ABSTRACT
In the 1990s, Schodt (1996, pp. 21-22) who introduced Japanese Manga into the US, explained, “Japanese people have had a long love affair with art (especially monochrome line drawing) that is fantastic, humorous, erotic, and sometimes violent,” citing as an example the twelfth-century Chojugiga (Animal Scrolls) by the Buddhist priest Toba. He also mentioned significant cultural differences: “American comic books are usually between 30 and 50 pages long, contain one serialized story, and are published monthly. But manga magazines, many of which are issued weekly, often have 400 pages containing 20 serialized and concluding stories” (ibid., pp. 2223). This output is so prodigious that, “According to the Research Institute for Publications, of all the books and magazines actually sold in Japan in 1995, manga comprised nearly 40 percent of the total” (p. 19).
