Marie Strock Visual Culture Paper

Pictures representing the New and Old Manga styles, Up; Mars and Below;Astroboy.

It all started with Disney, sort of, the base of anime/manga foundation really takes is roots from here. Known as the founding father of manga, Dr. Osamu Tezuka, originating from Japan, his fascination with the popular Mickey Mouse soon led him to create a new beloved character around Japan, and the world; "Astroboy"."Astroboy" became one of the most iconic characters in early Japanese pop art history. The start of this new narration/cinematic style comic style gave way for others to follow. It was the start of the East meets West storytelling style that has influenced the development of modern manga.

The thrill of being able to read a comic that read like an action-packed movie thrilled audiences all over and became the latest style of comics. This changed the modern style, facial features were more pronounced and distinct in this newly developed art form. The eyes had become huge, the lines became less defined and there was more emphasis on emotions based on line placement. The characters had gained a trait of being anatomically incorrect, which only generated more publicity for the style, this had opened the door for the movement to set itself in motion for the big break, which would happen somewhere in the 1980's.

In the 1980's manga was accepted as a mainstream in Japan, and Japanese filmmakers decided to make its mark in the decade. During this time frame, manga and anime had evolved from its early western roots into more distinct categories and became more of a robot-based sub-culture, deriving its base from "Astroboy". Certain filmmakers had emerged into the spotlight and have remained so up to today. One of the most famous being Hayao Miyazaki. One of his first and most influential films, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" which allowed for experimental and ambitious projects to be funded for had given way to the future of animated films.

After Osamu Tezuka's death in 1989, the eighties era had officially come to a close in the manga world. As the 1990's approached there was a jump start to many film and animation series developments that had undergone a huge transformation and worldwide recognition. The change from airing the anime from Japan to other countries, such as the United States was that television companies had begun to heavily censor any sexual graphic content and verbally offensive slang that was going to be lost in translation from the original dub. This can affect the way many people take on slightly different meanings between the language barrier, however most of the change in translation are the trivial differences.

One of the biggest changes in the 1980's through the 1990's was the reference of manga and anime into video games. The profits would nearly double for the ingenious use of the characters used in the early games and anime. For example, most people have heard of Super Mario Brothers, the game was also turned into an animated film for popular audiences of the game. However, in this case like many others, the game had faired better than the film aspect of it. This did not hinder other productions however. As these projects seemed to hit off a series of similar projects following the same suit.

In conclusion from the 21st century onward, the creation of manga books and narration are still following in the footsteps of its founding father/s. The latter work of manga has developed its own style and has continued to pursue its efforts to push this style into more than just a "cartoon", but is own genre and individual nature as an experimental and successful style. What has made this distinct Japanese style so popular is the economic boom that manga received when America had sold more manga than it ever had before. The key turning point in this past decade was the release of the "original format" of the manga. People all over the world could now read the Japanese manga as it was originally intended to be read, from right to left in different language formats that are easily accessible to everyone and continues to produce the story as the author/illustrator intended.

I am still deciding what to do with my future plans, as of the moment I am not sure which path to plunge into as I am carefully deciding what to take on. I know that I will pursue my career in art and have been considering Illustration and maybe Painting, but whatever I choose, I hope to influence my style even more. As it is considered "pop art" and not a traditional "painterly" style. Why not combine the two?