The Shueisha World Maker app, which allows users to easily create manga and storyboards without requiring drawing skills just opened the “Netflix x World Maker Anime Contest” in collaboration with Netflix. The app allows users to select preset character poses, speech bubbles, and built-in backgrounds to create visual stories. In addition to the recent video storyboard feature addition, which lets users create animated storyboards, a contest to crown the best was announced. The winner will receive 500,000 yen (~$3295) with the possibility of their video storyboard being turned into an anime by Netflix or serialized by Shueisha. The app is currently available only in Japan.
The Shueisha World Maker x Netflix Anime contest is open to anyone within Japan. Entering the competition only requires submitting the manga to the platform. Already-published works and works that are derivative of existing ones do not count. The judges of the competition are Netflix’s anime division and the Shueisha World Maker Project team. The submission period ends on January 8, 2024, and results will be announced in March 2024. The terms and conditions state that in the event Netflix or Shonen Jump+ picks up the work, Netflix has priority on the anime adaptation and merchandising rights while Shueisha has priority on turning it into a manga and secondary usage rights. The storyboard should be a maximum of 10 minutes long. The full terms and conditions are available here.
Shueisha World Maker doesn’t require the user to have any drawing ability, but rather the ability to visualize and create engaging stories. Users can upload their manga and build followers. Contests like getting their manga posted picked up on Jump+, or a live-action adaptation produced by TOHO, also occur regularly. As shown below with the “create a manga” feature, everything including the speech and paneling was selected from preset options.
Netflix and Shueisha had previously collaborated on the Million Tag web series, a contest that would discover “the next star manga creator.” On August 20, 2021, Naoki Fujita’s Beat and Motion won the contest, receiving 5mn yen (~$42k at the time). Beat and Motion would also be guaranteed at least one volume, serialized on Shonen Jump’s online Jump+ platform alongside titles like One Piece, Oshi no Ko, Jujutsu Kaisen, and more. Beat and Motion has since been collected into 2 volumes since it began serialization in February 2023. International fans can read Beat and Motion on MANGA Plus. An original net animation by Netflix (ONA) has also been announced.
World Maker first went live on July 12, 2023, and joins recent initiatives like MANGA Plus Creators in procuring popular titles of the future. While these largely are for rookie writers, fans can also expect more new Shonen Jump titles to come from already established writers, per a recent initiative from Shueisha.
Source: Shueisha World Maker
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