Interest

Professional Artist-Writer Team to Teach Manga Class in Japan This Year

Daisuke Nishijima (Dien Bien Phu, Sekai no Owari no Mahōtsukai) will teach a manga class this year with his friend, the writer Sayawaka. Genron Hirameki ☆ Manga Kyōshitsu ("Principles of Shining Manga Class") will begin in April and ends in March 2018. In a total of 14 sessions, students must submit 10 manga rough drafts and story pitches. In the final two months, they will upload their rough drafts online, and a panel of manga editors will choose the three best works. These works will then be improved and the final versions re-uploaded. The panel will then choose the best manga (the one they'd like to see published in their magazines), and a poll will determine which manga has the most popularity among readers.

Nishijima and Sayawaka's avatars

The course will include many guest lecturers, such as Tetsuya Imai (Alice to Zōroku, Hacks!), Hisashi Eguchi (Stop! Hibari-kun, Eiji), Fumiyo Kōno (To All The Corners Of The World, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms), Shigeto Koyama (Heroman's character designer), Shiwasu no Okina (Shining Musume), Gengoroh Tagame (Otōto no Otto, Pride), TAGRO (Abnormal Physiology Seminar, Uchū Chintai Sargassō), Kenzi Taketomi (Suzuki Sensei, Zansatsu Hantō Akame-mura), Tomoko Yamashita (BUTTER!!!, Satanic Suite), and Mengo Yokoyari (Scum's Wish, Haruwaka). However, Nishijima insists that "the main characters are all the students." The course will focus more on the theory and philosophy of creating manga than on comic art.

The class is limited to 30 students, and enrollment is processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Enrollment ends on February 28. Tuition is 235,440 yen ($2,079). A kick-off event to promote the course will be held on January 20 at Tokyo's Genron Cafe in the Gotanda neighborhood. It will also be broadcast live for members of Nico Nico Douga.

The course builds on an earlier class, Nishijima Daisuke no Hirameki ☆ Manga Gakkō ("Daisuke Nishijima's Shining Manga School"), which Nishijima and Sayawaka taught beginning in 2009. The two are frequent collaborators, for instance with Sayawaka's books Bungaku Toshite no DraQue ("Dragon Quest as Literature") and Chara no Shikōhō ("How to Think About Characters").

Nishijima is also a DJ ("DJ Mahoutsukai," or "Wizard"), and he composed a school song for his course. It can be heard on the course website. (The lyrics translate to "The Shining Manga School is in session.")

Illustrations celebrating the new course from Nishijima's previous students:

"Renewal"

"Going Well!"

"Shining Manga Class is the Strongest"

"Chance Encounter"

"Shining Manga Class... is the Worst..."

"Shining Manga Class is the Craziest"

Sources: Comic Natalie and Genron Hirameki ☆ Manga School