• Many people in Japan make a living by drawing manga. Manga are Japanese comics. The current style was developed shortly after World War II , but manga has been a part of Japanese culture for a lot longer than that. Some of these comics have been made into an anime. Anime is also know as “Japanese animation.” Anime and manga have become popular all around the world. There are many fans in the United States. In April, there is an anime convention at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Several of my friends and I will be attending this popular convention. Three of my favorite mangaka or manga artists are Kaori Yuki, Clamp and Tite Kubo.

    One of my favorite mangaka’s is Tite Kubo. Tite Kubo’s real name is Noriaki Kubo. His penname is Tite. He was born on June 26,1977 in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan. Not much is known about his family. He was involved in the anime club at his school. He made his first manga with an entire plot line during his third year of high school. It was called “Zombie Powder.” He tried to get his story published through Shonen Jump, a Japanese publishing company but it was rejected due to Tite’s lack of experience. However, the editors of Shonen Jump mentored him and helped him make it better and it was eventually published. Zombie Powder made it to its fourth volume before it was cancelled. Tite tried to publish another manga called “Bleach.” It was reject ed because of its similarity to another manga called “Yu Yu Hakusho.” Kubo was about to give up until he received a letter. The letter was from Akira Toriyama, the creator of “Dragon Ball,” a very popular anime and magna series. This letter became Tite’s inspiration for attempting to get “Bleach” published again. This time “Bleach” was published and became an instant hit. Its popularity continues to rise all across the world. Today there are over 200 episodes and almost 350 manga chapters. “Bleach” is one of my favorite amines. I also like how the manga is drawn in the books. Tite draws really great action scenes!
     

    Another one of favorite mangaka’s is Kaori Yuki. She was born in Tokyo, Japan. In the Japanese culture there is a belief, similar to astrology, that blood type or ketsueki-gata is a predictor of personality. Kaori has type B blood. According to her blood type, she is wild, active and doer. Kaori Yuki keeps to her self so there is not much published about her. It is known that she likes cats, coffee, cheesecake, sleeping, movies, shiny lace, the moon, Alice in Wonderland and Japanese rock bands. She has loved to draw even since she was in middle school. She doesn’t like to much publicity. She describes herself as temperamental and without self-control. She also describes herself as lacking in both long and short term memory. I love Kaori’s drawings because they are so creative and unique.

     

    One other mangaka l like is Clamp. Clamp is referred to as one author but Clamp is actually a group of four female mangakas. There names are Nanase Okawa, Mokona Apapa, Satsuki Igarashi and Mikku Nekoi. Their group was established in 1989. There were originally 11 women in this group, now there are just the four. Their first manga was “RG Veda” They went on to create many popular manga like “Card captor Sakura, Chobit and Xxxholic.” Before researching Clamp I did not realize that they were a group of people, not just one person. I think that their drawings are really cool.


    


    In conclusion, I really enjoy manga and anime. I have been reading manga and watching anime for a little over a year. I find the drawings and plot lines fascinating. I know people who share a similar interest in it. I believe that there are many good messages and ideas in the stories. While I know many people question why I have this interest, I challenge people to be open to reading manga and watching anime. I think they would be surprised!