KADOKAWA Contest Winner's Manga Debuts in Japan

Two Indian creators behind the pen name masterlynx have reached Japan’s manga industry with their manga Kung Fu Kung Fool. Their series began serialization on KADOKAWA's manga portal Kadocomi on May 15, 2026.

masterlynx comprises Jivan, 22, and Yash, 18, who grew up in Amravati, a city in central India. Their manga, Kung Fu Kung Fool, emerged from KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA ATELIER (KWMA), the publisher’s initiative to discover, mentor, and publish creators outside Japan.

Previously, in 2025, the pair won the Silver prize at KADOKAWA WORLD MANGA CONTEST’s wordless manga category for their one-shot Heartsteel. This debut edition of the contest received a total of 1,126 entries from 104 countries and regions, reflecting the growth in manga creation, along with its reading across international markets.

masterlynx Kung Fu Kung Fool: What we Know About This Indian Manga

Kung Fu Kung Fool’s roots lie in the creators' admiration for Japanese manga. Both Jivan and Yash talked about them liking Dragon Ball as children, which helped them gain a passion for manga.

masterlynx’s manga follows Goemon and a young boy named Bao. Goemon is a notorious thief with an alter ego as a kung-fu specialist. Kadokawa noted that the series blends Japanese folklore, including that of the legendary outlaw Goemon, with broader Asian martial-arts influences. 

Goemon can be described as a Japanese version of Robin Hood. He led a bandit group in 16th-century Japan and was brutally killed following his failed assassination attempt on warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Language Barriers Became the Biggest Creative Challenge for Kung Fu Kung Fool

The creators said the toughest aspect was mastering Japanese onomatopoeia for creating Kung Fu Kung Fool. Onomatopoeia is used to bring life into written words with stylized texts, which remains a defining feature of manga’s storytelling. 

Rather than translating the work directly, KADOKAWA’s World Manga Editorial Team worked with the duo to rewrite English sound effects and dialogue into natural Japanese while preserving the creators’ intent. The publisher praised the creators for their respect for manga and emphasized that masterlynx has “the potential to win fans around the world, not only in India and Japan.” 

Jivan also highlighted that India lacks the ecosystem to learn manga creation. The duo said in an interview that they learnt to draw manga by tracing anime characters. Jivan noted sampling legendary manga creator Naoki Urasawa’s videos among other creators to further his understanding of the medium.

Nonetheless, Kung Fu Kung Fool demonstrates how India’s manga market is gradually shifting from solely consuming to also creating manga. It also highlights the Japanese manga publisher’s role in finding emerging talents from around the globe. “We are really happy — it feels like our dream come true,” the brothers said of their debut in a statement.