Manga outside Japan

Manga, or Japanese comics, have appeared in translation in many different languages in different countries, including Brazil, Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, France, Germany, Mexico, Italy, and many more. In the United States, manga comprises a small (but growing) industry, especially when compared to the inroads that Japanese animation has made in the USA. One example of a manga publisher in the United States, VIZ Media, functions as the American affiliate of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha. VIZ Media has published many popular titles such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach and the various works of Rumiko Takahashi. The UK has fewer manga publishers than the U.S.

Flipping
Since written Japanese fiction usually flows from right to left, manga-artists (mangaka) draw and publish this way in Japan. When first translating various titles into Western languages, publishers reversed the artwork and layouts in a process known as "flipping", so that readers could follow the books from left-to-right. However, various creators (such as Akira Toriyama) did not approve of their work being modified this way, and requested that foreign versions retain the right-to-left format of the originals. Soon, due to both fan demand and the requests of creators, more publishers began offering the option of right-to-left formatting, which has now become commonplace in North America. Left-to-right formatting has gone from the rule to the exception.

Translated manga often includes notes on details of Japanese culture that foreign audiences may not find familiar.

One company, TOKYOPOP (founded 1997), produces manga in the United States with the right-to-left format as a highly publicized point-of-difference. They are widely credited with starting a boom in manga sales, particularly amongst teenage girls. Some critics have complained that their aggressive publishing schedule emphasizes quantity over quality, and might be responsible for translations which many feel to be of sub-optimal quality. Many also frown upon the company for their frequent localization changes, including additions such as American slang, excessive swearing that is not to be found in the Japanese originals of the same titles, and joke rewrites, among others. The critics tend to admit that their contributions to the success of manga in America have been considerable.

"French exception"
France has a particularly strong and diverse manga market. Many works published in France belong to genres not well represented outside of Japan, such as to adult-oriented drama, or to experimental and avant-garde works. Early editors like Tonkam have published Hong-Kong authors (Andy Seto, Yu & Lau) or Korean authors (Kim Jae-hwan, Soo & Il, Wan & Weol and Hyun Se Lee) in their manga collection during 1995/1996 which is quite uncommon. Also, some Japanese authors, such as Jiro Taniguchi, are relatively unknown in other western countries but received much acclaim in France.

In cultural terms, the sheer popularity and diversity of manga in France may result from that country having a well-established and respected comics-market of its own. Also, an exceptionally reduced number of TV channels in the 1970s and 1980s may explain the powerful impact the Japanese animation had on the audience: since viewers had little choice, Japanese animation quickly became mainstream. Since its introduction in the 1990s, manga publishing and anime broadcasting have become intertwined in France, where the most popular and exploited shōnen, shōjo and seinen TV series were imported in their paper version. Therefore, Japanese books ("manga") were naturally and readily accepted by a large juvenile public who was already familiar with the series and received the manga as part of their own culture. A strong parallel backup was the emergence of Japanese video games, Nintendo/Sega, which were mostly based on manga and anime series.

Nippon Animation era (1978 – 1986)


One major reason for the success of manga in France may lie in the fact that its corollary, the Japanese animation, had previously appeared in that country on public television-channels in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Unlike other European countries, at this time there were only three French TV channels, both were public and had minor children TV shows. Shōnen and Shōjo series like UFO Robot Grendizer, Captain Future, Candy Candy and Captain Harlock are iconical of this era.

Producer Jean Chalopin quickly contacted some Japanese studios, such as Toei (who did Grendizer); and Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Studio Pierrot and Studio Junio produced French-Japanese series. Even though made completely in Japan by character-designers such as Shingo Araki, the first Chalopin production of this type, Ulysses 31 took thematic inspiration from the Greek Odyssey and graphic influence from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ulysses 31 went on sale in 1981, other shows produced by DiC Entertainment followed in 1982, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Mysterious Cities of Gold, later M.A.S.K., etc. Such series were enough popular to allow the introduction of licensed products such as tee shirts, toys, stickers, mustard glass, mugs or keshi. Also followed a wave of anime adaptations of European tales by Studio Pierrot and mostly by the Nippon Animation studio, e.g. Johanna Spyri's (1974), Waldemar Bonsels's (1975), Hector Malot's (1977), Cécile Aubry's (1980), or Jules Verne's Around the World with Willy Fog (1983), notable adaptation of American works were Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1980) and Alexander Key's Future Boy Conan. Interesting cases are Alexandre Dumas, père's The Three Musketeers adapted to Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (1981) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes become Sherlock Hound (1984), both turned human characters into anthropomorph animals.

