Social network analysis of manga: similarities to real-world social networks and trends over decades

TL;DR

This study analyzes character networks in 162 manga over 70 years, revealing similarities to real social networks and evolving trends in network structure based on target audience, providing insights into manga's social dynamics.

Contribution

It is the first large-scale analysis of manga character networks, comparing their properties to real social networks and examining temporal trends based on target demographics.

Findings

Many manga character networks resemble real social networks.

Most manga networks are protagonist-centered.

Trends show increasing density and less protagonist focus in boys' manga over decades.

Abstract

Manga, Japanese comics, has been popular on a global scale. Social networks among characters, which are often called character networks, may be a significant contributor to their popularity. We collected data from 162 popular manga that span over 70 years and analyzed their character networks. First, we found that many of static and temporal properties of the character networks are similar to those of real human social networks. Second, the character networks of most manga are protagonist-centered such that a single protagonist interacts with the majority of other characters. Third, the character networks for manga mainly targeting boys have shifted to denser and less protagonist-centered networks and with fewer characters over decades. Manga mainly targeting girls showed the opposite trend except for the downward trend in the number of characters. The present study, which relies on manga data sampled on an unprecedented scale, paves the way for further population studies of character networks and other aspects of comics.