Thank you for all the comments and questions you guys send us! Today we are doing a Q&A Session. So Let’s begin!

I’d like to ask about when will the theme and deadline for the next season be announced? thank you wink emoticon 　＜Tugas Pratama Abdulkarim＞

We have many more!

What will the theme for Silent Manga Audition Round 5 be? Because I’m ready for it. I’ve prepared all my manga page templates in one folder on my Mac, reserved for Round 5.　＜Kuroi Kai＞

Hi Silent Manga, so the winners for the Summer 2015 round will be released on July 2016? ＜Jae-ill Cho＞

Thank you all for waiting! The deadline of round 5, is

31st March, 2016!! (Results announcement expected July)

  And the “Themes” are…

“Friendship and communication tools!”

We have a much more, practical approach from this round. You must use BOTH, of those concepts, to create One story. Not one or the other, but you MUST use BOTH! of those words. Friendship may be obvious, but the “Communication Tool”? Let us give you examples. It can be a telephone, smartphones, email, or SNS. Any and all ways, methods or magic is good with us. Handsigns, smoke signals or maybe pigeons? Perhaps some unseen futuristic device or some super natural powers, with your brain as the transmitter? So, the key is to have a scene or scenes, of how an emotion, feelings or messages, is delivered to another. This is a scene from Hojo sensei’s classic, “Cat’s Eye”. In this scene, the building IS the communication tool. Use your imagination, to illustrate your messages, stories of friendship, as SILENT MANGA!   While it’s easy to understand, because “Friendship” is a word that can have such broad meanings to everyone, it may be hard to actually think of a simple episode. Mixing another, very specific clue to the story in the form of “Communication Tool”, it actually makes creating an episode, a little easier. This is a more practical approach, to creating your own storyline. We hope you’ll feel the merits! There’s a very popular way of training, for story writers, manga artists and editors. It’s called “San-dai-banashi”. Meaning “Story of 3 themes”. In manga creation, there are two skills that often REALLY shine. Those are, “Quibbling” and “Making Excuses”. Have you trained those before? “Story of 3 Themes” is a great way to train those! In SMA05, there are only 2 themes, instead of 3, to ease it off a little. So, use BOTH “Friendship” and “Communication Tool” as a hook, to create your next master piece!!   GOT IT!? Let’s go with one more question!

Wow thank you! Another question I was wondering, what type of criteria would an editor judge a manuscript on to consider it “good”? ＜Dyanira Baird＞

I’m sure this is a question many of the SILENT MANGA AUDITION contestants… so let’s hear it! When we manga editors assess manga awards entries, these 5 points are what we look for:

Art Style

Character

Story

Composition

Future Potential

These are key points your manga will be assessed, during a manga award. Editors may have unique preferences, but when we say, a manga piece is “good!”, these two points may have more weights. Those are… ART STYLE, and CHARACTER We as a publisher, must make sure a manga is enjoyed by as many people as possible. So we are always researching the market, seeing what the readers may want. Truth be told, popular art style and character, is always changing, in sync with the change in society. So, when I see a manga with art style and characters that the people today will like, I’d say the manuscript is GOOD! Once we have the art style and characters, only thing left then, is to create a story that fit. There another point I specifically look for. That is, “The art style, used for the EXPLOSION of emotion”. What makes Japanese manga entertaining to read, is the way characters express their emotions, in super varied, and intense ways. When I meet a character, that makes me think “Wow, what a FACE!” to an emotion, it makes me happy, to be an manga editor. Next week, we’ll be doing more Q&A session. Rare chance to have all your questions answered by a real, seasoned pro! Make the best of this opportunity 😉 See you next week!