Arts & Culture
How the Shōwa Era's Manga Aesthetic Reflects Post-War Japanese Anxieties
Quick fact
After WWII, Japanese manga pioneered by Osamu Tezuka adopted cinematic techniques—such as dynamic paneling and close-up 'camera angles'—in part to convey the fragmented, anxious experience of life under the atomic shadow.
Why this is interesting
You know the big, sparkling eyes of manga characters? They weren't always that way—they emerged from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How did trauma shape an art form?