Manga?

The Purpose of This Page

The following definitions are gathered from a variety of sources where the citation, either MLA or Chicago style, is provided underneath each definition.

Note: I am providing the information below, so that the reader can see the different interpretations and understanding of the words. It is best to GO to the source and look it up yourself, so that you can get a FULL picture of the subject. :-) Thank you.

Manga

n. Southwest : PONCHO”
“Man·ga.” Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. 2002. Print.

n. MANGA”
“Man·ga.” Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. 2002. Print.

n. a Japanese genre of cartoons, comic books, and animation films, typically having a science-fiction or fantasy theme and sometimes including violent or sexually explicit material.”
“Man·ga.” The New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd ed. 2005. Print.

“The term “manga” covers all Japanese comics, including stories for men and women, children and adults. Historical drama, comedy, romance, horror, science fiction, sports, experimental works – manga span every genre imaginable. You may think you know “the manga style,” but there are manga that look nothing like it.”
Jason Thompson, Manga: the Complete Guide (New York: Del Rey Books, 2007), xi-xii.

“Manga (漫画 or まんが) is Japanese for “comics.”...the term can be translated as “whimsical sketches” or “lighthearted pictures.””
Jason Thompson, Manga: the Complete Guide (New York: Del Rey Books, 2007), xiii.

“Manga – Print comics in Japan. The word simply translates as “comics,” and covers all printed matter from three-hundred-page magazine printed weekly and monthly to the tankobon, or bound volumes, available at newsstands, manga stores, and bookstores.”
Robin E. Brenner, Understanding Manga and Anime (Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2007), 300.

“In Japan, the word manga may be used for comics or any origin – hence, the new Japanese International Manga Award, limited to “up and coming foreign manga artists” from outside Japan. In the United States, the word means comics from Japan as well as from Korea and China – and sometimes, by extension, comics from any country that are drawn similarly to Japanese titles. (Fans debate this last meaning.)”
Robin E. Brenner, “Japanese Manga,” in Graphic Novels Beyond the Basics: Insights and Issues for Libraries, ed. Cornog, Martha and Timothy Perper (Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2009), 26.

“Manga is a Japanese word that can be roughly translated as “comic books,” graphic novels, or sequential art. In reality, manga is far more complex than such materials in the West...Manga can include almost every genre imaginable, from funny stories or serious literature.”
Gilles Poitras, “Japanese Anime,” in Graphic Novels Beyond the Basics: Insights and Issues for Libraries, eds. Cornog, Martha and Timothy Perper (Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2009), 194.

© 2012 Linda Thai