or even one lone “manga- often preferred for use in anime because aseip.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/manga- ka.” This usually results in the creators they take less time and energy to draw and is-a-medium-not-a-genre/). becoming more attached to the characters can help keep a production on schedule and Manga is not exactly the same as Anime. since they have spent a long time and much on budget. This confusion is understandable since they energy creating and directing them. Manga Some examples of how the same char- are visually very similar: both art forms are also usually follows a less risky plot line be- acters are drawn differently in the same from Japan (often presented in the Japanese cause the creators (and hopefully the read- scene of the anime adaptation juxtaposed language even), and they even often feature ers) become much more invested in the lives with the original manga version images can the same characters and titles. The major of the characters in the relatively few series be found in Exhibits 3 and 4. (I am not the difference is easy to remember: anime is they read than a production team (and the creator of the images in this section!) animated…it moves! TV viewers) do in one of the many shows Some techniques used by anime artists There are, however, other differences be- with which they are engaged (see Exhibit 2). help demonstrate that it is a distinct art tween the two art forms that can often be The quality of the art work is often dif- form, since they give the desired appearance seen most clearly when the same characters ferent as well. Anime is drawn to be shown when moving but would appear strange if or even the same titles are converted from at 24 frames per second, whereas manga drawn in a manga. When played together, the static printed manga form into the dy- is drawn to have each picture static on the these images can make the characters look namic moving anime form (which is usually page to be examined by readers for as long as though they are moving very quickly the order of production, though sometimes as they like. Part of what makes anime but when viewed alone or out of sequence an original anime series may be made into different and interesting for many view- they simply appear bizarre. Through time, printed manga after the fact.) ers is that the 24 frames-per-second speed this feature has actually become part of Because Anime usually involves the ef- of anime is slower than they are used to the quirky appeal of anime and for some forts of a whole team of creators, there are watching, making the picture a bit choppier viewers is considered integral to the style. creative compromises that inevitably take and giving it a unique visual appearance. As a result, many shows are still made using

» Manga, on the other hand, is often created by only a pair or even one lone “manga-ka.” This usually results in the creators becoming more attached to the characters since they have spent a long time and much energy creating and directing them.

<6> Strategic Library™ ©2015 Exhibit 3

Exhibit 5

Exhibit 4 these tricks even though, through technol- Exhibit 7 ogy and digital , they no longer need to be. images when needed to allow them to be The image in Exhibit 5 shows a technique better understood by English-speaking audi- Exhibit 6 used in anime called “blur” used to show ences. These sites often take their transla- fast movement. The image in Exhibit 6 repetitive vowel, or drop letters. Are some tions down once the title is picked up by an shows a technique called “multiples,” which of the anomalies in the transcriptions of English publisher, allowing them to have a is also used to show very fast movement in Japanese terms meant to portray the same sort of symbiotic relationship with publish- anime. kind of things? ers. They help English publishers decide The Japanese language uses a different Maybe when a word spelled with an “a” which titles are worth the money and effort set of characters from those used in English. in place of an “e” it is simply a mistake; but to publish, and help Japanese publishers Sometimes there is not an exact “one-to- maybe it is intentional to try to convey a increase their fan-base without losing sales one” translation of syllables from Japanese particular context. Or maybe it becomes because English speakers would not be buy- to English. This fact requires people who another word altogether. Dessert vs. desert; ing their product anyway. to use the English alphabet to portray through vs. though—to a non-native English For librarians, these sites can be very Japanese words to use a type of transcrip- speaker these words would be awful tricky. helpful when providing reader advisory tion called Hepburn Romanization. This sys- English-speaking readers and the librar- since they have lots of good suggestions for tem uses the letters of the English language ians who cater to them are faced with this further reading. For fans, these sites provide to portray the sounds one would hear listen- problem everywhere they turn in learning quick access to the newest issues of their ing to a speaker who is speaking in Japa- about manga. favorite series; single chapters are generally nese. So when the reader “sounds it out” in Japanese is read from right to left instead available to download for free or a small fee. English, they will (hopefully) pronounce it of left to right. This arrangement is not nec- close to the way it would be pronounced by essarily a huge problem, but it is something HOW CAN LIBRARIES ACCESS MANGA? a speaker of Japanese. librarians and readers need to know. There By following this link, librarians can down- Inevitably, while there are official rules is no better way to ruin a book than to pick load an annotated bibliography containing for this system, not everybody who tran- it up and immediately see a visual image several examples from each major genre scribes anything into English sticks to those of the ending scene. Also, it is a fact that to help get their collecting started: http:// uniform rules. This problem can lead to may need to be considered when making www.lib.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/ multiple English spellings for the same shelving decisions. In a Japanese bookstore screens/Manga_Bibliography.pdf Japanese word. And, because languages are or library, the books would be shelved from The magazines, which are the original living entities that are always growing and right to left as well (see Exhibit 7). format, are not generally translated or pub- adapting, these different transcriptions can Manga has a huge Internet community lished in English. There are a few English- take on new meanings with a context differ- of fans. One of the major activities that fans language manga magazines. But they ent from each other. engage in online is a type of forum referred different from their Japanese counterparts Think of the way authors sometimes to as a “” page. These sites are because they contain different material; indicate a character’s accent in their writing. used to discuss, recommend, and even pro- they are not direct translations of the Japa- If they use a Southern accent, what does vide access to manga. nese magazines. that say about that character? If they use a Fans will scan their original Japanese However, several English language pub- Boston accent, what does that say? Think language copies of their favorite stories and lishers purchased the rights to manga and of how authors portray that accent on the work together with other fans to translate have them translated and published in Eng- page. They might a vowel, add a them and to even redraw and fix up the lish. For the most part, these translations

