The Manga Genga Archive Center, which will preserve original manga drawings, will be established in July inside the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum in Akita Prefecture. It will serve as Japan's headquarters dedicated to protecting the valuable works of manga.
There has been general concern that the original drawings, which can be quite valuable among manga fans, are getting lost or being dispersed overseas. The facility will serve as a consultation center for publishers and manga artists, and liaise with relevant institutions across the country whose purpose is preserving original manga drawings.
According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, which is supporting the operation, this will be the first time that a nationwide institution is set up for the preservation of original manga drawings.
While manga has gained worldwide popularity, some original drawings have unfortunately been scattered and lost due to insufficient management by publishers and the death of manga artists -- several have also been sold at overseas auction markets. In 2018, for instance, the original drawings of Astro Boy, the masterpiece of Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) was auctioned off in Paris and sold for about 35 million yen.
The manga industry became increasingly concerned, and a research group commissioned by the agency in 2018 proposed establishing a center to archive original drawings properly. The Yokote Masuda Manga Museum, which houses original manga drawings -- including those of Takao Yaguchi who is known for "Sanpei the Fisher Boy," a story of a boy who loves fishing -- was selected to take charge of the center because of its accumulated knowledge on how to prevent the deterioration of original drawings since its inception in 1995.
The center will advise publishers and manga artists on how to preserve original drawings, such as putting them between sheets of special paper and maintaining the proper temperature and humidity. The center will also introduce appropriate institutions to owners of original drawings who wish to donate them to their hometowns. Furthermore, it plans to accept and train officials from related facilities across the country.
This fiscal year, the Agency for Cultural Affairs earmarked 387 million yen to support archiving items related to manga, anime and games.
It is said that there are about 50 million original manga drawings in Japan. However, according to a survey of about 1,200 museums and art galleries nationwide by a research group, only 55 facilities store and exhibit original drawings. The Akita museum stores about 400,000 original drawings of about 180 manga artists. Its storage limit is 700,000 pieces.
"Original drawings are precious cultural records with traces of manga artists' trial and error during the production process. I want to raise public interest in original drawings and increase the number of facilities that share the same spirit," said Takashi Oishi, the museum director who will double as the center's director.
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