The Global Manga Phenomenon

Paul Gravett writes on the global manga phenomenon.

Here, a whole 'Pokémon generation' has grown up with these distinctive stories and styles. Many British youngsters are exposed to them first through card- and computer-games and anime (Japanese animation) in the form of such hit television cartoons as Naruto and Oscar-winning movies like Spirited Away. From here, they discover that their bookshop and library shelves are heaving with Viz, Tokyopop, Gollancz and Tanoshimi manga paperbacks. These sometimes long-running series, imported and translated from Japan, are printed in black and white and often in their 'authentic' right-to-left, back-to-front reading direction, baffling adults but captivating kids.