13/04/2020 Capstone

Research Paper

Zeineb Benkraiem
SKEMA BUSINESS SCHOOL
Executive summary

The aim of this research paper is to understand the market of Japanese manga and anime

in Japan and worldwide on both the economical and societal aspects. Manga have been present

for centuries and have evolved to a mainstream art poplar in Japan to children but also to adults.

While anime came later with the evolution of technology in Japan and present a new market to

the country, they were major industries to the Japanese economy, especially during its recovery

after the second World War. Nowadays, manga and anime represent each a large part in

respectively, published magazines and national movie production markets.

Due to globalization and the evolution of technology, manga and anime spread all around the

world, especially in the United States and France where they found a new public. Foreign

countries, like the US discovered a new market to develop and noticed the potential of these

Japanese industries. Big companies decided to invest in them and had relatively positive returns,

whether through licensing or collaboration with Japanese studios.

By analysing some market trends, one may notice the industries presented other opportunities

to increase their revenue and popularity; merchandising, music, events have become a big part

of the business in Japan but also worldwide. Indeed, in Japan for instance, merchandising

represents 14% of the domestic market trends.

On the one hand, manga and anime were influenced by Westerners, thanks to their techniques

and through collaboration. One the other hand, the industries also impacted other countries with

the concept of “Anime-influence animation”.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 4

II. History of manga ............................................................................................. 5

1.1 First apparition and Edo period ............................................................... 5
1.2 Pre-war period: Opening to the world ..................................................... 8
1.3 Following World War II .......................................................................... 9
1.4 Modern time .......................................................................................... 11

III. Economical aspect ..................................................................................... 14

2.1 Japanese economy evolution ................................................................. 14
2.2 Manga and anime industries in Japanese economy ............................... 16
2.3 Anime and manga industries in foreign economies .............................. 23

IV. Japanese anime and manga in societies ..................................................... 27

3.1 Anime and manga in Japan’s society ............................................ 27
3.2 Manga and anime as tool of denunciation .................................... 30
3.3 Manga and anime in Western societies ......................................... 36

V. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 40
Table of figures

Figure 1 Choju Jinbutsu Giga................................................................................ 5

Figure 2 Ukiyo-e ................................................................................................... 6
Figure 3 Osamu Tezuka ...................................................................................... 11
Figure 4 The Big Three ....................................................................................... 13
Figure 5 anime production .................................................................................. 17
Figure 6 Seiyuu promoting an anime .................................................................. 18
Figure 7 Market trends ........................................................................................ 19
Figure 8 Original VS new drawing of One Punch Man ...................................... 21
Figure 9 Cool Japan ............................................................................................. 22
Figure 10 Universal Studio Japan 4D cinema ..................................................... 25
Figure 11 Different manga genres ....................................................................... 28
Figure 12 Tsutomu Miyazaki and his collection of manga ................................. 30
Figure 13 Suicides among children by grade level ............................................. 31
Figure 14 Hayao Miyazaki .................................................................................. 33
Figure 15 Different walls of SNK ....................................................................... 35
Figure 16 French rappers Orelsan and Gringe referencing to the manga Saint
Seiya .................................................................................................................... 38
 I. Introduction

One should bear in mind that manga are commonly defined as comics or novels from

Japan in the Japanese language. Etymologically, manga is composed of two characters, man,

meaning “aimless” and ga meaning “picture”, thus manga literally means “aimless picture”.

The history of manga dates back to the 12th century and has been evolving since then.

Anime is a combination of hand drawings and computer animation also from Japan. The word

comes from the English animation and describes animated media. It is typical Japanese as it is

characterized with colourful graphics, various characters with specific facial expressions.

From basic teenage romance, to dystopic science fiction, manga and anime have become an

inevitable aspect of Japanese identity, from children to adults before spreading to the rest of the

world.

However, manga and anime are in some cases still consider as childish comics or cartoons with

disfigured characters and foolish themes.

One may wonder how these outcast Japanese arts haves influenced economies and societies.

To have a better understanding of manga and anime, one should recognize their history and

evolution, then, understand the position of these industries in the Japanese economy, but also

in foreign economies. Finally, it is necessary grasp the influence of manga and anime non only

in the Japanese society, but also in other regions, such as America, Europe…
 II. History of manga

1.1 First apparition and Edo period

First-of-all, one should bear in mind that “the tradition of narrative art or telling stories

with a series of sequential images has been a part of Japanese culture long

before Superman ever put on a cape.” (Deb Aoki, 2019, para. 1). In fact, there is a school of

thoughts that the first manga appeared between the end of the 12th century and the beginning

of the 13th century. Around that period, Toba Shojo, an artist-monk painted a set of four picture

scrolls called Choju Jinbutsu Giga (Animal-Person Caricature). These sets are long scrolls,

between 9 to 12 meters, with black and white illustrations of animals that aimed to satirize the

human world. Indeed, they would devote themselves to violence, showing off or gambling. It

would also mock the lifestyle of Buddhist priests and even Buddha himself, as he was

represented as a toad.

Figure 1 Choju Jinbutsu Giga by Toba Shojo, retrieved from https://www.actualitte.com/article/bd-manga-comics/quand-

ghibli-animait-un-rouleau-peint-de-800-ans-ancetre-du-manga/100196
These sets of scrolls are usually considered as the first manga ever created and are a national

treasure.

It is worth pointing out that the artist did not use any word balloons or sound effects, he was

able to tell the story through the expression of the characters. In addition, the scrolls were

unrolled from right to left and used the “speed lines” which is a technique used to demonstrated

motions, both are still used in modern manga.

It is only five centuries later, during the Edo period (1603-1867) that counted around 36

different eras, that there was an evolution, once Ukiyo-e appeared.

According to Sheri le and Will Dodds, Ukiyo-e, which means picture of the floating world, is a

genre of Japanese art that is associated with woodblock painting. It represented mostly

caricatures of people, uncertainty of life and sensual pleasures from the red-light district. This

genre aimed to capture a feeling through humour, eroticism, etc. rather than illustrate reality.

Figure 2 Ukiyo-e retrieved from https://www.etsy.com/fr/listing/485533384/impression-japonaise-estampe-ukiyo-e

One should bear in mind that during the Edo period, Japan had a high level of literacy compared

to other regions or countries. Most of the population was educated as it was not a privilege for
the high society (craftsmen, farmers, women…). This is due to their authentic and progressive

system regarding school and education.

During that period, the common source of entertainment was Kusazoshi, small booklets usually

10 pages long. This art introduces the interaction of words and images to the entertainment.

