This work by four students at Chonnam Girls' General High School in Gwangju on July 31 earned the top prize at the 31st Manga Koshian (National High School Manga Championship) in Japan. (Manga Kingdom Tosa's official homepage)

By Kim Eun-young

Chonnam Girls' General High School in Gwangju has won the top prize at Japan's biggest high school comic competition.

Third-year students Song Eui-yeon and Kim Seo-young and second-year classmates Kim Hye-ryeong and Lee Chae-eun on July 31 won the 31st annual National High School Manga (Comics) Championship in Gochi Prefecture, Japan.

Thus Chonnam is the second Korean winner of the competition, better known as Manga Koshien, with Jeonnam Arts High School in 2017 being the first.

A combined 179 schools participated in this year's competition. Twenty of them -- 17 Japanese, two Singaporean and one Korean -- advanced to the finals on July 31.

The theme of the finals was "Friendly World." Each team of three to five members had 5 1/2 hours to draw an entry on a B2-size paper.

The four Chonnam students drew a comic of high school girls lost at a Japanese train station who ask a tattooed man for help. The girls yell in fear "Japanese yakuza!" when he approaches, but his tattoo is a map of the station that guides them on their way.

"People should look on the inside instead of just one's appearance," the students said. "We used a tattoo that looked far from gentle to create a fun twist."

"If given the chance, we wish to visit Japan (again) and befriend all the students who participated in the competition."

Launched in 1992, the Manga Koshien is a showcase for new comic artists. Canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and held online last year, the event this year was the first to be held onsite in three years. 

eykim86@korea.kr