The well-known Kadokawa Contents Academy from Japan has chosen Taiwan as the location for establishing its first overseas educational branch. With the full support of the MOEA Industrial Upgrade and Transformation Service Team for Emerging Industries, the recently- opened educational branch is aimed at helping to cultivate anime and manga talents in Taiwan. Kadokawa International Edutainment established its subsidiary company in Taiwan, known as Kadokawa International Edutainment (Taiwan) Co., Ltd., in January of 2014.
Chen Yi-cChi, who graduated at the top of her class from the first annual Kadokawa Edutainment Card Game Illustration Class, made her debut in Japan and received rave reviews by judges. She was subsequently offered a chance to take on the task of creating the new character “Ran?S?Grune” for chapter Chapter 10 Green World of the famous Japanese “Ange Vierge” series, becoming the first illustrator from Taiwan to work on the series. Fellow student Pu (Pen name: Pua A-Pupu) was hired by the Ching Win Publishing Group to draw illustrations for Taiwan’s red-hot TV idol drama “Bromance”, before publishing “Bromance, Romance‧Son‧Promise, The the Picture Book,”, which hit the top of pre-order charts at both the online bookstores of Kingstone and Books.com.tw!
Trainees at Kadokawa International Edutainment (Taiwan) have won various anime and manga awards and accolades at famous anime and manga contests in both Taiwan and Japan. To date, major awards have included Finalist at the Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair; Finalist at Gamer ACG 2015; Gold Award and Silver Award at BOX! BOX! Lunch Box Illustration Contest; Honorable Mention at the Taipei Original Comic Awards; Finalists at the 5th Sharp Point Press Original Comic Contest; Honorable Mention at the Concerto Gate Ver. 2 First Anniversary Appreciation Festival; and Third Place at the 5th Clip Studio Paint Illustration Competition.
Kadokawa International Edutainment is partnering with the MOEA’s Industrial Upgrade and Transformation Service Team for Emerging Industries to cultivate anime and manga talents in Taiwan and give themprovide such individuals with a much-needed boost in their goal of expanding into international markets. Kadokawa International Edutainment is slated to establish an anime and manga school in April 2016 in Thailand — the organization’s second location in Asia — by drawing on its experiences in Taiwan in an effort to cultivate more outstanding international anime and manga creators. Meanwhile, Kadokawa International Edutainment will continue to lead the drive towards the international anime and manga markets for Taiwan’s anime and manga content industry.