- Convenor:
-
Marianne Simon-Oikawa
(Université Paris Cité, East Asian Civilizations Research Centre (CRCAO))
Send message to Convenor
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Media Studies
Short Abstract
This panel proposes considering the fukidashi (speech balloon) as a device that goes far beyond its usual conception as merely a container for words. Through case studies of horror and contemporary manga, it explores its material, spatial and semiotic functions from the 1970s to the present day.
Long Abstract
The terms 'speech balloon' and 'speech bubble' usually refer to the lines that surround the spoken or thought words of characters in comics. The term 'speech' suggests that their sole function is to contain words. However, balloons and bubbles sometimes contain more than just words, and their function is far from limited to being a simple medium for them. In contrast, the Japanese term 'fukidashi', derived from the verb 'fukidasu' meaning 'to blow and throw out', provides no indication of its content and encourages us to consider all aspects of this complex and elusive object. As part of a broader investigation into the forms and functions of fukidashi in Japan, from illustrated scrolls to the present day, this panel focuses on the non-verbal elements of fukidashi in manga since the 1970s. What forms do fukidashi take, how are they used by manga artists, and for what purposes? What insights can we gain from studying them in the context of a broader discussion about the relationship between text and image, and the visible and invisible?
The three speakers will each address these questions using specific examples. Olga Kopylova will focus on a corpus of horror manga from the 1970s. Blanche Delaborde will examine the purely visual functions of fukidashi in contemporary manga examples, employing the concepts of materiality, spatiality, and syntax. Morita Naoko will focus specifically on works depicting physical force and violence, demonstrating the role of speech bubbles in eliciting emotional responses from readers.
We hope that these case studies of works that have received little attention from previous scholarship will reveal the semiological richness of fukidashi and provide a fresh critical perspective on them. We also hope that the discussions will spark the interest of other researchers and encourage them to contribute to this collective investigation. Ultimately, we aim to provide the most comprehensive description and understanding of fukidashi possible, covering its entire history.
| Abstract in Japanese (if needed) |
Accepted papers
Paper short abstract
This study explores the use of fukidashi in the early horror manga. Recurring variations of fukidashi and related elements will be traced in a corpus of works from the 1970s. Besides contributing to the history of the genre, the findings might be used in intergeneric and intercultural comparisons.
Paper long abstract
This inquiry into the treatment of fukidashi in the horror manga of the 1970s pursues two goals.
The first one is to trace the development of fukidashi as an expressive device. Horror lends itself especially well to this aim, considering that exaggeration and excess are the defining traits of the genre. One can reasonably expect artists of the 1970s to utilise the whole range of fukidashi variations created in the previous three decades. Documenting this palette should therefore contribute to the theory of manga expression, or hyōgenron (表現論).
At the same time, this study is meant to advance the yet underdeveloped research on horror manga. Anglophone and Japanese academic inquiries into the genre have gravitated towards representative readings, staying within the framework of cultural studies. Existing formal analyses prioritize cinematic techniques rather than comics-specific devices such as fukidashi. Lastly, most case studies so far have been limited to four authors: Mizuki Shigeru, Umezu Kazuo, Hino Hideshi, and Itō Junji. This inquiry, focusing on the corpus of horror manga available at the Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library, thus answers the call from researchers such as Paolo La Marca (2024) for the more formally oriented analysis of comparatively obscure works and authors.
Methodologically, this study will utilise both the aforementioned hyōgenron and ‘ballonics,’ a set of analytical tools developed by Charles Forceville, Tony Veale, and Kurt Feyaerts (2010). Those tools will be employed to trace particularly popular patterns and expressive means used to convey distortions in speech and thought, as well as physical and mental states of characters and narrators. In addition to contributing to the history of the genre, these findings might be used as a basis for intergeneric and intercultural comparisons.
Paper short abstract
This paper focuses on fukidashi in recent manga and examines how narrative conventions relative to balloon shapes are evolving. Through various case studies, it intends to show how fukidashi jump between or combine iconic and symbolic qualities, and demonstrate an ambiguous materiality.
Paper long abstract
This paper will focus on fukidashi (speech balloons) in recent manga, mainly in genres with a majority of female readers, and show some of the ways narrative conventions relative to balloon shapes are in constant evolution. The basic function of manga fukidashi is generally understood to be carriers for written words, in which the space delimited by the outline of the balloon initially appears as a two-dimensional space analogous to that of the page. In many cases, though, fukidashi prove to be much more versatile and show a fluid dimensionality.
Much has been written in comics and manga studies (Forceville, Cohn, Natsume, Groensteen) about the expressive power of the contour lines of speech balloons and about some well-established conventions such as the distinction between speech balloons and thought balloons, which are part of the syntax of manga. What hasn’t been examined in as much detail is the relationship between fukidashi and the diegetic space created by the drawings. Many conventional uses of fukidashi that have appeared in the last decades challenge the neat dichotomy between a two-dimensional symbolic space inside the fukidashi and a three-dimensional space in the panels.
This paper will examine particular instances of fukidashi in recent manga that demonstrate the porous boundaries and paradoxical dimensionality of fukidashi. One example relates to fukidashi treated as substitutes for the characters’ faces, carrying conventional signs (keiyu) such as blushing, sweat drops or bulging veins. Among other conventions that will be discussed are the stabbing fukidashi that metaphorically show characters being hurt by someone else’s words. Through various case studies, this paper intends to show how fukidashi are an evolving and complex tool in manga syntax that constantly renegotiates the readers’ understanding of space, by jumping between or combining iconic and symbolic qualities.
Paper short abstract
This paper examines the role of fukidashi in conveying sounds representing physical force or violence. We will explore how certain authors have used fukidashi to visualise imaginary or exaggerated sounds and adjust the reader's immersion, instead of using motion lines, pain stars or onomatopoeia.
Paper long abstract
This paper examines the role of fukidashi (speech balloons) in conveying non-verbal elements, specifically sounds other than human voices, within the broader question of how readers experience manga depicting physical force or violence inflicted by humans.
While audiovisual media have focused on depicting violence and combat (including simulated combat such as sports) in a realistic and immersive way, manga and comics in general have throughout their history been characterised by their hybridity in combining images, text and other signs. This has given rise to numerous metamedial expressions that draw attention to the signs themselves rather than realistic representations.
When it comes to depicting physical force and violence, symbols representing impact have been developed (e.g. motion lines, pain stars and onomatopoeia). However, some authors deliberately use fukidashi to visualise imaginary or exaggerated sounds, which can either deepen or slow down the reader's immersion.
We will analyse examples from the works of Ōtomo Katsuhiro, Matsumoto Taiyō, Uoto and others to examine the gap between the idea of representation and that of autonomous expression, the difference between characters' and readers' perceptions, and the mechanism by which manga elicits empathy for characters' emotions and suffering.