Manga vs Manhwa vs Manhua: History and Differences
If you are a comics fan, you might have heard of manga, manhua, manhwa, Webtoons, Webnovels, etc.
You might have also watched anime.
You might have also felt frustrated when some people would say “Anime is Cartoon” but not have a constructive reason to disprove them🤯. Well, at least I have… 😣
But do you know the differences between these terms?
If you are a veteran, you may already know the differences between them, but how much do you know about their history?
Why are there so many different terms? Why don’t we just use the terms comics and cartoons?
Let’s discuss them one-by-one.
Manga
These are basically comics originating in Japan that are generally in black-and-white and aimed not just at children but adults and other wider audiences as well. Most of the mangas have elements of Japanese culture and the characters have Japanese names. Mangas are read from right to left and top to bottom. ‘Mangaka’ is the term used to refer to a person who writes and/or draws manga, basically the author and/or artist.
It’ll be hard to find a genre for which there are no mangas. Some of the most popular manga genres include shōnen (action-adventure stories for boys), shōjo (romance stories for girls), seinen (mature stories for young men), josei (mature stories for young women), kodomo (stories for children) and hentai or echhi (basically erotica).
Manga originated in Japan in the late 19^th century but has become a global phenomenon in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Historically, mangas have been released printed on cheap recycled paper meant to be thrown away after reading, like newspapers. This is why they also fall under the category of pulp fiction.
The mangaka, “Osamu Tezuka” is referred to as the Father/God/Godfather of Manga. If you have read or watched Astro Boy, it was written by him. He brought about a revolution in the manga industry in Japan through his works. He has a museum built in his honor and received many awards for his works.
Generally, new content for mangas is either released weekly (most common), once in two weeks or monthly. The art of manga would generally be more detailed the more time the artist has before the next release. So mangas published on a monthly basis generally have better art than those released weekly. But some monthly mangas may still not have good art due to the author’s other life commitments, lack of resources or simply prioritizing another manga that is performing better.
But you’re now probably wondering, why some mangas are published weekly instead of the artist taking his time to draw better art and releasing monthly? Well, there are many reasons for this but mainly these mangas have very compelling stories and characters and thus do not require the extra work to generate a good enough income. A lesser frequency would also mean readers forgetting the plot and/or losing interest in the manga due to the large time gap.
Manhua
These are comics originating in China or Taiwan and similarly to manga, aimed at wider audiences rather than just children. Most of the manhuas have elements of Chinese culture and the characters have Chinese names. ‘Manhuajia’ is the term used to refer to a person who draws and/or writes a manhua. Manhuas generally come in full colour and have much more detailed art as compared to mangas. Manhuas can contain dialogues written horizontally and read left-to-right or dialogues written vertically and read right-to-left depending on whether the manhua was created in China or Taiwan.
Many genres are available in manhuas but the most common genre is the martial arts genre that became so famous due to Bruce Lee’s era. A very popular term that you might have heard is Wuxia (pronounced wuusha). It refers to manhuas featuring martial arts, chivalry and romance. Xianxia (pronounced shansha) is a sub-genre of Wuxia that also features immortals or celestial beings and Chinese mythology.
Manhuas became popular in the 20th century but were not just used as a form of entertainment but also for spreading propaganda. The predecessor of manhuas are referred to as Lianhuanhua which were loose collections of palm-sized pictures.
Manhwa
This term refers to all comics and graphic novels originating from Korea, South Korea mainly since North Korean comics are unavailable to the common public. Most of the manhwas have elements of Korean culture and the characters have Korean names. Manhwaga is the term used to refer to the author and/or artist of a manhwa. Manhwas are read horizontally from left-to-right. Manhwas are generally coloured in a digitalised format but black-and-white when printed.
Manhwas are also available in pretty much all of the genres but some of the most common storylines are BL (gay stories) and stories involving a tower that the main character has to climb or stories about characters getting reincarnated.
Manhwas are commonly released in a webtoon format.
Webtoons & Webnovels
The term Webtoons is more about the format of the comic rather than its origin. Unlike mangas that have multiple frames in a single page and the frames are in sequential order, webtoons do not have frames nor are they divided into pages. Webtoons make use of a reader’s scrolling to give the feeling of the story moving forward with time. This format makes it easier to read the comic on a smartphone.
Most of the manhwa nowadays are released as webtoons but not all webtoons are manhwas. They may be manhuas also. The art in webtoons is of high quality as compared to mangas and they are generally fully coloured.
Webnovels are novels that are released online and readers read them through their smartphones or laptops. These are novels that are written by Japanese/Chinese/Korean authors. These are released chapter-wise periodically just like a comic.
Anime
Anime refers to computer-generated animation produced in Japan. This word comes from the shortened form of the word ‘animation’ written in Japanese. Many animes are adapted from corresponding mangas or webnovels. Generally, Korean manhwas also get an animation made in Japanese anime style. These are also referred to as “Manhwa Yeonghwa” which translates to “Manhwa Movie”. Sometimes, Korean animation is also referred to as “aeni” which is the shortened form of the Korean word for ‘animation’. Generally, Korean animation’s art style is very similar to Japanese animation’s art style.
Donghua
Donghua is used to refer to animation that originated in China. This term is used for both 2D animation which is similar to Japanese anime and the more prevalent form of animation in China, that is, 3D CG animations. Most of the Chinese comics and novels are converted to 3D animations and are not as loved as Japanese anime perhaps due to the general public being more used to the Japanese anime style.
Comics & Cartoons
Comics and Cartoons refer to content created in the West and are more commonly targeted at children. Although the medium of comics and mangas is the same, there are major differences between them. Mangas have sequentially ordered frames, commonly more pages and thus more content while comics are generally colored and focus more on art style. Mangas have a wide variety of stories that can be read by people of all walks of life while comics are more generally for children (except perhaps comics on superheroes that can also be read by adults). The differences are the same for anime and cartoons. When you think of cartoons, think of Tom & Jerry, Popeye: The Sailor Man, etc. and when you think of anime, think of Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, etc.
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