comics! Love this taste abroad. "Japan" Taiwan comics are exported in reverse, international cooperation is the key ft. Cartoonist Ruan Guangmin, adult's cartoon agency Chen Yijing

Aug 3, 2022

Taiwanese image creators have won many international awards in recent years. Taiwanese cartoonists are selected for the Japan International Manga Awards every year. Taiwanese illustrators can also be seen in different awards at the Bologna Book Fair. The Cultural Content Planning Institute specially plans the publication column "Love this Taste from Abroad", which is published every Monday, showing the different viewpoints of commentators, creators and copyright operators, etc. In addition, as the promoter of industrial assistance, the Cultural Content Planning Institute, how to integrate different perspectives? Opportunity points, converged into a unique appearance of Taiwan's image.

From left are Qingshui's "You-Ei's Little Plum House Notebook", Ruan Guangmin's "The Magician on the Overpass", Rock Cat's "No Name Song", Mickey Eel's "The Softest!" Diary of a Tokyo Wife

Author｜ Cali (literary worker)

In recent years, a "Taiwanese wind" has blown into the streets and alleys of Japan. In addition to food, Taiwanese comic books have gone beyond the borders and entered the Japanese comics market, delivering them to the Japanese people in the form of paper books or e-books.

➤The revival of Taiwanese manga started as early as 13 years ago

Japan is a world-renowned animation powerhouse with outstanding players in themes, screenwriting, drawing skills, storytelling and other fields. It has never been easy to get a share of the Japanese comics market.

Chen Yijing, the host of the Podcast show "Adult's Comic Club", observed that more Taiwanese comics have been sold in Japanese copyrights, "It started around 2009, I think the key reason is that it started making paper with "CCC Creation Collection" and Gaia Culture. about this book."

Chen Yijing said that the early serialized works of "CCC Creation Collection", including the single-volume "Time and Space Railway Journey" published in 2012, and the single-volume "Yijin Tea Trace" published in 2013 were licensed to Japan in 2015, and the "North City" published in 2010. Hundred Paintings Posts was authorized to Japan in 2018. In recent years, the works released by CCC Creation Collection, such as "Anonymous Song", "Youhui's Little Plum House Notebook", "Orchid People's Story", etc. Works entering the Japanese market.

ROCKAT Rock Cat "No Name Song" (Courtesy of Gaia)

AKRU "Hundred Paintings of Beicheng" (provided by Gaia)

➤Taiman opens the door to the Japanese market

Surprisingly, in addition to the works of "CCC Creation Collection", such as "Using Jiuganzi Shop", "Day off", "The Softest!" Taiwanese comics such as "The Diary of a Tokyo Man", "Children from Shimizu" and "T-Child %% Go" are all works that have sold Japanese copyrights in the past 2 years. Among them, "Using Jiuganzi Shop" is the first work that has sold Japanese copyrights in the nearly 20 years since cartoonist Ruan Guangmin devoted himself to the field of comics.

Ruan Guangmin recalled that the representative figure of Taiwan cartoonist who first made his name in Japan was the late cartoonist Zheng Wen. When Zheng Wen went to Japan, Dongli also had a cartoonist and Kodansha in Japan to cooperate and serialize, "For example, cartoonist Dulu, when I was still an assistant, he was a very experienced cartoonist. All the cartoonists have published their works in Japanese magazines, and that wave is the continuous exchange of cartoons between Japan and Taiwan.”

"But it may also have something to do with the slump in our publishing environment, and communication has gradually disappeared." Ruan Guangmin believes that what kind of comics are popular in Japan for a while, Taiwan will also want to follow the same trend, "but if they already have this If you look at the works of masters such as Zheng Wen and Ao Youxiang, whether you look at the style or the content, you can tell who they are from. In fact, as long as you tell the story you want to tell, you will grow your own characteristics.

Chen Yijing analyzed that, looking at the works that have entered the Japanese market in recent years, they all have local characteristics of Taiwan, "In the past 10 years, the author has gradually drawn materials from Taiwan's multiculturalism, and Japan is full of friendliness and curiosity towards Taiwan, with "Children from Shimizu" For example, this kind of story depicting the background of Taiwan's historical era, we thought it was difficult to push it abroad, but it successfully entered Japan, which means that the Japanese still have cultural curiosity about Taiwan and similar universal values. "

Ruan Guangmin, "Using Jiuganzi Store" (courtesy of Yuanliu)

➤International cooperation is the key to reverse export

Lu Junwei, Deputy Dean of the Cultural Content Strategy Institute

For Taiwanese who grew up watching Japanese comics, there may be a little joy in the "reverse export" of Taiwanese comics being sold to Japan. However, apart from selling copyrights, can we go further?

Lu Junwei, vice president of the Cultural Content Policy Institute, believes that promoting Taiwan-Japan communism is a direction that can be tried. Japan has a complete industry ecology related to comics. A comic in Japan may attract cross-domain products, games and even animation. Nowadays, Taiwanese comics in Japan mostly export existing works, and make breakthroughs at a single point. "If there is a chance, , we can spread the points into points, lines, and planes, and enter the industrial network.”

This year, "CCC Creation Collection" cooperated with Japan's Kadokawa Group. In addition to recommending Taiwanese comics "Shang Fu", "Mirror Girl ALICE", "The Legend of the Cat Demon" and "Helena and Mr. Big Wild Wolf" to be serialized in Japan, they also tried media In cooperation with Taiwanese cartoonists and editors from Kadokawa in Japan, the first wave of works began to be drawn this year.

Lu Junwei said that in order for Japanese readers to fully understand the humor and cultural background of foreign works, it is still necessary to rely on the perspective of Japanese editors. “Editors are very important, they will judge what readers want, and translate the selling points to readers. If you have Japanese From an editor's point of view, Taiwan manga can cultivate local popularity. For Taiwan, it is also the experience of learning from the actual combat of the Japanese manga industry."

It will take a lot of hard work for an overseas comic to accumulate sound in Japan. Fortunately, Taiwan has so many cartoonists who focus on telling their own stories, and a new Taiwanese landscape that crosses borders is just around the corner. ●( The original text was first published on the OPENBOOK official website on 2022-08-01)