The document discusses contextual research for a fanzine focused on manga and manhwa art styles. It examines the works and styles of two manga artists - Aka Akasaka and Hiro Mashima. For Akasaka, it analyzes his popular manga Kaguya-sama and notes his use of bright colors. For Mashima, it mentions his works Rave Master and Fairy Tail but also that he has faced criticism for alleged self-plagiarism. The document considers how analyzing different artists can provide inspiration for color schemes and portraying themes in the fanzine.

1. Contextual Research

2. Research
My main area of research in terms of the contextual section is ‘artists’ and ‘illustrators’,
more specifically I’ve decided to look at magazines that are centered around the topics of
‘manga’ and ‘mangwa’ which are two different types of comic books and graphic novels
that include imagery.
There are a variety of different artists and each one of them all have their own specific
types of styles when it comes to their work and the products they create in the process.
These are the kinds of things I want to and plan to explore during my FMP and my
research. I hope to take away all that I have learned and develop them into my own
product later on. I don’t think that there is just a specific type of art/artist that I would
want to focus on, so when doing my research I think it would be best to focus on what
interests me the most.
I hope to find a variety of different styles that I’ll be able to implement into my
experiments and then later on in my final production as well. I also want to make sure
that the different kinds of styles and techniques I find are stuff I’m capable of doing since
I wouldn’t want to get to my experiments and/or production and have no idea as to how
to go about re-creating these same styles.

3. Because of the Christmas break and the extended few days we’ve had due to now being in
quarantine, I’ve had a large amount of time to decide on what I want my FMP to be and what I
would like to produce.
I had originally planned to create a short film/documentary regarding mental health and other
social issues but due to quarantine I don’t think that it’s something I’d be able to produce well
due to the lack of resources I have when stuck indoors. However, I remembered that I enjoyed
creating a fanzine in my previous factual work and decided that this was a better idea since it’s
something I’m able to do easily at home. I decided that the overall theme for my fanzine
would be something that I enjoyed e.g. a hobby and/or something I enjoyed looking/reading.
During my previous time creating a fanzine I struggled to come up with a good theme that
could also produce a good product. However I don’t think that I was able to do that with my
previous work due to lack of time and overall lack of motivation. I think that if I’m creating a
product around something that I like and enjoy, I wouldn’t lose any motivation and create the
best work that I could.
I have decided that I would create a fanzine centered around art and illustration or rather
centered around a particular type of art used in particular products i.e. manga and mangwa
which, by definition, is a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels that are typically
either aimed at children or adults. When doing research into these two specific styles I found
a variety of different magazines that are centered around these two topics. An example of this
being ‘Weekly Shōnen Jump‘, a magazine that is typcially aimed at male readers. I think that
creating my own magazine centered around these similar topics is good idea since it will allow
me to create a rather large product with a large amount of informtation that I have either
found or that I already knew. As I have created a fanzine before I think that I‘ll be able to
create a product that will work well during my final major production.

4. Contextual Statement
The main reason why I want to make this for my FMP is because of my particular
interest in illustration especially in products that are from outside of the U.K. I don’t
think that the illustration side of most manga, manhwa or even web novels is
something that is spoken about often in a lot of communities or even by fans. I’ve
always enjoyed looking into various styles of illustration and talk about why I like them
and what emotions they made me feel. When looking into previous students works I
found that there were no students who come up with or even created a product
similar to what I was wanting to make myself. I think that this is good since it means
that my project will be more unique but this also means that I will have to come up
with a variety of ideas in order to keep my project as unique as possible.

