AI drawn manga Cyberpunk Momotaro threatens traditional creation process

The AI-drawn manga Cyberpunk Momotaro has taken Twitter by storm. The manga's 37-year-old mangaka, who goes by the pen name Rootport, has admitted to using Midjourney, an AI imaging tool, to create his plot. As a retelling of the classic Japanese folktale of Momotaro, this AI-drawn manga has sparked debate about the ethics of combining technology and art as a substitute for human creativity.

A talented artist would need a year to produce the more than 100-page manga, according to Rootport. Cyberpunk Momotaro has divided artists, some of whom see such technological advances as a new form of creative aide. Others echo the humanist anxiety that AI will soon replace them as the new generation creators.

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How Rootport created the AI-drawn Cyberpunk Momotaro using Midjourney AI

The AI program MidJourney was created by the Japanese firm HEROZ. Using machine learning techniques, often known as "Deeplearning" or "Machine learning," this artificial intelligence is capable of producing material on a variety of subjects. These programs have heavy implications for art and art-based media like manga, as Rootport showed through the AI-drawn Cyberpunk Momotaro.

Using text cues like "pink hair," "Asian boy," and "stadium jacket," writer Rootport used his existing familiarity with manga stories to conjure up images of the story's protagonist in under a minute. The best photos were then arranged in comic book fashion to create the AI-drawn book, which had already generated attention online before its release by Shinchosha, a significant publishing house, on March 9.

His creation is entirely colored, unlike conventional black-and-white manga, even if the same character's face can occasionally take on noticeably distinct appearances. This manga rides the current hype train, driven by the recent popularity of cyberpunk in the anime world. Despite feeling good about his creation, Rootport admitted the difference from traditional mangakas regarding Cyberpunk Momotaro:

"But is it the same satisfaction you'd feel when you've drawn something by hand from scratch? Probably not."

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What the plot of Cyberpunk Momotaro revolves around

The cyberpunk adaptation of the well-known Momotar story, Cyberpunk: Momotaro, stands out for dealing with darker and more difficult subjects. Unlike the ancient myth, Momotaro is a young boy with amnesia who is taken in by strip club owners, while the story reveals the secrets with his body.

Midjouney has run into various legal issues concerning its alleged theft of artists' works and copyrighted material for its creation. While some Japanese lawmakers have raised concerns, experts believe that infringements are unlikely if AI-drawn manga is created through simple prompts and little creativity.

Rootport himself celebrates the use of AI-drawn manga, especially for futuristic settings, since they level the playing field for good storytellers with little drawing skill. It is believed that Cyberpunk Momotaro is the first of its kind and will see more followers in the future.