Like every year, the beloved returns area ASIAN Of COMICON Naples 2023 (April 28 – May 1), flagship of the festival, very popular with enthusiasts of Eastern culture: an entire pavilion of the Mostra d’Oltremare with stands and thematic activities, but above all a dense guest program and events. The Japanese cartoonist Miki Yoshikawa has been announced as she returns to Italy after 10 years on the occasion of the release of her new work, A Couple of Cuckoos (Star Comics); the mangaka Aki Irie who will present her new work Nuvole e Nord-Ovest (J-Pop Manga) and will be the protagonist of an exhibition; the best-known European mangaka Tony Valente, creator of the Radiant saga; the unmissable meeting with Masashi Haneda, professor at the University of Tokyo, popularizer and co-author (and co-protagonist) of the manga Sekai No Rekishi, who will explain the importance and effectiveness of telling history through manga; the numerous Italian premiere screenings of anime, in collaboration with Crunchyroll, including the season finale of Chainsaw Man dubbed in Italian; “Manga power”, the new format of meetings with the public curated by the “Trio del manga” – Cavernadiplatone, Sommobuta and TimeWalker; cosplayer Yuji Koi. And finally, the inevitable and much loved COMICON Cosplay Challenge Pro, Cosplay Challenge Kids and Cosplay Challenge.
MIKI YOSHIKAWA
Author of Yamada-Kun and the 7 Witches and Yankee-Kun & Megane-Chan – The thug and the four-eyes returns to Italy after 10 years on the occasion of the release of her new work, A Couple of Cuckoos (Star Comics). Already known to the Italian public thanks to the homonymous successful anime series available on the Crunchyroll platform, A Couple of Cuckoos tells the story of a boy and a girl swapped at birth, who find themselves curiously entangled in an arranged marriage. With a fresh, funny and cheeky tone, this comedy speaks to a wide audience by depicting everyday life situations with irony. “I am always very attentive to trends and customs. For this reason I made Erika Amano, protagonist of A Couple of Cuckoos, an influencer. The intention was precisely to reflect current events”, explained the popular author, who all The attention to youth fashions and trends combines a soft, charming and seductive design style. Miki Yoshikawa will be at COMICON from April 28th to May 1st. The complete program of signing copies, of events open to the public in which you will be involved and of the related editorial initiatives will soon be communicated on the official sites and social channels of Star Comics and COMICON.
WHO IS IRIE
She is a mangaka from Kagawa Prefecture. Among her most important works are The World of Ran, a seven-volume series that has won a large following of readers because of its fascinating characters and fresh and vibrant line, selected as a must-read by the XV Japan Media committee Arts Festival. His most recent work Clouds in the North-West, serialized in the magazine Aokishi (Kadokawa) and nominated in 2019 for the prestigious Manga Taisho award, tells the story of the very young private investigator Kei, a Japanese who lives in Iceland and who possesses the extraordinary to communicate with machinery and technologies. Both titles are published in Italy by J-Pop Manga. Aki Irie will participate in exclusive signings and dedicated events during COMICON from April 28 to May 1, and her work will also be the subject of a solo exhibition. The complete program of signing copies, of events open to the public in which she will be involved and of the related editorial initiatives will soon be communicated on the official websites and social channels of J-Pop Manga and COMICON.
TONY VALENTE
Born in 1984 in Toulouse, Tony Valente is interested in both Franco-Belgian bande dessinée and manga. He made his comic debut in 2004 with the fantasy Les 4 Princes de Ganahan, in 2008 he plunged into manga atmospheres with the Hana Attori series, and in 2012 he started the Speed Angels trilogy. In 2012 the manga Radiant began, which narrates a world populated by monstrous creatures and wizards, engaged in the search for the enigmatic lair of the creatures. An initiatory adventure immersed in a typical scenario of shonen manga, and at the same time a journey into syncretic fantasy between East and West, Radiant becomes such a success that the series is published directly in Japan in volumes, with the applause of influential authors (Yūsuke Murata of One Punch Man and Hiro Mashima from Fairy Tail). An anime adaptation was also made by NHK, Japan’s first public broadcaster. The work, now in its 17th volume, has collected several awards including the Daruma award at the Japan Expo 2016 festival as best international manga, proving to be appreciated by readers and critics all over the world.
