Manga artist Kamentotsu didn¡¯t expect much when he uploaded a four-panel strip about an anthropomorphic bear who runs a cake shop to his Twitter account three years ago.
But the first installment of ¡°Koguma¡¯s Cake Shop,¡± drawn as consolation for a tired friend, attracted tens of thousands of likes. Within a week, 40 companies had approached him with offers.
¡°Publishing company editors have gone from bringing up manga artists, like they are farming, to hunting for them,¡± said Kamentotsu, who goes by his pen name and wears a mask in media appearances.
By searching for talent online, publishers squeezed by the rise of the internet can see an artist¡¯s audience potential out in the open.
For Japan¡¯s striving manga artists, many of whom toil in obscurity for low pay, that means going viral can be life changing.
Kamentotsu¡¯s strip, which is published by Shogakukan, has gone on to sell more than half a million books. The titular bear, who wears a chef¡¯s hat, has become a popular soft toy and its image was used to promote frozen dumplings.
Japanese pop culture is piled with such cute, memorable characters.
Industry observers say that a feel-good style ¡ª known as the iyashikei or ¡°soothing¡± genre in Japanese ¡ª is particularly fitting online audiences.
But other recent hits are quite a bit darker, such as ¡°Jujutsu Kaisen¡± and ¡°Demon Slayer.¡±
Kousuke Oono¡¯s ¡°The Way of the Househusband¡± has a high concept idea: a feared yakuza gangster ¡ª tattooed, clad all in black but wearing an apron ¡ª quits crime to take care of the home while his wife works.
¡°A comedic story with easy-to-understand characters and title is suited to the internet ... we thought about that from the planning stage,¡± said Arimasa Nishikawa, an editor at manga site Kurage Bunch, which first published the strip.
¡°Househusband,¡± popular on manga apps and in print, plays with gender stereotypes at a time of social change in Japan. A line of aprons has been a hit with fans.
The strip has been made into a TV drama, with an animated version set to stream on Netflix this year.
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