Mediascapes 22/2023 - Making visible the invisible - representing religious content in manga

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Quinn

Mediascapes 22/2023 explores how religious content becomes visible in manga through image, text, and panel/frame composition. The study situates depictions of ghosts, spirits, and ancestors at the intersection of artistic imagination, cultural and linguistic translation, and audience legibility. Using close reading of multiple religiously themed series, it analyzes how visual narration creates, maintains, and can contest religious worlds, and how learning and empathetic engagement make spiritual ideas accessible.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Methodology

Case selection and close reading approach

Analytical focus: text, images, frames, and composition

Mediascapes journal 22/2023 Making visible the invisible: representing religious content in manga* Carolina Ivanescu** University of Amsterdam Ghosts, spirits and ancestors have a central place in the Japanese spiritual imagination and are central to its contemporary popular culture. In visual narratives such as manga, both their way of depiction and their agency are the result of creativity, continuously in the making, at the intersection of the artist’s imagination, the work of cultural and linguistic translation and the representation’s legibility to the audience. This article delves into the representations of religious content in chosen manga, with a focus on image, text, and panel/frame composition. Keywords: folk religion, text-image, representation, Japanese comics * Articolo proposto il 09/03/2023 . Articolo accettato il 07/12/2023 . ** [c.ivanescu@uva.nl](c.ivanescu@uva.nl) Manga is a Japanese phenomenon, both in terms of its roots and development, however, its spread and influence are certainly not limited to Japan as manga has experienced for decades expanding popularity globally (Berndt, 2014) . The world of manga is vast, with an enormous range of publications, themes and narratives, and also exceedingly popular, catering to different publics and feeding an extraordinarily successful industry. Manga with religious themes are no exception. The supernatural, religious and the spiritual are often encountered in manga, to the extent that whole series are devoted to such topics. MacWilliams (2012) made a tentative categorization of religious manga into three categories: first, informational manga that teaches people about religious organizations, religious history or right ways of practice in an easily digestible format. Second, the category of manga used by new religious movements, centered on the message of social change and explaining the specific way the given religious movement sees the world. The third category, in which the manga explored in this article fall, is that of entertainment manga, where humor and leisure are central: here, religious themes are portrayed in a lighthearted and approachable manner. Most readers visit manga for enjoyment, however, while ‘manga are commercially produced for entertainment, they also serve as sources for ‘imaginative consumption’ for their readers, who use manga ideas and symbols to construct their sense of self, the world, and the sacred’ (MacWilliams, 2012, p. 596) . This medium makes learning possible and fantasies accessible. Readers learn about interpersonal situations, the appropriate expression of emotions, the proper ways of reaping benefits of lessons in life, dealing with changing social norms, as well as they gain cultural information (Kimbourg and Glassman, 2009) . Role-playing, emotional identification and empathy are important mechanisms of how these graphic novels work, as readers can live gregariously through the experiences of the (main) protagonist(s) . In the case of manga, enriching one’s cultural, social and even linguistic repertoire are important side-effects of enjoyment. Thematically, religious and spiritual manga tends to circle around dominant religions in Japan: Buddhist, Shinto and Christian elements are common. Moreover, folk religiosity and beliefs are prevalent in most manga. Anthropomorphism and metamorphosis, material things being alive, possessing agency and supernatural power abound (Buljan and Cusack, 2015) and are a loved part of most narratives. This is directly connected to Japanese religiosity (Ellwood and Pilgrim, 2016; Prohl and Nelson, 2012; Roemer, 2012), but also a response to the globally increasing demand for a re-enchanted world. Methodology In this article manga are seen as ‘cultivated and situated modes of engaging with reality’(Johannsen and Kirsch, 2020) which create and maintain religious world (Jensen, 2017) but can also contest them. The idea that religion is a sensory and mediated practice (Meyer

FAQs

本文关注漫画中的哪些宗教内容表现形式？

文章聚焦幽灵、灵体与祖先等在日本当代流行文化与精神想象中的呈现方式，并分析其在漫画叙事中的可见化机制。

研究采用什么方法来分析宗教主题漫画？

文章基于对多部宗教主题漫画的细读（close reading），从文本、图像、背景、分镜与构图等要素入手。

文章如何理解漫画中宗教世界的形成与影响？

文章将漫画视为与现实互动的“被培育且处境化”的媒介，既能创造并维持宗教世界，也可能对其进行争辩；同时强调视觉与叙事美学对感知现实的持续塑形作用。

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Quinn