If you didn't live under a rock for the last two or three decades, then the term "Manga" will sound familiar for you at least remotely. But other then the knowledge of Manga being a Japanese comics, containing characters with big eyes, not many researched the topic further.
You can quickly fix it by reading this short post.
The origins
The word manga (漫画) literally means "cartoon picture". The term became widely used at the end of the 18th century, with publication of picture books such as "Shiji no Yukikai". But the works of that time were very different from the manga we know today. The change in style was made after the world war II, when the American comics was introduced in Japan. But no matter how far this influence changed the Japanese comics, it still stays unique and developing in it's own direction.
An interesting turn in Manga history was in the 60s. Until 60s Manga was intended mainly for children. But then came artists who created manga for adults, featured with serious subjects and complex plot. Around that time the gekiga (劇画) drawing style was developed. Depicting more realistic characters and fitting perfectly for the manga genre for adults.
After becoming popular in many demographic layers in Japan, the manga didn't stop there. It went into the wide world and particularly conquered it. The manga became spread worldwide at 70s and early 80s. Since then, it became popular in many countries. For example, in France at 2011 manga represented 40% of all the comics books sold. At Germany the parentage in 2007 was 70%.
Nowadays, the digital Manga is taking the lead. And while the printed books sales become fewer and fewer, the Internet digital sales incising every year. This only shows that no metter the media, the manga stays popular as ever.
Specifications
What are the unique features of manga , compared to other comics? The first thought that will jump to everyone mind will be - the drawing style. Well, yes and no. Manga has many different drawing styles, from the chibi (ちび or チビ) characters for children to very realistic ones in gekiga style. And of cores everything in between.
Another distinct feature of manga comics is coloring. The manga is drawn in black and white, even today. I think the main reason for this is faster and cheaper production purposes. I found that for mangaka (漫画家) meaning "cartoon picture performer", who draws the manga, one page of manga takes up to 10 hours to draw. One chapter has 20 pages at average. Release rate is once a weak or once a month (depending on the number of pages). From these numbers can be concluded, that the manga is drawn by more then one mangaka artist.
An interesting feature, typically used in manga, is exaggerated emotions expressing. An when I say "exaggerated", I mean, they have spatial drawing symbols to express specific emotions such as anger, nervousness, confusion etc. Here some of them:
One more critical point to be addressed in relation to manga is the order of reading. Many beginning manga readers, including myself, are confused about the order of the dialogs. The reason to this is simple. Manga reading order is different from the western comics many accustomed to. The main rule for reading manga is from right to left and top to bottom. Here an example from wikiHow:
Despite or because all the differences from the western comics, Manga serves as an interesting alternative.
Genres
While comics associated with content for children, genres in Manga are very diverse and vary from content for children to adult content. In addition to the regular genres like action, horror, romance, etc. Manga is also divided to age and sexual preferences categories.
Age categories:
Kodomo (子供) - Literally means "child". It's manga for little children under 11. The plot is usualy moralistic and educating children to stay in the right path in life. For example: "Castel in the sky", "Pokemon".
Shonen (少年) - Literally means "boy". It's a manga for boys at ages around 12-18. This manga categorized by high-action and the themes like robots, sports, science fiction etc. For example: "Death note", "Bleach".
Shojo (少女) - Translates as "young lady" or "little girl". This manga is for girls at ages around 7-18. This type of manga often coventrates on romantic relations an emotions. Examples: "Skip beat!", "Fruits basket".
Seinen (青年) - Meaning "young man" and literally "green man". This genre intended for men over 18. It doesn't necessarily means that the content should be sexual, but it can be violent. The topics of this manga are very similar to the shonen manga, but can include politics, sex and other adult topics. Examples: "Berserk", "Tokyo ghoul".
Josei (女性) - Meaning "woman". This manga intended for woman over 18. In contrarily to shojo manga, the josei type concentrates on more realistic relationships rather then the idealized romance. Examples: "Nana", "Kids on the slop".
Sexual preferences categories:
Ecchi (エッチ) - Meaning "indecent" or "sexy". This manga includes sexual content, like nudity, but nothing too graphic and no sex scene. Something like erotica. But the manga not necessarily should contain nudity and sex. It can simply imply erotic thoughts and behavior. For example: "Compulsive gambler", "High school DxD".
Hentai (
ヘンタイ or in kanji 変態) - Literally means "strange/weird". Comes from the full term
"hentai seiyoku" (変態性欲) meaning sexual perversion. Well, you can guess the genre type. Yep, it's porn. Sorry, but I'm not recommending porn.
Shonen-ai (少年愛) - Literally means "boys love" also usually written in Japan as acronym BL. This type of manga shows homosexual relationships and its auditory is largely females. A special term for this kind of manga is Yaoi (やおい) was invented in the 70s and it's a portmanteau to "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi" (山[場]なし、落ちなし、意味なし) and translates as "no climax, no point, no meaning". Many try to separate Shonen-ai and Yaoi and categories one of them as more mild and romantic and the other as more graphic and shallow. But in reality these terms are interchangeable. Examples for good non graphic yaoi are: "Gravitation", "Yuri on ice".
Shojo-ai (少女愛) - Means "girls love" and exactly the opposite of Yaoi. The term for this genre is Yuri (百合) also meaning lily - the flower. The term developed in mid 70s and now used to depict an attraction between woman. It can be sexual or romantic, explicit or implied. For example: "NTR: Netsuzou trap", "Girl friends"
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