The main duty of artistic creation is to convey emotions and permit the reader to feel what the author felt in that precise moment. In this way, the creators establish a solid and intimate relationship with their audience. There may be many channels artists represent their view of the world and feelings; one of these is by using comics. The British Museum has been showing an amazing exhibition focused on manga – the traditional Japanese graphic stories. Mangas are an important part of the Nipponese society as they represent and emphasize flaws and merits it has. Buzzes and whispering voices fill my ears as I enter the main hall of the British Museum; being extremely careful to avoid clashing with lively enthusiastic children dragging their parents from room to room, I cross the chamber and reach the entrance of the exhibition. Although the ticket availability was very limited, I don’t have to queue up, and rapidly a smiling attendant ushers me in the room. Despite manga began their successful path in Western society in the Eighties, their origins date in the Nineteenth century when artists used engaging images to tell compelling and involving stories. The fathers of this art were Kitazawa Rakuten (1876-1955) and Okamoto Ippei (1886-1948); satire and political criticism were the core of their astonishing drawings. Wandering among the softly lightened windows reminds me of when I first grabbed a manga and tried reading it, flipping the pages and, then, staring confused at that glossed-cover volume. Manga’s reading direction differs completely from what we are used to because the flow goes from top to bottom and from right to left. Fortunately, the numbered board in front of which I stand explains clearly the reading direction to them who are not familiar with these strips. Unexpectedly, Charles Wirgman, British cartoonist, founded the first monthly manga magazine – Japan Punch – in 1862. The creation of stories goes through a deep and intense work; the behind-the-scene requires a certain number of writers to make the story, artists to transform those ideas and plots into drawing, and, finally, editors and publishers interested in the product. Wandering around the windows, it almost seems incredible that the making of these apparently simple black-and-white strips requires such an amount of efforts. The public rediscovered manga after WWII when an unknown artist realised that he could use manga to convince people to take care of the world they had been living in. The myth of Tezuka Osamu, so, was born. Originally from Osaka, Osamu (1928-1989) is the father of modern manga. His masterpiece is Astro Boy (original name Mighty Atom) – the story of a powerful android created by Doctor Tenma after his son died in a car accident. The success of this hero was immediate, and, still, collectors and readers enjoy this amazing masterpiece. Walking among these astounding masterpieces makes perfectly clear an important thing: manga aren’t for kids only. The purpose of a mangaka – the correct name of the person who draws manga – is to voice their emotions and create stories which represent their view of society. Since the beginning, artists have examined and deepened human feelings – “Captain Tsubasa,” by Yoichi Takahashi, for example, focuses not only on football, although it’s the main theme, but it analyses the most important stages of Tsubasa Oozora’s life, from childhood to adulthood, in which the protagonist discovers the real value of friendship, competition, love, and loss. “Full Metal Alchemist” by Hiromu Arakawa goes even deeper and more philosophical as it tells the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Eric, in search for the philosopher’s stone to restore their bodies after the attempt to bring their mother back to life went bad. Once again, the main characters face life’s ups-and-downs and the value of true sentiment – loyalty, religion, and friendship, especially. The relationship between museums and manga is almost twenty-year-old; in 2006, the Kyoto International Manga Museum opened its doors to waves of passionate and fans. The British Museum started to collect manga roughly a decade ago, and, in 2011, after an exhibition dedicated to the mangaka Yukinobu Hoshino, the artist thanked the institute creating “Professor Munakata’s British Museum Adventure” in which Hoshino’s most popular character gets involved in unexpected and exciting adventures at the British Museum.
The voice of the attendant echoes in the entire room as visitors and I pace among the final and amazing artworks neatly displayed; the museum is about to shut in twenty minutes, and, automatically, my eyes go to the small numbers written on the screen of my mobile. It’s five o’clock. I passed an intense hour exploring different views of our world. Emotions have the huge power of triggering unpredicted reactions, and every artist has the ability to show them in their devastating strength and unsettling darkness. The deeper the mangaka plunge you into his world, the better you comprehend his perception of the complicated and intricate society in which we all live.
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