News : The communist manga of World War II.

In light of the fact that it's ANZAC day, here's a little bit of a historical lesson for you.

In 1937 when Japan first entered the world war II, the government forced artists and cartoonists to join a government trade organization, known as The New Cartoonists Association of Japan, which published the only manga magazine amidst the wartime paper shortages.

The manga authors drew comics following the governments guidelines, usually having family-style humour as well as making light of the wartime shortages, glorifying the war effort and demoralizing the enemy. Manga was used as a propaganda tool with illustrated leaflets used as an attempt to undermine the psych of allied soldiers.

But the allies also had a manga artist who had left Japan earlier named Taro Yashima, who created a book called "The Unlucky Soldier". Which tells a story about a peasant dying in service to his corrupt leaders. The book was often found on corpses of the Japanese soldiers, showing the strong emotional effect it had on its readers.

Still interested? feel free to read more about the history of WWII/Post War manga here.