"Manga like Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, and My Hero Academia all fit into the shonen action genre, and is among some of the most popular manga world-wide. However, few fans know where their favorite aspects of this genre come from, simply assuming that Dragon Ball (or, if you're lucky, Fist of the North Star) is where things originated.
Join George from The Land of Obscusion as he gives a general overview of 19 different manga to explain how shonen action came about."
2020 has been... a year, to say the least. There's nothing really I can say about what happened in the world starting this past March that you likely didn't know already, so I'll just move on to how it affected my plans. I had been asked to be a Featured Panelist for Anime Boston 2020, something which had never happened to me. Obviously, the pandemic wound up with Anime Boston getting cancelled, and in place of (most) in-person anime cons, we've had many virtual cons spring up. To act as a replacement for AB not happening, I decided to create a video version of one of my planned panels, with it first debuting at a virtual con before getting uploaded to YouTube. After turning down an invite (Anime Lockdown) & not getting accepted elsewhere (Otakon Online), I did get accepted for Virtual Crunchyroll Expo, which was cool since that's a con I'd normally never have the chance to attend, due to it being on the opposite side of the country from me.
So, after running on September 5, 2020, a finalized version of "The TRUE & SECRET History of Shonen Action Manga!" is now available over on YouTube. The main difference with this "final" version is the inclusion of two musical gags, which had to be changed for VCRX due to a "no music" policy, and an alternate final thanks to reflect the path this entire panel went through this year. As for the panel/video itself, it is a general overview of the evolution of of shonen action manga, from the early manga that inspired entire generations to the early sports manga that set up the ideas & concepts that shonen action would rely on, followed by the later sports manga that acted as the direct transition to the iconic non-sports series that would become world renown & influential. For a full list of the manga covered, with links to related articles I've written, as well as the video itself, simply continue on:
[I later made an updated version for 2021, so the video link has been updated to reflect that.]
Early Manga:
Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka (1952-1968)
8 Man by Kazumasa Hirai & Jiro Kuwata (1963-1966)
Kamui-den by Sanpei Shirato (1964-1971)
Establishing Prototypical Standards:
Star of the Giants by Ikki Kajiwara & Noboru Kawasaki (1966-1971)
Dororo by Osamu Tezuka (1967-1969)
Ashita no Joe by Ikki Kajiwara & Tetsuya Chiba (1968-1973)
Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho by Hiroshi Motomiya (1968-1973)
Babel II by Mitsuteru Yokoyama (1971-1973)
Transitioning from Sports to "Shonen Action"
Team Astro by Shiro Tozaki & Norihiro Nakajima (1972-1976)
Ganbare Genki by Yu Koyama (1976-1981)
Ring ni Kakero by Masami Kurumada (1977-1981)
Space Adventure Cobra by Buichi Terasawa (1978-1984)
Kinnikuman by Yudetamago (1979-1987, 2010-Present)
Captain Tsubasa by Yoichi Takahashi (1981-1988)
Fuma no Kojiro by Masami Kurumada (1982-1983)
Shonen Action Becomes its Own Thing:
Fist of the North Star by Buronson & Tetsuo Hara (1983-1988)
Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama (1984-1995)
Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada (1986-1990)
-Who Made Who?: Saint Seiya vs. Dragon Ball
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki (1987-Present)
I purposefully stop with JoJo mainly because the history of shonen action is more or less known by anime/manga fandom by that point, & I also had a limited amount of time. Not just that, but after JoJo shonen action really reinforced, examined, & deconstructed what had been established by that point, while this panel was about explaining where everything came from. If you are interested in learning more about manga history, though, please do checkout The Ages of Jump, a nine-part series going over the history of Weekly Shonen Jump by way of 148 of its most notable manga.
Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka (1952-1968)
8 Man by Kazumasa Hirai & Jiro Kuwata (1963-1966)
Kamui-den by Sanpei Shirato (1964-1971)
Establishing Prototypical Standards:
Star of the Giants by Ikki Kajiwara & Noboru Kawasaki (1966-1971)
Dororo by Osamu Tezuka (1967-1969)
Ashita no Joe by Ikki Kajiwara & Tetsuya Chiba (1968-1973)
Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho by Hiroshi Motomiya (1968-1973)
Babel II by Mitsuteru Yokoyama (1971-1973)
Transitioning from Sports to "Shonen Action"
Team Astro by Shiro Tozaki & Norihiro Nakajima (1972-1976)
Ganbare Genki by Yu Koyama (1976-1981)
Ring ni Kakero by Masami Kurumada (1977-1981)
Space Adventure Cobra by Buichi Terasawa (1978-1984)
Kinnikuman by Yudetamago (1979-1987, 2010-Present)
Captain Tsubasa by Yoichi Takahashi (1981-1988)
Fuma no Kojiro by Masami Kurumada (1982-1983)
Shonen Action Becomes its Own Thing:
Fist of the North Star by Buronson & Tetsuo Hara (1983-1988)
Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama (1984-1995)
Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada (1986-1990)
-Who Made Who?: Saint Seiya vs. Dragon Ball
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki (1987-Present)
I purposefully stop with JoJo mainly because the history of shonen action is more or less known by anime/manga fandom by that point, & I also had a limited amount of time. Not just that, but after JoJo shonen action really reinforced, examined, & deconstructed what had been established by that point, while this panel was about explaining where everything came from. If you are interested in learning more about manga history, though, please do checkout The Ages of Jump, a nine-part series going over the history of Weekly Shonen Jump by way of 148 of its most notable manga.
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