Pirates and zombies and ninjas, oh my! These are some of the unsavory characters who show up in the entries in Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga contest. The work of twenty finalists can be found here. You can also vote for your favorite in the People’s Choice Award.
There’s some nice work in the entries on display. I found that my favorites tended to avoid ubiquitous stylistic elements (sweat drops, sound effects, etc.) and stereotypical manga subject matter (short-skirted magic girls, brawling legendary heroes). The artists took a range of approaches to the short-form entries. Some put out what seem to be pilots for ongoing series. A couple entered stories that could serve as the concluding chapter of long-form epics. The strongest were stand-alone offerings, going for a beginning, middle, and end in limited space.
The topics are all over the map, too. There’s straightforward comedy, sword-and-sorcery stuff, battle morons, slice-of-life drama, and even one that verges on ero-guru (the erotic grotesque). (One unintentionally skated near ero-guru. I’m looking at you, “Chibi Zombies.”) And there’s plenty of shôjo on display, from stand-alone romance, to the slightly supernatural, to family drama.
My vote for the People’s Choice Award went to “Can I Sit Here?” by George Alexopoulus. It’s a stand-alone story that makes excellent use of its shorter length by focusing on a small, deeply emotional story. Alexopoulus narrows in on the efforts of a college guy to actually speak to the pretty girl he sees every day at the bus station. It’s sweet, funny, and focused, and Alexopoulus’s art is very appealing. It’s like a cross between Derek Kirk Kim (Love as a Foreign Language) and Sena Aritou (IWGP). The protagonist’s increasingly frantic search for courage results in some nice flights of fancy to give variety to the otherwise clean, expressive art.
I had a lot of fun looking through the entries. Can’t wait to see what other folks think of them.