5. Aka Akasaka – Manga Artist/Author
In order to create a fanzine centered around the different art styles used in manga and mangwa, it’s
most important to know about the different kinds of artists and their own takes on the product(s) that
they make. Although I know a variety of different techniques used in art and illustration, I think that it’s
better to look into professionals and see their own takes. By doing this I’ll be able to see why they
choose to do things in certain ways and how they go about it. I will also be able to see how they go
about creating their own work, i.e. what techniques they use, what they do to prepare for the creation
of their work(s).
For example Aka Akasaka is a Japanese manga artist, one is his most notable works being a series
titled; “Kaguya-sama: Love is War”, which was published in Shueisha’s ‘Miracle Jump’ between May
2015 and January 2016 but was then transferred to ‘Weekly Young Jump’ starting from March 2016.
The manga is most notable for it’s colourful colour scheme of bright and vibrant colours that fit in well
with the contrast of a light-hearted story and characters. I think that a more colourful colour scheme
helps to portray just how light-hearted the story and characters because it matches well with the
themes of the story. This is something important to consider when deciding on a colour scheme since it
should help to portray what you’re creating. The story is noted for being quite ‘realistic’ with it’s
relatable characters and overall funny storyline that follows it’s characters. The manga later on went to
be adapted into a 12-episde anime series by A-1 Pictures which aired in Japan between January and
March 2019. Which was followed by a 12-episode second season that premiered between April and
June 2020. A ‘live-action’ adaptation of this, directed by Hayato Kawai, was also released in Japan
during September 2019.
When released into North America, the manga was licensed in English by Viz Media, whilst the anime
adaptation is licensed by Aniplex.

6. Aka is also the author of various other works such as; ‘ib: Instant Bullet’, ‘Oshi no Ko’ and others. A
lot of the art I’ve seen from Aka is rather simplistic but also includes a variety of different colours.
As stated previously, an important thing to consider when creating a product/work is the colour
scheme(s) and how they will help to portray what you’re trying to create. For example, Aka
Akasaka uses a bright and colourful colours scheme (a use of pink, orange) in order to portray the
theme of his manga which is a light-hearted comedy romance. I believe that Aka’s work is helpful
when looking at a variety of different artist since they can range from ‘minimalistic’ and ‘simplistic’
to ‘over-the-top’ and ‘in-your-face’. I think that finding a variety of different artists rather than just
focusing on one or two who use similar art styles is good since it will allow me to go into detail with
my own magazine as to why certain techniques work with certain themes and looks. I believe that
using a variety of different artist would also make my magazine look more impactful and unique
rather than just using similar images and colours, which is something I had done when I previously
made a fanzine. Because of this, my fanzine didn’t look as I had originally wanted it to look and also
looked rather simplistic. I will continue to look at Aka’s work when doing my final production as
inspiration when thinking about colour schemes but also when writing my articles.

7. Aka Akasaka – Works
Sayonara Piano Sonata : (2011/2012), story by Hikaru Sugii, character design by Ryo
Ueda
Ib -instant bullet- : (2013/2015)
Kaguya-sama : Love is War : (2015/2021)
Oshi no Ko : (2020/2021), illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari
Other Links (Where I got my information) :
https://myanimelist.net/people/2139/Aka_Akasaka
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10493028/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kaguya_sama/comments/ji17k0/have_you_read_any_of_a
ka_akasakas_other_works_if/

8. Analyzing
When researching into this particular manga artist I wanted to see if I could find any kind of
interviews and/or information where they talk about their different techniques and how they go
about to creating their work. Although I was able to quite a few interviews, they didn’t really go
into detail about how the style they use for their work(s). However I was able to find out about
how they go about laying out their ideas/what they think about the successes of their work. When
analyzing manga and even manhwa, it’s important to understand the artists intentions for
particular parts of the story (i.e. why they decided to go with how a particular character acts and
how they use art in order to portray that).
An example of this being for one of Aka Akasaka’s most recent works Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
One of the most popular characters from that series being a characters named Chika. In the story
she is bubbly and easy-going, the art helps to portray this character well. Since the entire premise
of the story is a comedy romance the art must match with story and characters.
This is something that I should greatly consider with my own work, e.g. I should consider the colour
scheme I plan to use and how/if it helps to portray with what I am talking about.
An example of this being if I were to write a page in my fanzine around Aka Akasaka I would want
to use a colour scheme that matches with his own work (e.g. since the majority of his work is
bright and vibrant in most cases it would be best to also use that same colour scheme).