Such anthropomophism in tales comes from old and common storytelling traditions in both Japanese and French cultures, including the Chōjū giga emaki (the true origins of manga) of Toba Sōjō (1053–1140), and the animal fables of Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695). Changing humans to anthropomorphized dogs reflects a known form of Cynicism, the European philosophy evident in many modern countries: etymologically speaking, the bite of the Cynic comes from the fact he is a dog (cyno means "dog" in Greek). The adaptations of these popular tales made easier the acceptance and assimiliation of semi-Japanese cultural products in countries such as France, Italy or Spain. The localization including credits removal by Saban or DiC, was such that even today, twenty or thirty years later, most of French adults who have watched series like Calimero (1974) adapted from an Italian novel, Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum (1975), Barbapapa (1977) adapted from a French novel, or Monchichi (1980) as kids don't even know they were not local animation but "Japananimation" created in Japan, South Korea, China or North Korea.

Toei era (1987 – 1996)


In 1986 and 1987 three new private or privatized television channels appeared on French airwaves. An aggressive struggle for audience, especially on children television shows, started between the two public and the two private channels. After the private channels lost market share, they counter-attacked with a non-Japanese lineup, mostly American productions such as Hanna-Barbera. This ploy failed, and TF1 remained pre-eminent in childrens' TV shows with its Japanese licenses.

In 1991 French theaters showed an anime feature-film for the first time: Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, a teen-rated, SF movie supported by manga publisher Glénat but poorly distributed and a limited success. TF1 Video edited the video (VHS) version for the French market, and Akira quickly became an anime reference. However, Japanese animation genre became massively exploited by TV shows from the late 1980s onwards, most notably the cult Club Dorothée show (mostly dedicated to Toei anime and tokusatsu series). In fact, the commercial relationship between the Japanese studio and the French show producers were so good, that the French presenter was even featured in a Metal Hero Series episode as guest star.

Just as in a Japanese manga series magazine, Club Dorothée audience voted by phone or minitel to select and rank their favourite series. Top-rank series continued the following week, others stopped, then a hundred of series aired the show. This imported Japanese marketing method had never previously operated in France, and never has since. The most popular series were Dragon Ball and later its sequel, Dragon Ball Z, which became number one, and was nicknamed le chouchou (the pet") by the show presenter, Dorothée. As the series kept number one for several months, Dorothée invited Akira Toriyama (Toei Animation), creator of the series, on the TV show studio to introduce him to the French audience and award him a prize in the name of the TV show.

Saint Seiya became the second anime series to achieve popularity in France. It too belonged to the seinen genre, and thus showed more violence - directed towards  an older audience - than the Nippon Animation studio shōnen/shōjo series of the 1970s and 1980s. Notable Toei and non-Toei anime series broadcast by that time on French TV included Captain Tsubasa, Robotech, High School! Kimengumi and Kinnikuman. This cult TV show ran from 1987 to 1997 and had unpredicted effects and a deep influence on French culture. Not only it created a generation of Japanophile, but it did set a strong base for a durable and massive exploitation of manga publishing and anime video (DVD) in the following decade. The reason is most broadcast anime series were adaptations of existing manga, and that the grown up children would be later able to buy manga and DVD boxsets (TF1 Video and others) of their favourite childhood series.

Generational conflict around manga (1990 to 1995)
Glénat published the first manga issued in France, Akira, in 1990 — supported by the respected newspaper Libération and by the national radio channel Antenne 2. Followers included Dragon Ball (1993), Appleseed (1994), Ranma 1/2 (1994) and five others. In the mid-1990s, both anime and manga became a social phenomenon in France, with different magazines in B5 size like Kameha (Glénat) and later Manga Player (MSE).

At the same time a controversy arose among some parents. In particular, the conservative association Familles de France started a media polemic about the undesirable contents, such as violence, portrayed in the Club Dorothée, a kids' TV show. By this time, a generational conflict had arisen between the young fans of "Japanimation" (in use until anime became mainstream) and the older Japoniaiseries (a pejorative pun for Japonaiseries, literally "Japanese stuff" and "niaiseries", "simpleton stuff"). Ségolène Royal even published a book, Le Ras le bol des bébés zappeurs in which Manga are described as decadent dangerous and violent. She hasn't changed her position on that topic yet. The same adult content controversy was applied to hentai manga, including the notorious, "forbidden", Shin Angel by U-Jin, published by pioneers such as Samourai Editions or Katsumi Editions and later to magazines. The first hentai series magazine, "Yoko", featured softcore series like Yuuki's Tropical Eyes. It was first issued in late 1995. The same year, the noir and ultra-violent series, Gunnm (aka Battle Angel Alita), was serialized in a slim, monthly, edition. Around the same period a hardcore version of Yoko magazine Okaz was issued.

