Aurora Garcia and Diana Fernandez might not be household names now, but the Spanish manga-creating duo better known as Studio Kôsen, have already created a following within certain circles. Best known for such yaoi works as Reflections, Stallion and Saihoshi, all published by Yaoi Press, Kôsen is about to remind longtime fans that it is more than capable of working within other genres to create manga works that can appeal to a much broader readership. Kôsen’s newest series, Daemonium, a planned two-volume shonen-style horror story, will be published by Tokyopop this summer. It has many of the aesthetic elements that longtime fans will recognize, but will contain a dark linear narrative filled with nightmarish encounters. PW Comics Week was able to accompany the duo as they met with Japanese editors in Tokyo earlier this month and got to interview the young artists as they shared their experiences on manga and Spanish otaku culture.
PW Comics Week: Tell me a bit about the Spanish manga community at the time when you two started penning stories together?
Aurora Garcia: The manga industry has seen its booms recently and it is definitely quite popular right now. That has been a very recent trend, though. The industry has been around for many years, but it wasn't until the last 10 years that it really got much attention.
PWCW: How did you two get a hold of boys’ love in Spain? What is the BL/yaoi scene like over there? [BL/Yaoi manga are stories about boys in love with boys and are generally created by women.]
AG: Well, BL is very popular in Spain. We've enjoyed it for many years, even before it was available for sale over there. We would read it in Japanese magazines our friends would loan us. It was pretty underground in the early days, almost like the black market. Then there were photocopies and recordings on poorly captured VHS tapes that were passed around.
Diana Fernandez: There wasn't even an Internet community for yaoi in Spain at the time. We just needed yaoi that much in our lives—so much so, that now that it is regularly available, we have moved on to other things.
PWCW: How did your Tokyopop project, Daemonium, come about?
AG: We started Daemonium years ago for a Spanish magazine. Unfortunately, there were problems with the magazine so [the series] never was completed. We always wanted to continue the series and at YaoiCon 2006, we had the opportunity to speak with Tokyopop. We showed them some titles we had in the works and among them was Daemonium. They liked what they saw, and basically that's what I have been working on since.
DF: We were initially going to split the duties. I was going to draw the main character and Aurora would draw some of the other characters, but it got too complicated. It was a system we used initially. Someone would draw character roughs and pass it on to the other person, who would add to it, but that didn't work out too well. Eventually, I ended up providing support in other ways to the story itself.
PWCW: What should readers expect from this new title?
AG: We set out to create a very dark story, essentially a horror title. But it is really difficult to express terror in a comic. There is no audio, sound effects or music to supplement the visuals. There are limits to color as well, so it was a challenging project to undertake in black and white.
DF: We played with different textures and levels of shading to help enrich the eerie aspect of the story.
AG: The main character is your average Joe who finds himself in a world that he no longer recognizes.
DF: He also has a scar on his face, so his life definitely has a few mysteries in it.
AG: He is initially accompanied by his sister in his adventures, but as the mood gets darker and the story progresses, he finds himself alongside many different personalities in his journey. Eventually, we reveal the history of his scar. And while he seems moved by the circumstances that he finds himself in, he eventually takes command of his destiny—and ends up maturing in the process.
I have always liked [shonen] stories like that. It is so easy to find yourself feeling affection and caring for personalities in those situations as they grow up. The experiences of those characters become so relevant to me. So I want to see them achieve great things, accomplish grand feats, and at the same time there will be many difficulties to overcome along the way. So I want to show the characters grow in my stories.
DF: Technically, we also made sure that the characters, whether they be guys or gals, were all attractive—to make everyone happy.
PWCW: This new series is not boys’ love, correct? Was reaching out to a new demographic much of a challenge for you?
AG: Really, we have created many different stories. So after publishing two BL titles, we wanted to pursue something else. But as a matter of fact, Tokyopop did have interest in a BL title, so there are some elements from yaoi in this series.
PWCW: How do your previous works influence your work in general now?
DF: The main thing we learned is how to work in a longer format for a graphic novel. We have done stories before here and there, but once we started working on Saihoshi and Stallion, we had to adjust to deadlines and create longer, more fleshed-out stories just because there were so many more pages that needed to be done. Characters had to be developed more, and the storytelling had to be broken down more into scenes as the story went along. Eventually, we would pick up new tricks and shortcuts to improve the pace of our work. Sometimes it would have been great to go back and redo some pages we have drawn, but in this industry sometimes you have to let things go and keep going.
PWCW: Why are you here in Japan? And what are your ambitions with manga and your work?
DF: I have had this childish dream where one of my comics can be turned into an anime and then a video game. Ever since I was 15 or so, I have had this one story I wanted to publish. It might just be for me, but someday I want to see it published. And I will do whatever it takes to make it happen, so that's why I am here.
PWCW: Any messages to readers out there?
AG: Manga isn't only limited to Japanese artists and it is not only for Japanese readers, either. They created it, they nurtured it and no one will take that history from them. They are the maestros and they will always be. But we are not a threat, nor will we ever hurt manga by drawing our books.
DF: Manga is such a special way to tell stories. Western artists have to work really hard to reach the level of the manga-ka here [in Japan]. But then again even Japanese artists are not born knowing how to create. And there isn't only one way to create, either. An artist doing cubism is a cubist wherever they are from. Only [non-Japanese] manga seems to have that stigma. Instead, manga should be about learning and sharing and enjoying the stories that are created.
