The manga industry in Japan is humongous as every comic book sells for about $3.50 a copy and there are around 553 million copies printed in the country every year. Experts believe that manga stories play an important role in Japan’s society. They constantly supply the Japanese people with exuberant heroes that cannot be detracted from doing what they believe is right in a highly controlled society.
Every month, there are beyond 500 categories of manga comic books that are published and released. However, not all become popular, enough to be used as material for a set of anime series. As an aside, a recent carries a list of the best anime apps that anime lovers can use in sorting out the most well-loved manga anime stories in Japan.
What Does It Take for a Manga to have its Own Anime
In order for a manga to have its own anime it has to be in the top 10 rankings of an opinion poll. The poll voters are readers and fans of famous magazine like Young Jump or Shonen Jump. Moreover, the manga story has to be considered appropriate for the target age group. Bakuman PCP’s for one, was not qualified for an anime adaptation despite its popularity because it was viewed as too realistic for kids.
Yet what makes a manga popular? The most popular manga stories give people a rich fantasy world in contrast to what is real, where conforming is necessary and individualism is deemed unacceptable. The most favored stories of manga comic books are those that strengthen the values and importance of hard work.
Kosaku Shima – One of the Most Successful Manga -Anime in Japan
Kosaku Shima, the anime is a legend in Japan, as its storyline has inspired the creation of numerous games, TV series, and movies over the years. While this anime may not be well known in the Western part of the world, the hero Kosaku Shima, represents the ideals, goals and ambitions of many Japanese salaryman or rank and file workers.
Creator Kenshi Hirokane worked on the manga for 36 years, developing stories in which Kosaku Shima, an average fictional salaryman worked hard to achieve success while working in a fictional company called Hatsushiba Electric. Eventually, in 2013, through one of the manga and anime editions for the year, Kosaku Shima, the once lowly salaryman, became the Board Chairman of the entire Hatsushiba Electric conglomerate.
Manga Author Uses Kosaku Shima to Raise COVID 19 Awareness Among Japanese
In February of this year, local news media was ripe with news that Kosaku Shima had tested positive for the coronavirus. While everyone in Japan knows the successful businessman is only a fictional character, a lot of people accepted the idea that it’s only realistic for a manga character to contract Covid-19. Many praised Kenshi Hirokane for using his most popular manga character as a means to spread awareness about the threats of the coronavirus disease.
A lot of people in Japan look up to Kosaku Shima as their role model in learning about the corporate world and its etiquette.
In knowing that even a highly placed corporate businessman can become a COVID-19 victim, helped ordinary workers become aware of their own vulnerability to the infectious disease.
Some others praised the author for the neutral approach used in handling the topic about a current topic. Comparisons were made with other manga writers who received negative feedback on how they adopted a current issue as topic of their manga-anime.
In the story, Kosaku Shima immediately took notice of COVID-19 symptoms after he realized that his usual curry had become tasteless.
According to Kenshi Hirokane, he was inspired to create the COVID-19 chapter after observing first-hand, the symptoms exhibited by an acquaintance who was infected. The manga writer said he hopes to notify people that the coronavirus pandemic can infect people anytime. Kenshi added that Kosaku Shima is an informational manga, and it’s only appropriate that it follows a major problem currently affecting the health and safety of the Japanese people.