Anime clearance and manga emergence (1996 to 1998)
In Japan, television broadcasters scheduled series such as Hokuto no ken, Saint Seiya and City Hunter late at night for a teen and adult audience. French television finally discontinued these edited series, and the Club Dorothée, broadcast on private channel TF1, started to replace Japanese content with European or American animation series (imitating their rival public-channel television shows) and with French sitcoms. Even though the French-Belgian animation studios got rid of serious competition, the show lost its phenomenal audience and stopped in 1997. The mistake made by the Club Dorothée producers had to do with a cultural view: in France, animation was seen as a genre in its own right, a product dedicated to children not adults. An animation feature was not considered the same as a live-action film, which is totally different in Japan. Series were massively licensed to Toei without consideration of age ratings.

In 1996 the production group of Club Dorothée set up a cable/satellite channel dedicated to manga and anime. The new channel changed its name to Mangas in 1998: the concepts of anime and manga have become intertwined in France, and manga actually became the mainstream generic term to designate the two media. The channel broadcasts former discontinued series from the Club Dorothée both to nostalgic adults and to new and younger generations.

Cultural integration and revival (1999 to 2005)
In the 2000s anime feature films, and by extension manga, are regarded with more respect than before. In late 1999 respected newspapers such as Le Monde gave critical acclaim to Hiroyuki Okiura's Jin-Roh, and in 2000, Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke became a commercial success, probably the biggest for an anime feature.

In 2004, Mamoru Oshii's Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 became the first animation finalist in the prestigious International Film Festival of Cannes, which demonstrates a radical perspective change and a social acceptance of Japanese anime/manga. Since 2005, contemporary Japanese series such as Naruto, Initial D, Great Teacher Onizuka, Blue Gender or Gunslinger Girl appeared on new, analog/digital terrestrial (public) and on satellite/broadband (private) channels. As the highly aggressive competition who raged once between, the sole two or three available channels no more exists in the new, vast, and segmented French TV offer, the anime is doing a revival in France.

Manga made in France
A surge in the growth of manga publishing circa 1996 coincided with the Club Dorothée show losing its audience - which eventually led to the show going off the air. Some early publishers like Glénat, adapted manga using the Western reading direction and its induced work of mirroring each panel and graphical signs, and also using a quality paper standard to the Franco-Belgian comics, while others, like J'ai Lu, were faithful to the original manga culture and not only kept the original, inverted, Japanese direction reading but also used a newspaper standard, cheap quality, paper just like in Japan. The Japanese manga was such an important cultural phenomenon that it quickly influenced French comics authors. A new "French manga" genre emerged, known as "La nouvelle manga" ("lit. the new manga") in reference to the French Nouvelle Vague.

Brazil
Before the 1990s some trial marketing of manga took place in Brazil, including Mai - The extra sensitive girl, Akira (which was cancelled) and Lone wolf and cub. The Brazilian comic market started in the mid-1990s with Ranma 1/2, although the publication did not prove successful. It was followed by the Pokémon manga being released by Conrad in the late 1990s, during the Pokémon boom.

In 2002, Conrad published Saint Seiya and Dragon Ball (both titles already well known, since the equivalent anime had become highly successful in the 1990s). After the success of these titles, Conrad released not only trendy manga like One Piece, Vagabond, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Slam Dunk, but also classic manga like Osamu Tezuka titles (including Adolf and Buddha), Nausicaä, and less known titles like Bambi and Sade.

In 2003, the Japanese-Brazilian company Japan Brazil Communication (JBC) started publishing manga, releasing Rurouni Kenshin, Rayearth and Sakura Card Captors. JBC publishes Clamp titles and popular titles like Negima!, Fruits Basket, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Yu-Gi-Oh, Love Hina and Video Girl Ai.

In 2004, Panini started publishing manga, with the release of Peach Girl and Eden. The editor was criticized because of bad translation and for releasing flipped titles, but since then started publishing in the original way. Panini publishes the most popular manga in Brazil: Naruto and Bleach.

