Educational manga
6The Care · 60Also written: gakushū manga, learning manga, edutainment manga
Manga written to teach a subject, from history and science to business and law.
6The letters of this term total 60, a 6 — the number of care, community, and the weight of duty.
What it means
Educational manga, or gakushū manga, are manga written to teach. They cover almost every subject: Japanese and world history, science, biographies of famous people, economics, law and how to use computers. Many are aimed at children, but many are for adults.
Where it is used
Japanese school libraries are full of educational manga, especially multi-volume histories of Japan and the world, which many children read before they meet the subject in class. Government bodies and companies use manga to explain policies, safety rules and products.
Teaching through story
The most successful educational manga teach through characters and story rather than lectures. Cells at Work! turns the immune system into an action comedy, and readers remember how the body works because they remember the scenes.
Why it matters
Educational manga show how familiar the medium is in Japan: it is used to explain serious subjects to everyone. It is also one reason why many Japanese adults see manga as a normal way to learn, not only to be entertained.
The term by its numbers
Counted letter by letter this term comes to 60 — 6 once reduced. The weight sits in “Educational”, which carries 42 on its own and reduces to 6.
The reference files it as an obligation. The number's contribution is care, community, and the weight of duty — and with it the 6's pull toward responsibility, care, and the people involved, which is the thread the reference follows here.
Split the term again and the vowels give a Heart's Desire of 9 (reckoning) against a Personality of 33 (service) in the consonants — reckoning underneath, service on the surface. The gap between them is where the subject is most interesting.
Read on the 6's terms, this entry asks you to name the people this was answerable to. The 6 smothers. The same instinct that protects a readership produces the paternalism several of these entries document. The other entries that reduce to 6 are collected on The Care.