Manga - the Japanese art comic books - has greatly risen popularity worldwide in the past few decades. The art form can trace its roots back nearly 1,000 years Japan but it is only in recent times that it has taken globally. Manga is now as synonymous Japan as sushi, geisha and Mt Fuji. Such is the popularity manga outside Japan, an exhibition of manga works proved to be the most popular show the British Museum in 2019. It attracted more visitors than a show the Dutch painter Rembrandt. The manga exhibition was the largest display of manga material ever assembled Japan. Around 1,920 people paid to see it every day, according to the museum.
The manga exhibition showcased the 900-year history the art. It included the earliest forms manga master painters to sketches and illustrations today's popular anime and video game characters such as Pokemon. There were also exhibits animated films known as "anime". The show included 70 manga series, including Osamu Tezuka's seminal work "Astro Boy". Hartwig Fischer, director the British Museum, said: "Manga is the modern graphic art storytelling first perfected in Japan and is now loved all the world. Building Japan's centuries-old tradition, the best manga have the visual power to excite us and draw us their world, inventive storylines that engage our emotions."
