When the anime adaptation of Radiant was announced it was quite a novel and perhaps surprising piece of news for many anime fans. It was not the first time a French work was adapted into anime, French and many foreign works were animated by Japanese studios in the 70s and 80s. However, it was the first time for a manfra.
Manfra is the term used to refer to French comics inspired by Japanese manga and there are many of them published in France alongside the vast amount of translated Japanese manga series that are released in the country. Manga sales in France have been in steadily growing since the start of the century. but what is the reason for this? I will explore this in this second video of a series about comics and animation from France.
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| Bravest Journey, A French comic heavily influenced by Japanese manga style |
One of the reasons manga could find such a fertile ground for fans was because comics have had a deep history in France. Part of this history was how comics were accepted as a form of storytelling that not only had popular cultural value but also value as a piece of literature. In order to see how this happened we have to start with the rise of bande dessinees or comics in France and Belgium.
Bande dessinees popularity in France was like a wave with its up and downs through the 20th century. However, it gradually managed to make a lasting impression in the French imagination and successfully become a cultural element that was worth protection by the authorities. Support for the industry coming in the 80s helped the industry that had been on a high but was on a period of transition, to stabilize in the short term and thrive in the long term. The acceptance of comics by the French did make it prime market for the series coming from Japan and the spread of anime in France was the initial seed for the emergence of a thriving manga market.
France is not stranger to animation, in fact notable Frenchmen were pioneers in the art form of animation. However, what Japan grew to thrive from the 70s onwards was a sort of animation that was not that represented inside France. TV animated series of various series based on western works started to be animated by Japan producers and shown back in France, and since these shows were relatively cheap and well done it meant local alternatives struggled to compete.
Amongst such series in the late 70s and early 80s were Albator, Tom Sawyer, Cobra and many others. Spearheading the spread of these series was the programing aimed children like Recre A2. Recre A2 was a weekly show that aired on Wednesday and it featured sketches in-between episodes of animated series or seitai series. More shows like it would emerge later on but the most popular and notable was Club Dorothee named after the presenter of the show. Club Dorothee that from the late 80s brought to French television many popular Japanese shows like Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon and many more.
The popularity of the anime series did not go unnoticed and a window of opportunity emerged in France for publishers of Bande Dessinees (French comics) but also other publishers to focus solely on manga to emerge. These publishers brought from Japan many titles and France soon stood out as a market for manga in Europe . At this time in the 90s, 2000s the Italian market was the biggest market when it came to the sheer number of Japanese titles licensed there. France was close behind, but what within the timeframe from late 2000s to now France overtook Italy and created a massive gap and firmly established itself as the biggest market for manga in Europe.
The rise of France as comics market was driven by its cultural acceptance of comics as a respectful form of storytelling. it is referred to the ninth art. In recent times, comics have continued to grow in France, with manga being a great driver reason for that growth. It seems the generation that grew with anime in the 80s and 90s in French TV was cultivated back into anime fandom in the current animation boom. Naturally, the original work of many anime are manga series that see them turned into anime, but it seems increasingly French readers get into the manga before the anime.
Manga sales have since the 2000s spiked in France, the increasing sales numbers have led to publishers expanding their portfolio of licensed works. The sale number have have become quite impressive even in comparison to sales in Japan in regards to some series. A natural result of the sales numbers has been publishers in France looking for authors be them Japanese or not, to draw series that they feel will be popular in France. In a quite interesting turn of events, some of those series gathered enough popularity in France to draw attention of publishers in Japan. So these series influenced by manga are published in France, but Japanese publishers pick them to publish them back in Japan. Some of notable series that made that journey are Lost Children and Outsiders and others.
