Plot Outline

Manga - Case Study

Manga

The name Manga is usually used interference to the style of comic that is native to Japan. Mangas tend to read from left to right and follow a design pattern, usually highlighted by the design of the character's eyes. However, this is not particular to every manga and the medium tends to vary drastically, while still showing popular styles dependant on the time they were drawn.

'Yu Yu Hakusho' being a prime example of the  '90s style manga

The birth of manga, as we know it today, is surrounded in controversy. Some argue that manga was something that was birthed from ancient Japanese art, that followed a similar formatting. Others debate it was the influence of American art which developed manga into the style we recognise with the large eyes (developing from characters such as Betty Boop).

Examples of 12th century Japanese scrolls, believed to be early examples of the manga concept

1980 'Hiatari Ryoukou'

2011 'A Silent Voice'

Osamu Tezuka - Case Study

Osamu Tezuka

Popular Works:

Astroboy (1952)

Black jack (1973)

Phoenix (1967)

Nicknamed 'The Godfather of Manga', Osamu Tezuka developed becoming a mangaka, or working in the anime industry, into a profitable and well respected position. After being a teenager through World War 2, he found there to be a limitation in manga at the time and felt that manga was drawn more as if "seated in an audience viewing from a stage" making it impossible to create "dramatic or psychological effects". With this, he decided to incorporate cinematic techniques (inspired by French and German filmmaking) into his manga and made the content more enriching and heavy, rather than only trying to earn a cheap laugh. The signs of this appreciation for a more developed plot is made evident by his care of taking several frames/panels just depict one movement or facial expressions, leading his comics to have pages in the late hundreds or even thousands. 

                              

Tezuka's influence on manga is still present until this day. Not only did he bring it to the status it is now, his style of large eyes (drawn from influences of Betty Boop and Bambi) because the style that manga is recognised for. His introduction of more cinematic action to manga helped revitalise the industry in post-war Japan. 

Introduction to Graphic Narration

What are Graphic Novels?

"Graphic Novel" is a format, not a genre. Graphic novels can be fiction, non-fiction, history, fantasy, or anything in-between. 

Graphic novels are similar to comic books because they use sequential art to tell a story. Unlike comic books, graphic novels are generally stand-alone stories with complex plots. Collections of short stories that have been previously published as individual comic books are also considered graphic novels. 

Major Types of Graphic Novels

Like traditional novels there are endless ways to categorise different graphic novels. There are as many genres and sub-genres as in traditional fiction and non-fiction. The following are only a few of the most predominant categories. 

Manga: The Japanese word for "comic" but in the US is used to describe Japanese style comics. Manga is read from top to bottom and right to left as this is the traditional Japanese reading pattern. Though, technically Magna refers to Japanese comics, many think Manga refers to a style rather than the  country of origin. 

Koe no Karachi - Yoshitoki Oima

Juni Ito

Superhero Story: Superhero novels have taken the most popular form of comics and turned what were once brief episodic adventures into epic sagas. Superhero comics are dominated by a few mainstream publishers Marvel, DC and Darkhorse.      

Varies panels from DC Comics

Personal Narratives ("Perzines"): are autobiographical stories written from the author's personal experiences, opinions and observations.

Fun Home

Non-fiction: are similar to perzine's in that they are written from the author's personal experience, but the author is generally using their own experience to touch upon a greater social issue.

Pedro and Me

Children's books: in order to be easier for children to read, children's books prioritise pictures over text; some made completely out of pictures. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Graphic Narrative Production

Evaluation

I asked a classmate to review my animation and made a questionnaire to receive critical feedback:

Evaluation:

Overall, I feel there was lack of planning in my animation, as a result of this there was little cohesive story or relation to inspired material. Because of this lack of planning it was hard to realise anything as there was nothing to realise, in the first place. While the models were simple, I felt I was able to portray emotions fairly well. However, according to audience feedback and my own opinions, there was a serious lack of production value: with no background, poorly cut music, and fairly standard title cards. All these elements, of lack of planning and low production quality, will be things I will consider in future work.

My Animation