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2aMU7Zhais
There is a clear obvious difference between the original manga source and the animated
adaptation. The main difference being the use of colours in the animated adaptation whilst the
manga version is just simple black and white (since the most manga’s use black and white
panels it makes sense that the animated adaptation would look more colourful and more
appealing to the audience).
In terms of comparison between the two there isn’t much to compare. Although the animated
adaptation is using the same imagery and story/character basis it still appears more appealing
due to it’s wide use of colours.
Upon doing further research I found that people preferred the animated adaptation due to how
they managed to move the comedic aspects from the manga and improve on them. The video
linked above also talks about why the adaptation is superior.

10. During my Research, I found multiple interviews with Aka Akasaka where he discussed
his work (primarily he spoke of his most popular and newest manga Kaguya-sama).
The interview starts with an overall synopsis of Kaguya-sama and how the overall
series has affected the community in terms of prices and adaptations (even a live-
action version of the series being made).
https://guya.moe/pages/livedoor-aka-akasaka-interview/
(a screenshot taken from the interview where the interviewer, Daisuke
Okamoto, talks about the successes of Kaguya-sama)

11. Overall this first statement made by the interviewer made me quite surprised.
As someone who has both read the original source and even watched the two season
(soon to be three) adaptation I’m almost shocked to know that I could’ve been an
entirely different story altogether if his editor had allowed.
Kaguya-sama is the first series I had read from Aka Akasaka, however I know that he has
also written other series’ such as ‘Instant Bullet’, which was previously mentioned, and
have become more interested in looking into more previous works of his.
It was also surprising to hear that Aka Akasaka had never written a rom-com before,
considering how much I liked the story and how appealing/realistic the characters seem.

12. I like the aspect of Aka Akasaka using his own dreams and fantasy as a center ground for
this particular manga. This makes sense considering how realistic the different characters
are as well as how light-hearted the overall series seems.
When looking at authors and how they decide on their stories is interesting, since it gives
you an idea as to how the author thinks as well as their likes and dislikes. The author using
their own experiences in their works makes the world they’ve created look even better.

13. The idea of writers questioning their own concepts are certain points during the
production process is something that I found is quite common. As someone who
writes in their spare time, there have been points where I have looked at the work
I have created and ended up questioning whether or not I liked or disliked it.
I think what motivates writers the most is the audience they are targeting. Having
the audience support and love the work you create is enough to motivate any
creator, especially authors.

14. As said previously, the general public is the supporting foundation for any form of
product being created.
The overall audience for Kaguya-sama is large in both Japan and in America/UK. It sold
over 6.5 million copies in circulation as of April 2019, 8.5 million copies as of October
2019, over 9 million copies in print as of December 2019. And over 13 million copies as
of November 2020.
It’s also good to see that Aka Akasaka wanted to include his own inspirations from other
popular shows/manga such as ‘Death Note’, that he mentioned in the interview.

15. When reading Kaguya-sama myself it gave me the impression that women would more
likely enjoy this manga than a male audience. However it seems that everyone has
enjoyed this story which is good since the story itself is so appealing.
It’s interesting to know Aka Akasaka’s opinion on his show and what he believed his
story would appeal to. I can imagine he was surprised with how many people grew to
love the story and the characters.
However I think that more people know the animated adaptation rather the original
manga source.

16. It’s interesting to know the authors own opinions with the animated adaptation and the
role they played during the production process.
As someone who has read the original manga and watched the adaptation fairly recently,
I prefer the original manga but I did enjoy the art style used in the adaptation. What I
liked about the adaptation was how I was able to see the characters and scenes I enjoyed
the most animated before my eyes.
When looking at adaptations in communities such as manga, I think that a lot of people
tend to be hesitant toward the idea of the original being adapted into something that’s
unappealing. This is how I originally felt before watching the adaptation but was
pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it.

17. During this interview they also spoke about Aka Akasaka’s working process and
how he goes about with the ideas he thinks of.
He spoke about how when he comes up with an emotion or a line that he hasn’t
touched upon yet, he writes them down on a sticky note and posts it on the a
wall.
I think that making sure to jot down different ideas you think about is good
since you’re always able to come back to a selection of ideas that you may be
able to use in your work(s) later on.

