青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

Get all your questions about manga answered—in a manga! This is the complete English translation of the acclaimed introduction to manga studies—the first of its kind—originally published in Japanese (Seigensha, April 2024) under the full editorial supervision of the Kyoto International Manga Museum and Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center.

Come along as Curator Meow and Dr. Neko explore all sorts of questions having to do with manga, from the lay (“Are manga artists rich?”) to the profound (“What is manga, anyway?”). Here’s a one-of-a-kind primer on the basics of manga, now made available to manga lovers all around the world.

Due to design considerations, the English edition is presented in a larger format than the original Japanese edition.

The story
Curator Meow has just started her new job at the Kyoto International Manga Museum. She may be on the klutzy side, but she’s eager and she loves manga in a big way. Under the sometimes dynamic, sometimes levelheaded tutelage of her supervisor, Dr. Neko, she grows day by day into a true manga scholar.

Features
・Easy-to-understand introduction to the basics of manga studies through a story format starring Curator Meow and Dr. Neko
・Text supervised by the Kyoto International Manga Museum explaining the conventions and nuts and bolts of manga
・A rich range of full-color visuals, from ukiyo-e woodblock prints to overseas comics and more

From the introduction
What’s manga?
　This book, focusing mainly on paper-based manga publications, explores the question from a variety of perspectives drawn from academic research findings, including the history of manga, how it is made, and how it spreads. In other words, it is an introductory book to be read as a first step in manga research.
　Pondering surprising questions about manga that you may not know increases the appeal of manga many times over, and you will be able to enjoy it in a more in-depth way.

Contents
Chapter 1. When Did Manga Begin?
Chapter 2. Who Reads Manga?
Chapter 3. How to Make Manga
Chapter 4. Manga Conventions
Chapter 5. Are Manga Artists Rich?
Chapter 6. The Diversifying Ways to Enjoy Manga
Chapter 7. Is Manga Read All around the World?
Chapter 8. What Kind of Comics and Manga Exist around the World?
True Story! The People behind Curator Meow

The Kyoto International Manga Museum is a museum and library devoted to manga that houses some 300,000 items, including early modern ukiyo-e caricatures, magazines from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, post–World War II rental manga, recent bestsellers, and works from abroad. Jointly operated by Kyoto Seika University and the city of Kyoto, it collects, preserves, and shows manga, conducts research on manga culture, and holds related exhibitions and events.

The Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center focuses on manga and manga-related topics. Kyoto Seika University has a forty-year history of research and education on manga culture, through which it has amassed a significant body of knowledge as well as human and information networks foundational to scholarly study, and the center leverages those resources to the full in its work as the research facility at the heart of the Kyoto International Manga Museum.