Manga

Manga (Japanese: 漫画; IPA: [maŋga] ) 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 Japan. In Japan, manga is widely read by people of all ages and backgrounds. The medium features a broad range of genres, including action, adventure, business and commerce, comedy, detective, drama, historical, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, erotica (hentai and ecchi), sports and games, and thriller, among others. Many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has become an increasingly major part of the Japanese publishing industry. By 1995, the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion (US$6–7 billion), with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books and manga magazines (also known as manga anthologies) in Japan (equivalent to 15 issues per person). The domestic manga market in Japan remained in the ¥400 billion range annually from 2014 to 2019. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased time spent at home, the market rapidly expanded to ¥612.6 billion. Growth continued even after the end of lockdowns, reaching a record high of ¥704.3 billion in 2024. Alongside this rapid expansion, the print manga market has continued to shrink; as of 2024, digital manga accounts for approximately ¥500 billion, while print manga makes up about ¥200 billion. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide readership. By the late 2010s, manga started significantly outselling American comics. As of 2021, the top four comics publishers in the world are manga publishers Shueisha, Kodansha, Kadokawa, and Shogakukan. In...