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Adult Manga
Kinsella, Sharon. Adult Manga: Culture & Power in Contemporary Japanese Society. University of Hawaii Press (Distributor: 2840 Kolowalu St., Honolulu, HI 96822), 2000. 228p. ISBN 0-8248-2317-6 (pa), $20.00. Index. Bib. Illus (b&w). Alk. Paper.
What elements of society define culture and the distribution of power? How are cultural objects interconnected with the political and historical landscape of a culture? These questions are amply addressed in Sharon Kinsella’s ethnographic examination Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society. This highly detailed and comprehensive study of the publication world of adult Japanese manga reveals the interconnections between Japan’s changing political, economic, and historical landscapes. Much can be learned from the conclusion alone about how cultural production is highly ingrained in all aspects of a society. Kinsella breaks the book into a history of manga, the manga production cycle, and chapters on manga connections between Japanese culture, politics, and economics. Much of the data gathered for the book was gleaned from interviews with manga publishers, editors, and artists. Kinsella devotes part of the introduction to an explanation of her methodology and data gathering techniques. Her explanation of interviews with editors is amusingly honest; Kinsella comments, “Despite becoming the occasional subject of sarcastic racial resentment, unwanted advances, and formulaic sexist humiliation, editors were generous and ostentatious during these extended interviews” (16). She goes on to describe meeting at bars and in a hotel room where “an orgy organized by the convivial manga artist” took place (17). The author’s immersion into the Japanese manga publishing world is certainly noteworthy as are the “300 hours of interviews from 65 manga artists, editors, critics, and publishers” the author gathered (17). According to the book jacket, Kinsella is a researcher of “emergent cultural and social trends in Japan at the University of Cambridge.” She also taught sociology at Yale University before becoming a freelance researcher. The body of the book is filled with information, charts, graphs, examples of manga pages, and Japanese terms. Kinsella analyzes the reader population as well as the “amateur manga world.” Of particular interest was a section on the “Anglo-American Connection” in which Kinsella discusses the similarities between the comic book culture in America and the UK and Japan’s manga culture. This particular discussion brings up issues of subcultures and how they affect society as a whole. Kinsella discusses the increased focus on amateur manga (a less regulated area of manga publishing and a subculture unto itself) as a source of a “moral panic.” Following the capture of a murderer who was a fan of amateur manga, there was much concern about the effects of manga on the minds of readers, particularly readers who exhibited anti-social behavior. The censorship and government regulation of manga publishing houses that followed this increased concern over the content of manga publications is perhaps the most interesting and resonant issue in the book. Kinsella describes the changes wrought by citizens’ organizations and government agencies concerned with the negative influences of amateur manga. A national Indecency Act along with the efforts of such groups as the Tokyo Mothers’ Society, Parents’ Society for the Protection of Children, and the Society for the Protection of Children from Pornographic Manga Books helped to push the publishing industry toward self-regulation and self-censorship. Overall, Kinsella’s study of the Japanese manga publishing industry is detailed and informative. The book is more suited to college level students interested in researching modern Japanese society; the average reader may feel burdened by the great detail Kinsella goes into about the workings of the manga publishing world. The cultural and political themes discussed in the book are certainly valuable, particularly for librarians and anyone directly involved in the collection and dissemination of cultural knowledge. Kinsella’s book would make an affordable and informative addition to an academic library’s collection on Asian popular cultures.
Reviewed by Jessica M. Gleason, LIS student, University of Hawaii at Manoa, April 2005.
What elements of society define culture and the distribution of power? How are cultural objects interconnected with the political and historical landscape of a culture? These questions are amply addressed in Sharon Kinsella’s ethnographic examination Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society. This highly detailed and comprehensive study of the publication world of adult Japanese manga reveals the interconnections between Japan’s changing political, economic, and historical landscapes. Much can be learned from the conclusion alone about how cultural production is highly ingrained in all aspects of a society. Kinsella breaks the book into a history of manga, the manga production cycle, and chapters on manga connections between Japanese culture, politics, and economics. Much of the data gathered for the book was gleaned from interviews with manga publishers, editors, and artists. Kinsella devotes part of the introduction to an explanation of her methodology and data gathering techniques. Her explanation of interviews with editors is amusingly honest; Kinsella comments, “Despite becoming the occasional subject of sarcastic racial resentment, unwanted advances, and formulaic sexist humiliation, editors were generous and ostentatious during these extended interviews” (16). She goes on to describe meeting at bars and in a hotel room where “an orgy organized by the convivial manga artist” took place (17). The author’s immersion into the Japanese manga publishing world is certainly noteworthy as are the “300 hours of interviews from 65 manga artists, editors, critics, and publishers” the author gathered (17). According to the book jacket, Kinsella is a researcher of “emergent cultural and social trends in Japan at the University of Cambridge.” She also taught sociology at Yale University before becoming a freelance researcher. The body of the book is filled with information, charts, graphs, examples of manga pages, and Japanese terms. Kinsella analyzes the reader population as well as the “amateur manga world.” Of particular interest was a section on the “Anglo-American Connection” in which Kinsella discusses the similarities between the comic book culture in America and the UK and Japan’s manga culture. This particular discussion brings up issues of subcultures and how they affect society as a whole. Kinsella discusses the increased focus on amateur manga (a less regulated area of manga publishing and a subculture unto itself) as a source of a “moral panic.” Following the capture of a murderer who was a fan of amateur manga, there was much concern about the effects of manga on the minds of readers, particularly readers who exhibited anti-social behavior. The censorship and government regulation of manga publishing houses that followed this increased concern over the content of manga publications is perhaps the most interesting and resonant issue in the book. Kinsella describes the changes wrought by citizens’ organizations and government agencies concerned with the negative influences of amateur manga. A national Indecency Act along with the efforts of such groups as the Tokyo Mothers’ Society, Parents’ Society for the Protection of Children, and the Society for the Protection of Children from Pornographic Manga Books helped to push the publishing industry toward self-regulation and self-censorship. Overall, Kinsella’s study of the Japanese manga publishing industry is detailed and informative. The book is more suited to college level students interested in researching modern Japanese society; the average reader may feel burdened by the great detail Kinsella goes into about the workings of the manga publishing world. The cultural and political themes discussed in the book are certainly valuable, particularly for librarians and anyone directly involved in the collection and dissemination of cultural knowledge. Kinsella’s book would make an affordable and informative addition to an academic library’s collection on Asian popular cultures.
Reviewed by Jessica M. Gleason, LIS student, University of Hawaii at Manoa, April 2005.
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