Ms. Takemiya said that manga’s secret was in its limitless boundaries in form and content, and that the sheer number and the kind of manga available in Japan far exceed those in other countries.

Out in June, Sherlock: A Study in Pink adapts the BBC series, which started in 2010, transforming Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes and Martin Freeman's Dr John Watson into classic manga images.

It sped along a deep green flood plain, over rocky rivers, through anonymous towns and raced Japanese cars on trackside roads.