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An argument that sometimes pops-up on the internet is about if manga (or anime) is some kind of “style” that can be done outside of Japan, or only media created in Japan can be called so. It’s one of those topics that actually require to dive a lot into to accurately give an opinion, and also one of those topics for which people rarely spend that time in the era of twitter one-liners.

Luckily for me, i wrote extensively about this in a document i created many years ago when the Spanish comic community saw a rise of anti-manga sentiment. Since then, i saw the topic die down as the “Yes, you can do manga outside of Japan” argument seemed to win for a long time. But i’ve seen the topic resurface lately due to western studios and influencers trying to jump into the “anime” wagon without actually understanding anime, just because it’s popular.

I’ve been kinda suffering due to not being able to share the document; it being in Spanish; so i’ve finally decided to pass it through a translator. It’s not perfect and i’ve had to tweak a few things since i only keep it on .pdf and don’t have the original images i used for it anymore. I added a few more text to adapt the examples to modern times since i did this very long ago. But it’ll have to do i guess. So here’s the document with my argument:

ELEMENTS OF MANGA STYLE

KuKuruYo

There’s a common topic of discussion involving manga (and anime too, but this document will focus on manga as that’s what i draw and what i’ve studied about), regarding if “manga” is a style with defined characteristics that anyone can use, or if only comics created in Japan by Japanese authors can be called manga. This topic has generated quite a lot of hate against western artists who draw in this style by treating them as “fake” and demanding they have to draw a different thing, because they’re not Japanese.

The most commonly cited argument for this is that the word “manga” is simply the Japanese word for comic (as “anime” is their word for “animation”) and as such, a “manga” is just a comic, said in Japanese language. And because of it something can only be a manga if it’s done by a Japanese in Japan.

I would say this falls apart simply because if “manga” is just a Japanese word for “comic”, then there’s nothing there that implies that it can only be a manga if it’s created by a Japanese or is created in Japan; anyone can create a manga because manga is just the word for comic and you’re doing a comic, right? And if it’s just the Japanese word for comic, then why would you; person who’s not Japanese and don’t speak Japanese; call it manga? Just call it a comic, because that’s what the word means, and there’s no difference between a manga and a comic, isn’t it?….. or is it?

Maybe there ARE certain characteristics that manga has; different from other types of comics; that anyone can spot? And as such they can be replicated? That’s where my more deep analysis begins.

I would say first in response to the “it just means “comic” in Japanese” argument, that that’s simply using an outdated definition. “Manga” was the word for comic when the Japanese first started to publish comics. At the time it just meant that they started to do the same thing other countries were doing, and they used their word for it. The same as with Anime. However, with time, artists in Japan all started to emulate certain characteristics and aesthetics, until they became the common standard, replicated among almost everyone working for a manga magazine, as this is what the manga editors and readers would demand. After a certain point, it becomes obvious that “manga” just doesn’t simply mean “comic” anymore, because they’re very obviously different to other comics. If you picked up an Asterix and Obelix comic and said “this is a manga”, everyone would think you’re stupid. But how so? Wasn’t “manga” just the Japanese word for “comic”? Then Asterix and Obelix is a manga, isn’t it?

I think you see where this is going. Not even the most avid defender of the idea that “manga is just the Japanese word for comic” would accept Asterix and Obelix being called a manga, because even them realize; even if unconsciously; that there ARE a lot of specific characteristics manga has differentiating it from any other form of media.

Hence, “manga”, is not “the Japanese word for comic” anymore. Or to be specific, it’s not “just”, the Japanese word for comic. It’s probably still used that way in some cases. But like all language, it has evolved and gotten new meanings because people use the word differently than its original meaning. It happens all the time, in all languages, with thousands of words. There’s nothing new or extraordinary about it. Remember that “Otaku” was originally a slur for anime fans, then western anime fans adopted it and became the standard, so the term “weeb” was invented as the new slur… till it was yet again adopted by anime fans and now it’s a positive, and the negative term is weeabo. Or maybe it isn’t already when you read this. And people don’t seem to use otaku that much anymore.

“Bakuman” is the *kind-of* autobiographic work of Death Note’s authors Tsugumi Oba and Takeshi Ogata. In it they make many references to the idea that manga is a style, but this is one of the most clear cut ones, since it’s their editor outright saying you need your comic to be done a specific way or else it’s not manga.

