12. Manga and Shakespeare

The combination of Shakespeare—the supreme icon of high culture and Englishness—and manga—a popular art format originating in Japan—may seem unusual. Yet, substantial numbers of manga adaptations of Shakespeare’s works exist, both from Japan and from other parts of the world, including Osamu Tezuka’s Vampire (1966–69), which incorporates Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III. Some manga versions of Shakespeare remain fairly faithful to the original, while others are wild spin-offs almost unrecognizable as Shakespeare. This chapter analyzes manga adaptations of Shakespeare to explore whether manga versions of Shakespeare should be praised for their creative reinvention of Shakespeare or should be condemned as sacrilege toward Shakespeare’s authority. I will argue that manga versions of Shakespeare challenge us to question and examine established cultural hierarchy.