Reading and Re-creating: The Adaptation of Manga in Thailand

Manga (comics) have been a staple of Japanese popular culture for many decades. As a part of Japanese popular culture consumed globally, it has been a prevalent topic for academic investigation for a long time. Outside Japan, manga are disseminated through translation and adaptation. Thailand is among the nations influenced by Japanese manga. Thailand has a long history of importing the Japanese cultural form of manga. Since manga’s first appearance in the nation six decades ago, more than ten thousand Japanese manga volumes of diverse themes and genres have been translated into the local language and distributed. Thailand is among the nations with a large and solid manga reading base. It has become a home to major manga-related events organised annually in the region. Moreover, it has manga-style artists who produce high quality manga works well-regarded in Japan and who have received International Manga Awards. Despite this, the subject of manga in Thailand has not been given enough academic attention either domestically or internationally. My research aims to examine the development of manga as a transnational and globalised cultural product in Thailand. By analysing the adaptation of shōnen action and adventure manga – one of the most consumed manga themes in Thailand, I seek to understand the way Japanese manga is adapted under the influence of globalisation and transnational flows. To carry out my research, I examine two of the most influential Japanese shōnen action and adventure series from two different eras – Dragon Ball and One Piece, and one Thai manga of the same genre titled Ogre King.