WHAT: What is the subject or area that you intend to research? What is the precise

question that you will be addressing?

What new object can be created by the fusion of fashion and anime/manga in these two fields? This object could be the creation of an artwork, a new marketing method, or some other unknown collaboration. But no matter what it is, I prefer and try to make the new object will be different from the creation which two fields tried before.

The questions I need to clearly address are to understand what is the current situation in these two fields, what the needs of the various stakeholders are, how the stakeholders relate to each other and influence each other, and in which perspectives can new changes be mentioned.

WHY: Why will this research be of value to you – and the world?

For me, these are the two areas that are currently at the forefront of my life and studies and encompass more than half of my daily life. As a student who hopes to work in a related field in the future, I hope that this project will help or even be a doorstop for me to carry out my work in the future.

For the world, the impact of the epidemic in Asia on the supply chain, the end of the retaliatory consumption phase of clothing, and the impact of regional politics on consumers have all led to limitations in the fashion industry, and there is an urgent need to find new ways to avoid the disadvantages that existed before. The anime and manga field is gaining more exposure due to the increase in the number of people reading and watching online as a result of the home policy in each region, but there are more ways to diversify the product to reach more potential consumers.

If the two areas can be successfully combined and find a way to merge that has the potential to grow, those involved in the animation and manga area will gain new content, direction, and new audiences; the fashion area will gain new exposure and attract new potential consumers; and consumers will gain new access to information, purchasing method, and shopping experience.

HOW: How will you accomplish your project in practical terms? What will be your

methodology, management strategy, and schedule?

Intervention:

The publications of the major brands such as lookbooks, archives, biographies, magazines, and some in-depth explorations of fashion reach the public, telling the story of fashion and conveying the unique insights and ideas of the brands. However, these are not direct ways of selling the brand’s products, and even in magazines brands can be in competition with others for pages.

Inspired by the format of the brand’s multiple publications, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce a branded comic book in this format. Prior to the tutorial, I had envisaged contacting students from Fashion Design, Illustration, and Graphic Design to try and explore the possibility of collaboration, with the intention of achieving a combination of fashion design and short comics through purely professional collaboration. However, after the tutorial, I did realize that there could be issues of reliability and time matching between students from different majors, which would make the project less likely to happen, and the Tutor’s suggestion of finding someone in the industry or an alumnus who had already graduated to collaborate was very useful.

I also had to consider the biannual launch of the garment and the timeliness of producing the comic. To overcome this, for the early intervention I planned to go for emerging brands as they don’t necessarily have a large number of product launches and I could control the number of items that appear in the comics and the timing of the launches.

Factors such as the plot and style of the short comic required research of the consumers in the stakeholders, not to ensure that the future work would be loved by all audiences but to ensure it was accepted. The work is based on fashion design clothing as the main element and is expressed in the form of a comic strip. The final publication will be sold directly with a QR code if it is in paper publication, or with a hyperlink if it is also in the digital platform.

I chose to use mixed methods in order to find out, through questionnaires and interviews, what existing stakeholders in each field think about their respective fields and what new ways of collaboration between the two fields might be possible. This will also be analyzed by reading the relevant literature in conjunction with the available data.

I plan to complete interviews with stakeholders in Unit 2 and contact students in the field for initial communication and hope to successfully publish a short comic in Unit 3. If more progress can be made before unit3, a new intervention can be undertaken to shift the medium of communication from real publications to digital platforms to increase viewership and enrich sales formats.

WHAT IF: What are the positive implications and potential if you achieve this mastery? How will this position you (and your stakeholders) at the end of the Course?

The project will initially focus on emerging brands, student designers, or artists, aiming to give them some exposure and in a way a form of publicity, not only to hone their skills but also hopefully to generate some income for them. As the project progresses and is eventually completed, it is hoped that it will have the opportunity to develop into a platform that goes beyond paper publications and relies on existing social media platforms to develop standalone software and work with established brands.

Stakeholders.

I will transition from being a consumer and enthusiast at first to a practitioner and promoter.

To summarise the stakeholders mentioned above, they fall into five general categories.

1. The mainstream video and comic (manga) platforms(Bilibili, AcFun, Youtube…

2. Audience(Gen Z…

3. Comic studios, independent artists, producers, and animation companies (Ghibli, GAINAX, Shirō Masamune…)

4. Fashion brands (Loewe, Yohji Yamamoto, Undercover…), Fashion groups (LVMH, Kering, Richemont…), Designers

5. Investment group (Alibaba, Tencent, The Carlyle Group, KPCB, Accel Partners…)