If you're an anime otaku like me, you've spent hours learning how to draw the characters from your favorite anime and spent almost just as long wishing you knew Japanese and lived in Tokyo so you could professionally draw manga alongside you're favorite artists. Well it just so happens that now you may get just that opportunity.
A company called MediBang! has partnered with Weekly Shonen Magazine to hold a contest for international manga artists with the winner having their manga published in Shonen Magazine's manga app called Magazine pocket. While the app may not be as well known as the official magazine, it's still a great opportunity for amateur artists. The Magazine is mainly focused on finding good artists, so regardless of whether you win, if you write something good, you may get feedback from the editorial staff of the magazine and even get assigned an editor. The main reason why this offer is so good is that knowing Japanese is not a requirement. MediBang has translators that will translate for you so you can submit your entry in a variety of languages. I can't stress how rare an opportunity like this is where an amateur artist can have their work critiqued by editors in Japan that deal with professional manga every day. The only requirement is for the contest is that you must submit your entry through MediBang and further details about contest rules or even other contests can be found on their website.
A few things you should definitely keep in mind before entering however is that Magazine pocket is an app created by Kodansha for Japanese readers so the app isn't available in the US (yet it may in the future) and your manga will be published in Japanese even if you write it in English so your readers will be the Japanese public. However, it's still a good experience if you're an artist that wants experience and advice from professionals that work with series like Fairy Tail as well as Yamada and the Seven Witches and Ace of Diamond. The last date of submission is January 12th 2017 12 pm in JST(Japanese time) which is January 11th around 9 am (depending on where you live)in the US so I would recommend submitting by midnight on the 10th to be safe.
Good luck to anyone who decides to enter and if you you'd like you can leave the name of your submission in the comments. Anyone can read the submissions for the contest on their page and I would love to read your work.
