Jivan, 22, and Yash, 18, grew up in Amravati, a city of nearly a million residents in central India, and have worked under the name masterlynx.
The pair won a prize in an international contest for manga without dialogue or text hosted by Kadokawa Corp. last year.
In May this year, their manga ‘Kung Fu Kung Fool’ began serialization on Kadokawa’s manga portal site. The action-comedy series follows the adventures of a notorious thief named Goemon and a young boy named Bao.
“We are really happy–it feels like our dream come true,” the brothers said of their debut in an online interview.
The brothers developed a passion for manga after becoming obsessed as children with the ‘Dragon Ball’ anime series, adapted from the manga created by the late world-renowned Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama.
Inspired by Toriyama, Jivan and Yash taught themselves how to draw manga by repeatedly tracing and copying anime characters.
However, Jivan said, “Actually, in India, there aren’t enough re
Yash said that he supplemented his studies by watching YouTube videos created by other manga artists, including Naoki Urasawa, known for works such as ’20th Century Boys.’
Last year, while working on drawing illustrations for clients mainly in the United States and Europe, the brothers learned about Kadokawa’s manga contest.
Because they had long wanted to make some fun stories and publish the work somewhere, even if it did not make any money, they entered the contest.
Eventually, they won a silver prize and earned a monthly manga serialization.
As one of the most challenging aspects of creating manga, the brothers cited Japanese onomatopoeia, words that imitate sounds or describe conditions.
To address the challenge, a Kadokawa editorial team translates and adapts into Japanese the English expressions created by the brothers.
“Our goal going forward is to just like make a lot of works,” Jivan said.
Kadokawa said the brothers’ appeal lies in “their ambition as artists, pursuing their own unique styles while showing deep respect for Japanese manga.”
The duo has “the potential to win fans around the world, not only in India and Japan,” the company said.
The debut of the Indian brothers came at a time when securing promising manga creators has become increasingly difficult, due to higher demand for them as many businesses successively enter the manga market in recent years, Kadokawa said.
This prompted the publisher to establish an overseas manga editorial section last year to support overseas creators and discover new talent.