Originally, Brazilian manga appeared with about half the size of a tankoubon (about 100 pages of stories and two to eight pages of extras), but most manga is released in the original format, with the exception of the ones published by JBC.

Shōjo-manga fans criticized publishing houses for ignoring shōjo manga with only Peach Girl, CLAMP titles, Fruits Basket, Angel Sanctuary and Fushigi Yuugi available in this genre until 2006. However, in 2006 several of shōjo manga series were started: MeruPuri, Kare Kano, Gravitation, Bijinzaka and Zettai Kareshi are currently being published with titles like Vampire Knight, Paradise Kiss, Nana, Princess Princess, among others already licensed.

Germany
Although the German-language areas support a relatively small comic market and usually react slowly in comparison to other European countries, manga created a new boom.

A volume of Barefoot Gen was licensed in Germany in the 1980s, as was Japan Inc., published by small presses. Akira's first volume was not very popular. Paul Malone attributes the wider distribution of manga in the late 1990s to the fledgling commercial television stations showing dubbed anime, which lead to the popularity of manga. Malone also notes that the native German comics market collapsed at the end of the 1990s. Manga began outselling other comics in 2000.

With a few other series like Appleseed in the following years, the "manga movement" picked up speed with the publication of Dragon Ball, the first un-flipped German manga, in late 1996. Today, manga account for approximately 70–75% of all comics published in Germany, with female readers outnumbering male manga fans.

The first German manga magazine, Manga Power by Feest Comics, was launched in 1996. The first issue featured Ranma 1/2, Hellhounds Panzer Cops (based on the American edition of Kerberos Panzer Cops), and AD Police.

Indonesia
Manga has become one of fastest-growing consumer industries, and Indonesia is now one of the biggest manga markets outside of Japan. Manga in Indonesia is published by Elex Media Komputindo, Acolyte, Level Comic, M&C and Gramedia, and has greatly influenced Indonesia's original comic industry.

The wide distribution of scanlations actually contributes to the growth of publication of bootleg manga, which is printed in lower quality. One of the most notable publisher is Seventh Heaven which publishes bootleg version of One Piece. Many popular titles, such as Bleach, Loki, Magister Nagi, Rose Hip Zero, and Kingdom Hearts, have been pirated, which draws controversy toward manga readers in Indonesia.

Some people support the piracy because the local publishers do not publish the demanded popular titles, but legal manga supporters argue that the bootleg releases risk the local publisher to publish the manga because the original Japanese licensor will see this as negative stance of manga market in Indonesia. Most of the bootlegs are also sold with the same or even higher price than the legal version.

Oceania
In Australia and New Zealand, many popular Japanese- and Chinese-language manga and anime are distributed by Madman Entertainment.

Russia
Comics never gained high popularity in Russia, only few Marvel's titles being a moderate success. Russian readers traditionally considered them children's literature, so the manga market developed late. A strong movement of anime fans helped to spread manga. The general director of Egmont Russia Lev Yelin commented that the most popular manga series in Japan are comics which "contain sex and violence", so they probably won't be published in Russia. A representative of Sakura Press (the licensor and publisher of Ranma ½, Gunslinger Girl and some other titles) noted that although this niche is perspective, it's hard to advance on the market, because "in Russia comics are considered children's literature". It is also impossible for publishers to predict the success or failure of any specific title. On the contrary, Rosmen's general director Mikhail Markotkin said the whole popularity of comics doesn't matter, as only artistic talent and good story make a successful project, and only such manga "will work" on the market.

The first officially licensed and published manga series in Russia was Ranma ½. Sakura Press released the first volume in 2005. Since then several legal companies appeared, including Comics Factory and Comix-ART. Comix-ART, which is working in collaboration with Eksmo, one of the largest publishing houses in Russia,  was the first company to publish  Original English-language manga (usually called "manga" or just "comics"), such as Bizenghast, Shutterbox and Van Von Hunter.

Singapore
The company Chuang Yi publishes manga in English and Chinese in Singapore; some of Chuang Yi's English-language titles are also imported into Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Thailand
In Thailand, before 1992, almost all available manga were fast, unlicensed, poor quality bootlegs. However, due to copyright laws, this has changed and copyrights protect nearly all published manga. Thailand's prominent manga publishers include Nation Edutainment, Siam Inter Comics, Vibulkij, and Bongkoch.

Many parents in Thai society are not supportive of manga. In October 2005, there was a television programme broadcast about the dark side of manga with exaggerated details, resulted in many manga being banned. The programme received many complaints and issued an apology to the audience.

