Taiwan Archives | Otaku No Culture

With Muta Yuki’s Manga, First Time In Taiwan, You’ll Get A Food Tour Without Ever Leaving Your Chair

Explore Taiwan’s night markets and foodie delights without leaving your chair in Muta Yuki’s charming one-shot manga adventure. First Time In Taiwan: A Delicious Adventure looks mouth-watering.

FIRST TIME IN TAIWAN- A DELICIOUS ADVENTURE If you’ve ever daydreamed about wandering Taiwan’s night markets, breathing in the sizzling aroma of stinky tofu, or biting into a pillow-soft bao filled with pork belly and pickled veg… then we have a treat for you. Manga Mavericks LLC is bringing First Time In Taiwan: A Delicious Adventure to North America this October 22nd digitally, with print copies following December 16th.

This 44-page one-shot by Muta Yuki isn’t just a manga—it’s a full-on culinary tour, told through a cast of cute, mischievous animal avatars. Picture a pair of mice hopping from bubble tea shops to dumpling stalls, all while your eyes feast on gorgeous illustrations and photography. No travel restrictions, no airfare, no calories to count—just pure food bliss.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] Haunted Mountains The Yellow Taboo – Delving Into Taiwan’s Eerie Mountain Mysteries

When the haunting symbolism in Haunted Mountains The Yellow Taboo overshadows the narrative challenges, just what should we appreciate from this folk horror cinema?

Although the movie Haunted Mountains The Yellow Taboo, written by Wan-Zhen Zou and directed by Chia-Ying Tsai, doesn’t specify the exact mountain range at first, its haunting visuals and symbolic storytelling quickly hint at the setting. A quick Google search reveals where the legend of the Yellow Raincoat Ghost first manifested, and that place is in Taiwan’s Yushan (Jade Mountain) National Park—a place I’d definitely want to explore… just not during the wrong season.

While the vibrant autumn palette in the cinematography is visually stunning, it carries ominous undertones. The colour yellow, in this context, isn’t just seasonal—it’s a warning. Despite the horror visuals, this film leans more toward psychological thriller, particularly when tensions rise as Chen Jia-ming (Jasper Liu) tries to escape a mysterious time loop.

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Crowdfunding New Talents through Clover Press. Artists in Taiwan and Korea on Kickstarter!

The ‘Artists in’ series was produced to bring work by artists from different regions to a larger global audience.

Pixiv, Media Do International, Inc. and Clover Press are partnering together to bring two stunning artbooks, Artists in Taiwan and Artists in Korea, to Kickstarter. These deluxe books showcase over 150 amazing artists—representing just a small fraction of the talented artists actively engaged on pixiv. The Kickstarter page for ARTISTS IN TAIWAN and ARTISTS IN KOREA is live and looking for your support.

Artists in Taiwan features 83 incredible artists in Taiwan, with a cover by VOFAN, an illustrator with an impressive mastery of the use of intense light and shadow. Artists in Korea features 78 fantastic artists in Korea, with a cover by Tiv, an illustrator well known for poetic and transparent expression and capturing emotional moments, especially of women. Between both volumes, the books collect the amazing work of Say HANa, I READING, LOIZA, B.c.N.y., modare, Anmi, zipcy, Gearous, DSmile, Canking, and many more.

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The Zen of “Demigod The Legend Begins” at Fantasia 2022

Demigod, The Legend Begins may well be a prequel to Legend of the Sacred Stone, because Su Huan-jen is part of the cast.

Played at Fantasia 2022 July 23, 2022

Demigod The Legend Begins, is a visual treat. Not only do we get to watch Taiwanese glove puppet theatre on the big screen, but also the story is epic! Through the magic of editing, these characters come alive.

However, I must wonder if Bunraku is the appropriate term to use to describe this style of puppetry. The motions of these medium-sized dolls are achieved via hiding the puppeteers with simple tricks of the camera. Instead of watching a stage show, we are watching it though the eyes of the cinemtographer–where we have medium shots and closeups of the characters instead of wide shots to show these action figures in motion. In truth, this technique is the centuries-old tradition of budaixi—Chinese opera using glove puppetry. This movie updates the music with modern day electric guitars, and I’m fairly sure one song is taking cues from Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

When a robe needs to look like it’s rustling, good ol’ fashioned fans are used. When the background needs to come alive, we have CGI replacing those green screen moments. Also, we have some well placed smoke effects and cups of blood to splash around when needed! The presentation is as good as those classic wuxia Hong Kong films from the 80s. But I can’t help but chuckle when they move off camera like a Muppet. That’s okay; Demigod The Legend Begins is not meant to be as perfect as other films using marionation.

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