Manga are Japanese comic books (which are normally read from right to left), but by extension the term is now used to more or less designate everything that looks like mangaka style (manga artist).

Manga are somehow a symbol of Japan in Europe, through anime like DragonBall during the 80's and 90's, DragonBall Z during the 90's, and then DragonBall GT and their paper versions. Many by-products contribute to the growing success of manga world along with Japanese culture. The best-known mangas: Naruto, Bleach, GTO, Death Note, City Hunter, Akira, Evangelion... which various anime are as famous as their paper versions.

There are different kinds of mangas, depending on the type of readers: Shônen includes a wide range of genres, from action to comedy through sport and detective stories, the best known kind and certainly the most read. Shôjo are dedicated to young girls, through romanticized stories and frail heroines. Seinen, however, is rather for teenagers (17 years and beyond) who have grown with the Shônen but whose expectations have evolved.

Mangas are also successful in the movie theaters, particularly with Hayao Miyazaki who recently signed an animated film entitled Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.

In February 2009, Toei Animation (production studio) decided to remaster the DragonBall Z series for the 20th anniversary of the manga and to change the name to DragonBall Z Kai (Kai meaning “updated, improved” in Japanese).