A work by Shizuko Amano, a student at Kyoto Seika University School of Manga. (Shizuko Amano)

Kyoto Seika University is the only four-year institution in Japan that offers courses on creating manga (comics), and it has recently been garnering attention for some of its unique undertakings in the area of manga education. The university invited a popular manga artist to be a professor, and the courses focus on practical instruction. The entire program is quite forward-looking and offers new possibilities for artistic education in the era of broadband Internet access, as a system has been developed that allows the teacher to correct students' work using the Internet, something that will facilitate distance learning. In addition, the school is playing a leading role in the study of fields related to manga, as both a manga society and a research institute devoted to manga culture have been created. The program will send its first graduates out into the world in two years, and many people are interested to see what kind of work these fledgling artists will produce.

Learning to Draw, Learning to Think
The Kyoto Seika University School of Manga was created in April 2000, as the manga major formerly belonging to the School of Design in the Faculty of Arts was upgraded. The school holds the view that both a sharp eye for the quirks of human behavior and polished artistic technique are necessary to create good work. With this in mind, the school aims not only to train students in drawing techniques but also to provide them with a firm grounding in the history of manga, together with a modern perspective.

The School of Manga, which accepts 50 new students each year, offers courses in both "cartoon manga" (manga usually composed of one picture) and "story manga" (manga that tell a story through a series of frames). "Cartoon manga" rely on such techniques as omission and embellishment, and they fall into categories like satire, humor, and exaggeration. They generally stand alone as a single picture. The school hopes to produce artists who can create cartoons that are both humorous and artistic. Creating a "story manga," meanwhile, requires a variety of skills, such as the ability to construct a story and the ablility to draw. The focus of this course is not only on how well-drawn a work may be but also on its imaginative power and the message it conveys. The school aims to produce both artists who can think, and editors and writers who can draw.

Kyoto Seika University is also continuing to study the various effects that manga has on society. As a result, the importance of manga has been reexamined, and the Institute for Manga Culture was established in July 2001. At the end of that month, the institute played a leading role in creating the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics (site is Japanese only) as a place where researchers, manga artists, critics, and others can gather to research and debate different aspects of manga.

Making Use of High-Tech Correction System
A manga-correction system was recently developed jointly by Kyoto Seika University and a private-sector research institute. Renowned manga artist Keiko Takemiya (site is Japanese only), a professor at Kyoto Seika's Faculty of Arts, School of Manga, plays a leading role on the development team, which has been researching the idea since the spring of 2001.

When correcting manga by computer up to now, it was necessary for students to first input their work - which can range from a few pages to several dozen - into a scanner page by page. Making corrections was a cumbersome task, as only one page at a time could be displayed, and they had to be flipped through in order. Through the development of this new system, however, all of the pages can be placed onscreen at the same time, and the virtual pages can even be "turned" in the same way as those of web comics. Every stage of the work, including the production process and the introduction of characters, can be corrected onscreen and returned to the student. As the information can also be provided to other teachers and students and their opinions solicited, this new system has been well-received.

This system was made public in January at showrooms in Tokyo's Chiyoda and Shinjuku Wards connected by fiber optics. Takemiya explained the improvements that were made after students' suggestions were proposed to the engineers, such as being able to flip through pages as though the work were a book. She then used the system to correct a manga created by a student, saying, "By using the Net, private instruction can be given, and students can voice their opinions. This kind of give and take is itself a form of educational material." Also at the demonstration was a separate experiment, in which two students were at each of the demonstration locations. The four of them worked together using the system to design an IT device.

Popular Manga Artist Plays Key Role
Takemiya, a resident of Kamakura City, is well-known for her work on such science-fiction manga as Terra e (To earth). Takemiya became a professor of manga at Kyoto Seika University in 2000. University President Hajime Nakao expressed his hopes for the program, saying, "The quality of manga has improved as manga has become more popular. Takemiya has tried to tell us something new in each of her works, so she will be able to teach the students what is important in creating manga."

Takemiya was born in Tokushima Prefecture in 1950, and she began to draw manga while she was in middle school. She first had her work published in magazines when she was still attending the University of Tokushima. She is presently continuing her work while offering instruction and lecturing on such things as scenarios and the production of manga. Takemiya says, "Give and take between the heavens and the earth is the ideal in artistic education. I would like to work with foreigners as well."