As for the other argument you hear sometimes that “If they published X western comic in a manga magazine it would be a manga” my answer is that they simply wouldn’t. Because before the comic was published the editors would make you change things until it becomes a manga and can be published in a manga magazine. They wouldn’t publish “Asterix and Obelix” as such and call it “manga”. They would do a manga version of Asterix and Obelix. I don’t have to theorize about this because a couple decades back there was an attempt to publish some French artists who didn’t have manga style in a Japanese magazine, and the project kinda fell apart because the editors demanded lots of changes to be allowed in. (There have been cases of French artists working with a Japanese magazine but in these cases the artists had a manga style). There’s a documentary about it although fuck me if i can find that nowadays.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that anyone who does a comic with some anime aesthetic is doing manga. That’s where the other side of the coin comes in.

Outside of Japan, people often fall back on the cliché of big eyes and spiky hair (palm-tree hair) as defining features of manga; yet a manga can perfectly well lack both of these elements (and in fact, there are tons of them that don’t feature these two clichés) and still be clearly recognized as manga, even to the casual observer. What, then, are those elements that distinguish it so clearly, even without us realizing it? Many artists try to imitate the style without analyzing it first and end up falling into clichés and simplistic illustrations that they then embellish with tons of color in Photoshop, and many people dismiss manga for having only a preconceived notion of those clichés, without really being aware of what it encompasses, both thematically and in style.

Let’s start with the basics. Manga is, above all, a style of COMIC. An illustration may have certain aesthetic elements that are very characteristic or typical of the genre, leading the viewer to identify it as manga, but it cannot contain all the narrative and compositional elements that distinguish this style from the rest, since what makes that difference is not found in a specific way of arranging elements of sequential narrative.

I’ll try to explain these elements in a understandable way; of course, everything i mention is in a general sense, as in all styles there are exceptions and variations—there are authors who blur the lines between what would be manga and another style, just as there are authors of other styles who blur the line with manga, and in any style, there are those who are on the edge of what would be their style or not. There are artists who do not use any of the elements i will mention at all, but make extensive use of the others; just as in any style, one should not include everything that exists within it, but rather take what is relevant to the work one is trying to create.

Effectiveness trumps Realism:

I want to start with one that’s not directly a technical quality but rather a concept quality because i think it’s something that rest at the core of the spirit of manga. Realistic elements can (and should) be overlooked in order to achieve a more effective result. A character may be physically disproportionate in reference to a real human figure if doing so makes it more aesthetically appealing (character stylization); a creature, object, robot, etc., may have a shape that is impossible in reality if it results in a spectacular or eye-catching figure; a perspective may be impossible, or it may show certain elements that would not be visible in reality, or some may appear larger than they actually would be, if this allows the author to enhance the desired effect. This, of course, is not a mandatory practice; a drawing does not have to be unrealistic to be manga, but manga authors do not hesitate to create something unrealistic if the visual result is better, prioritizing “graphic style” over realism. This unrealism doesn’t have to stem from physical action but can also arise from psychological causes; an author can use an impossible perspective or facial expression for a character to convey an unstable psychological state, shock, trauma, to give more impact to a plot revelation, or simply to create something funny.

< It would be hard or impossible to emulate a perspective like this in real life, but it’s visually effective

 

Running like this would cause great neck pain, but it’s visually very effective to show speed >

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, other styles do this too, but i don’t think they do it to the extent manga does. Western comics commonly fall more into realism with varied degrees of “rule of cool”, or they go the other direction straight into cartoon forms. But manga often switches between having a serious, even realistic look, and characters being drawn ridiculous, cartoonish, super deformed, on the very same pages. I think the defining factor when talking about manga is not that the drawing needs to be realist or unrealistic to be manga, but rather a state of mind in which realism or unrealism are interchangeable to achieve the desired goal of expression. I have a personal anecdote regarding this; since i draw manga i would often switch the characters from “serious” to “super deformed” when i wanted to make a joke, and i had an artist from a different style making the criticism that they couldn’t understand what my style was supposed to be because sometimes the characters were drawn seriously and others they weren’t. The mindset that they had for their own artstyle made it difficult for them to understand that someone would simply switch the amount of realism in the middle of a comic. The way i understand it, an intrinsic part of what makes manga “manga” is this fluidity and willingness to switch to whatever form of unrealistic approach that is needed for any specific thing.

