Contents
Manga are best sellers. There has been a boom in Japanese comics for several years. Also in Switzerland.
They are innumerable, the manga books that are available at the stands in the Montreux VD Congress Center. The world of Japanese-inspired, childlike characters with their oversized eyes. Here at the Polymanga exhibition center it has its center in western Switzerland.
Fair Polymanga
Right in the middle is Yami Shin, manga artist from Romandy. In Montreux she is presenting the seventh volume of her manga series «Green Mechanic». Yes, Swiss artists have also dedicated themselves to manga.
Yami Shin was hooked on a TV show: “I really liked the style. That’s how I started tracing manga. Gradually I developed my own language.» Meanwhile, she has a publisher from France and makes it onto the book shelves across the country’s borders.
Legend:
The manga artist Yami Shin from Romandy.
SRF
But the bulk of manga still comes from Japan. Sometimes apocalyptic, sometimes gory and sexualized, but they are available in an incredible range. The fascination with it has skyrocketed in recent years. The manga boom is also impressive in Switzerland.
Why this fascination? A young woman in a white manga costume says: “Manga play in a completely different world than ours. Anything is possible in this world.”
Another visitor, also in a manga outfit, says: “The themes are more accessible than in many European comics.” And a young man with bright green contact lenses likes the drawings and the character design, but especially the stories.
interest steadily increased
More than 50,000 visitors flock to the halls of the congress center in Montreux on the Easter weekend. A hype that organizer David Heim also noticed.
He already organized the first Polymanga in 2005. Interest has grown steadily. In recent years, however, it has literally exploded. One reason was that people spent more time at home during the Covid pandemic. But by no means the only one.
Manga and classic comics
During the conversation, it becomes clear why manga is slowly but surely outstripping classic comics such as Asterix, Donald Duck or Tintin (Tintin). “The price of the manga is lower, the rhythm of the publications all the faster,” says the organizer.
But the trappings are probably even more important: “Communication runs on umpteen channels.” Influencers, games, videos by live artists, filmed manga – all of this boosts the hype.
It should be fine with the French-speaking Swiss artist Yami Shin. “Having new readers is interesting and cool,” she says. And she is also pleased that more and more women are among the manga artists. She herself has been taking care of the offspring for a long time. She teaches manga drawing at a design school in French-speaking Switzerland.