18. Other Interviews
2018-2020 interviews with Aka Akasaka:
2020 interview:
It was hard to find specific interviews where they go into specific details about certain
parts of their work, i.e. how they work, how they decide on certain aspects of their
work and how they portray those ideas. However despite this I was still able to get an
good insight as to how they incorporate their ideas into their work and how they go
about looking for inspiration.
https://nailedend.wordpress.com/2020/08/09/interviews-with-aka-akasaka/
https://guya.moe/pages/aka-tamaki-interview/

19. More Images

20. Hiro Mashima – Manga Artist
The next example I will be using comes from another manga artist by the name of Hiro Mashima. He
has created multiple series’ that have become popular over the years however I found that he has
been critized for alleged ‘self plagiarism’ which, by definition, is an attempt to take any previous
published works and make it appear brand new. I think that it is also a good idea to look into this
particular aspect more to see how this can affect the reputation/any form of previous published
works for that artists. Born May 3rd 1977, Hiro Mashima is a Japanese manga artist who gained
success with his first work ‘Rave Master’ which was published in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen
Magazine from 1999 to 2005. His best selling work, Fairy Tail, which was published in the same
magazine from 2006 to 2017 has become one of the best selling manga series with over 72 million
copies in print. Fairy Tail even won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga in 2009.
The manga was later on adapted into an anime series produced by A-1 Pictures, Dentsu Inc.,
Satelight Bridge and CloverWorks which was then broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo from October
2009 to March 2013. A second series was later on broadcast from April 2014 to March 2016. A third
and final season was aired from October 2018 to September 2019. A prequel by Mashima, Fairy Tail:
Zero, was also aired later on before the final series broadcast in 2018 to 2019. Much like Aka
Akasaka, this particular series also uses a bright colour scheme.
The Southeast Asian network Animax Asia aired an English-language version of the anime for seven
seasons from 2010 to 2015.

21. Self-Plagiarism and Inspiration in Art
and Illustration (1/2)
https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/has-mashima-ever-plagiarized-one-of-odas-
characters-as-bad-as-he-did-shanks.5180911/
https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22182/did-fairy-tail-plagiarize-one-piece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ1_IMqEz3g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgb8HE2GHbM
All of the links above are forums/videos I have found centered around people talking about the
subject of ‘self-plagiarism’ within two particular manga series’ (the two series’ being the 1997
classic One Piece and the 2006 series Fairy Tail).
I found this to a particularly interesting topic to look into since self-plagiarism and even taking
inspiration from other pieces of work can be controversial and affect the overall work being
made.

22. Self-Plagiarism and Inspiration in Art
and Illustration (2/2)
Upon doing research into Hiro Mashima I found various forums and videos that talk about two
particular thing that surround him, self-plagiarism and inspiration. This particular article I found
compares the two series’ art and characters styles to show how similar they look to one-another.
https://www.quora.com/Don-t-you-think-Fairy-Tail-is-a-rip-off-of-One-Piece
https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22182/did-fairy-tail-plagiarize-one-piece
The definition of self-plagiarism is ‘the attempt to take any of your previous published works and
make it appear brand new’. This is supposedly the case for Hiro Mashima when looking into two of
his works, the previously mention series ‘Fairy Tail’ and his newest series ‘Edens Zero’. Upon reading
the forums I found that there a lot of similarities between the two series’ in terms of the art style as
well as how ‘recycled’ and similar the characters look to the other series.
I think that these topics are important to discuss in my own product because it will help to give my
audience insight as to how these topics can affect how one can look at an artist/a work that they
have created or how that can affect the reputation of the artist or series as a whole.
However if I am going to talk about this in detail and provide facts and various other information I
must make sure that all of the information I include in my fanzine is backed up through facts and
solid imagery, otherwise it will just simply seem like I’m making up information.

