, literally "dramatic pictures", is a style of

Japanese comics Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

aimed at adult audiences and marked by a more cinematic art style and more mature themes. ''Gekiga'' was the predominant style of adult comics in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It is aesthetically defined by sharp angles, dark

hatching Hatching (french: hachure) is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading Shading refers to the depiction of depth perception in 3D models (within the field of 3D computer graphics) or illustrations (in visual art) by varying ...

, and gritty lines, and thematically by realism, social engagement, maturity, and masculinity.

History

In the 1950s, mainstream Japanese comics (

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

) came from Tokyo and was aimed at children, led by the work of

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

. Before Tezuka moved to Tokyo, he lived in Osaka and mentored artists such as

Yoshihiro Tatsumi was a Japanese manga artist whose work was first published in his teens, and continued through the rest of his life. He is widely credited with starting the gekiga style of alternative manga in Japan, having allegedly coined the term in 1957. H ...

and Masahiko Matsumoto who admired him. Although influenced by Tezuka and his cinematic style, Tatsumi and his colleagues were not interested in making comics for children. They wanted to write comics for adults that were more graphic and showed more violence. Tatsumi explained, "Part of that was influenced by the newspaper stories I would read. I would have an emotional reaction of some kind and want to express that in my comics." The name ''gekiga'' was coined in 1957 by Tatsumi and adopted by other more serious Japanese cartoonists, who did not want their trade to be known by the more common term "manga", meaning "whimsical pictures". Irma Nunez of ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched b ...

'' wrote that "rather than simply use 'gekiga' as a banner to legitimize adult content and realism in manga, ... they developed a whole new aesthetic." Matsumoto's son said that these artists felt that the shorter stories Tezuka started writing after moving to Tokyo, narrowed his expression as action needed to be explained in speech bubbles. Nunez explained, "Structural integrity was one of the pioneers' primary concerns. They experimented with how best to blend images with the text; how a closeup might express the interiority of a character; how to synchronize a story's action with the pace of the reader's gaze as it covered the page." Rather than working for the mainstream publications, the ''gekiga'' artists worked in the rental manga industry; where the work of several artists were printed in collections, that readers borrowed from stores and then returned like video rentals. In November 1956, Masahiko Matsumoto used the term to describe his work ''Kyūketsu-jū'', instead of manga. Matsumoto's son later claimed this work was the basis for what would later be known as ''gekiga''. Yoshihiro Tatsumi's work ''Yūrei Taxi'' was the first to be called ''gekiga'' when it was published at the end of 1957. Other names he considered include ''katsudōga'' and ''katsuga'', both derived from ''katsudō eiga'' or "moving pictures", an early term for films, showing the movement's cinematic influence. In 1959, the formed in Tokyo with eight members, including Tatsumi, Matsumoto, and

Takao Saito was a Japanese manga artist, although he rejected the term and considered his work gekiga. He was best known for '' Golgo 13'', which has been serialized in ''Big Comic'' since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in publication. ''Golgo ...

. The group wrote a sort of "Gekiga Manifesto" that was sent to various publishers and newspapers declaring their mission. The Gekiga Kōbō disbanded in 1960 over internal divisions;Booker, M. Keith. ''Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas'' (ABC-CLIO, 2014), p. 162. although as an organized group it was very short-lived, its influence was long lasting. The avant-garde magazine ''

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

'', founded in 1964, was an outlet for experimental and unconventional works that were "visually or thematically too challenging for the mainstream market". With works like Sanpei Shirato's ''

Kamui A ''kamuy'' ( ain, カムィ; ja, カムイ, kamui) is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology, a term denoting a supernatural entity composed of or possessing spiritual energy. The Ainu people have many myths about the ''kamuy'', passed ...

'', it quickly gained a following among college students. In response to the success of ''Garo'', Tezuka founded the magazine ''

COM Com or COM may refer to: Computing * COM (hardware interface), a serial port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers * COM file, or .com file, short for "command", a file extension for an executable file in MS-DOS * .com, an Internet top-level d ...

'' in 1967 for more experimental works. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the children who had grown up reading manga wanted something aimed at older audiences and ''gekiga'' provided that niche.

