Manga de Dokuha
Manga de Dokuha (Japanese: まんがで読破, "Reading Through with Manga") is a series of manga adaptations of classic literature. Published by East Press and later Gakken, the aim of the series is to introduce average manga readers to important literary works they would otherwise not be aware of or willing to read. The series received press coverage for its publication of often controversial political treatises. East Press published best-selling versions of the communist novel Kanikōsen, Karl Marx's Das Kapital and Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. Some of the books were translated and made available in other languages such as English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Manga de Dokuha was launched by East Press in an effort to expose young Japanese people to classic works of literature in a manga format. Kosuke Maruo produces each book in the series and outlines the narrative while artwork is created by Variety Art Works.[1] The books in the series were often sold through easily accessible convenience stores, including 7-Eleven. Maruo said: "We thought that maybe we could get people to read well-known works perceived as tough reads by turning them into manga and selling them at convenience stores". In July 2008, the series' first 17 entries had sold over 900,000 copies.[2] The average sales for an entry in the series were around 35,000.[1]
Significant entries
[edit]Kanikōsen and Das Kapital
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c5/Kanikosen_manga.jpg/220px-Kanikosen_manga.jpg)
Kanikōsen (蟹工船) (published in English as The Crab Canning Ship or The Crab Ship) is a 1929 Japanese novel by Takiji Kobayashi. Written from a left-wing political perspective, the book follows the crew of a crab fishing ship living under oppressive conditions while being exploited by capitalists. The novel which typically sells around 5,000 copies a year became an unexpected bestseller in 2008 and sold over 507,000 copies that year. The same year, East Press published its own manga version of the novel which sold over 200,000 copies.[3] In response to the popularity of the communist-themed Kanikōsen manga, East Press published a manga version of Karl Marx's 1867 treatise Das Kapital. This version presents the original Marxist anti-capitalist principles via the fictionalized tale of Robin, the owner of a cheese factory who experiences guilt for exploiting his workers and betraying his father's socialist principles. Maruo stated that "I think people are looking to Marx for answers to the problems with capitalist society. Obviously, the recent global crisis suggests that the system isn't working properly". East Press's edition of Das Kapital sold 6,000 copies in its first few days of publication.[4]
The renewed success of both the novel and manga versions of Kanikōsen as well as that of the manga Das Kapital were often discussed in the context of the rising popularity of left-wing literature in Japan, the late-2000s recession affecting Japan and growing membership of the Japanese Communist Party.[3][5][6] According to Waseda University literature professor Hirokazu Toeda, "Kanikōsen is discussed and analyzed every time a critical social issue occurs – the disparity society, severe labor conditions, consumer product falsification, random killings. This is a unique characteristic of the Kanikōsen boom and it now is symbolizing or mirroring all those negative aspects of current day Japan".[7] Daisuke Asao, a senior office of the National Confederation of Trades Unions, said that "the situation of those labourers in the book is very similar to modern temporary workers: the unpredictable contracts, the working under heavy supervision, violence from supervisors, the widespread sexual harassment and the pressure against unionisation are all things that modern Japanese recognise every day".[5] Anti-poverty activist Kosuke Hashimoto responded to the books' popularity, saying: "I think many young people in Japan are afraid of the future, and that fear is sometimes turning to anger. Reading comics might only be the start".[6] Social welfare advocate Kaori Katada said: "Poverty has been a growing and visible problem for some time, but now people are looking for answers about why it is returning. That's why they're turning to these books".[6]
Mein Kampf
[edit]A version of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (わが闘争, Waga Tōsō) was published in October 2008. The book is Hitler's autobiography in which he outlines his Nazi political ideology. The manga version of Mein Kampf was a minor commercial success, selling 45,000 copies.[8] However, it also proved to be controversial. The Financial Ministry of Bavaria which owns the copyright to the book and has refused to publish it in Germany issued a statement saying that manga was an inappropriate medium for Hitler's writing.[8] Bavaria's former Japanese representative Toshio Obata stated: "Even 60 years after the end of war, Nazism remains a sensitive issue in Germany. Did East Press exhaust discussions before publishing it? Did it consider the difference between Japan and Germany as to how manga is viewed as a medium?"[1] Maruo defended its publication, saying "Mein Kampf is a well-known book, but relatively few people have read it. We think this will provide clues about Hitler as a human being, as to his way of thinking that led to such tragedy, even though he was dismissed as a 'monster'". The publication of the manga helped reignite the debate in Germany as to whether the ban on the book should be lifted.[1]
International publications
[edit]Between November 2011 and November 2012,[9][10] JManga made available online 14 Manga de Dokuha titles in English, namely No Longer Human, Das Kapital, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Night on the Galactic Railroad, The Book of Five Rings, I Am a Cat, Seton's Wild Animals, Sutta Nipata, One Thousand and One Nights, The Metamorphosis, Journey to the West, In Search of Lost Time, The Art of War and The Narrow Road to the Deep North.[11] One Peace Books also released Don Quixote, The Great Gatsby, Moby-Dick, Ulysses and The War of the Worlds as part of its "Manga Classic Readers" series on 1 September 2012.[12] Canadian company Red Quill Books physically published Das Kapital in 2012 as Capital in Manga!.[13]
The Spanish division of Verlag Herder publishes the series in the country since 2011.[14] Thus Spoke Zarathustra,[15] the Divine Comedy,[16] The Prince,[17] The Art of War,[18] The Social Contract,[19] Das Kapital,[20] the Iliad and the Odyssey (in a single book),[21] Nineteen Eighty-Four,[22] The Antichrist,[23] the Analects[24] and Tao Te Ching[25] are the eleven books published by the company.
