Leisure & Game

Manga Artist’s Struggles Go Viral, Fans Donate Over $5,600

April 21, 2026
briefly

Opening up about how they “can barely afford cheap coffee,” a Japanese manga artist’s frank social media post about financial struggles has gone viral. Overseas fans stepped up, not only offering words of encouragement but also donating over 900,000 yen (around $5,600), with the amount continuing to rise.

Shiten Akiyama is the author and artist behind Horizon, a mysterious slice-of-life manga about exhausted office worker Mieko who has a life-changing meeting in her local park. Although the manga is only officially available to buy in Japanese at the moment, Horizon has gradually built up a buzz among overseas fans since Akiyama started the series in 2025, with some going the extra mile to purchase Horizon volume 1 despite the language gap.

In February, Akiyama, who often posts on X in English, announced that, “Horizon has crossed the horizon!! It is an honor that my manga has reached crazy manga fans overseas,” adding, “I have two wishes: the development of manga culture and the birth of new works. That alone keeps my right arm drawing an abnormal number of lines.”

Despite this optimism, in an X post on April 19, Akiyama revealed the economic reality of being an up-and-coming manga artist, saying: “My work isn’t selling that well, and I can barely afford cheap coffee. So if anyone has a little extra money, please support me on Ko-fi.” He was flooded with supportive messages in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. “You’re valued a lot by many of us here in Mexico and Latin America. Stay healthy,” urged one commenter.

Less than 24 hours after the original post, Akiyama announced: “We’ve received over ¥900,000 (approx. $5,600) in support from overseas fans,” noting that this is far more than he has earned from Horizon’s sales so far. Akiyama also posted a photo of take-out coffee from Japanese convenience store Lawson, with the caption: “Can you believe it? An angel from across the ocean bought me a coffee.”

Akiyama also revealed yesterday that a translated version of Horizon is in the works, and that he is trying to make it easier for overseas fans to purchase his manga in the future. However, fans are already going the extra mile to enjoy his work, with one Spanish-speaking fan using a VPN to overcome Amazon Japan’s Kindle restrictions so they could buy Horizon Vol 1, and using Google Lens to translate the text. Akiyama previously tried to reach overseas readers by posting his own translation of Horizon online for free, but this led to issues with the publisher.

Meanwhile, the donations have continued to pour in and, at the time of writing, Akiyama had achieved 138% of his funding goal on Ko-Fi.

In a post on the platform, Akiyama thanked backers: “I had been replying to every single donation. However, thanks to your incredible support, it has now reached a volume that is physically impossible for me to keep up with. I’m truly sorry that I can’t respond to each one anymore. Please know that I deeply appreciate all of your love and respect.”

Image credit: @shiten_room / Twitter.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.