More manga will be coming to India, Viz Media top exec. Kevin Hamric confirmed during his recent talk at Hyderabad Comic Con.
Anime like Death Note has made it possible, simply by proving to be so popular.
Anime like Death Note has made it possible, simply by proving to be so popular.
Death Note Misa cosplay at Comic Con Hyderabad September 2015
(Courtesy of MKM Communications/Comic Con India)
Japanese manga and anime has struggled to make much headway into the vast Indian market. Despite a growing number of aficionados, like those packing out Hitex Exhibiton, September 12-13, for Comic Con Hyderabad 2015.
Not to mention those thronging into Bangalore Comic Con last April, or the hordes expected to descend upon Mumbai Film & Comics Convention and Comic Con Delhi, both in December 2015.
The fact that so many events are now teeming with Indian fans of anime and manga is only the visual face of how the genre is gathering pace in the country. But it's been slow going.
Two factors have been credited with making such headway as exists.
The first being first day guest speaker at the Hyderabad gathering - Kevin Hamric, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at Viz Media. He might be merely the human face for a company increasingly making manga available in India, but he's quite a active one.
Returning time and time again to the sub-continent determined to make manga appear approachable to Indian readers.
Not to mention those thronging into Bangalore Comic Con last April, or the hordes expected to descend upon Mumbai Film & Comics Convention and Comic Con Delhi, both in December 2015.
The fact that so many events are now teeming with Indian fans of anime and manga is only the visual face of how the genre is gathering pace in the country. But it's been slow going.
Two factors have been credited with making such headway as exists.
The first being first day guest speaker at the Hyderabad gathering - Kevin Hamric, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at Viz Media. He might be merely the human face for a company increasingly making manga available in India, but he's quite a active one.
Returning time and time again to the sub-continent determined to make manga appear approachable to Indian readers.
Viz Media Kevin Hamric as Hyderabad Comic Con guest speaker
His session at Comic Con Hyderabad was described in the schedule as 'get a behind the scenes look in to your favourite anime & manga series', then went on to name-check Death Note, amongst the other usual suspects - Naruto, Bleach and Dragon Ball Z.
These are the fore-runners forging a route into the Indian entertainment industry on behalf of all other Japanese manga to follow.
Hamric himself highlighted the second major factor, in an interview with Hans India newspaper (We are Bringing More of Manga to India: Kevin Hamric, Sept 14th 2015).
“One of the reasons why there are more takers to manga is because, most of the time when these animes were screened on TV, it was dubbed in Hindi and even Telugu. This helped a lot.”
In short, more manga is now being introduced to the country - plus being printed there, as demand grows to justify it - because Hindi dubbed Death Note et al made the genre popular enough. Through the anime laying the groundwork, Hamric was able to build a market for manga too.
Thus does the Death Note fandom grow, and all others too, eventually.
These are the fore-runners forging a route into the Indian entertainment industry on behalf of all other Japanese manga to follow.
Hamric himself highlighted the second major factor, in an interview with Hans India newspaper (We are Bringing More of Manga to India: Kevin Hamric, Sept 14th 2015).
“One of the reasons why there are more takers to manga is because, most of the time when these animes were screened on TV, it was dubbed in Hindi and even Telugu. This helped a lot.”
In short, more manga is now being introduced to the country - plus being printed there, as demand grows to justify it - because Hindi dubbed Death Note et al made the genre popular enough. Through the anime laying the groundwork, Hamric was able to build a market for manga too.
Thus does the Death Note fandom grow, and all others too, eventually.
