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Thanks for watching! If you want to see more interviews and other projects from the anime community, consider subscribing and following us on social media pages. This interview here features the amazing Stephane Metayer (@tephlonfunk). He leads the self published comic Tephlon Funk! To watch the interview, check us on YouTube.

October 7 – 10 we’ll be vending at New York Comic Con 2021 in Artist Alley, come on through and buy some dope merchandise from us. We’ll be selling tons of our self-published (manga-inspired) comic book volumes, high quality original art prints, vinyl stickers and our special edition art books.

Many will know the Ample Soul Physician via his beats ‘n’ rhymes for Cincinnati rap clique Five Deez or the lush sci-fi soul grooves of Samurai Champloo, the anime series he scored alongside cult Japanese producer Nujabes; or perhaps you’ve checked out his beat tapes for the NYC-based Tephlon Funk manga series or one of his eight solo albums, which run the gamut between celestial moods, warm and cinematic boom-bap and blunted downtempo.

In this episode of the Sailor Moon Fan Club podcast, Tephlon Funk creator Stephane Metayer talks about getting kids into Sailor Moon early, visiting real-life Sailor Moon spots during his trips to Japan and how Sailor Moon has inspired the character Inez in his comic! You can follow Stephane on both Instagram and Twitter.

Creator Stephane Metayer was born and raised in Queens, New York and was inspired by a lot of different films that took place in NYC like KIDS, Clockers, Crooklyn and A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints. Along with the 7 Tephlon Funk chapters released so far, there are also 2 soundtracks composed by Fat Jon. Tephlon Funk: The Free Tape and Tephlon Funk: The Dope Tape, available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Since the comic’s serialization in 2015, creator Stephane Metayer has made great strides in moving Tephlon Funk’s story beyond the page, spawning a collaboration EP soundtrack with hip-hop artist Fat Jon in 2016 as well as a short 50-second animated teaser produced by Black-owned, Japan-based animation studio D’ART Shtajio. With a new second collaboration album with Fat Jon titled Tephlon Funk: The Dope Tape.

Anime is a diverse medium that has influenced tons of creators over the years, both in the east and the west. While many animation studios in America have carried forward with anime-inspired cartoons like Avatar: The Last Airbender, some Westerners have even gone off to work in Japan and create anime of their own. Tephlon Funk, an adaptation of an anime-inspired webcomic written by Stephane Metayer and illustrated by David Tako.

It will take more than mainstream artists to keep this train running. Luckily, several independent creators are working to keep the unique relationship between Japanese anime and hip-hop a long-lasting one. Tephlon Funk, a manga created by Stephane Metayer, takes place in an urban setting and draws influence from Nas’ debut album, Illmatic. Metayer’s goal is to produce an animated show that attracts fans of both genres.

One of very few creators to bring New York City to life in a manga form. Drawing inspiration from Nas’ Illmatic, Tephlon Funk follows Queensbridge-native Inez along with three other characters from New York City’s outer-boroughs: Gabriel (Brooklyn’s Coney Island), Giselle (Washington Heights) and Cameron (The Bronx). Together, the four are all slowly being brought together for a cause that has yet to be revealed.

The creative force behind the forthcoming graphic novel, ‘Tephlon Funk’, a hip-hop, manga and anime inspired urban drama. It raised $22,027 on Kickstarter in late 2015 to help fund the graphic novel, that’s surpassed his initial goal of $15,000. The project combined a multicultural crime and martial arts tale centered on a 14-year-old girl who’s trying to escape life in New York’s gritty Queensbridge housing projects.

The comic is a coming-of-age story about a young woman named Inez who lives in a housing project in Queens, NY. She meets a person who changes her life and it forces her to tap into a higher level of emotional strength. Stephane not only made his own lane with a comic unlike any other, he also created a channel to publish his own creation. With a big signal boost from sources like #BlackComicsChat. Now that’s a boss move!

A hip-hop themed manga, it raised its appeal goal of $15,000 and took it over $22K. The creators published a demo run ahead of next year’s release of the fully funded print version, of just 100 copies. On the 4th December, one sold on eBay for $50. Later that day it jumped to $90. More copies have sold at that price since.

An urban crime drama set in a super-stylized vision of New York, Tephlon Funk follows a 14-year-old Inez Jozlyn from Queens, who dreams of a life beyond her gang and drug-infested community. Tephlon Funk combines the aesthetics of Japanese-style comics (manga) with hip-hop sensibilities, with a dose of 70’s-era Blaxploitation cinema for flavor.

Let’s say you’ve been yearning for a hip-hop manga inspired by Nas’ seminal album Illmatic. Tephlon Funk might be just what you’re looking for. The demo sample makes it feel like a classic rap narrative that is told in dramatic, decompressed Japanese comics style. Check out their Kickstarter to see how you can help the creators make Tephlon Funk happen.

Noticing the lack of black heroines in the media, and the surplus amount of stereotypical characters. To help change the perception by mixing the characteristics of X-Men’s Storm and Metroid’s Samus with a New York City backdrop. Many of his influences like Akira Toriyama, Osamu Tezuka, Katsuhiro Otomo, Bengus, Akiman, Kentaro Miura and Hayao Miyazaki originated while he attended High School.