Hi, Shoji here. I wanted to mention that Natsuya Uesugi is working on graphic noiz manga 3 and has finished lineart for chapter 1. Right now he is exploring the role of being mixed race with understanding Noiz’ feelings about being half Japanese and half Native American and Black.
Pages for chapter 2 look at Noiz’ feeling about being called out as not Japanese enough or not Native American enough. The chapter will explore Noiz emotions as we get farther along and look at how others influence his self esteem.
Noiz starts to doubt himself after going to a manga artist’s meeting and meeting resistance in an industry that is dominated by Japanese mangaka. Noiz starts to have second thoughts and it affects his creativity.
Most mixed race people feel as if they are not accepted by their dual culture or have a struggle finding where they belong. Noiz has tanned skin which makes him darker than a normal Japanese person and his curly hair also gives away that he is mixed race. He embraces his curly hair and we see him rejecting it when Jade Ijima straightens it for him making him look more Japanese.
Natsuya wanted specifically to reach out to Hafu teens and others of mixed race and show Noiz’ struggles and how he overcomes being “other” and not knowing as much about what makes him unique.
I hope that you will stick around and watch for progress on graphic noiz as Natusya works on the volume.