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Soft power, explained.
Manga and anime have a distinctly Japanese aesthetic and a solid history of growth (Dex Ezekiel/Unsplash)
India’s love of manga and anime strengthens bilateral ties – and with new prime ministerial recognition, this will only grow.
Japan and India focus on culture to connect Japan and India focus on culture to connect
About the author
Ved Shinde
Ved Shinde is an incoming doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge. He has previously been associated the Asia Society Policy Institute and the American Enterprise Institute.
During Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent visit to India for the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit, both bureaucracies churned out many solemn agreements focused on defence, technology, economic cooperation and supply chains. On a more cultural note, Takaichi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Opens in new window) of India highlighted “the important role played by creative industries, such as anime, manga, gaming, and films, especially among the youth.” This recognition showed just how powerful the arts are in building ties between the two nations and indicated that this long-held connection is set to strengthen.
As Japan and India celebrate the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, both governments have rightly sniffed the air on the street. Manga (Japanese comics) and anime (animated entertainment) are enormously popular in India. This can be positive and negative – Kodansha, a major Japanese publisher – is aghast at the explosive sales of pirated copies of its comic books in India. To counter this, it will soon (Opens in new window) open a printing house in Mumbai – the first major comic book publishing house from Japan to do so.
Manga and anime have a distinctly Japanese aesthetic and a solid history of growth. In the early 19th century, Katsushika Hokusai, a woodblock artist, began using the phrase manga (Opens in new window) to describe his sketches on the supernatural and the banal. Gradually, visually rich graphics spread to broadsheet cartoon strips. The manga rage had begun.
From fantasy and science fiction to romance and punchy dark humour, there is something for everyone.
For anime, popularity increased after the Second World War amid the gradual spread of visual media. Producers would first try different manga sketches in print. If something clicked, it would be animated. In its quest to become the “Disney of the East” Toei Animation began producing animated films for a Western audience. Initially, things were humdrum. Only when Japan picked up pace as an economic power in the 1980s did Japanese culture seep into Western minds. This was the time when Japanese companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Toyota had become global leviathans. Also, around this time, Donald Trump published a full page advertisement (Opens in new window) in American newspapers criticising allies like Japan for building trade surpluses behind American protection. Yet, many Americans were actively contributing, becoming hooked on Japanese visual culture.
In the late 1990s, the video game Pokémon arrived. Cults arose, and spinoffs spread. The Japanese government realised that it was sitting on a golden egg. In 1997, Japan’s Agency of Cultural Affairs started promoting manga, anime, and video game exhibitions. Manga and anime embodied the bright side of Japan’s “Gross National Cool (Opens in new window).”
The late 1990s were also the period when India was gradually unshackling itself from the socialist closet and its population was looking abroad for entertainment. By the early 2000s, Japanese cartoons like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z became household staples. While it helped that they were adapted for Indian audiences with local soundtracks, Japanese culture was still entering Indian homes through the television.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month in New Delhi (@takaichi_sanae/X)
This year, India’s enthusiasm for Japanese entertainment saw India become the second largest anime (Opens in new window) market after China with around 180 million viewers. The country’s anime appetite is set to bulge to about US $5 billion by 2032. Last year, India’s first anime and manga school was launched in Hyderabad – a collaboration between IACG Multimedia College and Kyoto Seika University.
What is it about Japanese manga and anime that resonates so strongly? After speaking with some friends who are manga aficionados, I found that the answer is partly the diversity of genres. From fantasy and science fiction to romance and punchy dark humour, there is something for everyone.
While teenagers enjoy One Piece, young men fancy shonen (Opens in new window) (fighting stories) like Death Note and Attack on Titan. Many comics are also classic bildungsroman stories (stories of personal growth). The characters are complex and vivid. As one manga-obsessed school friend said, “One grows up with the lead characters. They are funny, sad, heroic, and tragic. At times, light-hearted yet dark. With a lot of superhero antics. Oh, I love that.”
Immaculate attention to detail in the visuals is another factor in manga and anime’s success. The graphics are clear and depict everyday emotions with artistic exaggeration. Take the character Goku (Opens in new window) from the hit series Dragon Ball Z. Goku is a celestial martial artist battling the forces of evil across the galaxy. He is noble of heart, naïve, and treasures loyalty. He is a hit with children and adults alike.
Bridges emerge between societies from unique places. Japanese manga and anime are examples of such sturdy bridges that bring Japan and India together and will continue to do so with strengthened recognition of their importance. If a conservative Italian friend of mine, a historian by disposition, could think of faraway Tokyo for his first internship, one can understand how deeply Japanese visual culture has permeated our times.
For every traditional filmmaker like Akira Kurosawa, there is an equally gifted artist such as anime creator Akira Toriyama. These gifted artists have made India look at Japan with fresh eyes.