Category - Manga coloring

Manga is a typical Japanese comic strip. In Western countries, the author of a comic strip is called a cartoonist. However, for the Nipponese, the latter is known as a mangaka.

In manga, the reading direction remains horizontal, from top to bottom, except that instead of starting from the left, it starts from the right. It begins on the very last page of the book and goes right back to the beginning. Manga is also printed in black and white (with the exception of the cover pages).

Manga” is also a Japanese term for “derisive illustration”. The prefix “Man-” (漫) means “inordinate”, “exaggerated” or “unfinished”. The suffix “-Ga” (画), qualifies all types of graphic illustrations.

The origins of manga date back to the 18th century, when works such as Kankei Suzuki’s Mankaku zuihitsu (1771) and Kyōden Santō’s Shiji no yukikai (1798) were published. At the beginning of the 19thth century century, Hokusai, the engraver to whom The Great Wave of Kanagawa owes its popularity, referred to his (sometimes cartoonish) collections as Hokusai manga.

Manga as we know it today didn’t take its true comic form until 1945, thanks to Osamu Tezuka. Manga is becoming increasingly global. Manga alone accounts for 22% of comic book purchases in France. A source of inspiration for countless animated series, manga is also being adapted for video games.

In 2007, the Japanese manga market was worth over 40 billion yen. In Kyoto, a dedicated international museum, open since 2006, houses over 300,000 volumes of manga in various genres: Gekiga (drama), Mecha (science fiction about giant robots), Magical Girl (about sorceresses and priestesses), etc.

Among the world’s best-selling mangas are the 42 volumes of “Dragon Ball” (with over 230 million copies sold) and the 95 volumes of “One Piece” (with over 430 million copies sold).

Are your children fascinated by manga? If so, they’ll love coloring the manga character designs printable from our page.