Manga magic

Magnificent manga storytellers and artists living in Bahrain are picturing the promise of success in a global competition being promoted by the Japanese Embassy in Manama.

Manga, a traditional Japanese comic novel format which originated in the late 1800, grew in popularity in the 1950s and snowballed into a worldwide phenomenon in recent years.

Fatima Fuad Basamait developed a love for manga at the age of 10, when a friend introduced her to Tokyo Ghoul, a dark fantasy series written by Sui Ishida.

“The more I read, the more I got attached to it. My love for manga has only grown since then, and I frequently collect and read the short story magazines,” the 16-year-old Bahraini told GulfWeekly.

The Al-Marifa Secondary Girls School student found that she could see a lot of herself in manga. The young artist from Malkiya feels that the stories outline life’s struggles, and have ‘real meaning’ behind them, and that despite the cultural divide, manga is quite relatable to a Bahraini audience.

Her own characters often incorporate the classic manga shape of a sizably large head and big doleful eyes. She is one of many enthusiasts hopeful that the traditional manga style will soon find a place in mainstream art.

Fatima Taher started drawing manga comics at the age of 14, after she engrossed herself in manga offerings such as D. Gray-man by Katsura Hoshina, and the Emirati-based comic Majlat Majid as a child.

Seeing other artists dabble with manga art inspired the freelance illustrator and interior designer to start experimenting and developing her own style with a ‘simple flow of lines’ juxtaposed by an intense and ‘dramatised shading technique’.

“Reading manga is an experience in itself,” she said. “It’s interesting to see how emotional the stories can make you feel,” the 24-year-old added. “It opens us up to a culture that differs from our own, a point of view we may have never considered, and stories we may otherwise have never read.

“Art is truly a universal experience, and is the ultimate tool for us to understand and appreciate each other, even across continents.”

Fatima is now working on a one-shot or a ‘yomikiri’ on Japanese fantasy, mystery and drama.

She also participated in the international ‘Inktober’ art challenge last October, creating ink-based artworks.

Zainab Habib, a graphic designer by day and manga artist by night, also harbours a love for the century-old tradition.

The 26-year-old Bahraini draws inspiration from anime and Korean series, infusing manga art with an ink-based style to create impressionistic and realistic artwork.

“I believe that manga and Japanese culture helped shape my personality to be a more compassionate person,” the Budaiya-based artist said.

“Japanese culture has been around us for a long time, from toys to stationery to clothing, too. We just have not taken the initiative to find out more about where all those things come from.”

The GulfWeekly’s sister newspaper, GDN, recently reported that MPs wanted to ban the Netflix series Record of Ragnarok, a manga-inspired cartoon series featuring gods participating in a duel to the death against humans. The series was recently axed in India because it was deemed to have ‘objectionable content and be offensive to religious beliefs’.

Competitions such as the International Manga Award, however, are welcomed by local artists as a creative way to grow awareness about the art form’s true roots and long-standing history in Japanese culture.