Kazuo Maekawa
Head Instructor & Curriculum Supervisor
- Professional Manga Artist (30+ years)
- Creator of the Ace Attorney manga series
- Manga storytelling and professional manga techniques
- Career guidance for aspiring manga artists
“Our dream is to help create the next generation of manga artists from all around the world.”
Junichi Okuhara
Specialties
- Expressive black-and-white illustrations
- Facial expressions and emotional storytelling
- American comic-style techniques
- Portrait drawing
- Quick sketching of manga and anime characters
Message
I’ve loved drawing for over 38 years! I truly believe that art isn’t a special talent that only a few people are born with—it’s something that already exists inside everyone. I’d love to help you discover your own creativity and make manga your lifelong friend!
Kurihara Yuriko
Specialties
- Expressive black-and-white illustrations
- Facial expressions and emotional storytelling
- American comic-style techniques
- Portrait drawing
- Quick sketching of manga and anime characters
Message
I’ve loved drawing for over 38 years! I truly believe that art isn’t a special talent that only a few people are born with—it’s something that already exists inside everyone. I’d love to help you discover your own creativity and make manga your lifelong friend!
Chie
Specialties
- Cute and stylized illustrations
- Anime-style coloring
- Watercolor illustrations
- Shojo manga
- 4-panel manga
- Promotional manga for companies
- Traditional and digital drawing techniques
Message
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist, I want to help you enjoy drawing while improving your skills. I’ve faced many creative challenges myself, so I’m always happy to support students on their manga journey. Let’s create amazing artwork together!
Ayako Hatori
Specialties
- Slice-of-life manga
- Emotional storytelling
- Character acting and facial expressions
- Page composition and visual direction
- Female characters and relationships
Message
Every experience in life can become inspiration for manga. I hope we can discover those moments together and enjoy learning from one another. I look forward to meeting you in class!
Noboru Matsuyama
Specialties
- Gag manga
- 4-panel manga
- Game manga adaptations
- Chibi character design
- Digital manga techniques
Message
I’ve been working professionally as a manga artist for more than 35 years and have taught manga in vocational schools and workshops both in Japan and overseas. Beginners are always welcome! Let’s have fun creating manga and illustrations together.
Why Learn from a Team?
At MANGA DOJO Online, we don’t believe there’s only one way to create manga.
Every professional manga artist has their own style, techniques, and creative process. By learning from multiple instructors, you’ll gain a broader understanding of how manga is created in Japan and discover the techniques that best suit your own artistic style.
Our mission is simple:
To create manga artists from all around the world.
Learn Manga from Japan, Wherever You Are.
MANGA DOJO is jointly operated by two companies: Symbi LLC and ALOHA MANGA LLC.
Moeka Akiyoshi
Co-owner / Organizer
CEO of Symbi LLC
Prof. Maekawa
Co-owner / Lead Manga Instoructor
CEO of ALOHA MANGA LLC
Lead Instructor Kazuo’s Career
Won Kodansha Chiba Tetsuya Award in 1996.
Made his debut as a manga artist in Young Magazine of Kodansha Ltd in 1997
Since then, he has published comics from a number of publishers.
His representative works are “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” and “Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth“.
These have been translated and sold all over the world.
In 2011, Conducted a workshop in the event “Polymanga“, the largest manga event in Switzerland.
He was so impressed by the children who enjoyed drawing manga that he decided to teach manga techniques to children in Japan.
He then became an instructor at a manga school in Japan.
In 2012, became a manga instructor at the Japan Manga Art Institute
In 2018, moved to Hawaii to teach local children about Japanese culture and manga techniques.
Worked with Hawaii high school students and the Japan-America Society to create a project to produce a history manga of Hawaii’s greats.
The first project is a manga about a ukulele player. The first project is a history of ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro.
In 2021, Created a Facebook group to teach cartooning skills to children around the world.
More than 3,000 aspiring manga artists from over 100 countries joined the group.
In 2023,
Conduted one week workshop at the University of Illinois, Illinois, USA
Also, appeared on a talk show at C2E2 in Chicago.
Supported an American woman to draw manga at ALOHA MANGA PROJECT, which won her an award from a Japanese publisher.
Currently, he is working to make manga a career option for the world.
Kazuo’s manga work
