Mastering Manga Storytelling: Characters, Pages and Narrative Flow

Lesson 1: Foundations of Manga and Character Creation 

• What manga is and why many people misunderstand it 

• Visible and invisible elements that define authentic manga 

• The manga storytelling mantra 

• What it means to create a real manga 

• Origins of manga 

• Early influences, American comics, and Osamu Tezuka 

• Types of manga by target 

• How the industry works: from idea to tankobon 

• Plot driven vs character driven stories 

• First simple character creation techniques 

• Character profile. 

Lesson 2: Skills and Methods for Strong Characters 

• Essential skills for manga creators 

• Additional methods to develop characters 

• The importance of the magical 'but' 

• Character settei and character summary card 

• Using the 5W1H 

• Types of protagonists 

• The Frankenstein method 

• Core 5 questions to create a character 

• Deep focus on Question 1 

• Why perfect characters do not work 

• Values, strengths, flaws and resulting actions 

• Using personal experience 

• Showing emotions through expressions 

• Sketching main expressions. 

Lesson 3: Motivation, Wants, Needs 

• Focus on questions 2 and 3 

• The character’s 'What' 

• The character’s 'Why' 

• How motivation shapes story 

• Showing motivation visually 

• Wants and needs 

• Gap, ana and ketsukaru 

• What makes a strong protagonist 

• Sketching characters from different angles. 

Lesson 4: Stakes, Arcs, and Effective Introductions 

• Focus on questions 4, 5 and 6th bonus question 

• Understanding stakes 

• Character arc 

• Narrative arc 

• Positive and negative arcs 

• Setting: where and when 

• Introducing a character effectively 

• Protagonist and antagonist 

• Sketching small distinctive actions. 

Lesson 5: Structure and Long-Term Thinking 

• Starting with the end in mind 

• Origins and applications of yonkoma and kishotenketsu 

• How to use kishotenketsu 

• Kishotenketsu in pages, short stories, yomikiri, long stories and chapters 

• The nested structure 

• Differences and similarities with the three act structure 

• The reader as the center 

• Useful software. 

Lesson 6: Loglines, Analysis and Idea Quality 

• What a logline is and how to write it 

• Reading like an editor 

• Identifying the true protagonist 

• What makes a strong idea 

• Differences between short and long manga 

• Important elements for loglines 

• Manga genres 

• Common yonkoma mistakes. 

Lesson 7: Building the Story Engine 

• Parts of a story including inciting incident 

• The story spine 

• Theme, premise and design principle 

• Twist and character presentation 

• Creating a narrative flow chart 

• How to divide a story 

• Essential questions to ask yourself. 

Lesson 8: Nemu and Story Readability 

• What a nemu is 

• How many panels per page and why 

• The tallest panel rule 

• One panel, one emotion, one moment 

• Nemu no nemu 

• Readability elements 

• Refining drafts 

• Common nemu difficulties 

• Connecting yonkoma. 

Lesson 9: Emotions and Basic Page Structure 

• Directing emotions through pages 

• The six core emotions 

• From yonkoma to one page manga 

• Main shots and their uses (part 1) 

• Komawari basics 

• Hikigoma 

• Reading a two-page story. 

Lesson 10: Complex Emotions and Visual Decisions 

• Depicting complex emotions 

• The importance of close ups 

• Full figure introduction 

• Show, don’t tell 

• Analysis of short manga. 

Lesson 11: Speech Bubbles and Visual Flow 

• Speech bubbles: shapes and placement 

• Space equals distance 

• Main shots and their uses (part 2). 

Lesson 12: Panel Transitions and Meaning 

• Types of panel transitions 

• How transitions affect understanding 

• How manga differs from other comics 

• Main differences with western comics 

• Panel transitions revisited 

• The reader as accomplice. 

Lesson 13: Controlling the Scene: Perspective and Emotional Focus 

• More komawari techniques 

• Whose emotions are shown 

• The scene subject 

• Unity of panels 

• One camera angle. 

Lesson 14: Rhythm, Contrast, and Visual Emphasis 

• Panel unity with multiple shots 

• Oblique panels 

• Merihari 

• Speed lines 

• Kakimoji 

• Flow and against flow 

• Anticipation, action, reaction 

• Action, emotion 1, emotion 2 

• Common storyboarding problems 

• Identifying what your story lacks 

• Improving your storyboard. 

Lesson 15: Analysis and Refinement 

• What makes an excellent first page 

• Checklist of essential story elements 

• Identifying story gaps 

• Building a new storyboard 

• Managing action time, reading time and emotional time 

• Revising the sequence. 

Lesson 16: Final Project and Professional Development 

• Recommended books 

• Finding inspiration 

• Expanding horizons 

• The landscape of manga possibilities 

• Manga competitions 

• Major Japanese magazines.