Like modern manga, Kusazohi tend to make images are more dominant compared to the text

that is usually present as dialog. In fact, Kusazoshi were represented in different colour

depending on the genre. For instance, Kibyoshi (yellow cover) were scary and satire stories,

Akahon (red books) covered children’s stories, Aohon (blue books) were more sophisticated

stories, etc.

During the Edo period, printing press was widespread. However, it was still expensive to

commoners that could not afford to buy Kusazoshi. This is when Kashihon-ya (rental bookshop)

appeared. They are what one may call businessman now, as they would buy several copies of

Kusazoshi, then would lend them at some price. As stated before, this was the main source of

entertainment, so people were no bothered to rent several times.

Most of the popular theme were controversial and daring, criticizing politics, social conditions

and even public figures. Artists would often use humour to disguise the blame. During the same

period, a new era begun, the Kansei era (meaning Tolerant Government) which impacted the

Japanese art. Between 1787-1793 the government decided to the Kansei reforms. They were

regulations aimed to censors most of the published art (poems, paintings and Kusazoshi). Artists

judged provocative were arrested leading to the decrease of art in Japan. Some would become

tutors or scholars, while other would continue painting and writing with softer themes and in

some extreme cases to suicide.

The 19th century is considered as an important era regarding the evolution of Japanese art.

Indeed, around 1814, a famous Japanese painter, Katsushika Hokusai, introduced for the first

time the word “manga” as it is commonly known.

1.2 Pre-war period: Opening to the world

After several centuries of isolation, in 1853 an American fleet lead by Commodore Perry

arrived in Japan. This arrival is considered as a historic change as it opened the country to the

West bringing for the first time Europeans and Americans.

It goes without saying that this event brought along a new perception of art that was slowly

adopted by the Japanese culture. Indeed, two men, Charles Wirgman and Geroge Bigot, heavily

influenced Japanese art by publishing magazines The Japan Punch and Toba-e between 1862

and 1887. Initially, these publications were aimed at Westerners living in Japan. Nevertheless,

these new techniques and styles captivated Japanese readers and artists. This Western

inspiration lead to the evolution of manga to the East-West modern style.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century Japanese artists started to depict the

Western cartoons including in their art international events and politics. On the one hand, they

would represent Americans is a negative and satiric way. For instance, in 1906 the Japanese

magazine Tokyo Puck portrayed a response regarding discriminatory laws by illustrating “a

clumsy Teddy Roosevelt pointlessly trying to reach an “anti-Japanese” wasp that had landed on

his back.

On the other hand, Japanese also considered Americans as a positive impact on their culture

since they consider them having a good and innocent sense of humour. In fact, the founder of

Tokyo Puck openly stated his adoration for American comics and created the first successive

comic strip.

After noticing the popularity of American cartoons, Japanese editors begun to hire local artists

that used the American style.

With the new Western technologies and techniques, Japan begun to offer a new form of

entertainment, anime. Japanese tried to develop their production of anime through public
institutions basing most of it in Tokyo. However, the anime industry had to face numerous

obstacles and hardships. Indeed, Japanese anime production was costly and had to compete

with Western cartoons (mostly Disney). Furthermore, in 1923, Japan was victim of a severe

earthquake, especially in Tokyo leading to the almost complete destruction of their

infrastructure and businesses. In addition, Japan was struggling to keep up with the successive

innovations like the appearance of cartoons with sound and colour.

Despite these difficulties, in the 30’s, a Japanese animator earned international approval with

his anime Bagudajo no tozoku (The Thief of Baguda Castle). The animator realised it by cutting

Japanese coloured papers and pasting them, which led to be the first Japanese film known

internationally.

1.3 Following World War II

After this event, Japan had an increase of talented artists, but the country was in another

state of mind as the war was approaching and the supply of goods was decreasing.

With the beginning of the World War II, nationalism became more present and the Japanese

society was driven toward solidarity to strengthen their sense of patriotism. It is worth

mentioning that even artists who had been criticizing the government found themselves

associated with this movement, whether consciously or not, but in most cases to avoid prison

and bans. Some artists promoted wartime goals and propaganda, changing their usual themes

for their cartoons as the government was strict about art and wanted its population to be focused

on the war. This change only left children’s manga present, considered as an innocent theme.

Moreover, cartooning groups were either dissolved or taken by the government leaving only

one independent group that was able to publish during that period.

The government was not the only pressure as Japanese cartoon industry suffered from low

demand for manga but also from a scarcity of suppliers which caused the deterioration of the

industry. These struggles remained until the end of the world, but they continued to impact the
industry even after the end of WWII. This post-war period is considered as the “Dark ages” of

manga and animation.

One should bear in mind that with Japan’s surrender, the Allied implemented policies to

prohibit art that honoured war or Japanese militarism. Nonetheless, publication of manga was

not forbidden, this motivated the creativity of Japanese artists which had been neglected and

ignored for years. Magazines started to appear again with the old themes only this time artists

focused more on stories relating hard times inspired from what they have experience previously.

With the weak economy, comics books were too expensive, thus appeared “red books”, cheaper

comics. Among these “cheaper” artists, was Osamu Tezuka, an artist and animator who made

an overall of 700 manga series and around 200,000 pages of anime scripts and drawings. It is

often argued that what is commonly called modern manga appeared thanks to Tezuka, who

earned the title “God of manga”. There is not a shadow of doubt that Tezuka was considered as

the most significant modern artist in Japan. He revolutionized the world of manga and anime

during the post-war depression by inventing a new style of framing so effective that one of his

comics sold over 400,000 copies which have never happened previously. In his autobiography,

he stated “I felt [after the war] that existing comics were limiting. Most were drawn as if seated

in an audience viewing from a stage, where the actors emerge from the wings and interact. This

made it impossible to create dramatic or psychological effects, so I began to use cinematic

techniques. French and German movies that I had seen as a schoolboy became my model […]

I also believed that comics were capable of more than just making people laugh. So in my

themes I incorporated tears, grief, anger, and hate, and I created stories where the ending was

not always happy.” (John, 2013, para. 10). Tezuka’s innovative yet simple technique deeply

impacted Japanese and American comics to the extend that is still commonly used nowadays.

In the 50s and 60s manga continued to evolve thanks to this technique and in 1965, Tezuka

received a letter from Stanley Kubrick inviting him to be the art direct of the movie 2001: A
Space Odyssy. Kubrick adored Tezuka and admired his work particularly his animated manga

Astro Boy, that with no doubt revolutionized once again the Japanese and American animation

industry. Tezuka then begun to target a more mature audience with more spiritual and

humanistic themes. He firmly believed that regardless of the language used, comics is a form

of expression that tear down cultural boundaries.

