Gekiga Bakatachi!!

In the mid-1950s, rental bookstores in Osaka thrived by lending books for ten yen a day. Hinomaru Bunko in Semba became a central meeting place for young, struggling artists with aspirations, including Takao Saito, Masaaki Satou, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and Masahiko Matsumoto. These creators were among four manga publishers serving the rental market. Their work marked the early development of a manga style later known as “gekiga.”