The Cartoon Museum ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

describes the ''gekiga'' audience: "Drawn in a more realistic and atmospheric style with grittier story lines, gekiga attracted older teenagers, university students and eventually adult readers." That particular generation came to be known as the "manga generation" because it read manga as a form of rebellion, which was similar to the role that

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...

played for

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

in the United States. Some authors use the term ''gekiga'' to describe works that only have shock factor. In 1968, Tatsumi published ''Gekiga College'' because he felt ''gekiga'' was straying too far from its roots and wanted to reclaim its meaning. In 2009, he said, "Gekiga is a term people throw around now to describe any manga with violence or eroticism or any spectacle. It's become synonymous with spectacular. But I write manga about households and conversations, love affairs, mundane stuff that is not spectacular. I think that's the difference." The Cartoon Museum wrote that by the 1980s, ''gekiga'' became integrated into various types of manga. "For some younger people the term gekiga is now consigned to the history books, but its legacy lives on." For a long time ''gekiga'' was not translated into other languages, but after 2000 more and more publishers dedicated to graphic novels began to explore the history of Japanese ''gekiga''. More recently, publishers like

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, a ...

began publishing several English editions of works by Tatsumi and

Yoshiharu Tsuge is a Japanese cartoonist and essayist. He was active in comics between 1955 and 1987. His works range from tales of ordinary life to dream-like surrealism, and often show his interest in traveling about Japan. He has garnered the most attent ...

, among others, gaining more attention for the genre in the Western graphic novel market.

Notable artists

The following is a list of

manga artists A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist bef ...

known to have created ''gekiga''. *

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Red Colored Elegy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Seiichi Hayashi. The manga was serialized in manga magazine, ''Garo'' from 1970 to 1971. It is licensed in North America by Drawn & Quarterly, which released the manga on July 8, 2008. It ...

'') *

Ryoichi Ikegami is a Japanese manga artist that usually works as the illustrator in collaboration with a writer. He is best known for ''Crying Freeman'' (1986–1988), written by Kazuo Koike, and '' Heat'' (1999–2004), written by Buronson. The latter won the ...

('' Spider-Man: The Manga'') *

Ikki Kajiwara , known by the pen names and , was a Japanese author, manga writer, and film producer. He is known for the work about sports and martial arts, with images of heroic young men with the occasional fine details as he moves from one topic to anoth ...

(''

Karate Jigoku-hen (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian ...

'') *

Noboru Kawasaki is a Japanese manga artist. He is most famous for illustrating the series ''Star of the Giants''. He won the 14th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1969 for ''Animal 1'' and '' Inakappe Taishō'' as well as the eighth Kodansha Children's Manga Award for ...

(''

Star of the Giants is a Japanese sports manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1966 to 1971. It is about the actual baseball team Yomiuri Giants using ...

'') *

Kazuo Koike was a prolific Japanese manga writer ( gensakusha), novelist, screenwriter, lyricist and entrepreneur. He is best known for his violent, artful ''seinen'' manga, notably ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' (with Goseki Kojima, 1970–6), '' Lady Snowblood'' ...

(''

Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and i ...

'') *

Goseki Kojima was a Japanese manga artist. He is known for his collaborations with manga writer Kazuo Koike, the most famous of them being ''Lone Wolf and Cub''. Biography Kojima was born in Yokkaichi, Mie, on the same day as Osamu Tezuka. After getting out ...

(''Lone Wolf and Cub'') * Masahiko Matsumoto (''

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'') *

('' Golgo 13'') * Sanpei Shirato (''

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A Drifting Life is a thinly veiled autobiographical Japanese manga written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Tatsumi that chronicles his life from 1945 to 1960, the early stages of his career as a cartoonist. The book earned Tatsumi the Tezuka Osamu Cultural ...

'') *

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'', '' Ode to Kirihito'', '' Apollo's Song'', '' MW'') *

Tadao Tsuge Tadao Tsuge (; real name ; born 1941) is a Japanese alternative manga artist. He is known to write stories about the ''kimin'' (; the "abandoned" people) and ''burakumin'' of Japanese society, as well the men who tried to reintegrate into Japanese ...

(''

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'') *

(''

Screw Style is a one-shot gekiga written and illustrated by essayist and mangaka Yoshiharu Tsuge. ''Screw Style'' follows of the story of an unnamed boy who goes around several places in war-torn Japan in order to find a doctor who can fix his pierced art ...

'')

History

Notable artists

See also

References

Further reading