After his death, Tezuka’s style continued to influence other artists internationally (even Disney)

as well as his techniques that are still used in modern manga and anime.

Figure 3 Osamu Tezuka retrieved from http://www.9emeart.fr/post/dossier/manga/portrait-de-legende-2-osamu-tezuka-378

1.4 Modern time

Around the early 70s, manga and anima were popular and accessible to most of the Japanese

population. Thus, started the real concept of marketing by dividing the manga into two large

genres, Shonen aimed for boys and Shojo aimed for girls. In these two main genres, other

categories depending on the age of the reader and the theme preferred (sport, robot, cooking,

romance, music…).

In the beginning of the 80s, Katsuhiro Otomo, a manga-ka (manga artist), was approached by

a magazine to write a series. Although Otomo did not have time, he quickly came up with an

idea that he had thought about earlier, creating the manga Akira, another major breakthrough in
the manga industry. Akira brought another level of details and frantic energy with graphic

content and mature themes. This landmark showed how Japanese readers were looking for these

kinds of content directed more to adults with stories that are more thorough, which inspired

more manga-ka and even American animators to direct their work in this innovative genre. In

addition, Akira’s colouring technique revolutionized the colouring industry as it was the first to

be coloured on a computer which favoured subtle colours.

The series became so popular that is was translated into a dozen languages and sold over 5

million copies globally. Despite its unprecedented success, another manga appeared that got

even more success in greater scale.

In 1983-1984, the manga-ka Akira Toriyama wishing to bring a new story in the Shonen genre,

decided to write a story inspired from a Chinese novel, of a young boy expert in martial arts

that helped a princess on an adventure called Dragon Boy. The success was present, but the

author wanted his manga to be iconic, so he switched the original genre from comedy to a more

serious theme focused on action naming it Dragon Balls. Toriyama decided to make his

character, Goku (known as Sangoku in some countries) different from most main protagonists

who are usually are the strongest in the story. His character was an apprentice who lost in some

fights but would learn and become stronger step by step. This innovative concept of having the

main character weak but motivated to become stronger became, made the manga beat all

previous records of sale with 6.53 million weekly sales and reaching 2.9 billion between 1984

and 1995. Furthermore, Dragon Balls had an astonishing cultural impact and influence on

almost all Shonen authors to this day.

On the other hand, the Shojo genre has also been evolving following the end of WWII. The

manga and animation industries have always been mostly produced by men even the Shojo

themes. Around the 70s with the sexual revolution in Japan, the industries became more

feminine with women authors, animators, producers… These new authors will bring authentic
themes to a genre that used to deal mostly about romance and friendship. Shojo now treats about

science-fiction, fantasy, history, action… that were quickly adopted by the readers, especially

with the manga Sailor Moon that brought magical girls fighting against monsters. In addition,

two women authors specialized in Shojo manga created a new genre, the Shonen-ai, a genre

that treats for the first time in centuries about homosexuality openly and explicitly. With the

evolution of these genres, a graphic change was noticed. Indeed, characters’ physical traits

became thinner and softer, the faces brighter and almost too perfect and the colours were milder.

Following these evolutions several other genres appeared for a more targeted and specific

audience.

In the mid-90s, the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump (WSJ), which published most of the Shonen

manga, was the most popular magazine and had almost the monopole. However, once Dragon

Ball and Slam Dunk ended, the magazine’s sales dropped dramatically, and other magazines

quickly surpassed it. To make up for this downturn, between 1997 and 2002, WSJ introduced

three important series that got the nickname of The Big Three by the West. As one might expect,

the authors were influenced by Dragon Ball and created their lead character based on Goku’s

characteristics, especially the trait of trying to become the best by learning and fighting. It is

fair to state that most people heard of at least one of these manga, One Piece released in 1997,

Naruto in 1999 and Bleach in 2002. Each on has an influence from previous manga,

nonetheless, they also add an innovation aspect to the industry.

Figure 4 The Big Three retrieved from https://www.cbr.com/one-piece-shonen-jump-naruto-bleach-best/

With the rise of The Big Three, the industry of manga and anime has not stopped to increase

and became a worldwide trend, especially with the rise of digital that expanded the sector even

more, leading to an easier access to the content. In fact, in 2019, digital sales reached almost

30%. Unexpectedly this rise did not impact negatively the print industry as most of the audience

still wants to have the book in hand.

It is often argued that the Japanese anime industry reached further Western countries, after the

arrival of several important anime studios. The most famous studio in Studio Ghibli created in

1985, which later on became internationally popular for its anime movies such as My neighbour

Totoro or Spirited Away.

The story of manga and anime is with no doubt old and long with a lot of challenges

and influence. It is now become a worldwide sensation, especially in the West where the media

used to represent Japanese as a hard-working and plain population.

With such fame, one may wonder if this industry had an important impact on economies.

III. Economical aspect

2.1 Japanese economy evolution

One can follow the evolution of Japan’s economy by dividing it into three main parts. The

first period is the Edo period or Tokugawa period (1603-1868) which it is characterized by the

first major economic growth of the country. Then the Pre-war period which overlapped the

Meiji period or restoration (1868-1912) characterized by the modernization and Westernization.

And finally, the World War II leading to the rise of the economy.

It is important to bear in mind that during the Edo period, Japan followed the feudal system

and samurai ruled over the country. As mentioned previously, the Edo period counts over 36
different eras and in each several emperors governed, which led to instable politics for several

centuries.

The Tokugawa period is defined by a new era of peace on the country where most of the

population are rice farmers. To facilitate exchanges and boost the economy, new credit

instruments were made to transfer money to respond to the increasing demand for goods and

services. However, the samurai system led to treasury deficits, threatening the whole country.

In order to remediate to this problem, the country had to modernize and urbanize itself leaning

on the agricultural sector (especially on rice). As the population remained stable and the rice

production increased, Japan’s prosperity also increased with rice paddies growing from 1.6

million Chō (Japanese unit of measure) to 3 million between 1600 and 1720.

With this increased demand and production, cultivation lands also expanded. In fact, lands that

were previously considered as inhabitable become productive fields. Nevertheless, by the end

of the 17th century, this expansion presented some negative impacts. The country suffered from

frequent floods but also deforestation and labour shortage.

Apart the agricultural aspect, during the Edo period, Japan developed its banking and industrial

facilities but also expanded in terms of education and literacy.

