ALTHOUGH you may have difficulty convincing your younger relatives of the fact, Japanese cartoons did exist before Pikachu and his money-spinning Pokemon friends.

A visit to St Barbe Gallery, Lymington may be in order to prove to your little ones that there is a lot more to Japanese animation than irritating children’s programmes that are beyond the comprehension of everyone over the age of 13.

For the gallery is showcasing the works of art that is manga, one of Japan’s longest lasting and largest cultural phenomena. How Manga Took Over the World opens in Lym-ington this Saturday and explores the different areas of the art form.

“We wanted a show aimed at the younger audience, even though manga also has a big adult audience. We’ve got a lot of school parties involved as the artwork is now part of their curriculum,” says Steve Marshall, curator of St Barbe Gallery.

Cuteness plays a big role in Japanese culture and cute animal mascots will be festooned throughout the exhibition, not to mention a specially commissioned character designed by British manga artist Sonia Leong.

“Manga artists will be in residence to help children create their own characters and storyboards. It’s quite an eclectic exhibition,” says Steve Marshall.

Manga has also influenced fashion design of major global brands and has infiltrated Western cinema with films such as The Matrix and Kill Bill.

“For some people it’s a way of life. We have some costumes brought in from Japan for children to try on and some far out Japanese street fashions that have emerged from manga.

There’s a DVD that will shows lots of different movies that been influenced by the genre. Or that has wholesale pinched characters and design from manga. Not to mention music videos and video games.”

The art form is now being used across the world to convey complicated messages through the simplistic drawings. In recent years, manga has been widely used in educational material, public information booklets and commercially by corporations to advertise their products.

“The exhibition explains how manga got under the skin of popular culture and appears in places where you might not expect it. Like advertising for companies like MTV, Virgin Atlantic, McDonalds and mobile phone companies.”

  • How Manga Took Over the World runs at the St Barbe Gallery, Lymington, until July 24.