Putting together a manga can be very hard work. It’s more than just having artistic talent; you also need to know how to write effective dialogue, learn about layouts and backgrounds, and so much more. If that sounds daunting to you, you’re not alone. Many people around the world have fantastic stories they want to tell through the medium but just lack the ability to put it all together, which makes them not even want to try it as a hobby. Manga publisher Shueisha has heard your laments and is now making it easier than ever to create your own manga and possibly even get rewarded for it!
According to a news report which went live on August 27th, the manga publishing giant in association with Shonen Jump+ is launching the World Maker Manga Creation app developed by Kayac. With this app, anyone can create their own manga chapters with simple preset templates and everything you need to put together your story.
The app will take you step by step throughout the entire creation process. First up is entering your dialogue followed by selecting your characters, backgrounds, and everything else you need until your manga is complete. The number of pre-created templates varies at each step, but the original news report says that it averages out to hundreds of different options for each step of the process.
Are you excited to create your own manga yet? Well, don’t get too excited quite yet because first there’s a closed beta that starts September 8th. An open beta will follow this starting on September 22nd, at which point anyone can download the app and start fiddling around with it (though there is no mention of if the app will be available in multiple languages or not).
Now, you might remember me saying something about potentially getting rewarded for creating your manga. As part of the beta launch, Shueisha and Shonen Jump+ are launching a contest to find the next big thing in manga. From September 8th to October 8th, people will be invited to submit their creations to the app’s social media accounts using the official hashtags. The winning story will be illustrated by either Romy Oishi (Lockdown Zone: Level X) or Shiro Usazaki (Act-Age) and the winner will also receive a prize package worth ¥300,000 which includes a feature in the Shonen Jump+ app. The winner will be announced in December. Again, no mention of if the winning story has to be in Japanese or not, but maybe it’s still something worth thinking about?
The World Maker Manga Creation app sounds like a dream come true to me. I admit that I’ve been sitting on a magical girl story for far longer than I care to admit. Maybe I can turn it into a manga and see my work professionally illustrated? Hey, a person is allowed to dream, aren’t they?
Source: Crunchyroll News
