Among them was "Hirohiko Araki's Manga techniques" (荒木飛呂彦の漫画術). The book happened to be published newly on 4/17/2015 and was a top seller in the 5/15/2015 week.
Hirohiko Araki is a famous Mangaka (Comic artist) in Japan. His most successful Manga series, "JoJo's bizarre adventure [wikipedia link]", have secured a place in Japanese pop culture. As a casual reader, I like many of his Manga.
[JoJo's bizarre adventure]
"Oh, so he is disclosing his secrets?" was what I thought when I picked up the book.
And the book did not disappoint. He disclosed his secrets in a great detail.
Like any other artists (painters, musicians, dancers, etc), all practices by Mangaka are held backstage. What we as general public see are only products or final results. He writes about the backstage efforts and his thought process to create a popular Manga.
His main medium had been "Shonen Jump", a weekly Japanese Manga magazine notorious for the rigorous use of reader's feedback to determine whether the Manga can continue or is discontinued and replaced by another Manga. There were a lot of thoughts went in to survive in the harsh and competitive environment for a mangaka. Although his manga (e.g. "JoJo") tended to be considered as an oddball among other mangas in the magazine at the time (e.g. "Dragon Ball", "Fist of the North star"), he claims that his manga is not artful or indie kind. They are designed to be popular and represent an "authentic" or "standard" manga, he says. He wishes his readers to learn the know-how to create a "gold standard" manga.
The chapter titles include;
How to create the first page that readers take interested
How to make stories, and big no-nos in story-making
How to visualize something that you cannot normally see
Four basic elements in manga
How to create a character
Critical factors in drawing
Main character/hero should always "go up"
Worldview in comic
Learn from Hemingway
...........
This book is full of interesting thoughts for creating a manga and of insightful observations.
"Drawings by Akira Toriyama (of "Dragon Ball") represent a great blend of symbolization and reality."
"Character-driven manga can go out of date, because a character is tied to the zeitgeist."
""What you want to create""why you want to create" are the most important things for a mangaka. With "create because it sells" attitude, you will hit the wall, will tragically lose passion and will go astray as a creator."
................
Of course his techniques are mainly for Manga, a unique art form. But some of his thoughts can be applicable for other media or art forms.
Although I have no desire to be a Mangaka, the thought process written by a popular creator in the industry was quite interesting. That much great information in only $8. I love reading.
This book was published only recently, and no English translation is available yet. The book should be a good challenge for a student of Japanese language. But if you are interested in creating Manga, it would be worthwhile to read this.
[the Book cover]
