Living from manga in Spain has long ceased to be a utopia. Although this was previously a space reserved for Japanese, among whom occasionally some foreigner slipped in who, in one way or another, ended up linked to the Japanese country, more and more Spaniards are developing their careers here and managing to make a name for themselves. Many of them also end up publishing in Japan, where their works coexist with those of other mangakas.
This is the case of Carlos Moreno and Alba Cardona who, together with other colleagues, self-published a fanzine in 2016 and have not stopped working since then. A dream that they had been chasing since they were little, they watched their favorite anime on regional television. “TV3, and more specifically the 3XL channel, did a lot in its day for the sector. Those of us from the 90s were born with anime under our arms. It encouraged me to start drawing and since then I have not stopped. Over the years, I understood that I had to dedicate myself to it because it is something that I cannot stop doing”, Moreno admits to La Vanguardia. Something with which Cardona agrees, who also claims that "currently there are many Spanish mangaka women who are not doing badly at all", and explains that "at the Joso school, a benchmark, there is a clear majority of women in the classrooms in most of the subjects”. This, adds her classmate at school, the teacher and cartoonist Sara Soler, "is a clear indication of where we are moving towards."
Jonatan Cantero, winner of the Japan International Manga Award for his work Korokke and the girl who said no, made with Josep Busquet, also works at the Joso school. Cantero adds to everything mentioned by his colleagues and adds "the importance of contests and the fact that there are more and more labels that bet on manga", ranging from small companies looking for specific niches to giants like Penguin Random House and its Manga District, which, as Catalina Mejía points out, "began to publish in June of this year, although we have been working on this project for more than a year, precisely because we detected that the public increasingly demanded this type of reading."
On the other hand, there is Planeta, which inaugurated its comics subdivision in 1982 and ten years later its manga division with the publication of Dragon Ball, which "marked a before and after and with which the interest of the Spanish public began", such and as the editorial director David Hernando points out. And from Norma Comics, Anabel Espada envisions an optimistic future, in which “as is already happening now, there are more and more opportunities for our authors. And this will be possible, beyond this boom and her talent, thanks to social networks and being able to show her portfolio without having to move ”.
The Internet was decisive for Juan Albarran, who had always wanted to dedicate himself to manga but “there was a very big problem, which was the language. So I decided to be realistic and look for another way”, acknowledges the author, who worked for seven years as an inker at DC Comics. “But the pandemic came, I lost my job and I had no choice but to start from scratch. I saw the anime boom during lockdown and tried my luck. I threw myself into the void and it turned out well”, confesses the Catalan, who moved to Japan to work hand in hand with other manga artists and now has three assistants. “I'm kind of a rarity there. Something new for readers and that is something that little by little publishers are beginning to pay attention to. Very soon I am sure that there will be more of us who will have opportunities in Japan”.
It is something that Fidel de Tovar and Dani Bermúdez, screenwriter and cartoonist of titles such as Arashiyama, the mountain of desires or Liquid Memories: the water killer, trust in, admitting the optimism of this new panorama. “Today, with self-publishing platforms, crowdfunding, and proposals such as the Norma manga contest, among others, a mangaka can see his or her work published and in the hands of the general public in a matter of months or even weeks. ”. In addition, they highlight the importance of large events such as the Manga Barcelona room, something that they compare to "the celebration of a large banquet, where after spending hours in the kitchen, you see how the guests savor the food and tell you their impressions".
Meritxell Puig, general director of Ficomic and the fair, concludes the current panorama with the fact that "being an otaku is not a reason for shame but rather pride. Manga has always been suitable for all audiences and it is now when this is beginning to be reflected" . And the reason for said triumph? Alena Pons, co-author of Royalty Witches with Laia López, assures that it is because "manga is an incredible medium for telling stories."
