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JoJo's Araki Draws Napoleon for New Educational Manga Edition Featuring Major Artists

While manga is generally seen as entertainment, most major Japanese publishers have understood the medium's value for education, particularly history. One of the most well-known educational manga series is Shueisha's Gakushu Manga: Sekai no Rekishi (Educational Manga: World History). Originally released in 1986, the series gained an update in 2002 with each volume getting a new cover drawn by a different manga artist. The series is now getting another update, and the standout manga artist this time is none other than JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's Hirohiko Araki.

The Shueisha Jidōsho (Children's Book) imprint's X (formerly Twitter) account announced the newest edition on April 23. The post previews the new art of five historical figures (Muhammad Akbar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ramesses II, Elizabeth I, and Mahatma Gandhi), and the cover of the 10th volume by Araki.

The lineup of Shueisha manga authors outside of Araki is also quite spectacular. According to the Shueisha homepage, the authors providing cover art are:

This is an amazing lineup of artists, and each captures the essence of the historical figures. For instance, Noda's illustration of Vladimir Lenin captures the Russian socialist movement in the late 1910s, and Endo's art of Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler evokes the struggles of WWII. So subject and manga author fit quite well.

A Little Bit About Educational Manga

For the longest time, parents would admonish children in Japan for reading manga, fearing it would make them unintelligent. However, authors and publishers have seen the potential in manga as educational material. These include your historical fiction such as Tezuka Osamu's Buddha, Riyoko Ikeda's The Rose of Versailles, or more recently Noda's Golden Kamuy. However, these series fall into the category of edutainment — with some educational value, but designed to be entertaining.

So, what are educational manga then? These are manga made by committee with the express purpose of supplementing children's education. Granted, there is still an element of fiction in the stories presented, but those stories are developed under the care of scholars and leaders in the field of study. Add on top of this, some of the educational manga also have question and answer sections after each chapter, much like a traditional textbook, to help readers comprehend the material. Thus, while categorized as manga in most major bookstores in Japan, educational manga also fall into the limbo of educational material. Hence, you'll likely find them mixed in with other supplemental education books or study guides.

This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last time manga creators at Shueisha create covers for the publisher's educational manga, especially for Araki. However, considering his age, we may only get a few more from him. The Gakushu Manga: Sekai no Rekishi series is set to go on sale on October 4. Each individual volume will be 1,100 yen, and the full set will be 19,800 yen (about US$7 and US$128 respectively). Pre-orders are available, however there is no information on where to pre-order the books. Previous educational manga by Shueisha are available on Amazon Japan, so it is likely the newest edition will be available there as well. So, if you love manga and are a history buff, check out the series when it releases.

Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, Nagsura.

Source: Shueisha website, Shueisha Jidosho X/Twitter account, Mantan Web