Following the Tokugawa period, Japan experienced two major transformations and

amendments. The first happened in 1868 until the WWII where the country just opened to the

world and adopted. Japan shifted from feudal system to having for the first time a market

economy. It adopted the Western education system, took great measures to improve the railroad

and upgrade the industrialization through private businesses. Westerns had a major role

changing Japan as some Japanese leaders went to Europe and America gathered new knowledge

to boost their economy and production. With this new help, Japan went through a rapid

modernization and industrialization, which required production and infrastructure.

The second transformation took place after the WWII. In fact, this period is called “Japanese

Economic Miracle” referring to unpredictable recovery and rise of the country’s economy after

the war. Japan saw its economic growth increase by 10% in the 60s, 5% in the 70s and 4% in

the 80s.

Japan is now considered as one of the greatest economies of the world. In fact, it is the 3 rd

largest economy in terms of nominal GDP and 4th in purchasing power parity.

2.2 Manga and anime industries in Japanese economy

It is worth pointing out that in Japan, manga represents 40% of published magazines and

books, as well as the anime industry which also represents 40% of national movie production.

Before explaining how these industries impact the Japanese economy, it is important to

understand how they function and then how they generate money.

First, unlike the U.S where it is often believed that one big company will pay for a show. For

instance, if Disney or Netflix likes the concept of a movie, they will pay to make it. Japan on

the other hand, the anime industry has a different structure known as the production committee.

Several small companies combine their resources and finances, they will share the risks but also

revenues of producing an anime. For example, a toy company, a bank, an advertising agency

and a music label can each put 25% of the total amount of money needed to make an anime and

share the revenue generated. The creation of the anime series begins once the production

committee hires an anime studio with animators and artist to write, draw, and produce the series.
Figure 5 Anime production, retrieved from https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-anime-contribute-to-Japans-economy

It is important to bear in mind that when an anime is broadcasted on Japanese TV, it is most

likely still in production. Usually when the first episode is diffused, the team is still producing

the sixth episode. Despite what most people tend to think, the quality of an anime does not

depend on the money used, but on the tight schedule imposed by the studio to its workers.

Within an anime studio several employees work according to a specific agenda to create an

anime. The animators, who draw the anime from the characters to the movement of a scene earn

between 850 to 1000€ per month, depending on their position in the company. The scriptwriter

who write the story will earn around 1500€/month. The production assistant mainly gets the

drawings from the different animators and rely information to them, he/she earns 1800€/month.

Then one may talk about the episode director who manages the team of a specific episode, the
director who is present throughout the entire process of production and has the last word, and

director of animation who will supervise and correct the animators’ drawings. They earn

respectively 2700€, 4000€ and 4100€ per month. The producer will work with the director to

respect the deadline and manage the different problems, he/she can earn up to 6100€/month.

Finally, what could be considered as the most important actor in the production are the Seiyuu.

A Seiyuu is the voice actor which can gains around 6500€/month. In Japan a voice actor is

considered as famous personality, it is the equivalent of Johnny Depp in the United States. A

famous Seiyuu usually promotes the anime by attending events and can be the key to a popular

anime in Japan. While in France a voice actor will work once the production is done, in Japan

the Seiyuu is part of the production process and will be an inspiration for the animators to draw

their scenes.

Figure 6 Seiyuu promoting an anime, retrieved from https://www.akibanation.com/osomatsu-event-muttsu-ko-dayo-zen-in-

shuugou-totoko-mo-iruyo%E2%99%AA-kembalinya-osomatsu-bersaudara-ke-layar-kaca/

In fact, the anime industry generates its revenue from different sources. The chart below

represents the sources according to the Association of Japanese Animation (AJA) in 2017. As

it can be seen, in the domestic perception, the main source comes from TV including
broadcasting right fees. The second source is called overseas and represents the licence fees in

abroad market. The third main source is merchandise and is characterized by the toys, t-shirt,

posters… related to anime series or characters.

Other sources are also represented, including Pachinko. They can be compared to slot-machines

but, just like merchandise, they are related to anime.

MARKET TRENDS
TV Movie Video Internet distribution
Merchandise Music Pachinko Live entrtainment
Others Overseas

21%
28%

6%
1%
6%
1% 12%

14% 5%
6%

Figure 7 Market trends

To be a better understand on the evolution of the market growth of this industry, some data

should be taken into consideration. According to the AJA, in 2017, the market reached it new

record, reaching a growth of 108 %. Since its dark period, around 2009-2010, the market has

been growing for consecutive years until exceeding 2 trillion yen, the equivalent of more than

18 billion US dollars. As a matter of fact, during that same year, the source of revenue that was

considerably boosted was the movie sector with a growth of 141.4% because of the high sales

of blockbuster such as Your Name.

On the other hand, the manga industry has also an important place in Japan’s economy. In fact,

the industry recesses an annual sale of 10 billion US dollars, which represents one third of the

book and magazine market in Japan.

Furthermore, according to the All Japan Magazine and Book Publishers and Editors Association

in 2018, the industry has a growth of almost 2% with total of 3.4 billion of US dollars.

It is worth pointing out that the manga industry counts non-only tangible book but also digital

formats. In fact, in 2018 palpable manga represent 1.42 billion of the total revenue, while digital

formats represent 1.76 billion. In the same year, the digital market represents nearly 45% of

manga market.

According to an article from The Guardian written by Justin McCurry several years ago, at

some point, Japan was counting on the manga industry to boost its economy and create jobs.

Another factor that helped the growth of these markets during the last decade is the

technology, especially the internet. Indeed, as stated previously, the manga industry does not

only count manga as a book format but also as a digital format. This “new” tool allowed the

business to have a new approach to reach more people.

Countless of websites offering thousands of manga online can be accessible by laptops or

smartphones. Usually, the reader needs to pay for a monthly subscription, between 5$ and 10$

depending on the website and services. The reader might find the offer attractive as for a small

amount of money he/she has an almost unlimited choice of manga or anime to watch and read.

To the industries it is also a new goldmine. As seen before, in 2018 digital manga represented

more than 51% of the total revenue of the industry, exceeding for the first time traditional manga

format.

Internet has also facilitate the creation of manga or anime series itself. Indeed, previously an

artist could publish his/her manga or anime through publisher or by submitting their comic to

magazines with other competitors. Now, they can upload their work online so people could
directly read it or watch it. A good example to illustrate this new sector is the manga One-Punch

Man. The manga was initially made by a young amateur who posted his work online and got a

lot of attention. The series went viral and attracted the attention of a professional artist who

contacted the creator to make an official manga, and later an anime. One Punch Man is now

known internationally and is considered as one of the most likable manga abroad.

