Ministries to fund three comic series about sports

• By Esme Yeh / Staff writer, with CNA

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The Ministry of Culture said it is working with the Ministry of Sports to fund three comic series on judo, badminton and gymnastics, with professional athletes and coaches as advisers.

Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) and Minister of Sports Lee Yang (李洋) on Monday jointly unveiled the three selected comic series proposals.

The sports ministry had called for submissions from Jan. 28 to April 30 and had the submissions reviewed by experts.

Minister of Culture Li Yuan, left, and Minister of Sports Lee Yang gesture during a joint news conference in Taipei on Monday.

Photo: CNA

The three selected Taiwanese sports mangas were Sunlit Publishing’s (天光出版) Unhesitating (不惑羽球), Dyna Books Co’s (原動力文化) Top of the Sky (空中之巔), and Gamania Digital Entertainment Co’s (橘子集團) Kumi Kata (抓襟).

The two ministries would each offer NT$5 million (US$152,625) to jointly support development of three mangas under the Double Million Sports Comic Contest program, aiming to present the results at the inaugural Taiwan International Comics Festival next year.

Mixed badminton team players Nicole Gonzales Chan (詹又蓁) and Ye Hong-wei (葉宏蔚), who won bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan this year, would be advisers of Unhesitating, a badminton manga featuring graphic art by Mukeke (木可柯) and a story by Penguin Noodle (鵝肉麵).

Ye said he expected Unhesitating to depict the inner world of a badminton player during their training.

That would help younger athletes and other readers learn to deal with challenges in similar situations, he said.

Penguin Noodle said he began to learn badminton as an adult and hoped the comic series would convince readers that sports can bring pure happiness to people of all ages.

The protagonists in Kumi Kata would be inspired by Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯) — who won gold at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games in China — and his elder brother and sparring partner, Yang Chun-ting (楊俊霆).

Yang Chun-ting had been a judoka before and has become his younger brother’s role model, said Manga artist Chang Zi-xu (張子詡, commonly known as Zixu), creator of Kumi Kata.

His identity change from an athlete to a sparring partner was a struggle and a touching story worth representation, Chang said.

He said he also aims to portray the hardships athletes must undergo during training, including “cauliflower ear” — a common injury among judokas.

He said he had seen dark bloodstains on cloth used in judo grip training when he collected creative materials.

Manga artist Lonlon, creator of Top of the Sky, said she would demonstrate the training process of rhythmic gymnastics and artistic gymnastics in the comic series.

She said she expected her work to represent the strength and grace of gymnastics.

Gymnastics coach Lin Hsiang-wei (林祥威), adviser of Top of the Sky, said that when he was a child, he was enthusiastic about reading the Japanese gymnastics manga Ganba! Fly High.

Ganba! Fly High portrayed competitive training of athletes, as well as funny anecdotes such as pants falling down or farting during training, he said, adding that he expected Top of the Sky to help people understand how inspiring judo can be.

Lee said athletes such as Ye and himself could be forgotten, but their legacy could be passed down generations through cultural activities.

Li said he expected the three mangas to be published internationally at the same time as their festival launch.