Toan

I recently heard that in some countries overseas, there are programs specifically aimed at helping artists enter the Japanese manga industry. As far as I understand, this kind of system exists in several countries. This is just one example among them. In other words, the goal of such manga education is for foreign artists to break into the Japanese manga industry. If that’s the case, then this might be an area where I know a little more than others. And it raised a few questions for me. 1. Why is entering the Japanese manga industry the top priority of manga education? Couldn’t the goal simply be to study “MANGA(漫画)” itself? Of course, I’ve heard many answers to this question over and over again. One of the most common is: “There is nowhere else to publish manga except Japan.” 2. Does that mean there are people who actually know how to enter the Japanese manga industry? Among the educators, is there someone who truly understands that path? 3. What does it even mean to ‘enter the Japanese manga industry’? For example, if a foreign mangaka has worked with one or two magazines, then they may understand how to work within those specific publications. But does that mean they understand how to enter the entire Japanese manga industry? If someone has experience serialized in Monthly manga magazines, do they know how to break into Weekly manga magazines? If someone has worked in Shōnen(Boys’ manga) , do they know how to enter Seinen(manga for young adults)? Is there anyone on Earth who truly knows “how to enter the Japanese manga industry” as a whole? And if not, does such a method even exist? In my opinion, if you are going to teach Japanese manga, it would be better to simply call it “Japanese manga class” or just “manga education.” However, when “entering the Japanese industry” becomes the goal of education, most students are bound to fail. I’ve heard that among around 140,000 foreign aspiring manga artists who challenged major Japanese platforms, only one actually achieved serialization. That means the vast majority of students and aspiring artists will inevitably fail if that is the goal. Even winning the international manga contests and awards does not mean one has successfully entered the Japanese manga industry. Even getting a chance to announce the one-shot and mini-series serialization does not necessarily mean true success. If students fail, then an education system that sets “entering Japanese manga” as its goal also fails. And when students reflect on their experience, they may realize that there was no teacher who truly knew how to “enter Japan.” They may come to feel that their education was ultimately in vain. As it stands, these “overseas programs for entering the Japanese market” are extremely risky—they have a very high probability of failure, or at the very least, they increase that probability. 3/5