Figure 8 Original VS new drawing of One Punch Man, retrieved from https://infosanime.wordpress.com/2017/01/24/one-
punch-man/

Another advantage of the internet for these industries concerns merchandising. Indeed, just like

the comics which used to be sold in some shops, merchandises are now accessible through the

internet. People can buy toys, figurines, etc. via website.

On the other hand, internet can also be considered as a negative factor to the industries.

It is well known that the internet is not easily controlled, especially because of the piracy. Just

like the Western movie industry, manga and anime businesses struggle with the websites that

upload illegally their art to publish them for free on the web. In fact, according to the article

Internet piracy taking major bite out of Japan’s famed manga culture written by Shusuke Murai

(2018) “One of the most notorious manga pirate websites in Japan drew a whopping 174 million

visitors in month of March, making it the 25th busiest website in Japan” (para. 4). In addition,
it is often argued that illegal websites damaged partially the domestic manga market by making

it lose 50 billion yen.

As stated previously, the anime industry market had an outstanding increase in 2017

reaching for the first time 2 trillion yen. This constant recent growth is driven by the increasing

overseas sales, including Netflix. As it has been seen on the previous figure (figure 7) in 2017,

overseas sales represent 21% of the market in a limited sense and 46% on a broad sense.

It worth mentioning that the Japanese government is relying on anime and manga to boost

its economy. Indeed, in 2002 a new concepted called “Cool Japan” emerged to promote the

Japanese culture in the rest of the world. The name was adopted by the government, describing

it as a soft power to increase the interest of people to discover Japan and its culture. To promote

the concept, Japanese relied on their anime and manga to attract foreigner. In 2013, the Cool

Japan Fund Inc. was established which in 2019 invested 30 million US dollars in American

anime licensing company in order to offer support regarding copyrights but also to increase the

presence of anime in America.

Figure 9 Cool Japan, retrieved from https://www.manganime.fr/2017/12/27/les-nouvelles-attractions-duniversal-cool-japan-

se-devoilent-plus-en-details/

In fact, this shows the interest of a Western companies towards the manga and anime

industries. As one might expect, with the evolution of technology, it has become easier to spread

such medias worldwide.

2.3 Anime and manga industries in foreign economies

Japanese anime and manga were not just present in Japan’s market. In fact, they reached

countries all around the world. Especially with digitalization and globalization Japanese culture

gained fans from different nations. As a matter of fact, the countries with the highest demand

for anime are the USA, Philippines and France.

Noticing the potential of these industries, some big foreign companies took an interest in this

sector, one of the most important is Netflix. One should bear in mind that this media services

provider is accessible in all around the world except for four countries, counts almost 170

million subscribers and had a net income of 1.866 billion dollars in 2019.

Netflix has more than five partnerships with different Japanese anime studios. With these

collaborations, the streaming service gathered the resource and knowledge to create its own

original anime while the studios have a more stable revenue and a new way to deal with piracy.

In 2018, Netflix stated that they would spend more than 8 billion US dollars to produce anime.

The studios having a partnership with Netflix agree that this collaboration brought them more

freedom and a sense of security over the long term.

In addition, another big American company was interested by this phenomenon, WarnerMedia

which had to fight against Netflix to have the rights to release the Studio Ghibli films. Netflix

could broadcast the movies except in some countries such as the US where WarnerMedia had

the right to diffuse.

It is worth pointing out the importance of international streaming platforms dedicated to anime.

The two major players are both American platforms, Funimation and Crunchyroll. Perceiving

the increasing fame of these distributors, other companies entered in action. Indeed, Sony

acquired Funimation and expanded its service to 49 countries in 10 different languages. As for

Crunchyroll, it is owned by WarnerMedia, itself being part of AT&T.

Furthermore, one of the greatest actors to spread the culture of Japanese anime around the world

is the Studio Ghibli, considered as the Walt Disney of Japan. It is responsible for famous

animated movies such as Spirited Away, which grossed 30.4 billion yen in Japan only, making

it the highest-grossing film in Japan’s history. Once the movie was dubbed by Disney’ studio,

it had an almost instant fame, grossing 10 million US dollars in the United States within a year.

This studio was partially responsible for internationalizing even more anime and manga series.

For a better understanding of the influence of anime and manga industries, one may take the

example of its biggest foreign consumer, the US. Anime and manga entered in the American

market around the 60s. By the late 70s the first official American anime fandom was created to

promote Japanese manga and anime which encouraged distributors to import more animated

series. Around the 90s, the market expanded even more with the arrival of merchandises

especially regarding the series Pokemon. According to the article Anime in the US: The

Entrepreneurial Dimensions of Globalized Culture (2014) written by Nissim Otmazgin, in 2002

the Japanese government reported that the Japanese animation market in the US was worth 4.36

billion US dollars, reaching a peak the next year with 4.84 billion US dollars. This total if

mainly due to merchandises which represented 4.45 billion US dollars. However, the next years

the market suffered from the decline of sales. It is due to producers who wanted to create the

next Pokemon resulting to the saturation of the American market with low-quality anime, but

also because of the illegal streaming. Later on, big American companies entered the market as

it was previously explained. They understood the potential of anime as they usually are

adaptation of famous manga that already have a certain audience. American companies

facilitate the diffusion of anime to consumers who had restrictive options to watch their series.

In fact, the culture of Japanese anime has been increasing in the US, leading to more online and

physical stores to sell their merchandises. One may add the presence of video games inspired

from anime or manga characters. In fact, almost all famous manga and anime have a video
game based on their story or characters, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, Final Fantasy and more

recently Pokemon with Pokemon Go. In 2002, the giant Disney collaborated with a Japanese

company to launch the video game Kingdom Hearts a crossover between Japanese and Disney’s

characters. In addition, in 2001 Univeral Studio opened a new theme parc, the first outside of

the US in Japan. In the last few years, the parc started to be more and more influence by the

Japanese anime and manga culture by adding attraction inspired by famous anime.

Figure 10 Universal Studio Japan 4D cinema, retrieved from https://yzgeneration.com/universal-studios-japan-juste-des-

attractions-4d-de-shingeki-no-kyojin-et-evangelion/

Japan later launched its own attraction parc completely inspired from the manga and anime

Naruto. It is based in an island and is represented as a village of ninja from the story.

