Manga as an artform that deserves to be passed down
The year was 1926. Shueisha was created as a separate entity and established as a division of Shogakukan in charge of publishing entertainment magazines. Business was suspended from 1941 to 1946 on account of World War II. Following the turmoil following the war, Shueisha published a children's book that would become a bestseller, Shônen Oja by Soji Yamakawa, which was inspired by a popular children's street theater picture shows (Kamishibai). Since its start, Shueisha has always had a strong connection with illustrated stories. Shueisha began publishing Ribon in 1955, Shukan Margaret in 1963, and Shonen Jump in 1968. Many manga titles were born from over half a century of magazine publications. To this day, new works and new pages are constantly being created, and manga continue to be read around the globe.
We deliver the best manga to large numbers of readers at the lowest
possible price.
We have poured our passion into this mission. Printed on recycled
paper with a letterpress, manga magazines have always been treasures
for children to spend their allowances on, and we hope they continue
to bring joy to their lives.
Above all, manga is entertainment. At the same time, it is no longer unusual for museums and art galleries in Japan and abroad to hold manga exhibitions that attract large crowds. Original manga drawings have an artistic impact that cannot be reproduced in a commercial publication. Manga is increasingly discussed in the context of art and sold at high prices at auctions abroad.
There are some who claim that manga is not art, and others who are
still on the fence. But by the time they realize its value, much
original manga will already have been lost. Art is not limited to the
"fine arts." It has a broader meaning that encompasses technique and
craft. In that sense, few would object to efforts to pass on the art
of manga to future generations.
Manga is an artform that deserves to be passed down.
However, we face multiple challenges in discerning what to leave
behind and how. Due to the fact that magazines are published weekly or
monthly, the production of manga requires speed, and therefore,
original manga drawings are susceptible to degradation over time. The
paper-bonded dialogue typeface becomes discolored, the dye ink color
work fades, and the tape to which the tracing paper was attached
deteriorates and peels off.
There is a large amount of uncatalogued original manga art, and few public institutions that collect such material. Could this problem be solved through the power of digitization?
Since 2008, we have been scanning and photographing original manga artwork in high resolution and archiving them along with information about each work. We want to take these assets we have collected and deliver them to interested parties across the globe.
The works are printed with light-resistant pigmented ink on archival 100% cotton paper used in museum collections. We use an art blockchain network to keep these assets secure and manage their historical information. Supervised by the manga artists themselves, we deliver uncompromising works of art using the best materials and technology available today.
We collaborate with museums, universities, and other public institutions, as well as collectors and researchers in Japan and abroad. But what is important is not one's profession or position, but rather the feelings of each person who treasures manga. We want to create a place where we can connect with these sentiments and expand on them.
Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage
The heat from the characters and the atmosphere of the manga worlds are brought to life with color and detail
Leon Battista Alberti, a prominent figure in Italy during the early Renaissance, wrote in his book On Painting (1435) that "painting is an open window to the world." Traditionally seen in the hands of readers through the medium of books and magazines, with the artists we turned manga into large "paintings" that can be hung on the wall. We printed these works of art using the best equipment and materials available. This process allowed a new window to the world of manga to open. The coloring and details give you a sense of the heat coming from the characters, as well as the atmosphere of the worlds of the stories. Scenes that have been read time and time again have been reproduced with never-before-seen brilliance.
We capture original using a device such as Phase One's Cultural Heritage and print them on 100% cotton velvet fine art paper with light-resistant ink for the Real Color Collection. For the black and white collection called The Press, we use a 1960s Heidelberg flatbed letterpress machine to print at high printing pressure. For each type of presentation we use the most suitable bespoke techniques.
Keeping a permanent record of the information that determines the value of a work
To ensure the highest possible quality, we produce each work in a limited edition. Together with content about the work, ownership information is recorded permanently on the blockchain while keeping personal information confidential. In addition to who created the work, provenance, namely who owned the work previously is one of the most important details about an artwork. We have adopted a system that allows us to keep track of when an artwork changes hands.
We use Startrail PORT, NFT management service operated by Startbahn Inc. Startrail PORT connects to Startrail, an art blockchain network.
Startrail is a sustainable and scalable blockchain infrastructure that assures the reliability, authenticity, and traceability of artworks—from physical works such as paintings, sculptures, and installations, to digital works based on data such as images, video, and audio. Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage plans to work with these companies in the future.
Working with museums and education institutions to pass on the art known as manga to future generations
In 2007, Shueisha launched the Comics Digital Archives (CDA), which is a digital archive of manga. The CDA and Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage are our attempts to pass down the art of manga to the next generation with the help of digital technology. Meanwhile, there is a growing risk of the paper manga originals produced in the past becoming damaged, scattered and lost. We will cooperate with museums and educational institutions to ensure that we preserve as many originals as we can.
We are working with the national manga archiving project to devise methods to sort and store paper manga original artwork. We will report and share the results of this project in due course.
VISION/ LABEL