Anime is by far the most popular genre of shows in Japan and has grown considerably in the US in the last decade. But what makes anime so unique? Well, aside from being in Japanese, animated, and holding a vast array of themes you would not see in American TV. A majority of anime comes from already written source material called Manga. Think of it as comic books, but you read them from right to left, and they are also in Japanese. Over sixty percent of all anime come from already successful manga.
You might ask, “well if most of the shows come from manga, why do most people hear about the anime first?” That simply comes the fact that anime, as TV, is more popular in America and many prefer to watch a really cool fight scene than see panels of it drawn out. However, not as popular in America, manga is very popular in Japan making it the dream of many to write their own successful manga one day.
But what does it mean to be a successful manga artist? Sure, the success, fame, and seeing your own creation take life and inspire people are awesome, however, the conditions of working as a publishing manga artist can be oftentimes nearly abusive and have terrible affects on the writers.
The creator of popular manga Hunter x Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho, Yoshihiro Togashi, is the best case of this. In his time of writing Yu Yu Hakusho, Togashi faced severe stress and anxiety as a manga writer being forced to meet inhuman deadlines and, in effect, work an unhealthy amount of hours writing. The stress and pain of writing his popular weekly manga took a huge toll on the writer’s mental health and even physically. Togashi developed a back problem which makes it excruciatingly painful to sit down and write for long periods of time. Togashi wrote to his mental breaking point, and he broke. He still continues to write his new manga, Hunter x Hunter, because he genuinely loves writing. However, he cannot help writing without feeling it is a duty and that drives his stress further until he cannot write anymore. It has given him a severe burnout issue and has cause the manga to be plagued with long hiatuses with this current one going on for about two years now. With such a heavy weight on their shoulders, it is amazing how manga writers are able to still put on a smile for their fans every day and write such quality and great material that they post every week.
Regardless of the results, these conditions have to change. Manga writers are humans too, and companies have begun taking correct steps in order to begin treating them more like one. Many manga artists have now switched to slightly longer manga issues, but have made their releases monthly. This alleviates a lot of stess and allows them to take their time to ensure quality ideas and content while keeping their lives together. Additionally, abusive editors and managers have been often exposed by writers or other media outlets and have led to their removal.
All in all, the manga industry has a long way to go before reaching the ideal working conditions, but with continuous steps in the right direction, we will see manga writers be able to enjoy doing what they love in the way they should in no time!
Although I’m not abundantly familiar with anime or manga, I can definitely relate to the issue you’re describing. I’ve been playing video games nearly all my life and the very same pressures and demands you describe in this post apply to the developers of these games, too. As consumers, we have become so used to instantaneous and constant gratification. However, we fail to consider the work that goes into the product (whether it be manga or the latest video game) which forces the creator into releasing a rushed final version that may not necessarily align with their original vision.
As an avid reader, it’s so interesting to see other genres and cultures become more popular. I’ve never been interested in manga or anime, but you may have changed that.