In this scene we can see two different perspectives applied at the same time. One looking down, the other looking up. Which is obviously not possible, but it works for the scene. 

 

 

These comics are drawn very realistic. No pointy hairs, big eyes, etc. And yet one can perfectly tell they’re manga. So there’s something else than the aesthetic, isn’t it?

A typical example of the use of realism and unrealism that is very characteristic of manga is the iconic nature of the protagonists and the realism of the antagonists. The more realistic that you draw someone, the more they’re a specific person. The less realistic, the more people they represent. The main characters tend to be less realistic in an effort to make them “anyone” so that the reader can identify with them, while certain characters must “be others” and are therefore drawn with more realistic details.

Some examples of villains and heroes from the same series. The protagonists tend to have a basic “Japanese person” design. The villains have specific faces, wrinkles, etc:

 

Another example is the “mask effect,” where the background borders on hyperrealism while the character is simpler as a contrast. This is one the old school otakus will remember from 90s anime where it was more notorious. It’s used to increase immersion and make the characters and their emotions stand out. You can find styles where the characters are complex and the background is simple, or both are simple, or both are complex, but it’s not that common that the backgrounds are complex and detailed but the characters are simple.

 

Way of publication:

Before discussing the compositional elements, it’s worth noting how the comic industry works in Japan, which unique characteristics present opportunities (and limitations) not typically found in other countries. Japan has a massive publishing system for comics, in which, instead of releasing volumes at regular intervals, publishers issue weekly or biweekly magazines of about 500 pages that contain one chapter from each comic they have in their lineup. These magazines are divided by genre, each targeting different audience demographics based on age, gender, and other factors. As a general rule, these magazines publish only manga-style content, making it difficult for publications outside that style to emerge—and even more so for them to leave the country. That is why some definitions classify manga as comics originating from Japan rather than as a style, given that their entire publishing system is geared toward ensuring every publication is manga and guides authors to adapt their style to fit within manga and the thematic genre they aim to publish; it would be difficult for works to stray far from this style. From this, one might conclude that if everything we see in Japanese comics belongs to that style, then simply all Japanese comics must be manga.

These publications are printed on newsprint with the intention of being inexpensive so that readers will buy them, read them, and throw them away. The works published in these magazines have no set duration; they continue to be published until the public loses interest or the author decides to end it and the publisher allows it (a highly successful work might even lead the publisher to deny permission to end it, as in the case of Dragon Ball). This publishing environment gives rise to several unique features in manga. To begin with, the way stories are told is not constrained by a predetermined short duration, but rather can extend indefinitely as long as the series remains successful. This allows for the development of complex long-term stories and many story arcs, something not possible in other types of comics, but it also requires the publication of these in short chapters in which something must happen to hook the reader so that the series remains popular. It also means that the publisher has a certain amount of power over the work, causing the author to change content until they consider the chapter satisfactory, which means the work is not entirely as the author intended, but also helps him with ideas or by correcting errors he might not have thought of.  This power from the editors has lead to both good and disastrous results.

It has also influenced the use of a graphic technique that is so common in manga today: halftone screens. The use of low-quality paper for print forced creators to produce black-and-white works, and halftone screens were the only way to achieve shading; as a result, the Japanese have perfected their use to such an extent that it has become an integral part of their style. This method of publication has led them to create comics with elements that differ from other styles.

Composition and narration:

Manga is a genre in which stories tend to be longer, not just because they have more space, but because of the way they’re told. To begin with, manga is a genre where character development takes precedence over the plot (which doesn’t mean the plot is bad, just that it’s a different priority); as a result, a great deal of space is devoted to humanizing the characters in the story, even if they aren’t part of the main cast. This is done both by dedicating part of the pages to telling us something about them and through the use of “reaction shots”—that is, panels that show us the characters’ various reactions to an event, a comment, an action, etc. The latter is a method that is heavily overused in manga and is also employed as a narrative device through the use of so-called “indirect text”—those explanations spoken or thought by characters who are observing an action. (For example: When, during a fight, one of the protagonist’s companions tells the others what techniques are being used, or in a love story, a character who sees a couple begins to think about details of their past lives.)

