manga fans, what can you tell me about Gekiga?

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

some of the manga cartoonists who's work i enjoy have been called "Gekiga"
can you tell me what other Gekiga cartoonists i should be looking for, besides what's posted on Wikipedia?

[Patrick J]

Ah jeez, not a lot of current manga artists really draw in the Gekiga style and even then its kind of difficult to define what Gekiga is and what it isn't. Because there's the visual style that you would normally expect to be matched with a particular story type, but sometimes that visual style isn't necessarily paired with said story type.

Visually, there's a very good 'mobster/yakuza' manga drawn in the Gekiga style called 'Sanctuary' that's perhaps on my favorite manga of all time, but storyline wise I'm not sure I'd call it a pure Gekiga.

Video Girl Ai is one I suppose you could define as Gekiga but even then I'm not positive.

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

as it's been described to me (and by what cartoonists i've seen associated with the genre), it's their equivalent to american underground and alternative comics

[juampi]

Manga means "capricious drawings" or something like that...
the term gekiga can be translated as "dramatic images"

So the Gekiga is alternative only in the context of the japanese comics market. I find that style much closer to the western style IMO.

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

bump

[Dreg]

It's like Japanese noir. Macho, emotionally devoid men, mysogony, ultra-violence and the like. The writer of Lone Wolf and Cub was one of the fathers of Gekiga.

[Donal DeLay]

Art samples pls.kthx.

[Ryan A. Elliott]

some of the manga cartoonists who's work i enjoy have been called "Gekiga"
can you tell me what other Gekiga cartoonists i should be looking for, besides what's posted on Wikipedia?

Ah jeez, not a lot of current manga artists really draw in the Gekiga style and even then its kind of difficult to define what Gekiga is and what it isn't. Because there's the visual style that you would normally expect to be matched with a particular story type, but sometimes that visual style isn't necessarily paired with said story type.

Visually, there's a very good 'mobster/yakuza' manga drawn in the Gekiga style called 'Sanctuary' that's perhaps on my favorite manga of all time, but storyline wise I'm not sure I'd call it a pure Gekiga.

Video Girl Ai is one I suppose you could define as Gekiga but even then I'm not positive.


THAT can't be a coincidence.

[mhs_111]

-deleted-
ETA: OOPS wrong thread.

[pornbot2.5]

Art samples pls.kthx.

http://www.narbonic.com/drifting_recap.jpg

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

It's like Japanese noir. Macho, emotionally devoid men, mysogony, ultra-violence and the like. The writer of Lone Wolf and Cub was one of the fathers of Gekiga.

:?
i didn't like Lone Wolf and Cub

i think i had a different impression of it
thought it was more like our alternative comics

[spencerdidyrmom]

Have you looked into Yoshihiro Tatsumi yet? He's the godfather of underground japanese comics. His The Push Man & Other Stories (http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?item=a424ac986cb638) was great. A little disturbing, but still a good read.

Another good book I recommend would be Blue Spring. (http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Spring-1/dp/1591166454) Its an interesting read about high school delinquents coming of age. Its a bit bleak but so good. Don't know if you would call this traditional Gekiga, but I think you'll like it.

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

Have you looked into Yoshihiro Tatsumi yet? He's the godfather of underground japanese comics. His The Push Man & Other Stories (http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?item=a424ac986cb638) was great. A little disturbing, but still a good read.


big fan

[spencerdidyrmom]

I figured as much. Have you looked into Tezuka's work? He's got some really good adult stuff out there such as Ode To Kirohito.

[Olivier E.]

Many seem to be confusing gekiga with slice of life comics.

Gekiga is a more realistic, rough and simple syle. Used in the 60's-70's. Nowadays the style is only used by underground companies, which titles don't make it outside of Japan. I wouldn't consider Ikegami, or Lone wolf & cub as gekiga.

http://www.coinbd.com/images/planches/20060702000418_t2.jpg

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

I figured as much. Have you looked into Tezuka's work? He's got some really good adult stuff out there such as Ode To Kirohito.

there are some things about Tezuka i love, and there are some things i hate
but i think most of things i hate are more cultural than anything else

[Olivier E.]

:?
i didn't like Lone Wolf and Cub

i think i had a different impression of it
thought it was more like our alternative comics

It is that, don't believe wikipedia.

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

It is that, don't believe wikipedia.

do you have any examples that i might be able to find in the states?

[andrew french]

been reading the TCJ Tatsumi interview, eh?

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

been reading the TCJ Tatsumi interview, eh?

no
i don't get TCJ

didn't even think he was still alive

[andrew french]

no
i don't get TCJ

didn't even think he was still alive

he was at SDCC a couple years ago, and as Tomine told me, very likely his last US appearance ever.

the TCJ interview with him is very fantastic, and maybe a year old? it has a beautiful cover by him, too.

