“I can tell you that the YouTube decision impacted my career, and where I am today. I needed all that encouragement and excitement from my fans to continue this journey.”

Sophie ChanEnormously popular in Japan for more than century, manga today is a global publishing phenomenon, with millions of fans in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. While the audience for comic books in the United States lies primarily with boys and men, manga titles called “shojo manga” (after the Japanese for young woman) have long enjoyed a significant audience among girls and women. Women artists, too, have figured prominently, writing and drawing stories of adventure, romance and fantasy

For 2018, Los Angeles-based manga publisher TOKYOPOP has thrown a spotlight on the international women of manga. In April, TOKYOPOP releases the second volume of Ocean of Secrets from the artist known known as Sophie-chan, who was born in 1990 in Iraq and now lives outside Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Ocean of Secrets recounts the adventures of Lia, a teenaged orphan who becomes lost at sea and is rescued by runaways on a magical ship. The tale continues on a mysterious floating kingdom riven by intrigue and sorcery.

“I have a very strong connection with Lia because she was the very first character I made seven years ago. Lia has been with me since I started off with this book,” Sophie-chan said. “Lia is the type of girl who would sacrifice her life for the people she loves and stand in the way of danger to protect her people.”

Ocean of Secrets by Sophie ChanMoving from country to country across the Middle East and in Africa as she grew up, Sophie-chan eventually emigrated to Canada in 2014. The artist’s own childhood and adolescence, both peripatetic and perilous, emerges in her work, though autobiography is not a dominant motif.

“I’ve been introduced to so many cultures and people, and different environments,” she explained. “I’m really in love with fantasy. It’s always about a story about a kingdom in a far-away land – in a fairy tale – that I love to tell. I love the style and emotions that you can portray through manga. It extends to many categories, just like movies.”

Before the first Ocean of Secrets volume appeared in May 2017, Sophie-chan had already gained a global following after posting drawing instructional videos on her YouTube channel, eventually attracting over 33 million video views and more than 400,000 subscribers.

“I can tell you that the YouTube decision impacted my career, and where I am today,” Sophie-chan declared. “If it wasn’t for that enormous support maybe I wouldn’t have believed in myself that much. I needed all that encouragement and excitement from my fans to continue this journey.”

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