Exhibition of the week Manga
The British Museum, London WC1 (020-7323 8000, britishmuseum.org). Until 26 August
Loosely translated as “rambling pictures”, manga is the Japanese variant of the comic book – and in its home country, it is a cultural phenomenon, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. Containing stories about almost every subject imaginable, manga comics are printed by the million and read by children, “salarymen”, “air hostesses” and “90-year-old bonsai masters” alike. “Classless, ageless, infinitely varied”, manga is less a genre than “a cultural glue that holds Japan together” – and its reach is no longer confined to its country of origin. In recent years, this local obsession has turned into a global “tsunami”, its influence creeping into everything from “cinema, advertising [and] toys” to “television, video games, rap music, even car design”. The British Museum’s riotous overview charts manga’s development, from its origins in 12th century Kyoto temple art to the multibillion-dollar industry of today. Bringing together original drawings, videos and all sorts of other ephemera, it is a “torrent of sights, insights, histories” and thrilling images. It might not be standard BM territory, but this “ambitious” show is a triumph.
Japanese art “looked like modern comics” centuries before the form emerged in the West, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. This show attempts to put manga into context, presenting us with some timeless prints and paintings by 19th century masters like Katsushika Hokusai and Kawanabe Kyosai. What follows, alas, is pretty risible: however vividly drawn, modern manga containing martial arts adventures and various morally “admirable” tales – from stories celebrating Japan’s minority and LGBT cultures to a comic “looking forward to the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics” – can’t hold a candle to the older art on show. Reverentially comparing this contemporary pulp to the great Japanese tradition is “patronising”. “What’s next: Rembrandt meets Dennis the Menace?”
There’s no shortage of interesting oddities here, said Philip Hensher in the Daily Mail. Manga’s appeal is so broad that “even the most bizarre” stories will “find an audience somewhere”. As such, we see comics devoted to some wonderfully weird themes: one tells of “Buddha and Jesus Christ sharing a flat in contemporary Tokyo”, while another recounts the ordeals of “shy girls making their way in the world”. The problem is that manga is “far too big” a subject for a single exhibition. The curators’ desire to cram so much into this show makes for a “sketchy” survey that will leave newcomers confused and enthusiasts unsatisfied.