Gekiga (劇画) is Japanese for "dramatic pictures." The term was coined by Yoshihiro Tatsumi and adopted by other more serious Japanese cartoonists who did not want their trade to be known as manga or "irresponsible pictures". It's akin to Will Eisner who started calling his comics "graphic novels" as opposed to "comic books" for the same reason. This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... 2nd English edition of InuYasha Vol. ... William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an acclaimed American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. ... Comics (or, less commonly, sequential art) is a form of visual art consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or image captions. ... Trade paperback of Will Eisners A Contract with God (1978), often mistakenly cited as the first graphic novel. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...

Tatsumi began publishing "gekiga" in 1957. Gekiga was vastly different from most manga at the time which were aimed at children. These "dramatic pictures" emerged not from the mainstream manga publications in Tokyo headed by Osamu Tezuka but from the lending libraries based out of Osaka. The lending library industry tolerated more experimental and offensive works to be published than the mainstream "Tezuka camp" during this time period. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Osamu Tezuka and his creations commemorated on two stamps Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫 Tezuka Osamu, November 3, 1928 - February 9, 1989) was a Japanese manga artist and animator born in Osaka Prefecture. ... Osaka City Hall Mayor Junichi Seki Address 〒530-8201 Osaka-shi,Kita-ku Nakanoshima 1-3-20 Phone number 06-6208-8181 Official website: Osaka City , Osaka ) is the capital of Osaka Prefecture and the third-largest city in Japan, with a population of 2. ...

By the late 1960s and early 1970s the children who grew up reading manga wanted something aimed at older audiences and gekiga provided for that niche. In addition this particular generation came to be known as the manga generation and read manga as a form of rebellion (which was similar to the role rock and roll played for hippies in the United States). Manga reading was particularly common in the 1960s among anti-U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and Labor oriented student protest groups at this time. These youth became known in Japan as being the "manga generation". The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Hippies (singular hippie or sometimes hippy) were members of the 1960s counterculture movement who adopted a communal or nomadic lifestyle, renounced corporate nationalism and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Native American religious culture, and were otherwise at odds with traditional middle class Western values. ... A security treaty between US and Japan established in 1960. ... 2nd English edition of InuYasha Vol. ...

Because of the growing popularity of these originally underground comics, even Osamu Tezuka began to display the influence of gekiga cartoonists in works such as Hi no Tori (Phoenix), produced in the early 1970s, and especially in Adolf, produced in the early 1980s. Adolf has heavy influences from Tatsumi's artwork, with more realistic styling and darker settings than most of Tezuka’s work. In turn Tatsumi was influenced by Tezuka though storytelling techniques. Osamu Tezuka and his creations commemorated on two stamps Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫 Tezuka Osamu, November 3, 1928 - February 9, 1989) was a Japanese manga artist and animator born in Osaka Prefecture. ... Phoenix, originally Hi no Tori (火の鳥) in Japan, is a manga series made by Osamu Tezuka. ... Adolf, known in Japan as Adorufu ni Tsugu (アドルフに告ぐ, literally Tell Adolf) is a manga series made by Osamu Tezuka. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive, informally sometimes including the years 1979, 1990 and 1991. ...

Not only was the storytelling in gekiga more serious but also the style was more realistic. Gekiga constitute the work of first generation of Japanese alternative cartoonists. Despite the original goals of gekiga to provide more realistic more mature stories, some authors abused this original defintion to produce works that only contained shock factor.

As a result of Tezuka adopting gekiga styles and storytelling, there was an acceptance of a wide diversity of experimental stories into the mainstream comic market commonly referred to critics as being the Golden Age of Manga. This started in the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. It gradually ended as mainstream shōnen magazines became increasingly more commercialized. A golden age is a period in a field of endeavour where great tasks were accomplished. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Shōnen. ...

More recently the most mainstream shōnen publications have lost a lot of gekiga influence and these kinds of works are now found in slightly more underground publications (usually seinen magazines). In addition other artistic movements have emerged in alternative manga like the emergence of the avant-garde magazine Garo around the time of gekiga's acceptance into the mainstream manga market and the much later Nouvelle Manga movement. These movements have superseded gekiga as alternative comics in Japan. Shōnen. ... Seinen (Japanese: 青年, not to be confused with seinen (成年; adult)) is a subset of anime or manga that is generally targeted at an 18 - 30 year old male audience, but the audience can be much older with some comics aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. ... Alternative manga are Japanese comics that are published outside of the more commercial manga market, or also manga that have different art styles from that commonly found in the most popular manga magazines. ... Garo was a monthly manga anthology magazine in Japan, founded in 1964 by Katsuichi Nagai. ... An example of Nouvelle Manga by Frédéric Boilet and Kan Takahama La Nouvelle Manga is an artistic movement combining French comics with Japanese manga. ... The term alternative comics is one of several labels applied to a range of comics that have appeared since about 1980, in the wake of the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 70s. ...

A few Examples of Mangaka who Draw in Gekiga Style

• Yoshihiro Tatsumi
• Ryoichi Ikegami
• Hirohiko Araki
• Kazuo Koike
• Tetsuo Hara
• Takao Saitou (of Golgo 13 fame)

Mangaka (漫画家) is the Japanese word for a comic artist. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Ryoichi Ikegami (池上遼一 Ikegami Ryōichi, born 1944) is a manga artist. ... Hirohiko Araki (荒木飛呂彦 Araki Hirohiko, born June 7, 1960 in Sendai, Japan) is a manga artist. ... Kazuo Koike (小池一夫 Koike Kazuo, born May 8, 1936 in Daisen, Akita Prefecture -) is a manga-ka. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Golgo 13 (ゴルゴ13, also known under the psudeonymn Duke Togo) is a fictional assassin and is the lead protagonist in his own manga series, also titled Golgo 13, created by Japanese mangaka Takao Saito. ...

References

• Drawn and Quarterly Volume 5. Ed. Chris Oliveros Montreal, Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly, 2003. pg 59 ISBN 1-896597-61-0.
• Schodt, Frederik L. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 1996. ISBN 1-880656-23-X.
• Schodt, Frederik L. Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics. New York: Kodansha International, 1983. ISBN 870117521

, ISBN 4-7700-2305-7.