What It's Like To Be a Foreign Manga Artist Working in Japan

Manga is a key part of Japanese culture that the country takes a great amount of pride in. In Japanese schools, it’s common to see students doodling manga characters in the corners of their notebooks, and many grow up wanting to be illustrators or mangaka.

Though it has expanded in global popularity, manga has traditionally remained an insular medium. Distinct from American comics, it’s dominated by Japanese creators and fiercely competitive. For even successful mangaka, the hours are long and the deadlines can be relentless.

However, there’s recently been a decisive shift in the industry: international creators are beginning to take their place alongside Japan’s homegrown talent. Morning, Kodansha’s weekly seinen magazine, has embraced this trend, seeking out artists from across Asia and Europe.

In May, it launched Meaheim, a dark fantasy written by bestselling Japanese author Kenji Tsurubuchi and illustrated by 25-year-old Spanish mangaka Konata. It’s the second time in three years Morning has published work by a Spanish artist — both times under the guidance of editor Ayane Chiba.

Friends of Friends

Chiba’s resume includes works such as Oda-chan to Akechi-kun and Chi’s Sweet Home, with the latter being translated into French due to its popularity in Europe. Her path to working with Spanish artists began with Juan Albarran, illustrating for the series Matagi Gunner by Shoji Fujimoto. Chiba, who studied in Spain during college, speaks fluent Spanish, making the collaboration a natural fit.

“After having such a successful run with Juan, I voiced the potential of foreign writers to our editorial team,” she recalls. “Hearing this, Juan told me he knew a really talented young artist, who turned out to be Konata. I think the community of mangaka in Spain is much smaller compared to Japan, so it’s well-connected.”

Chiba’s interest in foreign talent met little resistance. “We already have a lot of experience working with Chinese and Korean artists, so there wasn’t any pushback. If anything, they thought it seemed interesting.”

For Chiba, Meaheim has been a welcome departure from her usual genres. “I’ve worked on many pieces about human drama and relationships, but I actually really like action and horror,” she says. “I don’t get to work on them too often, so I’m really excited about Meaheim.”

“Matagi Gunner” by Shoji Fujimoto

The Rise of Konata

Like many Gen Z fans, Konata’s love of manga began with anime classics such as Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Inuyasha and One Piece. “I remember that when I was little, what surprised me was that there was a lot of emotional depth in the characters of manga,” she says. “In the West, comics and animation were for children, so the first time I read manga, I was really impacted emotionally.”

Emulating her favorite mangaka, Konata gradually developed her own detailed, intricate style — one that quickly gained a devoted following.

By the time she met Chiba in December 2022, she was just 22 but already had two successful series, Kohva and Nebesta, serialized in Planeta Manga, a Spanish magazine.

The opportunity to work in Japan came faster than she imagined. “I thought I would have time to learn Japanese first,” she admits. “It all happened so fast. It was very exciting, but honestly, it scared me.”

That fear stemmed from the dual challenge of navigating Japan’s demanding serialization schedules and entering a tight-knit industry as an outsider. But Konata sees strength in that position.

“My biggest weakness — not being from Japan — is also my biggest advantage,” she says. “The language barrier is tough, but I can teach something, or express things differently, just because of where I was born.”

In Meaheim, she brings that outside perspective to the haunting tale, which centers around a scholar named Ren, who ventures into the surreal underworld of Meichi to find a mythical panacea for her ailing brother.

In this world, rotten fruit reattaches to branches, and logic bends at will. Konata’s illustrations echo this atmosphere with eerie landscapes, stark shadows and otherworldly creatures.

“Meaheim” | via @meaheim X account

Hurdles and Strengths for International Mangaka

While Konata’s viewpoint enriches the work, it also presents practical challenges. In Japan, an illustrator working with a separate writer is given a “name” — a roughly sketched storyboard with dialogue and stick figures.

Japanese artists can often identify speakers from the text alone, relying on gendered speech patterns or context. Without fluent Japanese, Konata struggled to track who was speaking while working on the first few chapters of Meaheim. Chiba resolved this with clearer annotations, but cultural nuances proved trickier to bridge.

“In editorial meetings, we make very specific analogies, like ‘feeling left out in elementary school in a milk-drinking contest,’” Chiba explains. “Or we’ll say, ‘this character isn’t angry, but embarrassed.’ With cultural differences, some artists won’t understand why a character would feel that emotion in those circumstances.”

These differences, however, have also sharpened the team’s work. “Early on, Konata commented that Meaheim had very few female characters, which we hadn’t noticed. She and Juan often point out certain movements that they feel look more natural, and once they do, we often think, ‘That’s so true.’”

The Future of International Manga

Looking ahead, Kodansha is eyeing talent in the US and France, where manga readership is booming. For Chiba, foreign artists bring not just diversity but also opportunity.

“A lot of really talented artists usually go straight to Shonen Jump or larger magazines,” she says. “Foreign artists have a narrower debut window, so they come to smaller publications like Morning, which we’re very grateful for.”

Still, the industry’s demands remain the same for everyone. “You probably won’t succeed immediately,” explains Chiba. “It’s good to be mentally prepared and not take initial failures personally. The manga industry is tough, but it’s also rewarding, and the window of opportunity for foreigners is expanding.”