About

Statement

Modern society is tough to live in.

Bullying, suicide, exploitative workplaces, declining birthrates, high cost of living, and even the possibility of war…

The list of problems is endless, but the constant anxiety towards society remains vague. In response to this, I express my thoughts through  from the perspective of cockroaches as an art form.

I chose cockroaches because, despite being the most hated creatures in the world, they have survived for about 300 million years and overcome numerous difficulties with their remarkable survival skills. The dialogue of these creatures struggling desperately at the lowest level of life is comical but has an odd persuasiveness. This is the method I use to express social satire through a one-panel manga.

In Japan, there is a culture of making various things “kawaii(cute)” This reflects our ability to accept things that initially appear negative and reinterpret them from a positive perspective. It serves as a humorous form of escape, but at the same time, it’s also a way for us to face and deal with reality.

I created my own original character called “Cockipuri,” which is derived from the idea that the disgust towards cockroaches comes from their name having many dakuten (voiced marks), so I thought making the name with handakuten (semi-voiced marks) would make it cute. I draw these characters to mock the anxieties and problems I have felt myself living in modern society, while projecting the thought of finding happiness and thinking positively in daily life onto the Cockipuri. The base of my work is the idea that, despite any difficult situation, since we were born into this world, we must live.Both humans and cockroaches struggle desperately to survive in this tough world, and in this sense, we are not that different.

Through Cockipuri, I want to convey the message that the world is not as bad as it seems.

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