Hello, Konnichiwa, I’m Akane. I'm joining su-re.co as an do-business team intern from Tokyo, Japan. Surprisingly, I have never met any gift makers except for Erina who is also working from Tokyo. I would like to see everyone in Bali in the near future.
What did you do while you were not freely going outside because of covid-19? As for me, I was totally addicted to reading comics and watching anime! I assumed that reading comics and watching anime was a waste of time since before, and my parents did not like to see me spending time on them instead of studying. However, now, I think reading manga and watching anime is a kind of a good education style. During the summer break of my university, I joined the business competition of manga companies. So, for the topic of today, I’ll see some lessons we can learn from manga and manga business.
By the way, have you ever heard of "Kimetsu no Yaiba (Damon Slaver)"? “Kimetsu no Yaiba” is a great hit in Japan now, and over 20,000,000 people have watched the movie in the movie theater. This attendance figure is already the second highest number in Japan following “Spirited Away” directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Why are so many people addicted to “Kimetsu no Yaiba”? One big reason can be streaming service. Many people in Japan subscribe to streaming services, therefore they could watch the anime version of “Kimetsu no Yaiba” while staying at home for covid-19. However, I think the story itself is very attractive and touching for many Japanese people and leads to the greatest hit. Many friends around me said that they were very touched to see how Tanjiro, who is a main character, overcomes some injustices and difficulties facing him with his efforts and strength of will.
My most favorite comic is Kingdom, which draws from the war period of Chinese history. I could learn many types of leadership from each shogun (warrior) and Qin Shi Huang.
In addition, many Studio Ghibli anime are dealing with environmental problems, social issues and crucial wars. For example, you can learn about regeneration and coexistence of human and nature from “Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the valley of the wind)”, and “Hotaru no Haka (Grave of the Firefly)” will show how wars are cruel. So, if you want to learn about those topics, Ghibli films are worth watching. As we can observe so far, manga and anime will teach us lots of valuable lessons and truths which your teachers and parents will not tell you. I think every greatest comic and anime even has the power to change your behavior and thoughts because it could be possible that the main characters of your favorite works will be your role models in your life.
Recently, digital manga application services have been so popular in Japan. Most of the participants for the competition including my group suggested digital services. Not only in manga and publishing business, e-business is a today's trend. We, su-re.co, have hold many webinars and online salon. Dr. Takama shared with us a very important lesson when we discussed new business, which is we have to think and do one or two steps further than the trend. I totally agree with his idea because there are many competitors in e-business, and today's trend will no longer be tomorrow's trend.
Returning to the story of manga itself, do you often share its story and how you felt about it with your friends and parents after enjoying them? I am always sharing my thoughts and where I like about it with friends and my sister. The good comics and anime will naturally make you want to share them with someone. Similarly, su-re.coffee and su-re.cocoa has a wonderful story of coffee farmers, cacao farmers, su-re.co staff, roasters, and you. If you grab and taste su-re.coffee and su-re.cocoa, you must want to share it to your friends and your family. Click here to see our products.
Our CEO Dr. Takama also loves comics and anime. In the near future, su-re.co might hold an online event about the concept of regeneration in Nausicaa (I’m sure to make this happen). So, stay tuned for new updates from su-re.co.