If you’ve made your rounds of the anime fandom over the years, you’ve no doubt come across a trend called “-tans”, where inanimate objects or companies are rendered as cute little anime-styled characters. The designs are based off the characteristics of the subject from physical appearance down to their ‘personality’. Some of the most popular examples of these are for game consoles such as ‘Wii-tan’, ‘PS3-tan’, etc. with a variety of different takes on the idea easily found around the web (with not all appropriate for all ages so warning!).
Why the brief pop culture lesson? Well I was thinking… what would manga publisher -tans look like? If you were to think of Tokyopop, Viz, Yen Press, etc. as little people, what would they look like? A business man? An excited fan decked out in merchandise? A classy connoisseur? A colourful combination?
I’m looking for your ideas, inspirations and fun brainstorming sessions – I’ll then be taking the most referenced qualities from readers and doing my best to give them some artistic life! Just a little fun during these snowy winter weeks. Or maybe you’ve seen or drawn your own? Feel free to share as well!
So how do you see a manga publisher getting a -tan?
Follow
If you were to think of Tokyopop, Viz, Yen Press, etc. as little people, what would they look like?
Vertical – A businessman in a suit holding a wine glass and with a cat sitting on his shoulder/head.
Tokyopop – Princess Ai-tan (or more disturbingly, a Stu Levy-tan).
Seven Seas – A young male otaku.
CMX – A middle-aged man dressed up as a superhero.
Dark Horse – A long-haired heavy metal fan wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. (No, I can't really explain this one.)
DMP – A fujoshi with a backpack or something else that refers to their Japan tours.
Great design ideas! I especially like the Dark Horse one. It just sort of… works? I can see why you can't explain it. DMP sounds adorable to, they'll be colourful for sure!
Viz would be a manga editor, cheerily pelting hyperactive, chibi, cosplaying Naruto, Vampire Knight and One Piece fans :) [representing SJ and SB respecitvely]
Shonen Sunday would would be a cute little manga saleslady, with a giant box o'awesome manga on her back, vending them like a street corner newspaper kid in the movies ^_^
SigIkki would be a super awesome cyborg lady with her nose perpetually stuck in sigikki titles.
CPM Manga would be a chibi MD GEIST…as reinterpreted by Tomoko Taniguchi.
Dr.Master would be a chinese chef :) But less insane then their longest running manga's star.
Tokyopop- how about StuLevy cosplaying as Princess Ai? [though really, thanks for all the great manga Stu. We kid!]
NetComics- korean-themed formal dress lady, with a laptop reading manga :)
Yen Press- a "moe" style librarian with a stack of James Patterson novels
I should draw some of these sometime…
[…] Pattillo is asking her readers to suggest chibis (-tans) to represent the different manga […]
>Seven Seas – A young male otaku.
…in a pirate costume.