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Mangaka (漫画家, Mangaka^?) is the Japanese word for a comic artist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese.

The word can be broken down into two parts: Manga and ka

The Manga corresponds to the medium of art the artist uses: comics, or Japanese comics, depending on if you use the term inside or outside of Japan.

The -ka (家) suffix implies some degree of expertise and a traditional kind of authorship. For example, this term would not apply to a writer creating a story which is then handed over to a manga artist for drawing. The Japanese term for such a writer of comics is gensaku-sha.

Many mangaka have assistants who help them with their artwork. The duties of assistants vary widely; some mangaka only sketch out the very basics of their manga, and have their numerous assistants fill in all of the details, while others use assistants only for specific things (Go Nagai, for instance, at one time employed an assistant specifically to draw helicopters and other military vehicles ^[1]). Other mangaka have no assistants at all, and prefer to do everything themselves, even though to meet the tight deadlines assistants are usually needed. Most often, assistants are responsible for the backgrounds and screentones in manga, while the mangaka him/herself draws and inks the main characters. While they are often employed to help with art, assistants almost never help the mangaka with the plot of their manga, beyond being a "sounding board" for ideas.

Most full-fledged mangaka started out as assistants, although there are many assistants who are happy staying out of the spotlight, and spend their entire careers as assistants.^{[citation needed]}

• List of mangaka