What is a Mangaka?

Mangaka's are not just writers. Mangaka's are not just artists. The only word that could describe a mangaka's job is to be a visual storyteller. Like any creator of art each mangaka has there own writing and art style. For my explanation of mangaka's I will be using my favorite mangaka, Hirohiko Araki. A mangaka makes manga and puts it out into the world. Manga is comic books and graphic novels from Japan, with genres ranging from love stories to twisted horror books and everything in between. Araki's very popular manga JoJo's Bizzare Adventure does not stick to single genre, while it is considered a Shonen ( meaning it appeals to younger men) JJBA really trancends into the bizzare. What makes a manga successful is its uniqueness and Araki hit the mark perfectly, the first part starts as a Shakespearan tale and as im typing this the story has morphed into a japanese man trying to find out who he really is. The key to becoming a Manga artist is not only storytelling through words but also through the panel art. Below are in my opionion two of Araki's best manga panels. Even though we don't understand the words in the first panel we can still get so much from it. The expression and stance of Kira suggest his lack of caring. He has no hesitation and no remorse for the man he just killed in front of his girlfriend. The second panel shows a more uplifting moment, Giorno shows no remorse as his enemy realizes he has been beat. I think I could write forever and always fall short of the amount of emotions shown in these panels. That is the job of a Mangaka, not only to tell a compelling story but show us the story unfold. Araki actually wrote a mangaka name Rohan into his story, Rohan's character is a man who pays attention to every detail to draw his manga. He has the power to quite literally read a person like a book, Araki believes to write about a character you need to know every detail about them.