23. The 175 episodes of the anime that aired from October 2009 to March 2016 were made by the
studios A-1 Pictures and Satelight. The art I have seen from this particular series is similar to Aka
Akasaka’s work, in terms of using bright and vibrant colours. Since Hiro Mashima has published
multiple works of different series’ I think that it will be a good idea to look into each one and
discuss the different colour schemes and art styles. However since he has one particular art style
that he uses in the majority of his works I don’t think that I could point out any differences from
other works, aside from characters appearances and colour schemes. However the animation after
those episodes changes due to a change of animation studios (A-1 and Bridge) which is why the
animation style looks different around episode 176 and onwards. The original animation from
around 2009 to just before the studio change was colourful. The amount of vibrant colours used in
either the background(s) or even the characters stood out. However in the newer episodes with
the new studio the vibrant colours aren’t seen as much and the overall feel of the show is a lot
darker than it was previously.
I think that looking at two different types of artwork has helped show me just how different each
studio is and how different their own styles are when doing animation. This also applies to things
such as manga and even magazines. These types of styles are something that I should think about
when creating my experiments and with even my final product if I plan to implement them into it.

24. Hiro Mashima – Works
Rave Master : (1999 – 2005)
Monster Soul : (2005 – 2007)
Fairy Tail : (2006 – 2017)
Monster Hunter Orage : (2008 – 2009)
Fairy Tail Zero : (2014 – 2015)
Edens Zero : (2018 – Present)
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest : (2018 – Present)

25. https://kodanshacomics.com/2016/02/16/creator-interview-hiro-
mashima-on-fairy-tail/
(a screenshot taken from the interview I found as the interviewer, Misaki C. Kido,
talks about Hiro Mashima’s previous achievements)

26. I like when authors talk about what drives them to create their product(s). It’s
interesting to see the overall trial and error that authors experience. Looking into
the artists drives toward what they create (and how they go about it) is essential
to my project since I will be talking about these authors in my fanzine. Learning
about their techniques will also help me to analyze already existing products in
the future once we start our research.

27. It’s interesting to see that inspiration for this story came from a previous work of his.
It’s good to take inspiration from work and make it into something new, however if
you were to re-use characters and even storylines then it can be classed as self-
plagiarism.
Self-plagiarism is, in short, taking your own previous works and applying it to newer
versions of work. When looking into Hiro Mashima I found that he recycled a lot of his
art styles onto newer projects and that some of the characters look identical to
characters seen in those previous works as well.
After this I did some more research to find out if anyone had ever spoken about this
subject. I found that a few people had spoken about it but it was never fully looked
into.

28. As someone who also writes as a hobby, I find it hard to keep motivation when
writing stories. I agree with his statement that the readers interest and input are
encouraging. Having a large audience that enjoys your work and looks forward to
reading more can help writers with continuing on.

29. Having a specific age group in mind when creating a product/piece of work is the
best idea since trying to appeal to more than just one specific age range means that
you would have to include kinds of content that all age groups would like to see. It’s
better to just stick to one specific age range rather than just trying to appeal to
everything.

30. Learning about how artists go about creating their work is important for me to find
out about. This is because it will not only allow me to analyze existing products as
well as the various other authors I will talk about in my fanzine but it will also allow
me to see how I can go about creating my own versions of their work.

31. Other Interviews
https://www.liveabout.com/interview-hiro-mashima-2282820
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-10-25/interview-hiro-
mashima/.123186
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2011-11-08/interview-hiro-mashima

32. More Images

33. Kōhei Horikoshi – Manga Artist
This example comes from yet another manga artist by the name of Kohei Horikoshi.
Born November 20th 1986, Kohei Horikoshi is a Japanese manga artist well known for
works such as Barrage and My Hero Academia (these two series’ are/were serialized in
Weekly Shonen Jump in 2014). One of his best selling work, that being My Hero
Academia, has been translated into English since 2014 and has over 20+ volumes as of
January 2021 and is still continuing to this day.
The manga was later on adapted into an anime television series by the studio Bones.
It’s first series aired in Japan from April to June 2016 which was then followed by a
second series from April to September 2017. This went on to be adapted into a third
series from April to September 2018, a fourth season was then adapted from October
2019 to April 2020. A fifth season is to be adapted in the future. Alongside the four
series’ aired there have also been two films, one that was released in August 2018 and
the other December 2019.
The series has been licensed for an English-language release by Viz Media and began
serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in February 2015.