An example of reaction shots

 

Types of panels: 

Manga also tends to stretch out the action over many pages, and it does this by using types of panel transitions; or “Closure”; that are uncommon in Western comics. We first have to talk about panel transitions. The blank space that divides panels is called “the gutter”. But that’s just the physical space between panels. Narratively, the space between panels can mean any measure of time, and the readers fill the narrative between the panels according to that measure of time. This process is what’s called “Closure”, and it’s the magic that allows comics to exist. Western comics and Japanese comics use this closure in different ways.

To explain this better, let’s divide them into six types of Closure.

In American and European comics, the “action-to-action,” “subject-to-subject,” and “scene-to-scene” layouts are overwhelmingly predominant, with the first being by far the most common, and almost no use of “moment-to-moment” or “aspect-to-aspect” layouts. In manga, however, the “moment-to-moment” layout is quite common, and there is extensive use of the “aspect-to-aspect” layout, with numerous panels showing characters’ reactions or actions happening simultaneously, or depicting various aspects of the scene at the same time, or to achieve what is called “indirect narration,” which involves shifting our focus away from what is happening so that the omission creates the desired effect (For example, when a character is about to die and images of the sky are shown).

Of course, there are European and American comics that are full of panel-by-panel and moment-by-moment storytelling, but as we’ve said, we’re speaking in general terms; exceptions and unique styles exist everywhere. However, broadly speaking, the use of these techniques is far more prominent in the manga style than in styles common in the West.

One way of laying out panels that also has become quite typical in manga is using the “bleed”. Meaning one (or more) of the panel’s sides extends beyond the page and is cut off by the page itself.

 

Another particularity of of panels in manga is how many of them will be used for the action. Rather than summarizing the action in just a few panels, it shows us the entire sequence step by step, with plenty of visual detail, in battles that last much more pages than any other style, with a lot more panels representing every movement anybody does in them. Manga authors also don’t hesitate to use full-page or double-page panels and to have characters step out of the panels, overlapping other characters and panels, or in a “deconstructed” manner, where panels are stacked one on top of another (a method that is very prevalent in shojo). The use of exaggerated perspectives, foreshortening, and forced poses is prevalent in these cases to create a dynamic and spectacular visual effect or simply to highlight an image or expression more effectively.

An example of a page merging different panels. 

Example of the characters superimposing on the rest of panels. 

Kinetic lines

While kinetic lines are an element used in other styles, they have been perfected and employed to the fullest extent in the manga style. The use of these lines helps depict movement, and often the character’s physical form itself is distorted to incorporate kinetic lines or create a sense of movement through their own body. However, manga also uses kinetic lines to highlight an object, a moment, or an expression; to focus our attention on something; to generate surprise or alarm; and for countless other purposes that crowd the panels in a much more extensive way than in other styles. It could be said that mastering kinetic lines is one main requirements to master manga.

 

An example of kinetic lines used in the characters own bodies and also used to focus the viewers attention into one point.

Kinetic lines for speed, substituting the black color in the character entirely, and also superimposing additional kinetic lines in white over the black ones for extra light effect.

 

Kinetic lines to represent the shock the characters feel

Icons: 

Every art style in the world uses graphic icons, but manga has its own unique set. By “graphic icons,” we mean those visual symbols that help us convey a sensation, a smell, a color, and so on—for example, the crisscrossed lines on the cheeks to represent embarrassment, or the wavy lines above something that smells, and so on. That said, manga graphic icons like the sweat drop, the little stars or sparkles in the eyes, the angry cross on the head, and many more will easily come to mind. Many of those have become completely characteristic of manga style to the point if someone uses them in other styles it immediately stands out to people as “that thing from anime”.

 

Speech bubbles:

Manga also makes use of certain specific types of speech bubbles. While we can disregard horizontal speech bubbles since they are dictated by the Japanese reading direction, we can highlight speech bubbles made with kinetic lines, which typically represent thoughts or phrases spoken by an ethereal voice (another concept typical of Japanese narratives), or those made with patterns, as well as their distinctive action speech bubbles, which often extend to occupy a large portion of the page and stand out in the composition on their own.

Example of different types of speech bubbles, some transparent to reflect emotion, others using tones, others disjointed to express a shock.

