The 1940s to the 1950s: The Genome King, Tezuka Osamu

Setting an extremely loose definition of eromanga as sequential art including erotic expression, one can probably trace its history back to the old generation of racy manga for adults represented by Shimizu Kon, Kojima Koo and Sugiura Yukio. From the bottom of the eromanga gene pool, one might be able to dredge up the meme of the amorous female water imp from Shimizu Kon's Kappa Paradise (Kappa tengoku, 1953-1958). Personally, I want to talk about Shimizu Kon's water imp manga as erotic, which I found it to be early in life, but this work is entirely unrelated to contemporary eromanga. If I searched, I think I could find an eromanga artist who started drawing after being impacted by Shimizu Kon's water imps – but, then again, there is probably no such person. Even granted the long shot that they do exist, their work would have basically no relation to contemporary eromanga.

In terms of influence on future generations of bishōjo-style eromanga, the name that cannot be ignored is after all Tezuka Osamu. Now, I am wary of contributing to the deification of this man, the legend of the so-called “God of Manga,” which has it that Tezuka was the first at anything and everything. I know that the origin of contemporary eromanga is not one man, and focusing too much on him can be misleading. However, when it comes to eroticism, what Tezuka did is just too massive to overlook. There can be no mistake that, even now, this is an enormous legacy.

While he had produced work already, Tezuka's real national debut was New Treasure Island (Shin takarajima, story by Sakai Shichima) in 1947. Given the state of Japan following the Second World War, it is shocking that this manga sold 400,000 copies, which made it a smash hit. Interestingly, that same year, Yamakawa Sōji's Boy King (Shōnen ōja), a made-in-Japan Tarzan picture book, is recorded as being a bestseller at 500,000 copies. On the one hand is a new style of manga that announced the arrival of a new era, and on the other a tale of adventure in unexplored regions, which reflects the last rays of light of prewar boys culture, as well as illusions of empire and the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.”