rajio manga cont.

Wed Aug 29 17:33:03 EDT 2007

Sorry I'm a bit late to this interesting discussion ... Roland was right to
point to the intriguing relation between Japanese radio and film. Tanaka
Masasumi has an interesting preliminary discussion of adaptations between
novel, radio, and film in his _Ozu Yasujiro no ho e_. He points out that
novels were turned into radio plays and then films (or vice versa), and that
benshi were active on radio even during the silent film period. Also, one of
the great attractions was to hear silent film stars speak on the radio. I
think there?s a lot more to be said about the connection between radio and
sound cinema; I seem to recall that Mizoguchi got actors for his ?Kansai
realism? sound films (eg. Shimura Takashi) from the radio. 

In answer to Jonathan?s question I?m afraid I haven?t come across the term
rajio manga (only ?manga no rajio doramaka?) but it is interesting that
Tokugawa Musei was one of the pioneers of ?eiga monogatari? on radio
(incidentally, this seems to be the dominant genre of articles in early film
journals), as well as the benshi for the Japanese language version of the
Chinese animated version of Saiyuki that was released during the war (I?d
like to claim that was the first Chinese film to be publicly released in
Japan; is that true?). All leading up to the postwar manga adaptations, it
seems! 

Just one more data point: Yoshinaga Sayuri began her acting career in the
late 50s doing voices for radio adaptations of manga for children. The
dramas were sometimes recorded live in front of large audiences: the kids
wanted to see the voices they heard on the radio. So voice ? live appearance
? film image. In general, as elsewhere, we should probably recognize that
?transmedia exploitation? of texts and celebrities was the rule rather than
the exception throughout the history of Japanese cinema. 

Michael

Michael Raine

University of Chicago

From: Jonathan M. Hall [mailto:jmhall at uci.edu] 
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 4:28 AM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: rajio manga cont.

Dear Akiko and Roland,

Thank you for two very helpful answers.  They do a lot to give the cultural
context from the Saiyuki stories broadcasts.  Akiko and Roland both suggest
the 1970s as an important period for the development of this term, but
perhaps I should have better contextualized my question.  The text that I'm
reading from is actually a transcription, published in the Fall of 1951, of
the radio broadcast--rajio manga-- of Saiyuki begun in 1950.  The first
(postwar, at least) broadcast was recorded on the night of 8 Juky 1950 and
broadcast the following evening at the unpopular hour (especially
considering Japanese summer time, then) of 5:30 pm.  The broadcasts were
weekly and, at 15 minutes per episode it took the space of a year for the
story to be half-completed.  

 So the term really does seem to have a longer history and certainly one
that preceeds Tezuka's rendition, which was not until Showa 27 (1952).
Indeed, it was probably the increasing popularity of this radio series that
inspired Tezuka's version, "Boku no Songoku". From 1950 to 1951 the show
moved from NHK2 to NHK1 and to better and better time slots.  The producer
of the radio series describes the Hammond Organ, the high quality voice
actors, and the "effects boys" as the reasons for the show's popularity.  In
this case, then, we see a movement from radio to film, not the other
direction that Roland so very thoroughly outlined below.

So, I am still curious about the origins (prewar, I suspect) for rajio-manga
.... and whether there is anything more than a figurative meaning for the
visual in this usage of manga.  Thank you again to Akiko and Roland!

Jonathan

-----

Jonathan M. Hall

Japanese Film, Media, and Modern Literature

Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature / Film & Media Studies

320 Humanities Instructional Building

UC Irvine, Irvine CA 92697-2651 USA

office: 1-949-824-9778

fax: 1-949-824-1992

Co-Chair, Queer Caucus, Society for Cinema and Media Studies

On Aug 21, 2007, at 7:45 PM, Roland Domenig wrote:

Hi Jonathan,

the term "rajio manga" seems to have developed in 1970 when TBS Radio
started a series of radio dramas aired on sunday nights called SHINYABAN
RAJIO MANGA. The first "rajio manga" in this series was NINPO SONGOKU based
on the SAIYUKI story. I don't know whether this drama was based on Tezuka
Osamu's manga or the Toei animation film, but at the time the story was
quite popular, because there were other adaptations made around that time
among them also a puppet animation series. The TBS radio manga series gained
popularity not least because of voice actress Mizumori Ako. The term "radio
manga" seems to have been a kind of TBS brand name.  

Another term frequently used was "rajio gekiga". These were radio drama
versions of popular gekiga (dramatic comics) such as BLACK JACK.

We should not forget, that before the war it was common practice in Japanese
radio to have radio drama versions of films. These were called "eiga
monogatari" or "hoso eigageki". A lot of famous directors worked for radio
and directed radio dramas, among them Yamamoto Kajiro, Uchida Tomu, Chiba
Taiki, Mizoguchi Kenji and even Ozu Yasujiro. The relation between film and
radio in Japan still needs to be explored.

Roland 

-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----

Von: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu im Auftrag von Jonathan M.
Hall

Gesendet: Di 21.08.2007 10:47

An: KineJapan

Betreff: rajio manga

Dear KineJapanners,

In some recent reading, I came across the term "rajio manga." Is  

anyone familiar with what precisely this refers to?  The context of  

my reading was the weekly radio serial Saiyuuki (Journey to the  

West) ... better known in English as Monkey or Monkey Magic?

My question is when, how, and why this term "rajio manga" developed?

Yours,

Jonathan

-----

Jonathan M. Hall

Japanese Film, Media, and Modern Literature

Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature / Film & Media Studies

320 Humanities Instructional Building

UC Irvine, Irvine CA 92697-2651 USA

office: 1-949-824-9778

fax: 1-949-824-1992

Co-Chair, Queer Caucus, Society for Cinema and Media Studies

<winmail.dat>

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