GIGA TOWN

An engrossing guide to manga symbols translated from Japanese.

Kouno, an award-winning Japanese manga artist, offers a detailed look into the world of manpu, the iconography used in manga, which comprise everything from symbols hovering around characters’ heads and bodies to elements in the backgrounds of the panels. In his introduction, Tokyo-based author, reporter, and translator Matt Alt describes the rich history of manpu, from symbols adopted from foreign cartoonists to ones developed by Japanese artists for what was initially a national readership; today manga and anime adaptations have achieved phenomenal global success. Surprisingly, this is the first English-language guide to understanding manpu. The work opens with a table of contents showing each symbol and the pages where it appears. Kouno’s manga panels portray each manpu in context, with explanatory text on the side; many manpu appear on multiple pages, reinforcing readers’ grasp of their meaning. Some will be intuitive to Western readers, but others are deeply embedded in a Japanese cultural context that’s explained in text boxes. An interesting afterword teaches the flow of manga reading, information that will be particularly helpful for beginners. This is a useful book for those who are looking to get into manga but don’t know where to start, but it’s also riveting reading for anyone interested in manpu’s cultural roots.

A fresh and intriguing manual of tremendous use for English-language manga fans.