KautzRainer190

The recent manga boom in France is reminiscent of Japonism--the period when ukiyo-e from the Edo period (1603-1867) greatly influenced French art.

At Salon du livre de Paris, France's largest reserve fair held in mid-March, I saw little ones wearing masks of characters from the popular ninja manga Naruto written by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha Inc. The manga's local distributor had set up a booth and was handing out the masks to visitors for free.

According to Shueisha, France is the company's largest market exterior Japan. Dragon Ball grew in popularity from around 1995, and Naruto was introduced in 2002. From December 2010 to November 2011, Naruto sold 1.22 million copies and One Piece has sold 1.42 million.

The Manga Cafe stands near the prestigious Paris-Sorbonne University. Opened in 2006, it houses about 12,000 manga in a space measuring just 100 square meters. Visitors can read manga at the cafe for about 3 euros-4 euros (300-400 yen) an hour.

"The characters in Naruto are appealing, and the manga is filled with fight scenes," said a student at the cafe. "In Death Note, I learned about life and death."

Planete Manga! (Planet Manga), a manga event for young people, is currently under way at the Centre Pompidou until May 27.

"Manga is artistic because the story, characters and setting are all captured in one panel," said Boris Tissot, the event's organizer.

Another Paris avenue is crowded with stores focused in Japanese manga and figurines of personas such as Dragon Ball's Kame Sennin (known in English as Master Roshi) and PreCure. A costume shop there displays a signboard reading "cosplay."

In France, there are also locally generated video novels called "bande dessinee" or BD. Walking around bookstores, I found some eccentric and adult BDs, a single based on the erotic novels of the Marquis de Sade. There was also Marjan Satrapi's Embroideries, which will openly depicts the love and marriage of an Iranian woman.

The City of Light is a blend of the uplifting spirit of young people and the sensuality of adults. truy?n tranh online naruto beelzebub conan hi?p khách giang h? fairy tail One Piece truyen tranh online món an ngon d? làm l? ph?c sinh happy hour món nu?ng