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While Japanese mangakas dominate the manga industry, you'd be surprised to learn that not all mangakas are from Japan. In fact, several popular mangas have been created by mangakas who come from countries other than Japan and happen to be popular around the world.
While fans must already know about manhwas and manfras being made by creators who are not Japanese, in this article, we will take a look at some mangakas who are not Japanese and have been able to create a name for themselves in the industry.
L. Shindo, Yuu Kamiya, and eight other mangakas who are not Japanese
1) Boichi
Boichi, most popularly known for his art in Dr. Stone, is a South Korean manhwa-turned-mangaka. Boichi, whose real name is Mu-jik Park, had dreamt of becoming a manga creator since his childhood.
Thus, after working on manhwa for some time, he transitioned to Japanese manga, with his first serialized work, Sen-Ken Rock, published in the bi-weekly magazine Young King. Following that, he created another manga, Origin, and provided art for Riichiro Inagaki's Dr. Stone.
2) Dall-Young Lim
South Korean author Dall-Young Lim is known for scripting several manhwa and manga. His career began way back in 2001 when he created Zero: The Gate of Beginning manhwa with Park Sung-woo.
Following that, the author has written several stories for manhwa, manga, light novels, novels, video games, and doujinshi, including some famous works, such as Unbalance Unbalance, Black God, Koimoku, and Freezing.
3) L. Shindo
American-Japanese mangaka L. Shindo is a hent*i mangaka, most notoriously known for his infamous manga Metamorphosis. He was born in New York City, USA, following which he moved to Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.
Since moving to Japan, L. Shindo has worked on several adult manga, all while exploring taboo topics in society. Some of his most famous works besides Metamorphosis are TSF Monogatari, The Pink Album, Junai Irregulars, and Sarashi Ai.
4) Tony Valente
Tony Valente is a French comic artist who began his career in comic creation after being inspired by Dragon Ball. He first began with his illustrations for The Four Princes of Ganahan, following which he worked on his solo project, Hana Attori, and did the illustrations for Didier Tarquin's S.P.E.E.D. Angels.
Soon after, he began working on his most notable work, Radiant. It performed very well commercially in Japan, thanks to some help from mangakas Yusuke Murata and Hiro Mashima. Soon after, in 2018, the manfra received an anime adaptation produced by Lerche.
5) Yuu Kamiya
Yuu Kamiya is a Brazilian-Japanese novelist and illustrator most popularly known for his top-selling light novel series, No Game No Life. His real name is Thiago Furukawa Lucas, and he is of Japanese, Portuguese, and Italian descent.
Following the popularity of his No Game No Life light novel series, the mangaka, along with his wife Mashiro Hiiragi, worked on the manga adaptation for the series, which was published in Monthly Comic Alive in 2013. The following year, the No Game No Life anime premiered.
6) Youn In-wan
Youn In-wan is a South Korean manhwa writer most popularly known for his work Blade of the Phantom Master in Japan. Prior to that, he worked on the Island manhwa with illustrator Yang Kyung-il and collaborated with the latter on Defense Devil as well.
Youn In-wan and Yang Kyung-il worked on Defense Devil after the success of Youn In-wan's one-shot manga Akuma Bengoshi Kukabara. This manga got serialized in the weekly manga magazine Shōnen Sunday.
7) Madeleine Rosca
Madeleine Rosca is an Australian artist and author who is best known for her all-ages steampunk-themed original English-language manga Hollow Fields. The manga is published by Seven Seas Entertainment and has four volumes.
Rosco has also created two volumes for a series called Clockwork Sky and is currently working on a supernatural webcomic series titled Rise from Ashes. She also received a special mention in a November 2007 article by Wired on the history of manga in America.
8) Hagin Yi
Hagin Yi was a South Korean story writer who worked on the Japanese manga Souten Kouro alongside illustrator King Gonta. The manga began its serialization in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Morning in 1994.
Unfortunately, the author could not witness the series' success as he happened to pass away in 1998. Following his death, King Gonta worked on the manga himself until its conclusion in 2005. Later, the manga received an anime adaptation by Madhouse in 2009.
9) Felipe Smith
Felipe Smith is an American comic book writer of Jamaican and Argentine descent. He is most popularly known for being the author of the Peepo Choo manga series, which was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Morning Two in June 2008.
Peepo Choo was the first manga created and serialized in Japan by a Western creator before being licensed for an English-language release. Additionally, Felipe Smith is the creator, writer, and co-designer of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider.
10) OTOSAMA Leong
OTOSAMA Leong is a Malaysian manga artist best known for his two comedy manga series, namely Furyou Taimashi Reina and Saiyuukin. OTOSAMA Leong first worked on Saiyuukin from August 2015 to May 2017, releasing 47 chapters, following which he started to work on Furyou Taimashi Reina.
Furyou Taimashi Reina is a supernatural comedy manga that got serialized in LINE Manga from October 2018 to October 2021. The manga released 78 chapters and was compiled into six volumes.
These are our picks for the 10 most popular mangakas who are not Japanese. If we have missed someone, do let us know in the comments section below.
