Japan is the home for many unique things and two which have become popular worldwide are Anime and Manga.

Manga, similar to western comic books, are unbelievably popular in today’s modern Japanese culture. Unlike American comic books which are targeted at children and teenagers, Japanese Manga is geared towards an adult audience although most appeals to all age groups.

Manga is unique to other types of comic books as the stories are usually deep and absorbing. These graphics and artwork are usually highly detailed and can have there own styles although they tend to stick to the standard Manga styles.

Anime is equivalent to western cartoons and many are in fact based on Manga although adapted for TV. Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura created by CLAMP are both popular Manga which were then made into an Anime. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are examples of Anime which made its way outside Japan and became hugely popular.

Both Anime and Manga have there own distinctive style which is characterised by large eyes which allow emotions to be clearly shown and generally only three colors for the skin tones; one each for the base color, shadows and highlights. Extra features such as “sweat drops” and veins appear to enhance the impact of emotions displayed.

Daniel Harris-Baird
http://www.thedevilspride.com