The international success of the manga industry has raised some very important questions regarding the content that is being portrayed in the anime and manga series. However, the most important question is whether the Western influence on the manga community is affecting its core essence or not.

Vinland Saga | Mappa Studios

This question was answered by Akira Kanai, the current Editor-in-Chief of Kodansha’s Weekly Afternoon manga magazine. Kanai has worked on many important projects, like Ajin: Demi-Human, Fragile, Vinland Saga, etc. He is a big name in the industry, and his extraordinary work as an editor speaks for itself.

According to Kanai, he does not let Western influence take away anime and manga’s core essence, as he is not easily influenced by the particular scenarios of Western countries and rather focuses on what feels intriguing on a global level. Thus keeping the roots the same with different...