At Manga Productions, the Saudis tap a new generation for talent | The DeanBeat

29.09.2023 - 18:17 / venturebeat.com / New

In Saudi Arabia, more than 70% of the population is under the age of 35. And these days they are growing up reading manga (comics), watching anime films and TV shows, and playing video games. It’s the perfect workforce for Manga Productions, a Riyadh company that is in all of those businesses.

Saudi kids are very engaged with this kind of content, which is largely created in Japan and other parts of Asia. And because they have grown up with this content, they have a fighting chance to create it on the world stage. Much of the content could be consumed in Saudi Arabia, but the biggest dreamers in the country want to export Saudi manga, anime and games to the rest of the world.

Certainly, they have a chance. While the Saudi Arabian market is small by global standards, it is a wealthy one, and the Saudis have a lot of money to invest in companies like Manga that are creating a home-grown talent base. By contrast, it’s clear many Western companies don’t have enough cash, as they’re laying off people by the hundreds.

I visited Saudi Arabia last month and got to meet the leaders at places such as Manga Productions and talk to young people who are pursuing their passion for art. I attended a rare graduation ceremony that Manga Productions and the government threw for a class of 50 art interns. They were the cream of the crop of more than 500 applicants who applied for the internships. They trained for a month and worked under Japanese teachers from companies such as Toei Animation.

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While much attention has focused on Savvy Gaming Group, a division of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that is investing billions in video games, Manga is a lower-profile company that is also very busy making comics, anime films and video games including original content for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The company is opting for organic growth — creating jobs the hard way.

Manga Productions has been around for six years, and it launched the anime film The Journey, which focuses on ancient Arabic lore. It is making an anime series dubbed Grendizer U, named after a 40-year-old Japanese series Grendizer, for which Manga acquired the rights. It’s also making a Grendizer game.

Manga also signed a publishing deal with Microids to distribute the Smurfs Kart video game based on the Smurfs franchise in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The game debuted in the region on August 22. The company is also working on Flashback 2 under another deal with Microids. It will publish, distribute and localize the game in the