The Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo and the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) collaborated to launch "Taiwan Audio Comic Expo (漫畫有聲音展)" from July 1 to August 20, featuring a collection of colorful illustrations by Taiwanese comic artists to express gratitude to Japan for donating COVID-19 vaccines in addition to short films of original Taiwanese manga works accompanied by audio.
The featured colorful illustrations drawn by manga artists contain many creative ideas for the public to explore. For example, the clothes of the characters in Rimui's (韋蘺若明) illustrations are comprised with colors of the Japanese flag; Daily Greens's (每日青菜) uses Japanese taiyaki and Taiwanese bubble tea in the illustrations to symbolize the friendship between Taiwan and Japan; and Rice and Dumpling (米宗子) includes Taiwanese pineapples, bananas, milk and Taiwanese black bears in the illustrations in hopes of spurring further interest in Taiwan.
The Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo and TAICCA jointly organized "Taiwan Manga Night Market" last year to showcase the works of 25 Taiwanese manga artists. So far, Ruan Guang Min's (阮光民) manga work "Yong-Jiu Grocery Store (用九柑仔店)" is expected to be released in Japan by the end of the year.
The "Taiwan Audio Comic" series was originally part of TAICCA's promotion for World Reading Day in April which combines Taiwanese voice actors and music with popular comic works. The exhibition also added Japanese subtitles to help the Japanese public experience Taiwan’s original works.
The 10 original Taiwanese comics included in the exhibition are "Yan (閻鐵花)," "Guardienne (守娘)," "The Funeral Concerto (送葬協奏曲)," "The Incompetent Love Counseling Center (無能戀愛諮商中心)," "Listen to my Voice!! (請聽我的聲音!!)," "Alice No. 9 (第九號愛麗絲)," "The Scavenger's Wild Tent (採集人的野帳)," "To the End of the World (世界末日也要和你在一起)," "Day Off (每日青菜)," "Men’s 3D Love Strategy (3次元男子戀愛攻略)."