Manhwa, Manga, Manhua: East Asian Comic Studies - Preface

Aug 21, 2026

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A scholarly preface examining how the same term for comics varies across East Asia—manhwa for Korea, manhua for China, and manga for Japan—while different writing systems shape cultural positioning. It contrasts Japanese concepts such as gekiga/geukhwa and analyzes debates over “influence” versus artistic agency and cross-cultural differences. The text also addresses the roles of marketing, nationalism, gendered readership, and the historical timing of Japanese media imports, using discussion of case chapters as evidence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages146

Reading Time6 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Comics terminology across East Asia

Japanese gekiga/geukhwa and 韓国/中国の語り

Debates on influence, agency, and difference

Marketing, nationalism, and cross-cultural alliances

Contents

Contents Preface Jaqueline BERNDT 1a Koo Woo-Young’s “Lim Kok-Jeong”(1972-73), a Dramatic Graphic Narrative (geukhwa) Serialized in a Newspaper LEEM Hye-Jeong Illustrations with bilingual captions 1b 新聞マンガとしての劇画高羽榮の「林巨正」 (1972/73年）を中心に 임혜정 （任蕙貞） 2a On Differences between Japanese and Korean Comics for Female Readers: Comparing “Boys Over Flowers” to “Goong” YOO Soo-Kyung Illustrations with bilingual captions 2b 日韓女性向けマンガをめぐる相違論「花より男子」と「らぶきょんLOVE in 景福宮」の比較を中心に 유수경 （庾水敬） 3a “Independent Manhua”(duli manhua) in China: Some Thoughtson Alternative Comics in Times of Globalization LUO Rong Rong 7 11 23 32 43 59 65 79 Illustrations with bilingual captions 3b 中国の「独立漫画」グローバル化時代におけるオルタナンティヴ・コミックスについての一考察羅榕榕 4a “Trans” and “Inter”: An Attempt at Definition Steffi RICHTER Illustrations with bilingual captions 4b 「トランス」と「インター」その定義のこころみシュテッフィ・リヒター 5 Manga x Museum in Contemporary Japan Jaqueline BERNDT 90 107 117 127 130 141 Preface Throughout East Asia, people use the same word to talk about comics, that is,漫画. Its pronunciation differs slightly from language to language though. Western script conveys it as manhwa for Korean, manhua for Chinese, and manga for Japanese. Different notations lend themselves to articulating cultural positions, not only in Latin letters. The Japanese script, for example, which employs Sinojapanese characters (like the two-character composite for manga given above) as well as syllabaries, allows for using the latter to distinguish at least between domestic comics and those from the neighboring countries, although the subtle difference between the Korean and the Chinese cannot be reproduced. Employing the katakana syllabary to segregate manga from manhwa in the same Japanese text—as is the case in the first two chapters of this volume—comes across as a strong cultural claim. After all, in Japanese, the word manga stands for both comics in general and Japanese comics in particular. If the latter is accentuated, then as the opposite to comics (komikku which, on the other hand, stands also for tankōbon, that is, book editions as distinct from manga proper, that is, magazine series) . In relation to foreign cultures, the word comics may evoke, first of all, Disney and the American superhero genre, but recently also bande dessinée (abbr. BD), which are often equated with European comics as such, for example, in chapters 2 and 3. But Korean1 comics are easily co-opted into manga due to apparent similarities which arose from a decade-long history of exchange. In Japanese, discussions ofthis exchange in the name of“influence” and the resulting similarities would tend to use the word manga, while attention to the agency of Korean artists and readers and, in consequence, Korean-Japanese differences leads to favoring the word manhwa. Chapter 1 extends this attention to gekiga/geukhwa. Like manga, the Japanese word gekiga has entered western languages in recent years, at least, insofar as comics discourse is concerned. Literally meaning “dramatic images”, it implied the opposition to light-hearted, funny comics for children in the 1960s, but outside Japan, it has been conceived 1 In this volume, the words Korean and Korea refer to the Republic of Korea, or South Korea. mainly as a sort of manga engaged in social criticism, and Tatsumi Yoshihiro2 is regarded as its foremost representative. While Leem Hye-Jeong focuses in chapter 1 on a historical comparison of gekiga and geukhwa, chapter 2 by Yoo Soo-Kyung analyzes two recent examples of comics for girls, that is, Japanese shōjo manga and Korean sunjeong manhwa.3 Being a cartoonist (or a caricaturist) and a “story manga” artist respectively, Leem and Yoo pursue differences and thereby a path slightly different from previous Korean comics historiography which has concentrated on similarities. Yet, both exhibit also an awareness of the bias which an overe

FAQs

Why do the terms manhwa, manhua, and manga matter in East Asian comics studies?

The preface explains that different notations and pronunciations encode cultural positions, since each term is tied to a language and script tradition that shapes how comics are categorized and discussed.

How does the text treat “influence” versus the agency of Korean artists and readers?

It contrasts discussions that frame similarities as Japanese influence using manga, with perspectives that emphasize Korean artistic and reader agency and therefore prefer the term manhwa.

What does the preface say about the historical start of Japanese manga in Korea?

It challenges a common assumption that imports began in 1998, arguing instead that political discussions and even licensed editions (e.g., Dragon Ball) occurred earlier, without a general explicit prohibition.

Aug 21, 2026

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