G.I. in the context of "Victory in Europe Day"

Modern manga, in the sense of narrative multi-panel cartoons made in Japan, originated from in a sense Western-style cartoons featured in late 19th century Japanese publications. The form of manga as speech-balloon based comics more specifically originated from translations of American comic strips in the 1920s; several early examples of such manga read left to right, with the longest running pre-1945 manga being the Japanese translation of the American comic strip Bringing Up Father. However, Japan has pre-World War II 'manga' just not in the contemporary sense. The term manga first came into use in the late 18th century, though it only started to refer to various forms of cartooning in the 1890s and did not become a common word until around 1920.

Historians and writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes that shaped modern manga. While their views differ in the relative importance they attribute it to the role of cultural and historical events following World War II versus the role of pre-war, Meiji, and pre-Meiji Japanese culture and art. One view, represented by other writers such as Frederik L. Schodt, Kinko Ito, and Adam L. Kern, stresses continuity of Japanese cultural and aesthetic traditions, including the latter three eras; the other view states that, during and after the occupation of Japan by the allies (1945–1952), manga was strongly shaped by the Americans' cultural influences, including comics brought to Japan by the GIs, and by images and themes from U.S. television, film, and cartoons (especially Disney). According to Sharon Kinsella, the booming Japanese publishing industry helped create a consumer-oriented society in which publishing giants like Kodansha could shape popular tastes. Manga reflects Japanese society, myths, beliefs rituals, traditions, and fantasies.

G.I. Joe is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (U.S. Air Force), Action Marine (U.S. Marine Corps), Action lifeline (U.S. Coast Guard) and later on, the Action Nurse. The name is derived from the usage of "G.I. Joe" for the generic U.S. soldier, itself derived from the more general term "G.I.". The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term "action figure". G.I. Joe's appeal to children has made it an American icon among toys.

The G.I. Joe trademark has been used by Hasbro for several different toy lines, although only two have been successful. The original 12-inch (30 cm) line introduced on February 1, 1964, centered on realistic action figures. In the United Kingdom, this line was licensed to Palitoy and known as Action Force. In 1982 the line was relaunched in a 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale complete with vehicles, playsets, and a complex background story involving an ongoing struggle between the G.I. Joe Team and the evil Cobra organization which seeks to take over the Free World through terrorism. As the American line evolved into the Real American Hero series, Action Man also changed, by using the same molds and being renamed as Action Force. Although the members of the G.I. Joe team are not superheroes, they all had expertise in areas such as martial arts, weapons, and explosives.