Regardless of the anime related products, the United States usually hosts some of the biggest

anime conventions such as Anime Expo in Los Angeles or Sakura Con in Seattle. These events

produce an important amount of revenue to the local economy. Indeed, the number of anime

convention has been increasing especially during the last decade, as it can be seen in this figure

made by Dallas Middaugh in his article The Growth of Anime Events (2019). These events are

part of the largest event in the US with more than 110,000 participants annually.
Figure 11 Anime conventions charts by Dallas Middaugh, retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/growth-anime-
events-dallas-middaugh/

The conventions offer several services, such as concerts (usually Japanese artists), Japanese

restaurants, themed coffee shops, exhibitions and stands for shops to sell their merchandises.

These create a certain revenue usually used to organize the next event.

The Japanese anime industry offered to the US a new sector for jobs to thrive. On the one hand,

jobs related to the production of anime, like producers, artists, translators… and on the other

hand jobs related to the products related to the industry.

There is not a shadow of doubt that technology, especially the internet, helped the Japanese

anime and manga industries to spread. It also facilitated the process of translation of series, as

it usually takes several people and a long time to finalize. The process begins when a fan scans

the pages of a manga then send them, usually via email, to a translator. Once the pages are

translated, they will be sent to a proof-reader to check the work, a third person called the cleaner

will remove all of the original language to make it clearer to read.

There is a school of thoughts that American are investing more and more in Japanese anime

because of their increasing popularity, but also because the cost of production is cheaper than a

movie with usually as much success. For instance, in Japan an animated series of 13 episodes

would cost around 2 million euros to produce, meaning 150,000 euro each episode. While in

the US, the cartoon The Simpsons costs 2 million euro per episode to produce.

As one might expect, Japanese anime and manga are also popular in other countries apart from

the US. Europe represents a large portion of these industries outside of Japan, especially France

and Germany. In fact, in 2007 in Germany, around 70% of comics sold were manga, while in

2011, France represented almost 40% of the total European manga market.

As a matter of fact, manga are threatening the market of French comic. Indeed, a tradition

French comic needs more resources and time to draw and colour and are sold around 10 to 15

euros, while Japanese manga are not coloured, cheaper (5-6 euros), since they cost less to the

publisher to produce and print, and several volumes are released within a year.

As it has been presented, manga and anime have a major role in economies, especially

in Japan. Nevertheless, the industries have also highly influence societies and people from

Japan but also worldwide.

IV. Japanese anime and manga in societies

3.1 Anime and manga in Japan’s society

As mentioned previously, the art of manga can be traced back to the 12th century. Then with

the evolution of technology, animated series of manga appeared. It has become part of the

Japanese culture. In fact, on may wonder why manga and anime are so popular in Japan.

One should bear in mind that in Japan, manga and anime are not dedicated only to children.

Indeed, as it was stated previously, manga presents several different genres, the most popular
being Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, Josei… Each genre targets a certain audience, for instance Shonen

manga are aimed to young and teenage boys, while Shojo are aimed to young and teenage girl.

Seinen and Josei targets adults men and women, with more mature stories.

These ranges of genre allow manga to have a wider audience, including adults.

Figure 12 Different manga genres, retrieved from https://reelrundown.com/animation/Anime-Genre-List

In fact, it is easily noticeable that the most popular manga are usually long-selling manga like

Dragon Ball, which was originally published in 1984 and had several adaptations for almost 35

years. Another example is the manga Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure who was first published in 1986

and is still ongoing with 933 chapters or Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo

that was published from 1976 to 2016 with almost 2,000 chapters. These manga were read by

children from the 80s and 90s, the manga-ka noticed the passion of the readers and wanted to

keep them throughout the entire story. To do so, some artists decided to make their characters

grow like their audience. For instance, in the series of Dragon Ball or Naruto the readers were

able to see their character grow from being children to teenagers to adults and parents with their

children. The audience could see their favourite characters evolve to being adults with new

responsibilities like them as the artists adapted the story to the evolution of their character by
adding more mature issues and concepts.

In addition, the manga critic Haruyuki Nakano stated that back in the 60s to the early 90s,

children had the habits of buying their manga on their own, they would use the money for their

diner to purchase the latest volume of their favourite manga. This habit remains after decades.

Then with the increase of resources and technology appeared the anime. Most of the time, if

the manga is perceived as famous enough, it will be adapted to an anime series. Nevertheless,

in some cases where the animation studio is popular enough and has a strong base, it may create

its original series or movie. For instance, the Studio Ghibli, considered as one of the most

successful studios, only creates original movies such as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke.

In fact, manga and anime are so popular in Japan that a pop culture appeared from them, the

Otaku culture. Nowadays, the term is mostly the equivalent of “nerd” or “geek”, it represents a

person that is highly interested in anime, manga and video games. The term Otaku is ambiguous

as its meaning has changed a lot during the last decades.

As the manga and anime industries were growing, the 80s saw the number of conventions

related to manga and anime increase exponentially. Strangers would meet during these events

to talk about their favourite manga. However, in the Japanese language there is not a proper

way to express the word “you” when people wish to speak passionately to a stranger. For

instance, the word anata is used by married couples, while kimi would be used between friends.

Thus, appeared the word otaku which was used by people in these conventions. The word was

even more popularized by the writer Akio Nakamori when he used it to describe people who go

to convention about manga or anime.

However, the term Otaku was known to the public after an infamous crime. Between 1988 and

1989, Tsutomu Miyazaki murdered four young girls, despite the gruesome actions he did, the

media focused on one aspect of his life, the large collection of manga an anime he possessed.
Japanese media did not represent him as a serial killer, but as an Otaku who could no distinct

the reality from the fiction.

Figure 13 Tsutomu Miyazaki and his collection of manga

From this incident, the term had a dark and pervert connotation.

Several decades have passed since the incident, manga-ka try to change the undertone of the

term by associating manga and anime with creative games. They aim to add to the Otaku culture

a deeper meaning and mature themes.

It goes without saying that manga and anime present a wide range of themes to be

treated. From simple and childish themes, like romantic stories to more developed ideas like

the idea of morals in society.

In fact, manga and anime cannot be considered simply as cartoons, they are a way for artists to

communicate and treat about deeper subjects through a media accessible to everyone.

3.2 Manga and anime as tool of denunciation

Manga-ka are using manga and anime to pass a message in a society where the freedom of

expression is limited. Several manga raise awareness about sensitive subjects.

Indeed, one subject that are widely present in Japan’s society is the action of bully. The bullying

in Japanese schools has been an issue for decades, and the numbers have been rising. According

to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in 2018 the number of

cases in Japanese schools has reached a new peak of 543,933 cases, 129,555 more than the

previous year. In addition, in the same year out of the 250 students who committed suicide, 10

were officially related to school bullying.

