MANGA GUIDE FOR RETAILERS What is Manga? Literally translated from Japanese, manga means “whimsical or humorous pictures”. It is the term that refers to comic books, often Japanese in MANGA GUIDE FOR RETAILERS origin and rendered in black and white. Manga refers to the format of the book and should not be confused with genre. You can find many genres such as romance, mystery, science fiction as a manga. Manga is always Table of Contents a book; anime is the Japanese term for animated films that use a similar art style. Many popular manga are converted into anime or novels. What is Manga? 3 Manga in Japan is typically serialized in large manga magazines with many History of Manga 4 other manga stories each published Types of Manga 4 one chapter at a time and continuing in the following volumes. If a series Other Definitions 5 is popular it will be published Who Reads Manga? 5 as its own book or series. How to Read Manga 6 Manga is very different from Ratings 7 Western comic books. While both contain stories told through How to Start a Section in your Store 8 sequential art, western comics Manga Growth Around the World 9 are in colour, a larger trim size with smaller page count Reviews and Resources 10 and are more often superhero Bestsellers Available Through Madman Entertainment... 10 stories. Manga are approximately Madman Entertainment 12 the size of a standard trade paperback, in black and white and have many genres. History of Manga Other Definitions While the history of manga can be traced back to Manga: Stories told visually through sequential art. Often refers to comics the history of visual communication, most consider originating in Japan and drawn in black and white. Also typically features a modern manga to have begun just after WWII with the specific style of art where people have large eyes, small mouths and other publishing of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and Kimba the exaggerated features. White Lion. Heavily influenced by Walt Disney, Osamu Anime: The Japanese word for animation also including a specific art Tezuka is considered the ‘god’ of modern manga. style where characters have exaggerated features. Many manga are the Manga, originally considered to be a format for children, source material for anime. grew in style and popularity with this post-war generation Bi-shonen: also shortened to bishi or bishie, this term refers to who continued to enjoy the format well into adulthood. As impossibly beautiful men often with long hair and appearing in the age of the fan increased so too did the number of topics romance manga. and genres. Otaku: A term that refers to fans in the manga and anime realm. In Japan Types of Manga this term is more derogatory and is used for the most obsessive fans, but Western fans have adopted it with a very positive context. Manga can be broken down into several types or categories of manga. Mecha: Derived from the Japanese word “meka” an abbreviation for the English word “mechanical”, mecha refers to mechanical Shojo (also known as shoujo): manga aimed at a young female robots controlled by a pilot found in many manga. audience. Typically written by women, these stories are often romantic comedies or magical girl series (stories that feature Who Reads Manga? young girls with superhuman abilities who save the world). In Japan, manga are widely read by children and adults of all ages Shonen (also known as shounen): manga enjoying everything from an action adventure to historical drama to aimed at male readers typically action oriented comedy to business and commerce. featuring a male main character. As manga enters more western cultures, teens are the first group to pick Shonen-ai: manga aimed toward women featuring the it up. The current reader in Australia has an equal chance of being boy or romantic relationship between two male characters. girl and will age anywhere from 10-19. Older fans who are interested in
© Queenie Chan and TOKYOPOP Inc. anime, are often also interested in manga.
How to Read Manga Ratings Traditional manga from Japan is in the Japanese right to left reading format. Madman and our partner publishers understand that because of the visual To maintain its authenticity and to stay true to the artists’ original creation, nature of manga and prior misunderstandings regarding comics and graphic most publishers will keep manga in that right to left format. Manga created novels in general, you and your customers may be concerned about the by a western artist often is drawn in the creators left to right reading appropriateness of each series for different age groups. Most manga from format. The following diagrams illustrate how to read both formats. Madman has been rated based on their content and those ratings can be found on our order forms as well as on the back of each book. The general this example shows descriptions of the ratings are below: manga in a format read from left to right. ‘All Ages’ - Suitable for readers of any age. May contain this example shows take them cartoon violence and potty humour. start to their room and manga read from fill them in HERE... on the details. right to left. ‘Youth’ - Suitable for ages 10 and up. May contain mild
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How to Start a Section in your Store Manga Growth Around the World In general there are two schools of thought on how to shelve manga. The Manga has grown incredibly fast in almost every first is treating manga as a format and shelving each series by its genre. If country into which it has been introduced. you are just getting started in manga, this may make it more difficult for the Quick Facts: consumer to discover the availability of manga in your store. Q Nearly 40% of all publishing in Japan is manga. The best way to get started with manga is to create a manga section and Manga-mania in France. 4 Feb 2004. shelve all manga together. Often this new section is situated near science-
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Madman Entertainment... Gravitation The Dreaming Devil May Cry 3 © 1999 by Masashi Kishimoto/SHUEISHA Inc. Kishimoto/SHUEISHA Masashi by © 1999 Inc. Kubo/SHUEISHA Tite by © 2001 Shogakukan Inc., Tokyo Inc., Shogakukan / • SPEJ Productions / Tezuka Akira © HIMEKAWA LTD CO., ENIX / SQUARE Arakawa © Hiromu
Astro Boy Full Metal Alchemist Naruto Bleach © Bisco Hatori / HAKUSENSHA, Inc., Tokyo Inc., / HAKUSENSHA, Hatori © Bisco Tokyo Inc., / HAKUSENSHA, Takaya © Natsuki Tokyo Inc., HAKUSENSHA, Hino/ © Matsuri Inc. Obata/SHUEISHA Takeshi Ohba, Tsugumi by © 2003 Inc. Tanemura/SHUEISHA Arina by © 2004 Inc. Seisakusho/SHUEISHA Manga Yazawa by © 1999
Ouran High Host Club Fruits Basket Vampire Knight Death Note The Gentleman’s Nana Alliance † 10 11 Madman Entertainment THE MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT GROUP proudly showcases the best in Japanese anime, world cinema, arthouse film, Australian independent features and animation. Madman is Australia’s leading distributor of home entertainment and an industry innovator with a sought-after interactive and DVD authoring studio; printing division; film production involvement; and a range of VD D and video labels. Madman was recently awarded exclusive DVD distribution rights to the Cartoon Network and SBS home entertainment labels. ABOUT MADMAN MANGA Established in February 2004, Madman’s manga business has grown to become Australia’s number one distributor of manga graphic novels, with a wide range of titles available in major book and specialty stores across the country. Best-seller series include Fruits Basket, Naruto and Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy. For more information, visit www.manga.com.au. For sales information and general manga and graphic novel enquiries, contact: Hillery Pastovich Manga & Graphic Novels Product Manager Manga Hotline: (03) 9418-7328 Email: [email protected]
MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT manga hotline: (03) 9418-7328 1–35 Wellington Street fax: (03) 8415 1955 Collingwood, VIC, 3066 email: [email protected] Australia website: b2b.madman.com.au