Type Five and Beyond

Abstract

Great is the need now for structure in comics-studies pedagogy, especially for Japanese manga, given the growth of comics-studies and pop-culture programs at North American colleges. Although teaching manga can be supported using any number of English-based texts, instructors will want to explore target-culture resources, such as those by Natsume, Yomota, and other Japanologists. Texts specific to Japan can improve student comprehension and interpretation of manga. The author describes methods of teaching manga using comparative analysis resources from their Japanese culture classroom. Based on experiences there, they show the use the ideas of Japanese scholars for formal analysis in order to enhance discussions of the manga page, including topics of panels, onomatopoeia, and genre conventions. American comics heavily stress sequentiality, but manga use pages, panels, and words differently to emphasize mood. By preparing for the manga classroom differently, we can offer our students tools specific to expand discussions of Japanese culture.