[Andreas]

This is taken (and translated) from Stephan Köhn's essay "Gekiga - Dramatische Bilder" in Reddition #44 (2006). The original essay is much longer.


The First Generation

Gekiga originated in the 1950s when a group of creators felt the need to distance themselves from manga, which had become associated with children's entertainment. The term means "dramatic images."

Addressing an older audience allowed gekiga to deal with issues that had social, historical, or political relevance. Gekiga explored new ways to tell stories visually, and after several years those became part of the mainstream, too. After the end of the gekiga movement, and from the mid-70s on, the term is mostly used to describe mangas for a grown-up audience.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/001-tatsumi-gara-1972.jpg

Cover of Garo #105 (1972) by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. (c) Seirindo

Yoshihiro Tatsumi was one of the first artists, whose stories did not fit the traditional publications (one of the dominant creators published in the traditional magazines was Osamu Tezuka). Tatsumi found a small publishing house, Hakko, in Osaka that was willing to offer him an outlet with Detective Book: The Shadow (Tantei bukku: Kage), a monthly magazine in the style of a short story anthology. [An interview with Yoshihiro Tatsumi was published in The Comics Journal #281.]

In contrast to manga, which was interested in an exaggeration, simplification, and deformation of reality, the artists in this new magazine were interested in an uncompromising depiction of reality. A more differentiated way of expression was required to depict real contexts. A deeper understanding in the reader could only be achieved by the use of an epic narrative style, e.g. using numerous panels to reproduce a single scene.

Other creators who contributed to The Shadow were Yohihiro Tatsumi's brother Shoichi Sakurai, Masami Kurota, Makoto Takahashi, and Masahiko Matsumoto. Later they were joined by Takao Saito, Susumu Yamamori, Shigeo Iwai, and Masaaki Sato. After only six months their publisher ran into financial difficulties, and the circle of artists found a new home at Tokai tosho, better known as Sentoraru bonko in Nagoya and created the magazine Thriller Book: The City (Surira bukku: Machi). When their old publisher went into business again under the new name Koshin shobo, the group found themselves with two outlets for their works.

These two magazines differed from the common magazines of the big publishers in several ways. They omitted pure text stories for children and young adults (shonen shosetsu). They did not serialize their stories, but every short story (tanpen) concluded in the same issue. And they did not choose a distribution of their magazines through book stores but through a parallel existing system of book lenders (lending libraries/comics-rental stores).

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/002-tatsumi-monki-1971.jpg

From "Itoshi no monki" by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, in: Garo #89 (March 1971). (c) Seirindo

The term gekiga was used for the first time in 1956, when Yoshihiro Tatsumi published his short story "The Ghost Taxi" (Yurei takushi) in The City #12. Gekiga described a new form of telling stories that had a certain dramatics and a stronger focus on the personal tragedy of the protagonist.

In the early years, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Masahiko Matsumoto, and Takao Saito each had their own work shop, and there was another shop the majority of artists worked for. In 1958 they all joined Tatsumi's "Work Shop of Dramatic Images" (with the exception of Matsumoto's). Gekiga had its breakthrough a few years later in 1958, when Tokyo publisher Togetsu shobo began to publish the monthly magazine The Skyscraper (Matenro). The magazine was distributed to book lenders all over Japan, and many other publishers in Tokyo took note of the new group of creators. Within a short time, 70 to 80 new magazines were created.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/003-g-pen-takekuma-1995.jpg

[i]The G pen, used by gekiga artists, and its effect, demonstrated by Kentaro Takekuma in Manga no yomikata (How to Read Manga), 1995. (c) Takarajimasha

What was new about gekiga was its high degree of realism in the depiction of characters and backgrounds. The gekiga artists' use of the G pen allowed for a flow of lines that gave room for dynamics and contributed to the plasticity of anything physical. The artists were looking to depict reality and authenticity, which spoke to older readers, who looked for affirmation and something to identify with that couldn't be found in manga.

The popular artists soon demanded higher fees, which led to the magazines hiring a popular artist for the title story, and filling up the magazine with stories by amateurs who were cheaper. The resultant decline in quality was followed by a decline in demand and, finally, production ended. In February 1960, Yoshihiro Tatsumi's "Work Shop of Dramatic Images" was shut down. Meanwhile, gekiga had become widely established, which allowed to distribute the new form outside of monthly magazines.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/004-benizuru.jpg

Dynamic fight between Benizuru and his opponent in the paper theatre Benizuru (The Red Crane). (c) Asahi shinbunsha


The Second Generation

In the 1960s, two key figures became important for the development of gekiga. The first was Sanpei Shirato who had created his "Book of Ninja Warfare" (Ninja bugeicho - Kagemaru den) between 1959 and 1962, which was the first epic in the gekiga style (with more than 3,500 pages). The second was publisher Katsuichi Nagai.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/007-shirato-garo-1964.jpg

Cover of Garo #1 (1964) by Sanpei Shirato. (c) Seirindo

Two magazines, Weekly Boys Sunday (Shukan shonen sande, published from 1959 on by Shogakukan) and Weekly Boys Magazine (Shukan shonen magajin, published from 1959 on by Kodansha), had become increasingly attractive for many gekiga artists. Many monthly magazines became unprofitable. The competition of the big publishing houses contributed to the breakdown of the system of book lenders.

