mangaka 漫画家

In Japanese, mangaka 漫画家 means "manga artist," as in, the occupation, or someone who has that occupation.

Manga: BAKUMAN。 バクマン。 (Chapter 1)

• "Manga Artist" in Japanese
• Kanji
  • マンガ家
• What -Ka ～家 Means?

"Manga Artist" in Japanese

There are various ways to say "manga artist" in Japanese.

The literal way would be mangaka. But that's only used when you're specifically talking about a person who draws manga comics.

Someone who draws an illustration in manga style for something, or just an illustration is general, is credited as "illustrator, " or irasutoreetaa イラストレーター. Someone who draws animation is an "animator," or animeetaa アニメーター.

A mangaka that draws a manga that's also a doujinshi 同人誌 is also a doujinka 同人家.

Often, the author of a manga is credited simply as "author," sakka 作家.

An author, writer or artist, is also called by the honorific title of sensei 先生.

In the case of adaptations, the author of the original work being adapted is normally credited with gensaku 原作, "original work." For example:

• gensaku: ONE
  原作：ＯＮＥ
  Original work: ONE.
  • The anime Mob Psycho 100 credits ONE as original work, because ONE is the author of the manga Mob Psycho 100.
  • ONE also drew the original webcomic of One Punch Man.
  • Which Murata re-illustrated as a manga.
  • So in the One Punch Man manga drawn by Murata, ONE is credited with the "original work."
  • The anime adaptation of One Punch Man is based on the designs of the manga by Murata, so Murata is credited for the manga the anime is based on, while ONE is credited for the original work the anime is also based on.

This gensaku word also applies for writers. If a manga is based on a light novel, the one credited with gensaku is the light novel writer. If there is no light novel but two people are working together, one writing the story, one drawing them, the writer is credited with he gensaku, since the artist is adapting the script as a manga.

Manga: BAKUMAN。 バクマン。 (Chapter 1)

• bo, boku ga
  e wo kaite
  koitsu ga gensaku
  ぼ　僕が　絵を描いて　こいつが原作
  I, I'll draw the drawings and [he] will [write] the original work.

Kanji

The kanji of mangaka and the respective meanings of the kanji are:

• 漫
  Unrestrained.
  (like laughter, so...)
  Comical.
• 画
  Picture.
• 家
  House.

The first two form the word manga 漫画, which is one of the ways to say "manga" in Japanese.

The last kanji can be read in various ways. For example:

• ie 家
  House.
• ka-zoku 家族
  Family.

But in the case of this word it's the -ka ～家 suffix, which refers to someone whose craft is something, in this case, their craft is drawing "manga," so they are a manga artist.

マンガ家

Sometimes, mangaka is partially written with katakana, as mangaka マンガ家 instead.

The kanji of manga 漫画 are jouyou kanji 常用漢字 taught in chuugakkou 中学校, that is, they're common characters taught in junior high, so the reason for spelling it with katakana is not because they're difficult kanji, but, instead, because manga 漫画 takes 22 strokes to write while manga マンガ takes just 8.

Manga: BAKUMAN。 バクマン。 (Chapter 1)

• ore to kunde
  mangaka ni natte kure
  俺と組んでマンガ家になってくれ
  Please join me and become a manga artist.
  • ore to kumu 俺と組む
    To partner with me. To join me.

What -Ka ～家 Means?

The -ka ～家 at the end of mangaka 漫画家 is a suffix that normally refers to a craft, and people who do that craft. In the case of mangaka, the craft is manga. They're manga-craftsmen, that is, manga authors, manga artists.

A similar word would be doujinka 同人家, which is someone whose craft is publishing doujinshi 同人誌. Other similar words are:

• shousetsu-ka 小説家
  Novelist. Story writer. Light novel writer.
  • shousetsu 小説
    Story.
• geijutsu-ka 芸術家
  Artist. (in the sense of making...)
  • geijutsu 芸術
    Art.
• sakka 作家
  Author.
  • saku 作
    Work. (of art, etc.)
  • It's sakka instead of saku-ka because of a change of pronunciation called sokuonbin 促音便
• ongakuka 音楽家
  Musician.
  • ongaku 音楽
    Music.
• shashinka 写真家
  Photographer.
  • shashin 写真
    Photo.
• hatsumeika 発明家
  Inventor.
  • hatsumei 発明
    Invention.
• hyouronka 評論家
  Critic.
  • hyouron 評論
    Critique.
• seijika 政治家
  Politician.
  • seiji 政治
    Politics.

Note that there are some exceptions.

For example, not all words for occupations end in -ka ～家.

• irasutoreetaa イラストレーター
  Illustrator. (katakanization.)
• animeetaa アニメーター
  Animator.
• odoriko 踊り子
  Dancer. (usually girls, e.g. a belly dancer.)

Also, -ka ～家 can be a suffix for words that are not exactly occupations. For example:

• senmonka 専門家
  Specialist.
  • senmon 専門
    Specialty.