2 Filipinos are finalists in 1st Int'l Manga Competition

Two Filipino artists were honored by the Japanese embassy on Wednesday after landing in the top 15 of the first International Manga Competition, besting a total of 146 entries from 26 different countries. Elmer Damaso, the illustrator behind Ravenskull, and Jhomar Santiago, the creator of Mr. Grieves, were recipients of certificates of awards from Japanese Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki. The event was made at the opening ceremony of Japan Week held at the Main Mall Atrium of the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. The International Manga Competition was the creation of Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who tagged it as the “Nobel Prize of Manga." The drawers of manga are called 'mangakas.' According to Yamazaki, the foreign ministry formed this to promote pop culture and encourage budding visual artists outside Japan. Manga is the Japanese word for comics, and is well-known for its different style of drawing that carries a diverse theme that includes: sports, romance, historical drama, comedy, soap operas, fantasy, mystery, sexuality and horror. Damaso received his formal training in illustration from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. Inspired by the growing manga culture, he founded the company Culture Crash, a Filipino manga comics in English. He illustrated for the English-language manga Ravenskull, written by Chris Vogler. The story follows the love story and struggle between Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe and Rebecca of York. The story is a sequel to Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and takes place in England. Meanwhile, Soriano is a drop-out of Far Eastern University and worked as a textbook illustrator. He realized his true passion after seeing a copy of Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal. Earlier, he had won third place in AXN’s Animé Hero Drawing Contest and first place in the Mutant Hero Drawing Contest sponsored by Comic Quest. Mr. Grieves, which was written by Cooper Johnson and illustrated by Damaso, is a story about a mob hitman who dies and goes to hell. He then works for an ominous organization there. In a GMA News interview, Damaso advised young Filipino artists to keep on improving their craft. “Gawin lang nila 'yung gusto nilang gawin tapos eventually baka swertehin din sila. Baka maging famous 'yung works nila," he said. Soriano relayed his love for his work. “Una kasi you do it for, 'yung love mo eh, personally dahil mahilig ka sa ganung libro [manga] so mai-inspire ka kaya gagawin mo." Both Damaso and Soriano are working for Seven Seas Entertainment, a foreign company that is, according to gomanga.com “devoted to producing original manga, comics, graphic novels, and youth literature, and bringing the best in Japanese licenses to North American audiences." - Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV