Interest

Italian Artist's Award-Winning Manga Debuts on Shonen Jump+

Congratulations to Elena Vitagliano for being the first Italian artist to be published on Shonen Jump+. Vitagliano's Miriam of the Skulls manga launched on the website and app on Monday.

The manga's story is set in an ossuary in Naples, the city where the artist hails from. The eponymous protagonist Miriam is devoted to skulls and wants to protect them at every cost.

The manga won the MAGIC (Monaco Anime Game International Conferences) Competition, an annual contest sponsored by Shibuya Productions and Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ editorial department since 2017. Shonen Jump+ editor Hiroyuki Nakano commented: "The character art is lovely. The angles and camera work are solid, showcasing the character art to the readers first and foremost. Also, the characters do not merely stand upright; their poses change according their characteristics, which I also thought was good."

Aspiring manga artists eager to follow in Vitagliano's footsteps may want to note that submissions for the 2024 MAGIC Competition will open on June 15.

Vitagliano works as a manga artist and portrait artist in London. Her work has been published in Japan, the UK, Italy, and Indonesia. She previously won the Grand Prix in the SIlent Manga Audition in 2018. Regarding her publication in Shonen Jump+, she commented: "To a foreigner, well at least to me, getting published in a famous manga magazine in Japan is the ultimate dream come true. It is a great honor to me. But this is only the first step. I want to improve so I can make a better story that can touch the hearts of readers and provide thrills and entertainment."

Speaking of Europeans working in manga, Spanish artist Juan Albarran has been drawing Matagi Gunner for Kodansha's Morning magazine since April 2022 while living in Barcelona.

In other Shonen Jump+ debut news, 2146's Bookhead manga also launched on the platform Monday. The story follows a man whose head suddenly turns into a book one day.

Sources: Comic Natalie, Press Release