In Brazil, Editora JBC published The Capital and King Lear in 2011.[26] Two years later, L&PM Editores published The Art of War, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.[27] Between 2013 and 2016, L&PM published the Manifesto of the Communist Party, The Metamorphosis, The Social Contract,[26] The Brothers Karamazov,[28] In Search of Lost Time,[29] and Ulysses.[30] A box containing The Brothers Karamazov, The Great Gatsby, The Metamorphosis and Thus Spoke Zarathustra was also released in 2015.[31]
List of entries
[edit]Manga de Dokuha (2007-2017, East Press)
[edit]Kyōyō o Hirogeru Manga de Yomu Meicho (2015, East Press)
[edit]Number | Titel | Original author/editor | ISBN | Publication date |
---|---|---|---|---|
MM1 | Theory of relativity | Albert Einstein | ISBN 978-4-7816-1319-2 | April 2015 |
MM2 | An Encouragement of Learning | Fukuzawa Yukichi | ISBN 978-4-7816-1320-8 | April 2015 |
MM3 | The Origin of Species | Charles Darwin | ISBN 978-4-7816-1328-4 | June 2015 |
MM4 | Das Kapital | Karl Marx | ISBN 978-4-7816-1329-1 | June 2015 |
Manga de Dokuha Junior Series (2023, Gakken)
[edit]Number | Titel | Original author/editor | ISBN | Publication date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kanikōsen | Takiji Kobayashi | ISBN 978-4-05-205752-6 | September 2023 |
2 | Night on the Galactic Railroad | Kenji Miyazawa | ISBN 978-4-05-205777-9 | September 2023 |
3 | Journey to the West | ISBN 978-4-05-205794-6 | October 2023 | |
4 | Kokoro | Natsume Sōseki | ISBN 978-4-05-205795-3 | October 2023 |
5 | The Tale of Genji | Murasaki Shikibu | ISBN 978-4-05-205862-2 | December 2023 |
6 | A Christmas Carol | Charles John Huffam Dickens | ISBN 978-4-05-205861-5 | December 2023 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Ishikawa, Tomoya (30 September 2009). "Manga 'Mein Kampf' gives Hitler a new audience". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ "Novels under manga cover: Convenience stores go literary". Yomiuri Shimbun. July 25, 2008. Archived from the original on 2 August 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
- ^ a b Demetriou, Danielle (November 18, 2008). "Das Kapital turned into a manga comic". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ "'Das Kapital' comic has mass appeal". The Japan Times. 24 December 2008. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ a b Lewis, Leo (18 November 2008). "Karl Marx goes manga in a Kapital comic strip". The Times. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ a b c McNeill, David (November 20, 2008). "A revolutionary reworking for Marx's 'Kapital'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ Liddell, C. B. (January 17, 2009). "Red star rising: With global capitalism on ropes, communism gains in Japan". Metropolis. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ a b "Manga Version of Hitler's Mein Kampf Sells 45,000". Anime News Network. 6 September 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ "JManga Site Offers No Longer Human, Isaku Natsume's Dash! Manga". Anime News Network. 2 November 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ "JManga Adds Seiuchiroh Todono's Eleven Soul Manga". Anime News Network. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "Creator > Variety Art Works". JManga. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
- ^ "One Peace Books to Re-release Crayon Shin-chan Manga in U.S." Anime News Network. 11 April 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
- ^ "Capital in Manga!". Red Quill Books. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ Andreu, Sergio (22 March 2015). "El nuevo cómic hace suyo y remoza los géneros narrativos convencionales". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "Así habló Zaratustra" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "La divina comedia" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "El Príncipe" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "El arte de la guerra" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "El contrato social" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "El capital" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "Ilíada y Odisea" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "1984. el manga" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "El anticristo" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
- ^ "Analectas" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "El libro del Tao" (in Spanish). Herder Editorial. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ a b Noal, Alessandra (April 24, 2014). "De Kafka a Nietzsche, grandes autores ganham adaptação para mangá". ClicRBS (in Portuguese). Grupo RBS. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ Bide, Alexandre (29 August 2013). "Novos territórios em mangás" (in Portuguese). L&PM Blog. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "Os Irmãos Karamázov" (in Portuguese). L&PM. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "Em Busca do Tempo Perdido" (in Portuguese). L&PM. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "Ulisses" (in Portuguese). L&PM. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "Caixa Especial Clássicos em Mangá" (in Portuguese). L&PM. Retrieved November 4, 2020.