Bullying is present of various countries, however in Japan the issue is more present at a larger

scale. In a country where conformity is very important. Any student who is different by being

“too” talented, “too” pretty or simply acts differently is a target of bullying.

Figure 14 Suicides among children by grade level, retrieved from https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00054/anatomy-of-

japanese-bullying.html

Several manga treat about this subject, one of the most popular is Great Teacher Onizuka

(GTO). It relates the story of a young man, Noboru, who had a rough past by being bullying

many times because of his weakness. He was frequently beaten by girls to the extent of having

bruises and was repeatedly humiliated.

Onizuka is a young man with an ambiguous past who was chosen to teach and tame a rebellious

class which drove their previous teachers to suicide and nervous breakdown. He uses a different

approach from the traditional teaching methods by bring direct, nonconformist and weird.
Onizuka follows his how philosophy which can be described as unorthodox or dangerous to

help each student to face and overcome their own problems but also to teach them how to enjoy

life. Regardless of being considered as an outcast of society, he succeeded to educate the

rebellious students.

Another great issue that Japanese deal with is the overstress and overwork in the Japanese

business. Indeed, Japan faces a large number of suicides, especially those related to overwork.

In fact, a term was created to describe the phenomenon, Karoshi, which can be translated as

“overwork death”. According to some survey, out of 10,000 Japanese workers, 20% stated that

they often worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month. Several cases of Karoshi highlighted

the were sources of polemics. For instance, Miwa Sado, was a woman who whored in a Japan

company in Tokyo had 159 hours of overtime which lead to her heart to fail in 2013. In addition,

to their social pressure, most of Japanese workers have a hard time to keep a healthy life.

An anime musical comedy, Aguresshibu Retsuko, mentions the issue of overwork. It relates the

story of a 25-year-old red panda who works in a Japanese trading company. Because of the

constant frustration and pressure from her superiors, Retsuko unwind and leach her frustration

by singing death metal songs in karaoke. After five years of overwork, Retsuko goes through a

series of event that makes her even unhappy and endanger her work and her relationships with

her colleagues. To avoid any more frustration and run from the work, she turns to marriage as

an escape.

As one might expect, another issue regarding Japanese society is the gender inequality

and the role of women. Numerous Japanese artists will deny the perception of women as a weak

and useless being. Despite their appearances in many manga and anime with large breasts, small

face, tiny waist and long legs, manga-ka will usually show women as powerful, smart and

strong. In fact, among the greatest manga and anime, women are usually a source of power or

motivation to the main character. For instance, in Naruto, the character Sakura used to be a
weak kunoichi (woman ninja) until she worked hard enough to be considered as one of the most

powerful shinobi (ninja), motivating Naruto to train harder. Another example, in Shaman King

where the leader’s fiancée Anna is the smartest one and will usually make the decision.

One cannot talk about feminism in manga and anima without stating the founder, animator,

author, screenwriter, artist and filmmaker of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki. As stated

previously, the studio is one of the most famous in the world as Miyazaki is often called The

Japanese Walt Disney. He usually treats about themes related to pacifism, environmentalism

and feminism. Most of his successful movie have female lead character, such as in Sen to

Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away), Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) or Majo no

Takkyubin (Kiki’s Delivery Service) and many others. All these movies have a strong female

main character who will need to fight to survive.

Figure 15 Hayao Miyazaki, retrieved from https://fr.ign.com/entertainment/25060/news/le-nouveau-film-ghibli-de-hayao-

miyazaki-avance-tres-lentement

It is worth pointing out that manga and anime not only raise awareness about the social

issues of Japan, they also treat about more thorough themes. The following manga and anime

are considered as ones of the most popular in Japan but also worldwide.

Hunter x hunter is Shonen that follows the story of a young boy who wants to become a hunter,

an elite member who tracks treasure, hunt people… He needs to pass the exam of hunters by

going through a series of challenges both physical and mental. The last arc (chapter) of the
manga put in perspective the concept of morality and raise the question what differs a human

being to a monster. Indeed, during that part, readers can see the transformation of the main

character, a young innocent boy who became a monster possessed by anger and the main

protagonist, an evil monster who learned to understand humans and became more like one of

them.

The second popular anime/manga is Shingeki No Kyujin (SNK), also known as Attack on Titan.

This series is famous for its gory and violent scenes, but also for its resemblance and inspiration

of the Nazi philosophy, especially the one from Carl Schmitt.

The story relates the event of a society living inside walls to protect themselves from titan who

devours humans. To protect them, “soldiers” are trained to attack and kill titans regardless of

their lives. SNK dares to ask if it is possible that in this dystopian society, a controversial

philosophy may be the only way to keep the fabric of society from collapsing.

It is important to bear in mind that the series do not glorify the philosophy of Nazi even if it

shares several similarities.

Firstly, like Schmitt, SNK highlight the fact that conflict is inevitable. They live in a “dog eat

dog” world and people are all monsters at heart.

Secondly, the biggest aspect of the series is the inequality in the society. Indeed, classes are

divided by literal walls and each wall section is its own caste system and do not have the same

level of security as the first wall section are closer to titans.

Figure 16 Different walls of SNK, retrieved from https://www.nautiljon.com/univers/shingeki+no+kyojin+-+les+murs,4.html

While people from the first section are being attacked, those in the inner walls are at peace,

living a calm life. The same goes for the “soldiers”, those positioned in the first wall section

risk their lives to protect the people, while those inside barely know how to fight and will spend

their day drinking. Most leaders will try to fight against this inequality, however in SNK, leaders

will hardly mention the issue as it is deliberate. This concept is inspired from Schmitt who

thought that fighting inequality is a distraction from the important part of politics, nationalism.

In addition, the first opening of the anime which looks and sounds like a propaganda from the

Nazi party.

Thirdly, the concept of enemies and allies. During the series, the difference of enemies and

allies are often pointed out, for several volumes, readers will think that the main enemies are

titans and the soldiers are the saviours. However, as the story evolves, the roles are shattered.

People realise that the greatest adversaries are not titans but humans beings like them and those

who they have been trusting, had been manipulating the society. Throughout the story the
government thought they were dominating the society but in fact the leaders were also being

manipulated by something even superior.

Other topics are mentioned in the series, but the most important concepts are the inequality

inside the same society and the role of leaders perceived as heroes and enemies.

