Aspiring comic-book artists or writers, as well as fans of Manga – if you haven’t yet heard of ENSOKU-MANGA, you probably soon will.
This is an innovative and free platform for developing and publishing your own work (and for discovering the work of other creative artists, of course).
The ENSOKU-MANGA platform enables easy publishing of a comic by anyone. Readers help effect the ranking of comics on the site, so that a comic that receives a high enough ‘ranking level’ can be translated to other languages and reach a larger audience.
Comics posted generate a ‘level’ based on views and comments. Comics that generate a higher level of response are automatically translated to additional languages; presently the languages are English, Japanese and Chinese (Traditional Chinese), but additional languages will soon be added too. Content with a high level of viewing qualifies to receive animation and voice acting; utilizing an original motion-comic format, content will be broadcast as a video.
I spoke about the ENSOKU-MANGA platform recently with Graham A. Robinson, International Business Development Manager at ShiftOne Inc…
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So what it is the ENSOKU-MANGA platform…?
ENSOKU-MANGA is a free online platform that promotes manga and comic developers, enabling them the opportunity to have their content converted to a motion comic, enabling them to have their content translated to Japanese and Chinese. It also provides access to the SAY-U voice-acting community.
What was the inspiration for creating this platform…?
It was developed to help grow the adoption of motion comics, and the incorporation of voice acting, with a view towards developing a new standard for manga. We see anime as one of the most important drivers for the introduction of manga culture around the world, but we also understand that the high cost of production of anime limits the accessibility to only the larger well-known manga or comic developers, and so we want to enable a larger group of artists gain market share.
ENSUKO-MANGA provides a community-based platform towards free motion-comic development and so provides access to translation and voice dubbing with little or no cost to an artist. This has been proven to help artists grow their community of readers and access to new markets overseas.
What kind of response has the platform been getting…?
We are seeing a growing level of interest. As we are now giving more time to overseas markets, we have now signed multiple partners in the US, Europe and South East Asia. Our partners are mainly focused on local markets and continue to bring more artists to our platform. At present we support English, Japanese and Chinese, and will start other language support such as Spanish and Portuguese and a number of SEA languages. We expect to support all major languages in the future.
How do you see the platform developing and growing…?
We see ENSUKO-MANGA growing in a number of ways. We will also be expanding our delivery to more platforms such as You Tube, Daily Motion, etc. We will work more closely with partners internationally and become more involved in awards and competitions, so helping to grow the awareness of motion comics and the ENSUKO-MANGA platform. We strive towards a time where any manga or comic book developer can use our platform to easily generate motion comics and gain access to global markets for their creations.
We also feel our platform plays an important role in opening markets for creators, enabling an artist to publish in multiple languages simultaneously, and so help grow the level of choice for readers.
What is your message to aspiring artists and creators…?
Our message is clear, we hope to provide a platform that enables them grow into larger markets, and give them more opportunities to have their work viewed globally. Publishing today requires more options, and so motion comics brings their work to a larger market, and, being mobile-ready, this gives an artist’s work much more value. We feel local artists and creators hold the key to expanding manga and comics, and we will continue to grow the community with this in mind.
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You can visit the site here.
Here, here and here are some of my personal picks from the diverse variety of comics already published on the platform.
And follow this link; by author Mitsuya Bondo, it is an example of a completed motion comic.
If you’re an aspiring comic book creator or Manga enthusiast, you are invited to participate in the next generation of Manga with Ensoku-Manga and its highly innovative platform.
Or if you’re also just a Manga or comic-book enthusiast, you can head over to the site and explore a growing and eclectic library of independent comics.
