Haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a kireji, or "cutting word"; and a kigo, or seasonal reference. Similar poems that do not adhere to these rules are generally classified as senryū.
Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term manga is used in Japan to refer to both comics and cartooning. Outside of Japan, the word is typically used to refer to comics originally published in the country.
Senryū (川柳) is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 morae. Senryū tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious. Unlike haiku, senryū do not include a kireji, and do not generally include a kigo, or season word.
Comics is a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically takes the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate dialogue, narration, sound effects, or other information. There is no consensus among theorists and historians on a definition of comics; some emphasize the combination of images and text, some sequentiality or other image relations, and others historical aspects such as mass reproduction or the use of recurring characters. Cartooning and other forms of illustration are the most common image-making means in comics; fumetti is a form that uses photographic images. Common forms include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, and comic books. Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels, comic albums, and tankōbon have become increasingly common, while online webcomics have proliferated in the 21st century.
Seinen manga (青年漫画) is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word seinen literally means "youth", but the term "seinen manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like Weekly Manga Times and Weekly Manga Goraku which cater specifically to men's interests, and are marketed towards a demographic of young adult men between the ages of 18 and 40. Seinen manga are distinguished from shōnen manga which are for young teen boys, although some seinen manga like xxxHolic share similarities with shōnen manga. Seinen manga can focus on action, politics, science fiction, fantasy, relationships, sports, or comedy. The female equivalent to seinen manga is josei manga.
Josei manga, also known as ladies' comics (レディースコミック) and its abbreviation redikomi , is an editorial category of Japanese comics that emerged in the 1980s. In a strict sense, josei refers to manga marketed to an audience of adult women, contrasting shōjo manga, which is marketed to an audience of girls and young adult women. In practice, the distinction between shōjo and josei is often tenuous; while the two were initially divergent categories, many manga works exhibit narrative and stylistic traits associated with both shōjo and josei manga. This distinction is further complicated by a third manga editorial category, young ladies (ヤングレディース), which emerged in the late 1980s as an intermediate category between shōjo and josei.
Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print-cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually refers to South Korean comics. Manhwa is directly influenced by Japanese Manga comics. Modern Manhwa has extended its reach to many other countries. These comics have branched outside of Korea by access of Webtoons and have created an impact that has resulted in some movie and television show adaptations.
Reginald Horace Blyth was an English writer and devotee of Japanese culture. He is most famous for his writings on Zen and on haiku poetry.
Yonkoma manga is a comic strip format that generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom. They also sometimes run right-to-left horizontally or use a hybrid 2×2 style, depending on the layout requirements of the publication in which they appear. Although the word yonkoma comes from Japanese, the style also exists outside Japan in other Asian countries as well as in the English-speaking market, particularly in mid-20th century United States strips, where Peanuts popularized the format.
Moto Hagio is a Japanese manga artist. Regarded for her contributions to shōjo manga, Hagio is considered the most significant artist in the demographic and among the most influential manga artists of all time, being referred to as the "god of shōjo manga" by critics.
Japanese in MangaLand (マンガで日本語) is a series of educational books by Marc Bernabe designed to help teach Japanese using original, untranslated manga. Originally published in Spanish as Japonés en viñetas, it has since had translated versions published in English, German, French, Catalan, Italian, and Portuguese. There are three main books along with two workbooks.
Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar & Structure is an educational book by Wayne P. Lammers published by Stone Bridge Press designed to teach Japanese through the use of manga. The use of a pop-culture teaching aid in the form of manga represents a growing trend of Japanese-as-a-second-language students learning for fun, instead of for business reasons.
Robin Dallas Gill, born in 1951 at Miami Beach, Florida, USA, and brought up on the island of Key Biscayne in the Florida Keys, is a bilingual author in Japanese and English.
Furiten-kun (フリテンくん) is a yonkoma manga series by Masashi Ueda which has been serialized in several magazine. In the early 1980s, the manga was published simultaneously in Takeshobo's Kindai Mahjong, Kindai Mahjong Original, and Gamble Punch. It was then published in Manga Life magazine from November 1984 to 1994. The series was started again in January 2001 and is currently running in Manga Life. The title of the series was changed to Shin Furiten-kun (新フリテンくん) in March 2002. The manga was adapted into a theatrical film and an OVA in the early 1980s.
Hideko Mizuno is one of the first successful female Japanese shōjo manga artists. She was an assistant of Osamu Tezuka staying in Tokiwa-sō. She made her professional debut in 1955 with Akakke Kōma Pony, a Western story with a tomboy heroine. She became a prominent shōjo artist in the 1960s and 1970s, starting with White Troika, which serialized in Margaret in 1963.
Fire! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideko Mizuno. It was serialized in Shueisha's magazine Seventeen from 1969–1971. It is about the rise and fall of an American rock star named Aaron. It won the 1970 Shogakukan Manga Award.
Manga (漫画) are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. The term is also now used for a variety of other works in the style of or influenced by the Japanese comics. The production of manga in many forms remains extremely prolific, so a single list covering all the notable works would not be a useful document. Accordingly, coverage is divided into the many related lists below.
Comico is a webtoon portal based in Japan that is part of NHN Japan Corporation. NHN Japan first launched its webtoon platform Comico in Japan in 2013. It was then followed by a launch in Taiwan in 2014 and then in Thailand and South Korea in 2016 followed by Indonesia and Spanish language in 2017. Comico launched its service in Vietnam in April 2020 and in July 2020 launched its English language service under the name "Pocket Comics". Comico has also stated that it will relaunch its Spanish service with the "Pocket Comics" brand later in the future. In 2017, Nielsen Media Research found it to be the second largest website for digital comics in Japan based on the number of users. The Taiwanese version of "Comico" was rebranded to the "Pocket Comics" branding soon after the launch. On January 24, 2022, NHN Japan launched French language service for Pocket Comics. That same year, a German language service was launched.
Crash! is a Japanese manga series by Yuka Fujiwara. Crash! was serialized in the monthly shōjo manga magazine Ribon from the May 2007 issue to the December 2009 issue. A second part was serialized from the April 2010 issue to August 2013 issue in Ribon under the subtitle Brand New Happy Wave. During the series' run, two vomics were released, and an anime adaptation was featured on the children's variety show Oha Suta.
