This week we had an excellent opportunity to listen to Nicole's talk about manga as an industry and how the manga industry has increased growth in the US and Europe.
She mentioned manga is no longer unique to Japan. Instead, it has become a universal medium of creation, such as the growth of Chinese Manhua, Korean Manhwa, Malaysian manga, etc. Each has its uniqueness in colouring, content, and structure. One thing particularly interested me was Nicole mentioned Hong Kong Comics.
Although she did not go into details about Hong Kong comics, the comics industry used to be one of the leading industries in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Hong Kong comics are different from Japanese manga and are influenced by Japanese and American comics. The style of artwork is closer to American superhero comics, with delicate and refined brushwork, full-colour pages, and sometimes a mix of ink and wash. The Chinese martial arts tradition heavily influences the content and characterisation.
Hong Kong Comics were recorded in the late Qing Dynasty. The content was mostly about dissatisfaction with the corruption of the imperial court. In the early 1940s, many mainland comic artists moved to Hong Kong to escape the strains of the war against Japan. After the war, the first-ever comics exhibition in Hong Kong was organised. The exhibition's theme was against the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War. Hong Kong comics started off as a medium to rebel and to satire the government and society, then slowly transform into a form of entertainment.
Manga, as a medium in modern society, can also be used to reflect the current Sino-Japanese Relations. For example, the anime My Hero Academia got banned in China because a villain character was named after a war crime reference to human experimentation by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It went viral online, and many Chinese and Korean readers are outraged.
Soon, the apology statement from Shueisha, claimed that it was not the intention of the author or the editorial team to pick a name that was reminiscent of and matched the historical facts. To avoid similar incidents, they will endeavour to learn more about various histories and cultures in the future. Therefore, after discussing with the author, they decided to change the character's name.
It is an excellent chance to reflect on whether the Japanese are too insensitive or the Chinese and Korean are too sensitive on this issue. It is a difficult question, and I think it is related to the education received by the people that were mortified by the government and the government's attitude toward war. Japan was the invader during the war, and China and Korea were victims of the Japanese Army. Maybe Japan and the new generation were too unaware of the harm that had been brought to these countries, and perhaps the hatred of education in China should stop. Is it alright to ask the new generation to bear the sin of their ancestors (Japanese Army) everlasting? Is it okay to continue spreading hatred toward the Japanese in the Chinese education system?
How history was told to the next generation obviously differed and caused a constant contradiction between Japan, China and Korea, which can be reflected in many ways. Manga is only one of them.