Beyond by Hannah Sanders. Courtesy Museum of East Asian Art

Bath’s Museum of East Asian Art is exhibiting the peculiarly Japanese form of comic art known as manga in a new show running until December 9 2007.

Award winning artwork by some of the UK’s most talented manga artists, who fuse the traditional Japanese art with Western characters, storylines and concepts, is featured in the exhibition.

Much of the work displayed has won awards at the national annual manga competition, Rising Stars of Manga, organised by publisher Tokyopop.

Knives by John Aggs. Courtesy Museum of East Asian Art

Manga, literally translated from Japanese as ‘whimsical pictures’, is used in modern times to refer to the whole genre of Japanese comics, print and film cartoon.

The phrase is thought to originate from the popular ‘Hokusai manga’ – a printed publication of sketches by the famous 18th century ukiyo-e artist, Katsushika Hokusai.

The roots of contemporary manga, which retains a distinctive Japanese style, are to be found in this type of traditional woodblock illustration. However, increasing use of foreign elements give manga its own meaning, not necessarily referring to all Japanese comics or cartoons.

Courtesy Museum of East Asian Art

In manga, a slight shift in graphic style can convey characters’ moods and temperaments, with lifelike subjects suddenly taking on stylised, vibrant, cartoon-like qualities.

Manga, covering themes from horror to romance, comedy and drama to science fiction, action and sports, is now an internationally recognised artform, with a huge following. This exhibition reveals the cream of the flourishing manga scene in the UK.