On the topic of speech bubbles, this is not exclusive to manga, but manga often uses the composition and characters to guide your eye through the text so you read in a direction different than what you would normally read, and also uses the panels themselves to guide you towards the action they want you to see first.

Use of the body to make to stop moving your eyes left (have in mind these are Japanese reading order) and go down.

 

Opposite case, bubbles used to guide you to different places.

In this case the figure of the character, clad in black clothes, act as a pilar so your eyes go down to the text instead of moving towards the left. This is a common use in manga since it uses a lot of black mass.

Onomatopoeias:

In manga, sound effects take up a lot of space on the page and are used for all sorts of things. While in other styles they’re only used for very significant or loud sounds—or not used at all—in manga, even the soft sound of raindrops has its own onomatopoeia. Even the act of crouching or touching something is depicted with onomatopoeia, and in some cases, onomatopoeia also conveys emotions (e.g., “Shock” written when a character is surprised). They’re even used as a form of “kinetic line” to make the action stand out more, superimposing on the characters.

 

Inking: 

Inking is one of the biggest causes of how characteristic manga looks and it’s due to mangakas using different tools than westerners. Originally, mangakas ink using dip pens, and even today in the digital era they use apps that emulate these kind of pens, like Clip Studio Paint. The extensive use of this tool causes manga characters to have very thin lines, and make extensive use of hatching for shadows. They also use different thickness and complexity for backgrounds to make the characters stand out.

Since manga is a black and white product, they “color” using mass of black with eraser for details, and tones.

 

An example of hatching. 

Halftones: 

Halftones consist of black dots of varying sizes and spacing that, when printed, create the appearance of shades of gray (but they are NOT actually gray, which is why they are inexpensive to print). It’s a tool that is used specifically for manga due to the nature of how it’s published. Since the paper used for the manga magazines is of low quality, they cannot use colors or greys, so they instead use halftones. These halftones are used for practically everything, and their extent depends on the artist; some use them only to create textures, skin tones, etc., while others apply them to everything and generate lots of shadows with them, some in a hyperrealistic way. But halftones aren’t just for shading or “painting”—they’re also used to convey emotions, sensations, etc., through various techniques such as characters rendered in a single halftone shade against a white background (or vice versa), applying halftones to some characters but not others, filling some pages with halftones and leaving others blank, and countless other tricks that the Japanese have devised to elevate halftones to the same level as color in terms of creative possibilities.

An example of halftones being used to generate an ambient. 

Halftones used to generate light. 

Halftones used to create a flashback effect. 

Halftones to create a carefree and relaxed scene.

The use of halftones is almost limitless and understanding their use is also a need to correctly draw manga.

Dynamism: 

This one honestly can go with the initial point about realism and unrealism, but maybe deserves a specific point because it’s one that also applies to anime and it’s one that most western “anime” miss. Manga (and anime) are tremendously dynamic. They tend to instill a lot of movement on the scenes and a lot of forced perspectives and compositions. Most western media trying to imitate anime fails on this because they try to replicate the aesthetic and actions of the characters but using perspectives and compositions from western media. This one is hard to explain without seeing it through a lot of pages or in movement so let’s say that we compare a fight from Dragon Ball with one from Invincible.

 

The Dragon ball fight is constantly switching camera angles and using forced perspectives. The characters constantly switch from close up to wide view to mid view. They move fast and they’re often depicted with a lot of foreshortening and deforming the image to grant them visual elasticity.

Invincible’s fight has the camera almost the entire time on ground level, with almost no forced perspective, foreshortening or elasticity. Changes in type of shot are also less common. It’s almost like a fighting game viewed from a screen. This is the common type of action you’ll see in western shows, and is the one you’ll see in western shows trying to be anime.

But this is a document about manga; i’ve only added this section now to update it to the most common discussion nowadays; so let’s go with an example from manga that we can use without uploading a million pages: The Saitama vs Genos scene.

