This project aims to reveal the Japanese anime influences in Malaysian character design produced by local students from five UiTM branch campuses. The students will be guided to produce comic characters based on Malaysian folklores using the Japanese anime style of illustration. Since Japanese core values such as harmony, order and self-development are significant principles which should also be pervasive in other cultures, this project endeavors to promote the meeting of the two worlds: Japan and Malaysia, by highlighting the sharing of these important values via comic production. In this difficult period of COVID 19 pandemic, Mr Masashi Muromachi, the Toshiba Chairman Foundation has aptly summarized that, “This worldwide agenda involves us all, and Japan must now revisit its core values and what it can share with the world, and rethink the role it has to play in global society”. Partaking this sentiment in our attempt to also contribute to the global society, we propose to share the Japanese core values by combining them with what Malaysia similarly has in our cultural repertoire. Furthermore, realizing that the Japanese upholds its art and culture in various aspects of their lives, the College of Creative Arts, UiTM Kedah Branch aspires to synergize the elements of Japanese art, especially anime, in the comic productions by our local diploma students. Japanese anime is chosen since for many years, this particular genre has been highly popular amongst teenagers and young adults in Malaysia.
To ensure that this project is well managed from the beginning until the end, a total budget amounting to RM46,123 has been drawn. This fund which covers four main aspects of the project which are wages and development cost, honorarium, travel expenses & meal allowance as well as exhibition cost will all be utilized to guide, coach and monitor the students until the completion of their comics.
By producing these comics which contain the meaningful shared-values between the two worlds, the concerted effort is expected to reach a wider audience at the local and international levels via several planned outcomes. The first main outcome involves organizing an exhibition through a collaboration with Penang Japanese Association during their yearly planned event, Penang Bon Odori Festival. The output also will be showcased at the exhibition booth at any Penang Japanese Society event. However, understanding the challenges of planning a physical event during this pandemic era, our team is also well prepared to hold a virtual exhibition as a contingency plan. The second main outcome of this project is publishing these comics with a top local comic publisher, Gempaq Starz. Other outcomes include presenting a paper on this project at a conference, publishing a paper on this project in an academic journal and getting intellectual property copyright for the comics produced. In order to ensure the success of this project, four other team members, Prof. Madya. Dr Rizaimy (Business and Management Department), Mrs Syazliyati Ibrahim (Academy of Language Studies) Dr. Shafilla Subri and Mr. Abdullah Kula (Graphic and Digital Media), who possess the relevant expertise and experience have been carefully chosen to ensure all the planning and later, execution of the project will be successful.