United States
The growth of manga translation and publishing in the United States has been a slow progression over several decades. The earliest manga-derived series to be released in the United States was a redrawn American adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy published by Gold Key Comics starting in 1965. The first manga to be published in the US with its original artwork intact was a ten-page story by Shinobu Kaze, "Violence Becomes Tranquility", which appeared in the March 1980 issue of Heavy Metal. In December 1982 the San Francisco-based publisher Educomics released a colorized and translated version of Keiji Nakazawa's I Saw It. Four translated volumes of Nakazawa's major work Barefoot Gen were also published in the early 1980s by New Society Publishers. Short works by several Garo-affiliated artists including Yoshiharu Tsuge and Terry Yumura appeared in May 1985 in RAW's no. 7 "Tokyo Raw" special.

In 1987, Viz Comics, an American subsidiary of the Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, began publishing translations of three manga series - Area 88, Mai the Psychic Girl, and The Legend of Kamui - in the U.S. in association with the American publisher Eclipse Comics. Viz went on to bring English translations of popular series such as Ranma ½ and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some other American publishers released notable translations of Japanese comics in this period, such as First Comics' serialization of Lone Wolf and Cub which started in May 1987. However, the first manga to make a strong impression on American audiences was Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, which was brought to the United States in colorized form in 1988 by Epic Comics, a division of Marvel.

Throughout the 1990s, manga slowly gained popularity as more was released for the US market. Viz Media, Dark Horse and Mixx (now Tokyopop) were all significant contributors to the growing pool of translated manga. Both Mixx and Viz published manga anthologies: MixxZine (1997–1999) ran serialized manga such as Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth and Ice Blade, while Viz's Animerica Extra (1998–2004) featured series including Fushigi Yugi, Banana Fish and Utena: Revolutionary Girl. In 2002 Viz began publishing a monthly American edition of the famous Japanese "phone book"-style manga anthology Shonen Jump featuring some of the most popular manga titles from Japan, including Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. Its circulation far surpassed that of previous American manga anthologies, reaching 180,000 in 2005. Also in 2005, Viz launched Shojo Beat, a successful counterpart to Shonen Jump aimed at female readers.

In 2002, Tokyopop introduced its "100% Authentic Manga" line, which featured unflipped pages and were smaller in size than most other translated graphic novels. This allowed them be retailed at a price lower than that of comparable publications by Viz and others. The line was also made widely available in mainstream bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, which greatly increased manga's visibility among the book-buying public. After Tokyopop's success, most of the other manga companies switched to the smaller unflipped format and offered their titles at similar prices.

a large number of small companies in the United States publish manga. Several large publishers have also released, or expressed interest in releasing manga. Del Rey translated and published several Japanese series including xxxHolic, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and, Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, while Harlequin has brought its Ginger Blossom line of manga, originally released only in Japan, to the United States as well.

Other distribution methods
Another popular form of manga distribution outside of Japan involves Internet scanlations (or scanslations). Typically, a small group of people scan the original version of a series with no current license in the language which they wish to translate it to, translate it, and freely distribute it; usually through the use of IRC or BitTorrent. Most scanlation groups request that downloaders cease distribution and purchase official copies in the event that their projects become licensed, though it is a common concern that readers will continue to use these unauthorized copies. Many readers prefer scanlations due to the frequent changes found in official translations, though scanlations are more likely to have some unintentional mistakes due to the varying degrees of skill employed by the unpaid translators. Some scanlators do make edits, though it is rare, especially compared to the official manga translation industry.

Manga influences
Manga has proved so popular that it has led to other companies such as Antarctic Press, Oni Press, Seven Seas Entertainment and TOKYOPOP, as well as long-established publishers like Marvel and Archie Comics, to release their own manga-inspired works that apply the same artist stylings and story pacing commonly seen in Japanese manga. One of the first of these such works came in 1985 when Ben Dunn, founder of Antarctic Press, released Mangazine and Ninja High School.

While Antarctic Press actively refers to its works as "American Manga", it does not source all of these manga-inspired works from the United States. Many of the artists working on Seven Seas Entertainment series such as Last Hope and Amazing Agent Luna are Filipino and TOKYOPOP has hired a variety of Korean and Japanese artists to work on titles such as Warcraft and Princess Ai. Many of these works have been classified on the Internet with titles such as OEL Manga, MIC, and World Manga, although none of these terms have actually been used by manga companies to describe these works on the books themselves.