History of Manga, 1930-1940 AD
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Kamishibai
Books
Magazines
Newspapers
General Comments
Kamishibai faces another decline as the economy improves.
The variety of books grows as the prices to produce them drops.
More manga starts running in the various magazines, including Kodomo no Kuni. Katsudi runs his yonkoma panel strip "Poku-chan" in Shojo Gaho. His 16-page "The Mysterious Clover" story manga is included as an insert in Shojo no Tomo in 1934. And, he starts up his popular yonkoma panel strip "Kurukuru Kurumi" in Shojo no Tomo in 1938. This last manga runs until 1940, then resurfaces after the war as "Kurumi". Katsudi lays down a framework for future artists by training 3 female assistants, including Toshiko Ueda, creator of "Fuichin-san". (List of magazines., Birth of a Million Seller, Katsudi Matsumoto entry.)
Suiho Tagawa starts up "Norakuro, Private Second Class", in Shonen Club magazine in 1931. It becomes a huge hit. (Suiho Tagawa entry.) Suiho also prepares a handful of assistants for futures as manga artists, including "Sazae-san"s Machiko Hasegawa and Shigeru Sugiura.
Shigeru Sugiura starts running his surrealist strips in Shojo Club, Shonen Club and Shin Shonen starting in 1936. (Shigeru Sugiura entry.)
The military government's proscription against entertainment magazines causes all evolution of manga to end from around 1937.
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| Shonen Club, and a page from "Norakuro", from Birth of a Million Seller, used for review purposes only. | Takei Takeo, with the cover of Kodomo no Kuni, from Gekkan Bijutsu, used for review purposes only. | Katsudi Matsumoto, with his "Kurin-chan" character, from Gekkan Bijutsu, used for review purposes only. |
Shigeru Sugiura debuts in 1932 in the Asahi Shimbun with his surrealist strips. He moves into magazines a few years later (above). (Shigeru Sugiura entry.)
Ryuichi Yokoyama debuts with the "Edokko Ken-chan" yonkoma manga in the Tokyo Asahi newspaper in 1936. While Ken-chan is the main character, it's the minor supporting character, Fuku, that becomes more popular. "Fuku-chan" is then spun off to a separate strip in 1938. Yokoyama goes on to become friends with Tezuka some years later, and establishes his own anime studio, Otogi Production (Otogi's first anime is the 1961 "Instant History" series).
Political commentary in the newspapers, which had always been kind of a thorn in the side of politicians, bankers and other business leaders, suddenly comes to an end as the military government bans entertainment forms in the years leading up to WW II as a way to conserve ink and paper. The only artists allowed to continue working are those that produce military propaganda.
"Manga" is now taking on a new meaning as simply "entertainment cartoons". Rakuten's influence as an editorial cartoonist emphasizing "manga as caricature" is fading, and the rise in other artists drawing for the children's magazines results in various gag strips showing up ala the western newspaper strips. While Katsudi really broke new ground with "Mysterious Clover", it was too early for story driven manga to grab much of a following. On the other hand, Katsudi was playing with camera angles and active movements a full 14 years before Tezuka would have more success doing the same thing.