Manga vs Manhua vs Manhwa Pt 1: the history and art

    Graphic novels, a genre that every kid, including me, loves. It can also be divided into many different sub-categories, comics, non-fiction, 4-koma, and many others depending on how produced, and since I am Chinese and lived there, obviously the graphic novels I read growing up were all from East Asia, which can be dissected into three sub-genres: Manga (漫画/マンガ), Manhua (漫画), and Manhwa (만화). Currently, these are also the most popular genres of graphic novels as western comics sales are steadily declining. So, today I am going to define their names, explain some history, and help you differentiate their art styles. 

    All three names come from the same root of the Chinese word "漫畫", "漫" meaning whimsical and "畫" meaning pictures or drawings.  The first of the three, manga, is claimed to have originated in the 12th century with scroll art. However it only became popular in the 18th century around the time of WWI, and during WWII where most of China and all of Korea became Japan's territory, after WWII when both countries were freed they were all influenced by Japanese manga which eventually evolved into modern Manhua and Manhwa (both were used before this, but only become mainstream after). 

    As manga is the oldest and by far the most popular, the amount of artist that draws this genre is also far greater than manhua and manhwa. This's means that the difference in art style is also significant. From what I have seen, the art style dependents a lot on the age demographic it is meant for, in Japan there are four age-related genres: Shoujo (girl), Shounen(boy), Josei(women), and Seinen(men). Shoujo and Shounen tend to have a lighthearted and more cartoony in contrast to Josei and Seinen's more realistic and serious art style. There's also a lot of grey areas in between all four so many long-lasting mangas' art style will evolve over time becoming more serious or just better in quality. Some mangas that the reader can experience some major art evolution includes the best selling manga of all time: One Piece, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and one of my favorite manga: Attack on Titan. 

Attack on Titan is nowhere near one of the longest-running manga of all time. However as you can see, even just in the span of 8 years the art style significantly changed into a slightly more realistic and definitely more detailed and clean style.

       Manhua and Manhwa, just like their pronounciations, are quite similar. Though they are just referring to any kind of graphic novels in their native definition, the western definition mainly referrs to the digital, long strip type of comics. commonly just called webtoon. Most of these comic are fully colored instead of just black and white like mangas, this also means the line art of the webtoons could be less detailed and much thinner. The artsyle of most webtoons are quite similar, with a slightly more proportional body and face compared to most cartoonish mangas. Manhua and Manhwa are very different to manga, to the point where I disliked them for a few years, however recently I've been enjoying them more.  

    

This is Solo Leveling, a korean webtoon I'm currently reading. Each scene is incredibly detail, however if you cut out the shading, the lineart becomes much simpler compared to manga. 

      There are many other differences between Manga, Manhua, and Manhwa like publications, plots, genres, reading platforms, animations, artists, and many more. However I'll save those for next time, thanks for reading and I hope you learned something new about Asian comics.

- Yan L

Tearjerkers

        I recently read Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and had the hardest time getting through the ending. I had to stop ten pages from the ending to cool off, before I could finish up the book. It got me thinking about other books I have teared up over, so I decided to make a list of a few of the saddest books I've read. 

1. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

    Where the Red Fern Grows is the saddest book I have ever read. The story follows a the journey of a young boy, Billy, living in the Ozarks with his hound dogs. At the beginning, Billy is determined to get his own hunting dogs but his family can't afford to buy any hound dogs for him. So, for two years Billy works every day in summer to save money, and one day buys two hound dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann. From here the story goes on to tell the adventures the trio has together, until one fateful day. 

This next part will include spoilers! Highlight to read it.

    In a encounter with a Mountain lion during one of their hunting trips, Old Dan received a terrible blow that he was unable to recover from. Billy and Little Ann are heartbroken, and both struggle to move on after experiencing a terrible loss. Only a few days after Old Dan died Little Ann also died, from the heartache of losing a close companion.  The ending of the story does a beautiful job of showing the pain from losing a close friend.

Through this story you were able to experience this beautiful and strong relationship that Billy and his dogs had created. You are invested in their friendship and the struggle that it took to get there, which makes the ending so much harder to handle. This is a wonderful read and would recommended it whenever your in the mood for a heartwarming story.

2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

    Since this is a World War 2 book it deals with a lot of sensitive subjects. The book is narrated by Death and follows the a young girl living in a small town in Germany. This book is very similar to Where the Red Fern Grows, with many close and endearing relationships with unsatisfying endings. Just a head up, it was slow in the beginning, but it quickly picks up through the middle and end. Otherwise, it's a great read with a unique writing style and would definitely recommend it.

3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

    The giving tree is a classic picture book by one of my favorite authors Shel Silverstein. It tells the story of a man and a tree, in the beginning the tree is giving everything to the man until the tree is just a stump. That's plenty though, for now the man is very old and just wants to sit. This story doesn't make you cry as much, but it makes you think. The relationship between the tree and the man, shows how the two can be happy in this uneven relationship. It's also a bit sad though, because the tree gave itself up for this man and the tree can no longer be the mighty thing it used to be. Though in the end the tree ended up being the exact thing the man wanted. 

Thanks for reading!  

- Sophie