MASASHI HANEDA
Telling the story is the goal of many manga. And often it works, inspiring readers and authors, and eventually becoming an original educational resource. Among the most famous and ambitious examples in Japan is the twenty-volume series Sekai No Rekishi (世界の歴史, History of the World), published by the publisher Kadokawa, which represents a case of excellence in historical disclosure with comics. Masashi Haneda, one of the best-known Japanese historians, Full Professor at the University of Tokyo and scholar of Global History, who became co-author (and co-protagonist) of the manga Sekai No Rekishi, talks about it with the popularizer and manga-influencer Sommobuta . Appointment on Friday 28 April, 11:00, in the Sala Hiroba.
NEW SOULS IN SPECIAL SCREENINGS WITH CRUNCHYROLL
The previews and screenings of anime made in collaboration with Crunchyroll, the streaming platform that will be present at the festival with a stand in the Asian Village area, are back again this year. Chainsaw Man, the 2022 revelation anime exclusively on Crunchyroll arrives at COMICON dubbed in Italian: it will therefore be possible to see the season finale, with episode 10 and, in absolute preview, episodes 11 and 12! Also Blue Lock, the football anime that is scoring victories in every country, arrives at the festival with the preview of the first two episodes dubbed in Italian. Among the titles in the program, the first two episodes of A Couple of Cuckoos land in preview, with a screening event in the presence of the author of the manga Miki Yoshikawa, in collaboration with Star Comics. Finally, a surprise for fans: a special screening of The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie!
“MANGA POWER” WITH THE “MANGA TRIO” – CAVERNADIPLATONE, SOMMOBUTA AND TIMEWALKER
A new meeting format, curated and animated by the “Manga Trio” – Cavernadiplatone, Sommobuta and TimeWalker – makes its debut at COMICON 2023 – dedicated to reflection on the symbolic, artistic and economic strength that manga expresses today, without geographical or cultural constraints of any kind. Each talk will host Western artists or creatives, both Italian and foreign. If manga have now pervaded the global imagination, and their style is unmistakable, how has Japanese comics influenced their work, their imagination and their career? Among the first guests, creator and illustrator Fraffrog, and Marvel and Image Comics artist Daniel Warren Johnson.
YUJI KOI COSPLAYER
Having moved to Switzerland, Yuji Koi Cosplayer is a model and cosplayer of Vietnamese origins with more than half a million followers across the various platforms on which she publishes her work. In 2017 she participated in the prestigious World Cosplay Summit competition as a representative of Vietnam having also won for three years in a row (from 2014 to 2016) the first prize for Best Cosplayer of the Year in her native country. Among the international brands with which she has collaborated are Riot Games, HoYoVerse, Sharkmob and Tencent. Yuji will be at the festival to talk about herself and meet the public through meet & greets, autograph sessions and talks that will see her as the protagonist.
THE COSPLAY COMPETITIONS OF COMICON NAPLES 2023
Cosplay competitions have always been among the most awaited moments of COMICON. The COMICON Cosplay Challenge Pro 2023 will take place as usual at the Mediterranean Theater of the Mostra d’Oltremare, on Saturday 29 April at 2.30 pm, and in live streaming on the COMICON social channels. The best cosplayers of the competition will be chosen to represent Italy at the finals of the TOC – Tournament of Championship, an event that will take place in Vienna in Austria and which will crown the best representative of the Cosplay art in Europe. The beloved Cosplay Challenge KIDS are also back, aimed at the very young, and Cosplay Challenge, open to all, which will be held on Sunday 30 April on the new Main Stage of COMICON Naples: the Arena Flegrea, the second largest arena in Italy.
For information: www.comicon.it.