Strategic Library™ ©2015 <7> TITLE AND AUTHOR OLD CALL NUMBER NEW CALL NUMBER “” by PN6790 .J34 .T4 1998 Manga .B53 .J33 Vol. 1 “Black Blizzard” by Yoshihiro Tatsumi PN6790 .J34 .T3 2010 Manga .B53 .B55 “” by Kanoko Sakurakouji PN6790 .J34 .S2 2009 Manga .B53 .B57 Vol. 1 “Crimson Hero” by Mitsuba Takanashi PN6790 .J34 .T3 2005 Manga .C75 .H47 Vol. 1 “Crimson Spell” by Ayano Yamane PN6790 .J34 .Y3 2005 Manga .C75 .S64 Vol. 1

Exhibit 8: Revised Call System for Manga. are available for full tankobons or omnibus But problems arise with larger collec- be familiar to American library patrons and editions of manga stories. tions. Adding a second or third Cutter may give the appearance of being sexist or The tankobons and omnibuses are easy number and even year and volume desig- reinforcing gender stereotypes. to source and are available from most major nations does not always leave the books book sellers. A few of the major publish- with unique identifiers, or does not allow MANGA AS A RESOURCE ers of English language translations (some consecutive volumes to be shelved together, Since the College for Creative Studies is an of which specialize in only certain types and provides a challenge for the staff mem- art school, many of our students are visual of manga) are: Drawn and Quarterly, Dark bers who are doing the shelving. learners. In our library, we have found the Horse Manga, , No Starch It seems that the solution will have to non-fiction manga to be most helpful in as- Press, Kondasha USA, Seven Seas Entertain- include using Cutter numbers based on sisting students in learning about complex ment, SuBLime, Inc, VIZ Media, the title rather than on the author’s name. subjects. In addition, the non-fiction manga Press, and . Many Japanese authors have similar sur- is useful for students beginning research or In addition to being available in print, names; when they write different series and for getting students engaged with a subject. manga also has a large digital audience. It they publish them contemporaneously, it The fiction manga brings joy to their library is becoming increasingly available through causes the titles to be intermingled on the visits and helps them to become familiar some of the larger providers of digital books shelves. Also the same series may be written with popular stories. such as Oyster, Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited, by different authors over the course of its Many of our students are very enthusi- and Overdrive. Currently, though, the selec- publication, resulting in the series being astic about manga and have been excited tion of manga available through these large shelved in very different locations, affecting to help grow our collection, even donating sites is not very robust. As a result, the best access and retrieval. their own old tankobons so that others may place to access digital manga now is from The solution for this challenge is to enjoy them. the publishers themselves. Most of the develop a local call number system within Despite the challenges of adding this major manga publishers have digital ver- the library. A local call number system might new type of resource to our collections, I sions available through their websites, and include ideas such as dropping the “PN6790 have found it to be a very rewarding experi- two of the major publishers, and .J34” and replacing it with the word “Manga” ence. It has been an excellent topic for col- , are publishing almost exclu- or using a Cutter number to represent each laborating with students and has facilitated sively in digital form. word in the title followed by the author, and many conversations around the subject of volume number when needed (see Exhibit 8). manga, reading, art, and culture. n WHERE SHOULD LIBRARIES PUT MANGA? A library with a very large manga col- A manga collection can be shelved in several lection may even consider separating the ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Amy Elizabeth Pell ways. If a library has a small collection, it is “Manga” heading into subsets based on Seipke is librarian and archivist at the Col- usually not a problem to simply shelve it audience and have sections designated lege of Creative Studies, Detroit, MI. The using the current system. In a library using “Shonen Manga,” “Shojo Manga,” “Sienen college offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in such the Library of Congress system, most of the Manga,” and “Josei Manga.” Most titles have creative pursuits as advertising, design, and manga collection would be found under a clear audience, which can be found by the photography, as well as a Master of Fine PN6790 .J34 with a second Cutter number imprint the publisher uses for it. However, Arts in various design specialties. She can be added based on the author. Non-fiction occasionally the audience may not be ex- reached at [email protected]. manga can also be shelved in the same way plicitly stated. This type of classification may as any other monograph on a subject. also prove troublesome because it may not

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