Katsuichi Nagai, who had specialised on publishing the works of artists like Sanpei Shirato and Masaaki Sato for Nihon manga sha and San'yosha, launched a new monthly magazine in 1964. Monthly Magazine Garo (Gekkan manga: Garo; 1964-1997, irregular schedule between 1998 and 2002) was published by Katsuichi Nagai's Seirindo, featured a forum for gekiga artists, and was distributed through the system of book stores.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/005-ninja-bugeicho-1959-62.jpg

Speed lines and sound words in Ninja bugeicho (Book of Ninja Warfare) Vol. 4 (left) and Vol. 12 (right), 1959-1962. (c) Akame Productions

Like other magazines, Garo offered serialized stories, which guaranteed reader commitment. For the next seven years, it published Sanpei Shirato's second historical epic, "Legend of Kamui" (Kamui den). The story, like many other of Shirato's stories set in feudal Japan during the 16th and 17th century, describes the coming of age of a young ruffian, Kanui, who becomes the best ninja warrior of his time. The story was successful enough to spawn two spin-off series and also a sequel that was published by Biggu komiku magazine (Shokaguan) between 1988 and 2000. Shirato was responsible for bringing a new dynamics to gekiga by adding speed lines, sound words, fast panning shots, and long sequences of silent panels.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/006-ninja-bugeicho-1962.jpg

Use of cinematic techniques in Ninja bugeicho (1962). (c) Akame Productions

Another important creator in the early years of Garo was Shigeru Mizuki. "Kitaro's Night Stories" (Kitaro yawa), serialized between 1967 and 1969, were characterized by a subtle mood of uneasiness and anxiety (similar to film noir), created by a blend of strong lines and fine hatchings, dark and sinister backgrounds, and an effective contrast of light and shadow.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/009-shigeru-mizuki-gara-1969.jpg

A surreal trip between life and death in Kitaro yawa (Kitaro's Night Stories) by Shigeru Mizuki, in: Garo #57 (March 1969). (c) Seirindo

The great success allowed Katsuichi Nagai to publish a magazine with fanzine character and to present a number of unknown and unconventional artists. The climate encouraged the artists to experiment with new narrative forms.

The most radical break with mainstream mangas came with Yoshiharu Tsuge, who began to publish his stories from the mid-1960s on. Tsuge avoided any form of serialisation and specialised in short stories. While "The Samurai They Talk About" (Uwasa no bushi; August 1965) is rather conventional, one could notice a radical change with the story "The Pond" (Numa) in the Februar 1966 edition of Garo. It culminated in his most well-known story "Screwstyle" (Nejishiki) in 1968. Calm, regular panels and layouts and the realistic backgrounds suggest a naturalness of the scenes, which is in contrast to the irrational behavior of the protagonist. Tsuge created Kafkaesque scenes that confront the readers with the borders of the real and unreal. [Yoshiharu Tsuge's work "Screwstyle" was published in The Comics Journal #250.]

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/010-yoshiharu-tsuge-1968.jpg

The desperate "I"-narrator looking for a doctor in Nejishki (Screwstyle) by Yoshiharu Tsuge, June 1968. (c) Shogakukan

Even more radical were Seiichi Hayashi and Maki Sasaki. In 1969 Sakai created "Series Ash Day: The Selected Sheep is..." (Shirizu seikaiyobi: Erabareta hitsuji wa), an expressive collage of images that negated any narrative structure and pointed to the visual potential of a language of images that could no longer be expressed adequately by gekiga or manga.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/011-maki-sasaki-garo-1969.jpg

Maki Sasaki's story Shirizu seikaiyobi: Erabareta hitsuji wa (Series Ash Day: The Selected Sheep is...) omits a narrative structure, in: Garo #57, March 1969. (c) Seirinda

When Sanpei Shirato brought "Legend of Kamui" to an end in 1971 and left Seirindo, Katsuichi Nagai was forced to hire more commercial artists, and the second generation of gekiga artists had lost their forum. The gekiga of the "first" and "second" generation had ceased to exist as an independent form of expression and, successively, became a part of mainstream manga production.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/museumofman/comic-div/comic-div-2007/manga/012-yoshiharu-tsuge-garo-1965.jpg

