Uncanny! Manga Special

Uncanny! Insider is taking a closer look into some of top selling manga and two properties that have already gotten Americanized versions in theaters and releasing this summer on Netflix.

The Ghost in the Shell movie, now in theaters starring Scarlett Johansson, is based on the international hit manga and anime.

The Netflix series is based on the popular manga series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, which is released in the U.S. by VIZ, the story follows a high school student who finds a supernatural notebook which holds a disturbing power. When the notebook’s owner writes someone’s name in it while picturing their face, they will die. The student begins to kill people he feels are unworthy of life. But other shadowy forces are also seeking the notebook. -icv2.com

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?

There's no doubt that Hollywood will be following the numbers on these two Americanized properties closely, and based on their success it could usher in a new age of film and television. Anime and manga are internationally watched and read and wildly popular in the United States. The manga category, a staple in every comic shop and book store, opens up a whole new crop of ideas for Hollywood to harvest potential feature films and television shows from; provided the Americanization of these properties are accepted on the world stage. There is little doubt it will play well here in the United States (Who doesn't love Scarlett Johansson?) especially since most are used to having our comic book characters both heroes and villains played by people of different genders and ethnicities.

Though the question still remains; will the international markets accept the American vision? Only the box office and downloads will tell.

"Manga" as a term used outside of Japan and refers to comics originally published in Japan.

In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, business and commerce, comedy, detective, historical drama, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, sexuality, sports and games, and suspense, among others, much like comic books in other parts of the world including the United States. Many manga are translated into other languages.Since the 1950s, manga has steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a 3.6 billion dollar market in Japan in 2007 and $5.5 billion dollars in 2009.

Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience.  In Europe and the Middle East the market was worth $250 million in 2012.  In 2008, in the U.S. and Canada, the manga market was valued at $175 million; the markets in France are about the same size. Manga stories are typically printed in black and white, although some full-color manga exist.  In Japan, manga are usually serialized in large manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in volumes, frequently but not exclusively, paperbacks. A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company.If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run. Sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live- action or animated films.

As a child, Monkey D. Luffy dreamed of becoming the King of the Pirates. But his life changed when he accidentally gained the power to stretch like rubber…at the cost of never being able to swim again! Now Luffy, with the help of a motley collection of pirate wannabes, is setting off in search of the "One Piece," said to be the greatest treasure in the world...