Without Animé and Manga in life of EHS students, high school might seem completely one dimensional!

But, believe it or not, Manga was first created dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries within scrolls in Japan. In the 1600’s, artists drew on wood blocks, and many animal drawings were created. Manga then evolved again in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Now, it’s 2021 almost 2022–and Manga is bigger than ever before!

Libraries, schools, and many other places have loads of different Animé/Manga offerings, especially Barnes & Noble. At Elkhart-West, students can be seen wearing their favorite Manga stickers on ID’s, shirts and hoodies, pins on backpacks, etc. Without a doubt, multitudes of students are interested in the same concept!

There are many popular classic Manga, such as Naruto, Deathnote, My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack On Titan, Dragonball, etc. Many are also the subject of television shows that one can watch on a variety of different streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu. 

Fan bases of all the different television shows have dressed up as characters for Halloween, cosplayed, bought merchandise and posters, and will get even  new gadgets and gizmos for Christmas!

Manga has also been created into fun, exciting, and daring video games. A popular mobile phone/PlayStation game is Genshin Impact. Released in September 2020, it’s rated at almost five stars, with millions of great rates and reviews. 

There’s nothing that anime producers cannot do! They write about crimes, mystery, romance, superheroes, villains, adventure, supernatural, and anything in the gray areas. A very popular Manga creator,  Eiichiro Oda–famous for “One Piece”–has a big following and a net worth of around $200 million! Although that series was made throughout the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, it is still being made due to high popularity!

Although many students might not have wanted the merger to occur, it has proven to be surprisingly fun for many Animé/Manga lovers to know there’s even more kids with similar interests. That’s what happens when East meets West.