2024-01-22 20:59:40
“The history of manga is very incomplete”, sighed Fausto Fasulo, during the recent presentation of the 2024 edition of the Angoulême Comics Festival, of which he is one of the artistic directors. Dimitri Kourtchine’s idea of devoting a documentary to the slow and tortuous march towards the success of the Japanese 9th art was therefore more than welcome. How can we explain that France, a country where only Franco-Belgian comics reigned in the early 2000s, is today the second largest manga market in the world after Japan?
Backtracking. In July 1978, Goldorak made a sensational arrival on French TV and in playgrounds. To the great dismay of their parents, schoolchildren love this animated series populated by heroes with complex personalities, immersed in a climate of war. French interest in Japanese pop culture continued to grow during the 1980s and 1990s. On TF1, Club Dorothée broadcasts throughout snacks Dragon Ball, Narutoand others Knights of the Zodiacall adapted from manga. The tap was cut off in 1997 with the cessation of the show.
No more prejudices against “Japanese works”!
But the seed is sown and a few die-hard fans buy imported manga in specialized bookstores. It is through cinema that the general public’s curiosity is once again piqued, with the release in the early 2000s of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. No more prejudices against “Japanese works”! The generation that grew up in the 1980s and 1990s is rediscovering the series of their youth in the original mangas. Publishers then entered the race, publishing demanding works by Jiro Taniguchi or Shigeru Mizuki.
To tell this story, the documentary maker chose to hand the microphone to fans from the first (and last) hour, cartoonists or editors. Fortunately, some specialists offer a more critical look at the manga, giving this documentary the perspective it sometimes lacks. A good effort, but the story of the manga still remains to be written…
#Mangas #French #revolution #reasons #craze