This is a popular gif made by putting together the pages from one chapter in One Punch Man, which helps us to use it as example. As you can see the fight is very dynamic, uses lots of different angles, views, foreshortening, perspectives, speed lines, etc. And it’s an example of how manga uses a lot of the mentioned “Moment to moment” closure type. This is not the kind of action scene you would see in basically any other type of comic. It’s one of the hardest ones to do, and one of the most commonly ignored, but at the same time one of the easiest to make people notice that something is not really “manga”

(Obviously this is in reference to action stories, you wouldn’t have this specific issue in a shojo romance, tho that doesn’t mean shojo romance doesn’t make ample use of foreshortening, angles and composition)

Expressiveness: 

 

As we’ve already mentioned, manga is a graphic style where what matters is that it works visually, not that it’s realistic, and in this regard, expressions are very important. Manga is a highly expressive style in which a single glance at a character reveals their personality through a series of psychological elements and a synthesis of facial features, as well as the exaggeration of gestures to impossible extremes. This might lead one to think that manga is a simpler, more straightforward style, where all you have to do is simplify, but nothing could be further from the truth; finding a way to express a character well and directly is quite complicated, and many iconic or psychological elements are used to achieve this. Here we could discuss the previously mentioned large eyes. Large eyes are by no means a necessity in manga, but rather an element that helps enhance the expressiveness of the characters and may very well be absent if the author considers them unnecessary or if they do not fit the type of story being told.

Whether the eyes are large or not, the fact is that manga artists strive to create expressive eyes that convey personality. For example, aggressive characters tend to have a lower inner eye line, while shy or kind-hearted characters have a lower outer eye line, and seductive or indifferent characters have straighter lines. Similar techniques are used with the nose, mouth, and even eyebrows to quickly convey what the character is thinking, which makes it easier to express their emotions through reaction shots.

Another factor to consider that is also commonly misunderstood in manga is hair, regarding which there is a widespread belief that it is depicted with strange shapes and varied colors due to some Japanese frustration over the fact that everyone in the country has dark hair. Far from having anything to do with typical jokes, the hair of manga characters is also intended to convey the character’s personality. Any student of the fine arts knows how color affects and represents moods. Manga characters usually have hair colors that match their personalities; thus, the conceited and aggressive Asuka from Evangelion has red hair (and an all-red outfit), while the almost autistic Rei has blue hair, and the protagonist is dark-haired so that the (Japanese) reader can identify more with him. Similarly, if we take a look at most manga, we’ll find a predominance of hair colors that match the characters’ personalities and black-brown shades for the protagonists .

Of course, there may be mangaka who are unfamiliar with color theory and give their characters certain hair colors just because “that’s how it’s always been done,” (a trope), or mangaka who simply give their characters typical hair colors based on their race without considering psychological effects. There will also be mangaka who do not know about many of the technical knowledge mentioned here, altought their editor will make sure they apply it.

I’ve mentioned all of the things i could think of that i’ve researched and learned over my years drawing manga. I’m sure there are others that i’ve forgotten to add or i’m simply not aware of. I would recommend several reading material if you want to dwell on it. Bakuman is a good one since it tells the story of how a shonen jump manga is made from the inside. There are other works about working in the industry. One is “how the shonen jump is made”, although it doesn’t dwell deep into this specific topic. But there are other anime and manga either focused on the topic or mentioning it in passing, like Kakushigoto. There are also works about making anime like Genshiken, Keep your hands off Eizokuen, Girlish number or Cue. You can also read “Manga in theory and practice” from Hirohiko Araki (Jojo’s bizarre adventure) in which he talks about his ideal for doing manga, what he considers that constitutes a manga, and his experience drawing it. I would also recommend Scott Mccloud books on making comic. They’re not specifically about this topic but they talk a lot about the complexities of making comic and at points talks about the differences between western and eastern comics. Other than that, reading interviews to mangakas is often enlightening on these topics ’cause they always throw in some work anecdote or process.

I repeat that everything discussed here is, of course, somewhat generalized; there are exceptions everywhere, and there will be plenty of authors who don’t use some of the elements outlined here, or use them differently, or use others not mentioned, or employ different styles—and authors who straddle the line between what would be considered manga and another style, just as there are those who straddle one genre and another, or even span multiple genres. But that can be said of any other style and genre. What you have had here is a compilation of technical and conceptual characteristics that most manga tend to have, because that’s what has become the standard, what every mangaka learns from, what every editor tells them to do, over the span of many years.

Today, you’ can try to claim as much as you want that “manga” only means “comic” in Japanese, but it’s absolutely evident that there are a ton of things that make manga “manga” and they’re taught and learnt by every new mangaka, the same as Marvel had Stan Lee’s “the Marvel way”