34. The manga won the 2019 Harvey Award for Best Manga. As of January 2021, the manga has
over 30 million copies sold worldwide. The support for both the manga and animated
adaptation has been overwhelmingly positive and is considered one of the best of the
2010s. Other than My Hero Academia, studio Bones has also adapted a large amount of
popular anime over the years. Some of these include; Eureka Seven, Fullmetal Alchemist and
Mob Psycho 100. The animation is rather colourful and bright compared to a lot of other art
I’ve seen in adaptations. I think that the use of bright and vibrant colours is what makes the
animation look so appealing and makes it stand out.
Since looking at different animations and the different kinds of colours and styles of
animation that the use, I think that I prefer those that use brighter and more vibrant colours
rather than darker colours. I must also think about the kinds of colours I would want to use
for my product. I could determine the kind of colours I would want to use by conducting a
survey to see what my audience likes and dislikes.

35. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2018-08-24/interview-my-hero-
academia-creator-kohei-horikoshi/.135449
After doing an hour or so of research into Kohei (trying to find interviews) I was only
able to find a few interviews. This one in particular is the only one that goes into detail
about how he goes about his work and how he creates his ideas (and how the
produces them).
Since I was only able to find two interviews in total which meant I didn’t get as much
information on this artist than I have with the other artists I’ve researched.

36. The overall style of the characters (as well as the various scenery and backgrounds
used) is important when creating a storyline since those characters will help to show
what the story is and how those characters fit into the story. It’s interesting to know
that this particular author doesn’t think too much about their characters and allow
them to be inspired instead.

37. The reaction of the audience can always be unexpected with their opinions on
characters. It can always be a surprise to find that a character you thought would
be disliked would turn out to be most popular.

38. Kōhei Horikoshi – Works
Tenko : (2007)
My Hero : (2008)
Shinka Rhapsody : (2008)
Oumagadoki Zoo : (2010 – 2011)
Barrage : (2012)
My Hero Academia : (2014 – 2021)

39. Lack of Information on Kōhei
Horikoshi
There weren’t many questions in this interview that goes into detail about how he
created his work (e.g. what techniques, how he goes about creating his work, what
motivates him) which was a shame since I have enjoyed the work from this artist and
was interested to find out more.
During my time researching into him I still couldn’t find much about him aside from
basic facts that people had listed. None of which really spoke about his work and
primarily just spoke about how he became an artist. Although I didn’t learn much
about his techniques and work I was still able to find out about his early life and how
he became acquainted with Shonen Jump, the magazine where his work is published.
(in terms of how he goes about his work and the his motivations for his work
and/or how he comes up with his ideas)

40. Other Interviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uvjiP3PcL8
https://www.otaquest.com/kohei-horikoshi-jump-giga-interview-final-act/
https://www.looper.com/188780/the-untold-truth-of-kohei-horikoshi/
It’s hard to find specific parts in interviews or in other media sources where any of my artists talk
about the process of their work or how they gain inspiration. I have researched various websites
and haven’t found anything worth noting.

41. More Images

42. Semiotics
Semiotics, by definition, is the study of signs and their meaning in society. This is particularly
important in media because it helps us to discover the way these signs can show ideas to us as an
audience. In terms of media, it is used to represent how images are used to convey emotion or
give information to an audience. I think that this theory applies to what I am creating since my
fanzine is about illustration and how these various artworks/styles make their audience feel.
After doing some research into this I found that there are a lot of different ways that I am capable
of identifying why these artworks and how they can effect the audience they are trying to appeal
to. I can apply this knowledge that I have learned and apply it to my own project. I will do this by
coming up with ideas/theories as to why the artist may have chosen to create their works in such
a way, this can be further supported by my contextual research where I have already looked into
the artists I will be talking about. This has allowed me to see how these artists think in regards of
their art and what they think of their target audience. I can further apply this knowledge into my
final product and will allow me to analyze artworks in much more detail than I would have been
able to do previously.