Is there anyone whose childhood was spent on watching anime and read manga? Do you know Son Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, Conan Edogawa, Sakura, Sailor Moon, Pikachu, Godzilla or Doraemon?
For some people, when it comes to about Japan, they may immediately think about a beautiful and modern country or maybe they can talk about the terrible World War II when Japan was one of the Fascists. For me, it's about Manga and Anime which have also become interesting and unique things in Japanese cultural art.
Manga approximately appeared in the 12th century while Anime were created in the early of the 20th century. Writers usually stress continuity of the culture and aesthetic tradition on each page of manga and each scene of anime. During the globalization after the war, both played important roles to introduce Japan and bring it closer to people.
Additionally, those supported Japanese spirits when they suffered hurt scars after two nuclear bombs destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima cities in 1945. After the war, Japan, in lots of people's eyes, was still bad, which might separate it from the rest of the world, and this country might not develop strongly like now. However, when good manga and anime came to the world as an amazing explosion, people would change their minds and have opening thoughts about this small country.
Manga and anime have kept being changed year after year in both contents and characters because the world also keeps changing day after day. Furthermore, these two things also helped to create another unique genre in Japan which we later usually call Cosplay, the practice of dressing up as a character from a manga or anime.
Specially, in Japan, sometimes there are also many events celebrating the culture of manga and anime, which is a good idea for travelers to visit. To illustrate, Comic Market is the world biggest manga, anime and self-published works, which is held twice a year called NatsuComi and FuyuComi. What is more, there is also the world biggest anime's song live concert called Anime Summer Live (Anisama). That will be the good event for whoever loves to listen to soundtracks in anime.
So what and why people like anime and manga? I am not sure about the answers of others, but for me, I love it not only because of cool characters but also because of its meaningful lessons in each chapter, episode or movie. Those make me laugh a lot and cry a lot because of their touching humanity.
For example, I think every Japanese and many people know Doraemon, one of the most famous manga in the world, created in 1969. It includes many imaginary and funny stories about friendship and family among a cute cat robot with Nobita, a dropper but also a kind-hearted boy, with his friends: Shizuka, Goda and Suneo. I am also pretty sure that many people know about Your Name (Kimi no Na wa), a romantic fantasy short anime, published in 2016. It stole lots of tears from me because its content. Two people (Taki and Mitsuha) are in different lives at different time and places mysteriously know each other and experience many interesting moments.
However, maybe some people don't like some manga and anime because of its length. For instance, Doraemon has 850 chapters (1,787 episodes); Detective Conan has over 1,000 chapters and hasn't ended yet or One Piece has aired more than over 800 episodes and we still don't know when its end will be released.
Japanese manga and anime have developed more popularly through the worldwide. If in U.S., there is the Walt Disney Company, there is Ghibli Studio in Japan where is the house of many good anime such as Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. I love both of producers, but sometimes I love Ghibli than Disney because I feel sometimes anime is more realistic and meaningful.
