A festival of manga, gaming and cosplay has kicked off in Senegal. The inaugural three-day event lets hundreds of young people dive into the world of animated characters, comics and video games with African themes.

Local manga lovers showed up to celebrate, participate and compete in cosplays and video games. Many upcoming African artists, took the ideal opportunity to showcase their work.

SEYDINA SOW COMIC BOOK ARTIST "This is an opportunity for me to meet my audience and also to present the first volume of my new comic book Sidy. It's about a young Senegalese coming from the village to study at the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar. It's really the first of many because there are other projects going on. And all of them are 100% African comics."

In the past, finding mangas in West Africa was difficult. However, there is s growing fan base, especially in Senegal. Many young Senegalese are interested in enjoying African stories in animation format. According to the organizers, the festival aims to provide a platform for African homegrown manga culture.

FAMARA NDIAYE FESTIVAL ORGANIZER "The objective is to organize in each country of the sub-region a festival like this once a year. So basically it's trying to find all this Manga culture that is generally called Otakus that are a little neglected by many people. Otakus are very popular in Europe, Asia and North America. In Africa, there are many Manga lovers but they are not yet well known."

This inaugural festival showcases the evolution of African artists and the dawn of a new chapter in African storytelling.