h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Kamichibai, some sort of doll theatre, inspired anime/manga I have heard. More info anyone?

sorry no but i do love Manga. Especially Ramiko Takahashi.

Just thought i'd join in

What I've heard is that manga was derived from woodblock prints called Ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world" in japanese). Hokusai and Hiroshige were two famous artists known primarily for their Ukiyo-e work. Ukiyo-e were popular during the Edo period of Japan (about 1600-1868). Modern manga came onto the scene around 1940 and were characterized by their dynamic, cinematic style (in fact, Osamu Tezuka, creator of what many consider to be the first modern manga and Japan's greatest all-time manga artist often cited american animation as an inspiration).

Anime is an evolutionary offshoot of Manga's cinematic style (In Japan, the term "anime" applies to any animated work regardless of its origin, but outside the land of the rising sun, the term is used to describe animated works done in the japanese style).

Of the two, it would appear that Anime is far more popular than it's more static predecessor, but overall, I prefer Manga over Anime. This is probably due to the fact that many manga are the product of a single creator, while anime necessarily involves more people in its creative process. As a result, some (but not all) Anime seem to be products of committee, while Manga tend to be a single person's uncompromised labor of love.

I don't know much abount Manga although I do have an interest in it i don't get the chance to watch or read as much as i would like, the only thing i would like to contribute is that the intensity of Manga storylines often contcentrationg on the protagonist's suffering as in Akira (spelled right?) is something of a reoccouring theme in Japanese art forms, especially the kabuki or butu form of theatre which sprang up after the WW2 i think but don't quote me on this as i only brushed on this type of theatre in passing. But it is a very extreme form,not for the squemish!

Manga-literal translation "Irresponsible Pictures".
Anime-Literally a shortening of the Western "Animation".

My understanding is that Japanese Doll theatre is called "Noh", and is a highly advanced and ritualized form of puppetry. There are three puppeteers for every human doll, and the level of emotion that they are able to portray is astounding.

There may be some connection to Anime and Manga from traditional Noh theatre, but one would have to see very old (like Disney's Mortimer Mouse) Japanese cartoons to get a good idea.

Kaminishibai was a sort of travelling entertainment/candy selling thing geared at children. People would travel around with drawingswith a story written on the back. They would hold up each in turn and read the story. The children who bought candy got to sit in front. There's more about it on www.otakuworld.com and other sites (do a search for kaminishibai). Manga itself started as a variant on kaminishibai that was used as wartime propoganda. Eventually it became vey popular for general story teling.

Oh, I forgot to comment on noh.
Noh is Japanese theater and is very stylized.
KABUKI is Japanese puppetry.

Curses! Foiled again!
I think you are correct.

I was wrong. It is bunraku that is puppetry. I would have set the record straight sooner but I forgot my login name.

Congrats, Kabuki is a form of play, where the actors wear masks.