Why do Japanese audiences love manga?
What is manga? And why are Japanese audiences (particularly younger readers) in love with the medium?
Manga has also been going through some interesting evolutions in recent years, responding to changing technological and socioeconomic factors - but still continues to play a massive role in Japanese culture. Not only does it present a series of entertaining stories, but manga can also offer a ‘manual’ (of sorts) for navigating Japan’s social and cultural norms.
To get a better understanding of this space, we sat down with Haruna McWilliams and Alex Brown of Tokyoesque to explore the manga’s roots, and how they think it will continue to evolve moving forward…
Why do Japanese audiences love manga?
Auger Insights: In Japan, manga is an important part of young people's media diets. So to kind of dig into this field a bit more, I'm having a chat today with Haruna McWilliams and Alex Brown from Tokyo-esque, a research and strategy agency with a focus on Japan. So we're going to talk a bit more about manga, what it currently looks like and how it's evolving from 2022 and beyond. How are you both?
Haruna McWilliams: Good. Good to be here.
AI: My first question is kind of a broad one, but maybe it sounds very basic. But for those who aren't aware, what is manga?
Alex Brown: Fundamentally, it can be broken down just into two words, ‘Japanese comics’, really. The word manga was first coined in the 18th century, but it kind of really exploded in the post-war periods as Japan's lost generation growing up in a new post-World War II world. They wanted something to kind of grab onto.
AI: And who is reading manga in Japan right now?
AB: Almost everyone. The demographic it covers is absolutely huge.
Manga tends to get broken down into a large kind of five demographic genres. So you have kodomo-muke manga, which is for children. Then you have shōnen manga for young boys – kind of young teenage boys. You then have shōjo manga, which is for young teenage girls and seinen manga, which is for older boys and kind of young men. Then josei manga, which is for older girls and young women. Also, as Japan's population demographic gets more top-heavy – with people living longer – we're also seeing an increase in demand for manga for the elderly.
The Naruto anime - based on the shōnen manga - is popular with young audiences in Japan, but also viewers in the UK and US
AI: Lots of art forms, lots of media products seem to be going through a bit of a revolution and evolution over the past few years. Is manga evolving in any way?
AB: Yeah, definitely. One obvious point is that you're now able to read it online, which massively changes the accessibility of it, because it's a lot cheaper to access an online version than to buy a physical copy.
HM: I would also think that tech is making the length of manga slightly different. Because a lot of people are now reading it on their smartphones, not even on a laptop or tablet, but usually on smartphones. So there are shorter forms coming out more and more, because people are actually reading them on trains in between stations from where you get on to where you get off. It's more bite-size.
AI: It’s a bit like: ‘We have this set amount of time to read some things, so let's design a piece of art that fits into this chunk of time’. That's really cool.
HM: And obviously because of this accessibility, more amateur manga artists are more easily published as well. So it's like publishing your own book, you can do that quite easily now.
AI: I know this is a very broad question to follow up with, but particularly when we're talking about manga for younger audiences, are there any types of stories that people are reading in the manga space? Or is it really just a broad tent?
HM: A lot of this, if you were to summarise, it's all about human relationships. And in Japan, as some people might already know, we don't really articulate our feelings verbally.
There is this notion in Japanese which is literally ‘understanding in the dark’, that would be the literal translation of the Japanese word. You're supposed to behave in a certain way, you're supposed to say certain things, and no one's going to point that out to you. So a lot of these stories actually, in a manga way, articulate what should happen. Wouldn't it be nice if this happened? And it really teaches you a lot about human relationships.
AI: When you kind of get younger in the age group, does that focus change at all in terms of how these stories are being directed?
HM: I would say it's polarised into one side being more of a manual of how you should do things or say things. And then on the other side – which is because of the more growing diversity of lifestyles and gender issues and inclusivity, etc – It's more of an inspiration, because there is no manual before this. So it opens up your world, but it also tells you how to behave, when to do things, how to say things.
AB: I suppose from a sociological standpoint, Japanese society tends to be very introspective, it’s examining itself and comparing itself against the rest of the world. I think manga can kind of be a vessel for that. It's kind of a continuation of their own discourse on ‘Japanese-ness’.
“It also tells you how to behave, when to do things, how to say things” - Manga can help young people navigate Japanese society and cultural expectations
HM: Absolutely. And to add to that, in Japanese culture, you're not always supposed to ask questions openly or ask for help openly. So even if you have a question in the classroom, you're not supposed to raise your hand and say, I don't understand, or can you repeat that again, or can you clarify? Because that's considered embarrassing. So in a medium like manga, you get to learn about those things without asking others to.
AI: So just taking what we've spoken about today, thinking again specifically around young people, kids, teens, that sort of space. Is there anything that other forms of mediacan take away from manga? Is there anything that they could kind of learn from this space?
HM: Absolutely. So it's visual learning, first and foremost. I would say manga is a hybrid of books and movies, because you still need your own imagination to fill in the blanks. So it creates a deeper connection to the story. And I think that's really helpful for children, especially as they're developing.
AI: Are there any themes, stories, narratives that you feel are maybe coming a bit more to the foreground in manga that you feel could be explored or expressed in different formats?
HM: Something like manga can really inspire you to think about how to communicate difficult topics to your friends, to your teachers, to your parents.
It's not a top-down message, which is what you get in Japanese, especially Japanese schools. The point of view is almost peer-to-peer. So it's almost like a life buddy to you that can make you laugh, that can make you learn things, that can make you teach things that maybe your parents are having a hard time teaching you. It's a very good way of finding your niche, finding your identity almost. You can always identify yourself with somebody in the manga.
AI: So thank you both so much for talking to me today. What's next for Tokyo-esque?
HM: We've been helping companies enter and expand in the Japanese market. That's what we do. We help companies in Japan come to Europe, and we help European companies go to the Japanese market. We try to explore the best way for each customer, what their steps of expanding into a new market would be. And because we have a market research background, we usually do this through three ways.
One is research, so that involves market research, audience research. And then we actually do a bit more practical things, which is how do we actually get your products to that destination market? Through connecting you to distributors, connecting you to business partners, etc. And then finally, what we do is localization. And manga is a great example of that. So we don't just translate the words, but you really have to have a cultural filter in order to make it mean something for the people in the destination market. So we make sure that everything goes through our staff who are all multicultural, who have lived in Japan, but also other countries outside of Japan. And because we know what it's like to adapt ourselves in different cultures, so we can apply that to brands and companies.
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