PROFILE

Pen Name / Name: Tooridou Rin
Country: New Zealand
Social media profiles: Instagram: @Tooridourin TikTok: @Tooridourin
Age: 17
Favorite manga: One Piece
Favorite movie: Conclave (2024)
Favorite quote: “Don’t be unsettled if a task seems like it will take a long time, because the time will pass away, so you might as well just do the task.”
Entry title: “Jackpot”
Round: SMA23 “My Dream”
Award: Grand Prix Runner-up 

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“Keep the story simple and focus more on the characters.”

About SMA

How does it feel to receive a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award?
Liberating and awesome! I feel like my efforts are paying off. I am being given so many new useful resources, like meeting editors and receiving money for my manga! I am also really excited to see what I can learn from the MasterClass.

What was the inspiration behind your awarded work?
My inspiration was “what would people do with a huge amount of money?” Many of the things the main character in my manga does are what I think many people would also do (including myself) if they hit the jackpot. For example, when she builds a huge statue of herself. It’s a huge waste of money, but damn! I want a statue of myself. Also the vault of endless piles of treasure. How incredible would it feel to make snow angels in piles of gold coins?

What challenges did you face while making your manga? How did you overcome them?
I was making my manga during the major exam season in my country. I had quite a lot to study and assignments to complete before the end of the year. All those things made finding time to make my manga quite hard. But, somehow, I did it!

READ Tooridou Rin’s Awarded Work HERE!

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About Your Manga

How and when did you start making manga? What do you wish you knew as a beginner? What advice would you give to someone who wants to start drawing manga?
I started making manga in 2024 when I was 15 years old. Technically, I started in 2022 when I was 13, but I wasn’t very consistent with drawing until I was 15. I began making manga on an iPad with Procreate and MediBang Paint. I bought the iPad myself with my paychecks from my restaurant waitstaff job. I thought digital art would be more cost efficient than analog drawing in the long run. If I were to give advice to someone who wants to start drawing manga, it would be to just start. The best time you could have started was five years ago. The second best time to start is now.

Do you draw your manga digitally or by hand? What are your go-to digital or analogue tools?
I draw my manga digitally. At the end of 2024, I upgraded from an iPad to a drawing monitor/pen display, and I’ve been using it to draw manga ever since.

What was the first manga you picked up? Is it easy to access manga where you live?
I was actually an anime fan before I was a manga fan (I love both)! My first manga was One Piece because I caught up to the anime, and I wanted to know what happened next, so I read the manga. One Piece is very accessible where I live. It is one of the most popular manga of all time, after all.

Which manga changed your life?
One Piece again lol.

Which manga character do you most identify with? Why?
I thought about this for a long time, and after some deliberation, I think my answer would be Luffy. He is really carefree, honest, and uniquely himself. The way he works hard to achieve his goals and builds a community around himself makes me identify myself with him through admiration.

What kind of manga do you want to make next?
Next, I want to make a manga with some more action and better paneling. There isn’t a very big manga community in my country, and far fewer manga creators. However, that doesn’t really matter to me, since I mostly share my work on the internet. One real challenge would be that I don’t live in Japan, so meeting editors is much harder, but that is not a challenge exclusive to my country.

About You

What do you do when you’re not making manga? How do you relax?
I hop into bed and scroll on my phone. Maybe I’ll play games, watch a show, read manga, sleep, or study Japanese.

What industry do you work in (if manga making isn’t your primary job)?
I am still a high school student so I don’t really have a profession right now other than part-time jobs. My goal is to be a full time mangaka and make manga as my primary job when I leave high school! Or ideally, achieve that before I graduate high school. 


Where do you see your manga career in five years time?
I’ll still be making manga because being a mangaka is the coolest job ever. Additionally, by then I would like to be serialized in Japan.

What manga making advice would you give to your younger self if you could?
Start drawing like yesterday please.

What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®?
Keep the story simple and focus more on the characters.

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Thank you, Tooridou Rin! We’re eagerly awaiting your next manga masterpiece!

The deadline to join SMA24 is May 10th. Enter for a chance to develop your potential as a manga creator with us in Japan!