We now turn to the indeterminacy of the code. In this section, I want to talk about what the various components of manga express.

 Takaga Yun is a girls' manga author originally from a coterie magazine. In one scene of her manga, several frames are arranged with different depths and you cannot even tell who uttered which speech. Monologues are also mixed in and the shapes of the speech balloons are all different. It is structured so that all sorts of utterances are mingled together and made into one narrative. What is interesting is that this is not at all avant-garde, but a rather typical mode of representation in girls' manga. Here there is no fixed code. The ambiguity of a variety of codes is semantically sustained by high contextuality, so representations of world view and emotions are more realistic when the code is indeterminate.

 Designs and lines are the most important constituents of codes. You can specify genre such as gag manga, serious manga, comedies and so on by the designs and strokes of lines drawn by different kinds of pens, though neutral outlines are increasing in recent years, so genres are not as distinguishable as they were in the past. Speed lines and lines of concentration metaphorically represent the characters' situation and emotions, and intensify the impact of the picture.

 It is possible to represent the flow of time by arrangement of frames and abridgment. Another important aspect is the rhythm of the speeches that create the flow of time in manga. The impact of rhythm of speeches is sometimes even more important than the rhythm of frames. Frames specify a longer span of time, and speeches function to determine the flow of time inside that span or the flow of time that link these spans together.

 The shape of the speech balloons is important for representing emotions. 'Manga sign', a term used by Takekuma Kentaro, is probably the most important and popular form of symbolic representation. Manga signs directly express what is happening to the manga character's emotions, such perspiration drawn on top of the hair on the head, a blue line for anger, flame in the eye, vertical lines on the forehead, and so on. The system of manga signs is developing more and more and becoming increasingly sophisticated, but on the other hand, they can be obstacles for people who are not used to reading them.

 Onomatopoeias and mimetic words are also important. These become completely different representations according to the lettering. Onomatopoeias, if drawn differently, can become a completely different expression. Here we can also find the semantic plurality of manga signs.

 Such indeterminate code elements in manga representation do not open up a polyphonic world. Rather, several codes are layered on top of each other to determine a particular meaning. For example, to express anger in manga, you draw a blue line on the character's temples, make his/her hair stand on end, insert a mimetic word such as 'mukaa', express anger through speech, and draw zigzags for the outline of the speech balloons. All these codes represent 'anger'. They create a single context by layering various codes in unison. This feature also increases the possibility of manga being read very quickly.

 Let me mention a little about designs. Manga designs have many types such as ones for action and jokes, but here I want to talk about 'anime designs'. Imagine pictures of girls that often appear in animations with huge eyes, small nose and mouth, and colorful and strange hairstyles. As I mentioned above, Japanese animations are like step children of manga, but from the beginning of the 1980s onwards, there was a rapid proliferation of characters unique to animation. Today most of the characters called 'moe kyara' (cute and sexy character icons) are drawn in anime designs. If I may add, anime designs are predominant in Japanese pornographic comics. Anime designs were re-imported into manga as animations became more popular. There are several theories of origin, but we can say that they emerged in between the representations of girls' manga and those of boys' manga and can represent both genres. Takahashi Rumiko and Tagami Yoshihisa were some of the first authors of this type of designs.

 This form is very efficient in terms of representing a variety of emotions efficiently with a small amount of information. It is a versatile mode of representation since you can draw anything from gag mangas to serious ones using these designs. Anime designs in the past were monopolized by Japanese and South Korean manga artists, and when Americans tried to copy them, they tended to turn into something completely different. However, now American and Canadian otakus are more skilled, and anime designs are gradually becoming more international.

 These representations are increasingly evolving just like open source without anyone determining rules or conventions. That is to say, if someone develops a new representation and it becomes popular, the same technique is shared instantaneously without any concern over copyrights. In this way, manga representation has greatly advanced outside the sphere of copyright issues. We can say that there is also a big gap in the system of representations before and after Tezuka. This evolution continues today and most manga grammar is established and regenerated spontaneously. I think this is interesting as it seems to be due to the high contextuality of manga.

 Manga is basically a form of linguistic representation. It is very difficult to renovate language per se, but it is easy to produce new representations like creating catchy phrases based on language, as even high school girls casually do. Even vague representations that are neither grammatical nor part of authentic vocabulary are somehow transported and adapted as long as contexts are shared. A linguist called S.I. Hayakawa gives the following example. Even if you don't know the meaning of the word 'oboe' at all, if you see many examples of sentences using that word, you will somehow understand that oboe is a musical instrument and that it has a particular kind of shape. If you repeatedly use the same code in a particular context, an agreement is reached about its meaning. Even if there is nothing fixed, something is definitely shared. I think this is almost a miracle. Of course, this miracle occurs in manga just about all the time.

 For example, Otomo Katsuhiro has developed several novel code representations in this sense. In manga representations, for instance, you draw in a white spot called 'flashing point' in the pupil of the character's eye. This point moves when the character moves, and a white track is left to depict the state after a movement. This method of representation has become popular since Otomo developed it. Takano Fumiko is known for her invention of manga representation of jeans. If you draw rough horizontal lines on top of slim trousers, it looks somehow like jeans. This is not at all pictorially accurate but this representation was also immediately adopted.

 Such instances of indeterminacy of the code are based on what the sociologist Niklas Luhmann calls 'double contingency'. That is to say, the author carefully devises representations by estimating the needs and cognitive ability of the reader, while the reader reads manga by estimating the author's intentions and skill of representation. However, in fact nothing concrete is shared between the reader and author, therefore there is a double contingency in this sense. I think the communicative pleasure of manga lies in the process of interpreting such indeterminate and unstable codes.

 So far I have put stress on the high contextuality of manga, but let me also point out that high contextuality actually imposes restrictions on manga representation and makes it less free. At least it is far less free than representations in a novel. Perhaps this restriction acts as a kind of bind, and though manga expression is said to be free, it might be rather limited.

 I say this because firstly, manga representation can never exist without characters. Even if a particular manga has no characters appearing in the pictures at all, the narrations and perspectives give it a certain character. In representations which are thus highly dependent on characters, the characters can end up being more prominent than the narrative. An author's style is probably the most prominent in manga representation, and we can say that there are as many styles as there are manga authors. Thus an important aspect of manga is that it can create an infinite number of styles. This contributes to the impression that manga is spontaneous and free. But to put it another way, it is difficult to produce neutral representations that exclude author's style. Whatever is represented by manga ends up being excessively idiosyncratic. I would like to point out the hitherto unmentioned limited aspect of manga representation which is often said to be the freest mode of representation.