Yoshiharu Tsuge's debut in Garo (August 1965), the samurai story Uwasa no bushi (The Samurai They Talk About). (c) Shogakukan

Andreas

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

thanks!


as near as i can tell, it seems like "Gekiga" is anything from 1966-1980 that wasn't completely ripping off Tezuka

really what i'm looking for is the equivalent of the current underground/art comic movement from people like Warren Craghead or Andrei Molotiu

but i think i'd have a cold shot in hell of find anything like that (though i'm sure it exists) that got brought over to the states

[Andreas]

You could check out scanlation groups. Dirk Deppey wrote a short guide (http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=430&Itemid=70). Kotonoha offers some of Yoshiharu Tsuge's shorter works (http://kotonoha.monkey-pirate.com/one-shots/one-shots-m-z/) as scanlations (I haven't checked the site, there may be more).

Same Hat! Same Hat! (http://samehat.blogspot.com/2007/06/bea-roundup-same-hat-edition.html) reported from the New York Book Expo 2007 in June on Drawn & Quarterly's upcoming books:

I asked Chris [Oliveros] about the future of their [Yoshihiro] Tatsumi series, which seems to have stalled out with the release last year of his amazing ABANDON THE OLD IN TOKYO. Chris confirmed that they ARE definitely doing a third book (Unnamed 1971 collection), probably in the first half of 2008, and hoping to be able to continue the chronological series in the future.

Chris also confirmed that they are planning on publishing Tatsumi's 800 page graphic autobiography, A Drifting Life in Gekiga, and that Adrian Tomine would likely be involved in that book as well. AWESOME! It sounds like they are extremely excited about this epic book, but that it is a few years away.

Also on the manga front, D&Q is looking to continue pushing the envelope with other experimental & gekiga titles. After the third Tatsumi book, but before his autobiography, they will be releasing the famous RED-COLORED ELEGY (Sekishoku erejii) by Seiichi Hayashi. Check out this blog (http://completelyfutile.blogspot.com/2004/05/manga-corner-seiichi-hayashi-here.html) for a review of this title, and here (http://www.hayashi-seiichi.jp/) for Hayashi's website. I'm not as familiar with Hayashi as I should be, but he is a contemporary of [Yoshiharu] Tsuge, did covers for Garo and continues to produce all sorts of interesting visual work.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/samehat/book-sekisyoku.gif

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/samehat/sp2000111.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/samehat/other-elegy.gif

Andreas

[Angel]

look up Junichi Nojo

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

You could check out scanlation groups. Dirk Deppey wrote a short guide (http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=430&Itemid=70). Kotonoha offers some of Yoshiharu Tsuge's shorter works (http://kotonoha.monkey-pirate.com/one-shots/one-shots-m-z/) as scanlations (I haven't checked the site, there may be more).

Same Hat! Same Hat! (http://samehat.blogspot.com/2007/06/bea-roundup-same-hat-edition.html) reported from the New York Book Expo 2007 in June on Drawn & Quarterly's upcoming books:

I asked Chris [Oliveros] about the future of their [Yoshihiro] Tatsumi series, which seems to have stalled out with the release last year of his amazing ABANDON THE OLD IN TOKYO. Chris confirmed that they ARE definitely doing a third book (Unnamed 1971 collection), probably in the first half of 2008, and hoping to be able to continue the chronological series in the future.

Chris also confirmed that they are planning on publishing Tatsumi's 800 page graphic autobiography, A Drifting Life in Gekiga, and that Adrian Tomine would likely be involved in that book as well. AWESOME! It sounds like they are extremely excited about this epic book, but that it is a few years away.

Also on the manga front, D&Q is looking to continue pushing the envelope with other experimental & gekiga titles. After the third Tatsumi book, but before his autobiography, they will be releasing the famous RED-COLORED ELEGY (Sekishoku erejii) by Seiichi Hayashi. Check out this blog (http://completelyfutile.blogspot.com/2004/05/manga-corner-seiichi-hayashi-here.html) for a review of this title, and here (http://www.hayashi-seiichi.jp/) for Hayashi's website. I'm not as familiar with Hayashi as I should be, but he is a contemporary of [Yoshiharu] Tsuge, did covers for Garo and continues to produce all sorts of interesting visual work.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/samehat/book-sekisyoku.gif

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/samehat/sp2000111.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y15/samehat/other-elegy.gif

Andreas
this looks closer to the kind of thing i'm looking for

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

look up Junichi Nojo

thanks!

[Olivier E.]

I don't know if anything in the States has been published by Abe Shin'ichi.

He was the big star in the 70's in the japanese underground scene and stopped in the late 70's his career. Now he's back.

http://www.manga-news.com/public/images/vols/gentil_garcon.jpg
http://www.manga-news.com/public/images/series/.amours_taneko_m.jpg


http://www.editions-picquier.fr/medias/cat_1141747742_1.pdf