GIRL power is something that local manga and anime distributors cannot afford to ignore, if they want to grow.

Chuang Yi Publishing, the local publisher of mangas, revealed that 30 per cent of manga readers in Singapore are female. Recently, interest in mangas has been sparked by popular Taiwanese dramas. Drama adapted from mangas such as "Meteor Garden" were a hit with girls, resulting in a slew of dramas based on Japanese manga - in turn creating demand for the books.

Local anime distributor Odex revealed that the number of female anime viewers has also increased, doubling over the last two years to make up 35 per cent of local viewers. However, while anime is enjoying a boom, manga seems to be declining.

Long-time manga fan Lim Tsyr Jong, 27, attributes manga's decline to the fact that youngsters nowadays have more "distractions" and would rather spend time and money and the Internet and video games.

He also observed that the age distribution of manga readers in Singapore was a bell curve - most were in their twenties and thirties, with less readers in younger and older age groups.

Both Lim Tsyr Jong and his wife are manga fans.

He has a collection of about 1,800 manga housed in a specially constructed display case which cost more than $4,000.

Chuang Yi Publishing attributes manga's decline to the falling standard of Chinese among youngsters here. Most mangas published in Singapore are translated into Chinese, and youngsters struggling with the language are unlikely to pick them up.

The inaugural Anime Festival Asia (AFA08) will be held at Suntec on Nov 22 and 23 this year. There will be six experience zones including Akiba Town, Anime Live, Anime Blockbusters, Industry, Mangakan and Planet Mech, featuring merchandise and collectibles from Japan, live acts, Cosplay competitions and anime screenings.

The organisers will also be holding talks by anime directors, producers and manga authors. The festival is a pre-event introduction for the Japan Creative Centre that is scheduled to open in Singapore next year.

This first appeared in Chinese in mypaper on Sep 11, 2008.

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