More College Manga Courses Offered in Japan

A fan performs during the cosplay competition on April 3, 2010 in Lausanne during the Polymanga show, the major Swiss convention on manga, video games and Japanese contemporary culture. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Japanese universities are starting to offer more classes and degrees in manga, or comic book drawing.

At first, the classes were met with skepticism over doubts that students may not be able to succeed in the real world and get jobs, reported the Asashi Shimbun newspaper on Tuesday.

However, the article says that some graduates have moved on and started careers in their field. Some classes offer one-on-one experiences where the teacher can offer a more comprehensive critique of the student's work.

On average, a student must produce 400 pages of comic-style storyboard in a school year. Students are trained how to not only do the storyboard, but create characters and plots.

More anime and movie classes have also sprung up across Japan. At least 10 universities currently offer manga courses such as the Department of Manga of the Faculty of Arts at Tokyo Polytechnic University.