Back in 2015, we released issue 1 of our story about a young Rabbit named Blake and his big ambitions of becoming a success in the big city known as The Jungle. A year on and we’re almost ready for the launch of the complete volume!
The Future of GamePad
Since the end of the summer GamePad event, we’ve been working on ways to take the event to a new level and we’re excited to tell you more!
#BeCreative 2016 Campaign Sneak Peek
Last year we launched the #BeCreative campaign with the goal of inspiring and developing creativity in young people. Things got off to a great start with the support of 24 illustrators who expressed what creativity means to them through fantastic artwork. It even got featured on London Live TV!
New Year, New Comic: Hot Lunch
The release of our second manga, Serious, was a big step to growing the mayamada universe. In 2016, we’ll be taking it several steps further with a regular release of titles over the year.
Comics + Amiibo Prizes At GamePad!
GamePad! is going up a level in the lead up to London Comic Con! We’re coming back to the Petit Miracle Hub for the fourth edition of GamePad! on Saturday October 17th.
Serious About This Comic
We’ve had a great response to the Samurai Chef comic since we released it last year. After hitting our Kickstarter target to get the book printed, the amount of positive feedback has been so appreciated. It even got a 4 out of 5 star review in Neo Magazine!
Samurai Chef Creators: Writers
Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking back at the making of the complete edition Samurai Chef manga, talking to the people who played a part is bringing it to life.
We’ve heard the thoughts of the book’s illustrator (both of them), editor and printer. Without every one of these people the book would not have been possible, let alone look as good as it does!
But we couldn’t let them have all the fun, so here are our thoughts on the Samurai Chef book too:
Which part of the book did you work on?
Lao and I created the Samurai Chef character and story.
This involved developing the plot, creating the characters within the story and writing the script for Pinali to translate into the final comic pages.
We were also responsible for managing various elements of production from writing, to the Kickstarter, all the way up to the printing.
What was your highlight during the process?
Seeing the story slowly come together with each completed comic page.
Even though we already knew how the story would unfold, it was amazing to see the words of the script come to life visually page by page.
Pinali has a talent for bringing the characters to life and seeing the little touches she added along the way meant we could experience the story in a new light.
What was the biggest challenge for you?
The editing process. After we got through enjoying the comic, we had to get to the work of making sure it was printed without any mistakes.
We also wanted to get the book finished in time to send books to our Kickstarter backers before Christmas and for Hyper Japan in November. There was a lot of pressure on to put everything together in a short space of time.
Luckily we had a great editor, Lara-Lee, who caught all spelling a grammar mistakes…turns out there were a lot of them! But she stayed alert throughout the whole process and is the reason the book reads as well as it does.
What do you hope readers will take away from Samurai Chef?
Without giving too much away, there are some lessons in teamwork that hopefully come through over the course of the book.
Aside from that, we hope people will take away the belief that if you have a good idea you can bring it to life. The Samurai Chef is an original story idea that we created from scratch. If you’re working with your own idea, it can be done!
Who is your favourite character in the book and why?
We love all the Samurai Chef characters equally as if there were our own children…but we like Zane more equally.
He doesn’t have a huge part in the book but we liked the way he maintains a cool assuredness and balances out Kamu’s somewhat unstable energy.
Other notable mentions go to Ms Yasahsii, Jimi and of course the Samurai Chef himself.
What’s next for the Samurai Chef and mayamada?
The Samurai Chef story is complete for now, but it’s not the end of the character and another book is definitely a possibility in future.
For now we’ll be working on releasing comics for other mayamada stories. Serious is coming next, but expect to see something from 11th Hour and Hot Lunch stories too.
We’ve got a lot happening in 2015 including new clothing designs and event plans too. Stay tuned…
London Anime & Gaming Con
We will be attending London Anime & Gaming Con this February Saturday 7th to Sunday 8th and have loads in store for you.
Collector’s Edition Manga
Not only will the new and complete edition of Samurai Chef be available at our stall, so will the limited Collector’s Edition! This sealed manga book comes with a new cover, four extra pages of story, a pin badge set, and a download link to the colour edition of our digital comic Samurai Chef Origins.
Plus, 5 copies will be stamped with the mayamada logo on the inside cover. Whoever gets a stamped book will be made into a mayamada character in a future book. There will only be 20 copies available exclusively at the event, so be quick!
How To Create Manga Panel
Interested in making your own manga? Or just curious as to how we put ours together? See us on the downstairs stage on Saturday 7th Feb for a panel on create manga. We’ll go through the process of outlining a story, creating characters, working with artists and finally pulling everything together into you very own comic.
We’ve released two books and we’re working on more for 2015 so come and ask us about the process from 1:30pm.
Anime Inspired Clothing
Along with the new comic we will also have our range of t-shirts, hats and sweatshirts on offer at our stall, including a brand new design.
And that’s not all, join us at the event next month to find out what other surprises we have planned. London Anime & Gaming Con is looking bigger than ever and we can’t wait for our first convention of the year. See you there.
You can buy your tickets at www.londonanimecon.com
Kickstarter Characters
As part of our Samurai Chef Kickstarter campaign, we rewarded our top three backers with the opportunity to be included in their own personalised Samurai Chef comic.
Each backer would be able to describe their own chef characters that will make a meal to face off against the Samurai Chef in a one-off story called “Ambush”.
We’re happy to say we’re making good progress on the comic and can reveal the three characters (and their teams) that will be in the comic:
“Mr Samuels’ Steak Shack”
Mr Samuels is the Steak Shack’s head chef. A tall and proud lion with very fashionable twin puma assistants.
Highly idolised and well-respected, failure is not an option for Mr Samuels so you can expect him to put up a fight against the Samurai Chef.
“Sharvan’s Okonomiyaki Stop”
Head chef Sharvan is an Asian Black Bear and is backed by very confident looking bulldog and alligator chefs. Watch out for the dish that gets cooked up at the Okonomiyaki Stop.
“Twice the Spice”
The inspiration for head chef Eeson came from the photo of a backer’s husband. We hope she’s happy with the look!
We’ll be sending the comic out to our top three backers later this month. The comic will then be available for a limited time in 2015 also so stay tuned!
Preparing For Pop Up Runway
Exciting news for November as mayamada will be part of a new fashion event showcasing some of the best up and coming clothing brands in the UK.
Pop Up Runway is a new project being hosted The White Lion, a community and arts hub location in South London.
The event will be a mix of fashion and music and supported by industry experts. We’ll be joined by other indie brands Strip Clothing, All Thingz Nice, Seesaw Clothing and Ounce Clothing.
We all met up at the White Lion over the weekend to lay out the plans for the event which takes place on Sunday November 30th. Stay tuned for more event details.
