Global manga superstar Anike Hage from Wolfenbüttel, Germany has been drawing since elementary school. She started out drawing fan art for video games, but soon moved on to create her own work. Her big break came in 2004 when she won second place for ages 16 and up in a manga contest at the Leipzig Book Fair. She was then tapped to work on the poster for the 2005 Leipzig competition. Finally, after her inclusion in the anthology Manga Fever from TOKYOPOP Germany--similar to TOKYOPOP’s Rising Stars of Manga--she was offered the chance to create her first graphic novel series, Gothic Sports! Her artwork has also appeared in the popular German dojinshi anthology Kappa Maki. For more info about the artist, please visit http://www.snow-flake.jp.pn

Ms. Hage was gracious enough to take a few moments from her busy schedule to answer a few of our questions about her high school experience, what Goth culture means to her, and how rabbits have influenced her artistic choices. Read on, yo!

TOKYOPOP: Are you a soccer (football) fan?

ANIKE HAGE: Yes I am. But I more like playing than watching!

TOKYOPOP: What was you high school experience like? Were there school clubs? Did you hang out with a lot of friends?

ANIKE HAGE: I hated my high school for not having any regular clubs. For short times we had some clubs but there was absolutely no discipline and so it never could exist for a long time. Unfortunately nobody was forced to go there.....
I had my five or six friends I hung around with and more or less ignored everybody else, I must confess. During the last years of school I counted the minutes until I was relieved from this more or less self-imposed obligation.
Now I think it wasn't a bad time at all and I would not be sad about still being a pupil. (:


TOKYOPOP: How did you come up with the idea for the manga series Gothic Sports?

ANIKE HAGE: I got different ideas of stories for my debut but most of them were not really good choices to draw as a first big project. One of the more suitable ideas was this school-story and because I wanted to draw some action although schools are not really the right place to find it there needed to be a plot I could write action into. I think there is no better way then using sports. So the idea of Gothic Sports was born!
 
TOKYOPOP: When creating a manga series, how much of the story is invented and how much is pulled from your personal experience?

ANIKE HAGE: The most things are invented but some aspects I took from my friends and families experiences as well as from of my own. But everything is pushed up with a lot of fantasy so there is no way to find real counterparts to the characters in the story.

TOKYOPOP: Is it common for sports teams in German high schools to be coached by students?

ANIKE HAGE: I don't know if it's common, but it's a fact that the state does not offer much money for teachers and especially not for such "unnecessary" things like sport or music! In my time at school students had to plan and handled those things more or less by themselves. I was in a Basketball-club for example and there was no teacher but a student. She did it in her free time. I used this experience for creating the coach of the soccer-team. Teachers are just not allowed to behave like he does in the manga, I think. But there are also some other reasons why I made it like this (you have to read in the future issues)! (;

TOKYOPOP: Is it common for multiple teams in the same sport, which might compete against each other, to come from a single high school?

ANIKE HAGE: Just for fun it is! And it always depends on the sort of competition. I only know competitions between the schools teams but there are as well competitions between different schools.

TOKYOPOP: As an artist, what attracts you to manga?

ANIKE HAGE: I can't say if it is just Manga that attracts me. It is more a interesting told story with a beautiful artwork and dynamic lines. Manga often contain these things, in my opinion!

TOKYOPOP: What is her favorite manga? What was her first manga that made her like the art form?

ANIKE HAGE: My favorite Manga is "Blade of the immortal" by Hiroaki Samura.
When I was a child I saw the first Manga-illustration in a videogame magazine and loved the stile. I also played many games like "gunstar heroes" or "Secret of Mana" and stuff like this that made me create a lot of fan art. At this time I did not know, that there is a name for that stile or that there are also comics. Many years later a friend showed me the Manga "Sailor Moon" and I loved it. When looking for this one in  a shop I first mentioned stuff like "Battle Angel Alita", "Akira" "NGE".... and at this point I knew that I wanted to draw Manga by myself and just started trying.

TOKYOPOP: Does you do other art (painting, music, etc)?

ANIKE HAGE: I play the piano but this is just my hobby. I do paintings as well if I got a commission or just feel like painting (mostly rabbits) but in most cases I'm not keen on doing it if it does not belong to a Comic-project (or contains rabbits)!

TOKYOPOP: When you are not creating manga, what does she like to do? Other hobbies?

ANIKE HAGE: I play videogames, piano or do sports and concern with my rabbits.

TOKYOPOP: What does Goth culture mean to you?

ANIKE HAGE: I like some of the clothes and in some cases I like the music but that's all.

TOKYOPOP: How did you get involved with Goth culture?

ANIKE HAGE: My brother and most of his friends belonged to this culture and so it was unavoidable to meet those people in bars or on parties etc.--in small towns you can't escape!

TOKYOPOP: Is Goth culture widespread in Germany?

ANIKE HAGE: I would say so.

TOKYOPOP: Is Goth culture in Germany compartmentalized into fashion, music, etc. or is it considered a “package deal”?

ANIKE HAGE: It is a package deal if you take it serious but there are many people like me who only like some parts of it so you can say it is compartmentalized in some way.
If you ask a real Goth I think he would say it is not, but I do! (:

TOKYOPOP: Are there dress codes in German high schools that prohibit Goth fashion?

ANIKE HAGE: No, you can wear or not wear* whatever you want at school as long as it's not against the law in general.
*(in my last years at school there was a funny discussion about what girls should wear for not attracting the poor male teachers during the lessons....funny!)

TOKYOPOP: Does the fact that the Goths were an Eastern Germanic tribe who fought against the Romans in the first half of the first millenium A.D. have any effect on the perception of Goth culture in modern Germany?

ANIKE HAGE: I don't think so. I guess the most Goths does not even know about these historical facts! In Germany the people think of Victorian style, medieval inspired clothes, mystical aspects, metal etc. when they talk about Goths, I would say.
 
TOKYOPOP: Are you working on any new series?

ANIKE HAGE: I always do projects besides Gothic Sports but they grow very slow and are more or less just for fun and have to stay back behind Gothic Sports! But to answer the question, yes I do!

TOKYOPOP: Great--Thanks for talking with us!