As it has been mentioned manga and anime are used as a tool of expression, a way to

criticise and raise awareness on topics that cannot be freely discussed. Regardless of the themes

states previously, thousands of anime and manga treat about other sensitive topics. This is

partially a reason on why manga and anime are so popular in Japan.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the popularity of these medias has gone beyond Japan

and reached almost all countries.

3.3 Manga and anime in Western societies

There is not a shadow of doubt that American and Europeans are big consumers of anime

and manga. Despite having the biggest industry of comics and animated series, with Marvel

and Disney, Americans are becoming more and more passioned of this Japanese art.

One reason might be that anime are an alternative to American and European animations.

Indeed, Japanese anime series propose to consumers a new animation that is different from

Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks series. Indeed, in a region where the monopole of animation

belongs to specific companies, having an authentic and original animated cartoon appeals

people who are bored from the same format.

Indeed, to compare cartoons to anime, one may think about the most popular series, for instance

Naruto for anime and or Ratz for cartoon in France. Cartoons, usually have a simple storyline,

not too complicated to be easily understood, their aim is to make people laugh through

characters with features that are not related to the body which makes it feel completely different

from reality. Finally, an episode can last from 5 minutes to one hour and the episodes are not
always related to one another. On the other hand, Japanese anime have a more complex storyline

and treat about life issues or at least situation that people can relate to. The characters distinct

facial expression and physical characteristic give to the artist the possibility to make them very

different or very close to reality. Finally, the episodes usually last 20 to 25 minutes and are

linked to each other, like a most reality series one cannot watch an episode without watching

the previous one.

Regarding the manga and comics, the differences concern more the artistic and technical

aspects. While comics are coloured and can be read from left to right, they have more dialogues

and more previse drawings. Manga are black and white, can be read form right to left, have

fewer dialogues and the drawings are simpler.

These differences give to a European or American a new art to watch or read.

In addition, unlike the previous years, the “geek culture” in the America and Europe is

becoming more and more common and even considered as cool. While few years ago, people

would hide their passion of manga, anima, video games afraid to be outcasted, now with the

rise of video games like Call of Duty, Fortnite or Final Fantasy and movie adaption of comics,

especially the Marvel Universe, the “geek culture” has become appealing.

People nowadays are attracted to innovation and originality; they want to read or watch

something eye catching but which at the same time makes them think and reflect. Japanese

manga and anime propose techniques that are different from Western methods, and themes that

are not often mentioned European or American cartoons.

In fact, one cannot stress enough the importance of the Studio Ghibli to popularizing anime in

Western counties, especially through the movie Spirited Away. Worldwide, the movie was

nominated 47 times and won 44 of them, this made the industry of Japanese anime have a

certain pride. There is a school of thoughts that Miyazaki (founder and artist of the studio) was
able to mix perfectly the beauty of Japanese drawings and profound themes. He gave to anime

the opportunity to be seen and understood internationally.

It is worth pointing out that Miyazaki was not the only person to influence the state of mind of

Westerners regarding manga and anime. Indeed, being a celebrity on influencer gives a certain

power to give a negative as well as a positive image to a concept, brand, or in this case on

manga and anime.

For instance, Elon Musk once tweeted the he enjoyed the movie anime Kimi no na wa (Your

name) and posted the trailer. Needless to say, this post gave the movie free publicity, and

numerous people following Musk might have at least watched the trailer if not the entire movie.

Other celebrities turned out to be fans of manga and anime, such as Quentin Tarantino, Keanu

Reeves, Samuel L. Jackson, Zac Efron and so on. Any positive comments on an anime or manga

can make people interested.

In fact, celebrities who are most passionate of anime and manga usually are rappers. Snoop

Dog, RZA or Childish Gambino do not hide their love for watching anime series or reading

manga. In fact, French rappers are more devoted as they highly use references of manga in their

songs. Rappers such as Orelsan and Nekfeu often use reference in their lyrics, music videos and

punchlines. In fact, in 2016 Orelsan was chosen to dub the voice of the main character of the

anime One Punch Man in French for the two seasons and even composed the opening of the

second season.

Figure 17 French rappers Orelsan and Gringe referencing to the manga Saint Seiya, retrived from https://adala-
news.fr/2012/06/le-clip-ils-sont-cool-de-orelsan-feat-gringe/
 It is worth pointing out that Americans, Europeans, Arabs and other Asian countries

have been highly influence by Japanese anime for their own animation. The concept is known

as Anime-influence animation. Indeed, non-Japanese animation studio started implementing

some typical Japanese characteristics and techniques in their work. For instance, Western

studios would use similar facial expression or typical Japanese concepts to create an animated

cartoon. The most popular examples are the American cartoon anime Avatar: The Last

Airbender which has obvious anime styles. Avatar is indeed highly influence by Japanese

anime, non-only, regarding the characters design with big eyes and mouths and exaggerated

emotion, but also regarding the Asian references with Buddhism, Shinto… Another example is

the Italian cartoon anime Winx Club which is inspired from the classic magical girls show from

Japan. In fact, hundreds of anime-influenced animations can be states, from Code Lyoko in

France to Torkaizer a collaboration of the United Arab Emirates and Filipino.

In addition, in some cases, a Japanese studio would collaboration with a Western studio to

create together a manga or an anime. That is the case of Ulysse 31 a French Japanese anime

released in 1981. Another example of a French Japanese anime is the notorious series The

Mysterious Cities of Gold.

Anime and manga have with no doubt highly influence Westerns societies, from their

habits of watching or reading to their production of cartoons and comics.

 V. Conclusion

To sum up, manga and anime have a long history and for one, even centuries of evolution.

They have a large impact on Japanese economy, as the government relies partially of these

industries to attract tourists and spread the Japanese culture, especially as they both represent

40% each in respectively, published magazines and national movie production . They also have

an important part in Japanese society as some manga have been published for years, alongside

with their readers as they also grow.

With globalization and the evolution of technology, several anime and manga reached foreign

publics and implemented themselves in abroad markets. Indeed, especially with the Studio

Ghibli, anime have now become renown worldwide and big American companies are

collaborating more and more to produce anime like cartoons. There is not a shadow of doubt

that these industries had a big impact on some foreign economies, like the US with a market

worth of 4.84 billion US dollars in 2002. They also are being more and more present in overseas

societies, notably through celebrities who are manga-fans and promote their favourites anime

series and manga.

The manga and anime industries have not stopped spreading and to reach new regions. It is

appealing to more and more people and foreign companies show an enormous interest in

developing these businesses on the local level. This globalization is beneficial for these

corporations as they have new markets to conquer, but also to Japan as their culture is spreading

worldwide and the country is drawing more visitors.

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