The Agency for Cultural Affairs has launched an initiative to preserve and catalogue original manga drawings, storyboards, animation cels and more for future generations to study and enjoy.

Despite the growing global popularity of Japanese media, there hasn’t been a state-led system to archive art and ephemera created during the production of anime and manga—until now—leaving many original works to be destroyed, damaged or sold overseas.

In early March, one room in Tokyo was filled to the brim with nearly 20 archivists in surgical masks and gloves.

Their company, commissioned by the cultural agency, had sent them on a special mission: to inspect and catalogue the precious original drawings of Tetsuya Chiba famed for his boxing manga “Ashita no Joe” (Tomorrow’s Joe).

Chiba, 85, is providing vital assistance to the work. 

With the delicacy of surgeons in an operating room, the staff carefully removed the drawings from their neat envelopes and files, one by one, and examined them for paper damage and fading colors.

They also confirmed which scene each drawing came from by comparing it to the published comics. Each original drawing was assigned a number, and the details of its condition was noted in a digital archive.

In fiscal 2023, the year this preservation project was launched, the Agency for Cultural Affairs earmarked a total of 34 million yen ($219,500) for it in that year’s budget. Those funds went into cataloguing Chiba’s collection, with his help.

This fiscal year, as much as 190 million yen has been budgeted for the cause. These funds are expected to be used to expand the agency’s research initiative to include original drawings and other anime-production assets by more artists.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PROCESSES

The endeavor was sparked by the fact that Japan is still struggling to conserve important properties linked to the country’s manga and anime titles, although they are rapidly increasing in popularity worldwide.

“Things in which Japanese people traditionally saw little value are now viewed as works of art outside the nation,” noted Takashi Oishi, director of the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum in Akita Prefecture.

The museum has been actively preserving original manga paintings since long before other initiatives of this kind were developed.

According to Oishi, sketches, rough drawings and other ephemera showing the process of a work’s production are regarded as a form of art in Europe and the United States.

In 2018, an original painting by manga legend Osamu Tezuka was purchased at an auction abroad for 35 million yen, raising concerns that many original manga illustrations would be frittered away outside Japan “just like ukiyo-e” had been in the past.

In Japan, there are many cases in which the bereaved families of deceased manga creators don’t know what to do with all the artwork left behind. These illustrations are often sold off or stored in conditions that subject them to deterioration. 

Publishers can’t keep track of the location or condition of these works either, since original drawings are normally returned to the artists after their commercial release.

PUBLIC SUPPORT CRAVED

In 2009, during the administration of Prime Minister Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party, who is a noted anime and manga buff, a plan was made for a national media arts center. 

This so-called “anime hall of fame” would have preserved original manga art.

However, the plan was scrapped by the subsequent administration due to critics complaints about spending money on “a national comic book cafe.”

Last year, the privately run Manga Archive Center was established. The center is a collaborative effort between publishing companies, museum operators and other entities, but manga artists and other insiders believe that the government should be involved as well.

For that reason, Oishi is pleased by the cultural agency’s latest endeavor.

“Previously, only local museums with close ties to specific creators had been involved in preserving original drawings,” he said. “It has great significance for the Agency for Cultural Affairs to engage directly in such an effort.”

While Chiba’s drawings that were archived by the cultural agency’s initiative had already been sorted in envelopes by episode and were in good condition, it remains be seen how far the program will extend beyond this “extremely rare example.”

What additional artists and materials should be covered under the initiative is still under discussion.

NEVER REPRODUCED

When talking about this program, Chiba explained the importance of conserving manga drawings and why he is so keen to lend a hand.

Chiba said original drawings used to be thrown away after they were sent to the printers. 

He once saw a senior manga artist’s “drool-worthy, magnificent” drawings disposed of at a publishing firm’s editorial department.

“Since then, the awareness of raw drawings has changed so dramatically that they are now treated with care,” said Chiba. “Publishers these days return them to creators, as they should.”

Manga artists draw and paint sheets of paper directly, meaning the same pictures “can never be replicated.”

“Eraser traces, whiteout marks and other signs of effort produced by repeated rounds of painting and correcting can be found, whereas they are impossible to spot on paper printouts,” said Chiba.

Chiba stated that he feels “a bit anxious” about older artists’ valuable pictures being lost, since “our painting styles have been affected by those of our forerunners while we followed in their footsteps.”

He lamented that a nationwide project to preserve manga-related materials was abandoned due to critics who demanded that “taxpayers’ money should not be poured into installing a comic cafe.”

Chiba said that he considered founding a manga center with other creators but they realized it would be unfeasible to establish such a facility on their own.

“It was then that the Agency for Cultural Affairs contacted me for this project,” said Chiba. “I will be very grateful if this provides an opportunity for society to head toward valuing Japanese manga as an important part of culture.”

Chiba continued, “I hope the initiative will not be abandoned halfway through again.”

(This article was written by Takuji Hiraga and Kenro Kuroda.)