Hello, everyone! My name is Ani, and I'm here to tell you guys a story--only if you want to listen.

I got into anime and manga when I was...quite young. It was a quiet, simple start. I was the new girl in town, and started to watch Ranma 1/2 during the summer because I was to lazy--and too scared--to go to swimming classes. It pretty much built from there.

Now, how exactly did I start writing manga? That is weirder than the first story. You see, I started writing on my own when I was seven. Until then I had worked with two of my friends, and we had done pretty well. But my first attempt was a shoujo story called 'Light and Darkness' about a girl who was bound to the spirits of Light and Darkness(pretty obvious, huh?) and had to defeat a yokai called Kurokotsu. I worked like crazy for days to finish the first volume, I was full of childish enthusiasm. Finally, it was done. My coloring was a little scratchy, the drawings were quite an amateur work and the story was a little simple, but I was proud of it.

One day, I went visiting my cousins. I took my manga with me--I wanted to finish the cover's coloring there and my little cousin had plenty of markers. The oldest of my cousins was very nice to me. He liked anime as much as I did, and watched the same series as I did. The thing is, he found me coloring on the table and asked said,"Hey you. What are you doing?"
I remember looking up proudly.
"I'm coloring my manga!"
"So you wrote a manga." He paused for a second. "May I read it?"
I blushed a bit, because I had never dared to show my work to anyone. Then I ran off.

After a while, he returned my work. "Did you like it?" I asked him cautiously.
"Hmmm...I like the resurrection concept, but I shall say that the flow of your story is kinda lacking and your drawing is awful." he said. Of course, I didn't like it. My pride was burning. I wanted to debate, hit my cousin, anything, but let's face it, what can a skinny, short, seven year old that is wearing a white sock and a purple sock do about it?
"Well," I said, "You couldn't make it better!"
"Hm? Well, if you say so...I bet I can help you to improve your writing style in three lessons."he challenged.
"Deal."

So the deal was that he'd teach me to draw a manga with three lessons. If I won, then he'd help me with my Math homework for a year. If he won, I'd have to give him two Snickers and four chewing gum pieces. I was blatantly sure that I'd win, because I knew that my cousin was a terrible artist. Or so I thought.

The first lesson was DRAWING. The first thing he tried to correct was the fact that my characters had very little hair and really broad foreheads (I aimed a kick at him when he said that), and he helped me with the proportions. Also he taught me to draw the backgrounds, because all I could do at that age was leave blank backgrounds. There, a lesson. I thought it was the last thing he'd correct, but I was wrong.

Then came the WRITING lesson. My cousin said that I had to add more flashbacks and conversations instead of just going to the climax of the chapter. I tried that, and had a lot of trouble, but once I got the hang of it, it was a lot easier. Also he said that the story is supposed to capture the attention of the reader, so I started adding more subjects, such as death, resurrection, possession, family trouble, depression and that kind of stuff.

And finally he corrected my CHARACTER'S PERSONALITY DESIGN. That was the lesson that helped me the most: he said that I had fallen into character stereotypes and that I had to think well how I wanted my characters to be, act, talk and that kind of stuff. So I changed the main character, Rin, from the sweet, caring girl to a rebellious, immature and annoying teen. I also added the jokester older brother and the emo best friend (although I'd give him the emo label years later).

So, as you may see, I lost the bet. I had to pay my cousin, and say thank you. His advice DID help me, people. I am the only good artist in my classroom. I also have my to best friends with whom I used to write some time ago, and another friend who is a mangaka as well. They all say that my stories, drawings and characters are just excellent. They all say that I will be the first Mangaka in Mexico (although there are plenty, don't fool yourselves), and that's how I earned from them the nickname of THE MEXICAN MANGAKA.

~Ani, the Mexican Mangaka~