WAM! Bengaluru showcases India’s anime, manga talent; state-level winners head to national finale
Bengaluru: The WAVES Anime and Manga Contest (WAM!) was held at VVN Degree College in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, bringing together creators, cosplayers, and storytellers from across the country. The event, which served as the final state-level qualifier ahead of the national finale at WAVES 2025, featured participants from diverse age groups and cities including Raipur and Chennai.
Participants as young as nine years old took part in the contest, reflecting the growing interest among Indian youth in creating original anime, manga, and webtoon content. The event also drew working professionals and experienced creators, underlining the wide appeal of the medium.
The jury for the event included Veerendra Patil (Founder, Zebu Animation), Ajay Apparoop (Head of Special Projects, Studio Illuzion), Sushil Bhasin (Chairman and Managing Director, Bhasin Group), and Vishakh Vijayan (ToonSutra). The panel commended the participants for their imagination, technical skills, and storytelling, and observed a strong focus on Indian themes and original world-building.
WAM! Bengaluru also witnessed the launch of the Anime Bengaluru Club, a city-based community for anime and manga enthusiasts. Founder-President Sayantan Ghosh stated that the club would host regular activities such as meetups, anime watch parties, and manga reading circles.
The winners of the contest are as follows:
Manga (Student): Rohit Sharma
Manga (Professional): Mukunda K
Webtoon (Professional): Vishal Maravi
Anime (Professional): Ganesh
Cosplay:
Winner – Puneeth V
Runner-up – Prerana Bagrecha
Second runner-up – Sherone D’Souza
Voice Acting:
Winner – Poonam Tripathi
Runner-up – Sherone D’Souza
Winners at the state level received WACOM pen tablets, Faber-Castell art kits, official TRIO merchandise, cash prizes, and travel support for a five-night stay to participate in the WAM! national finale scheduled from 1 to 4 May 2025. The national winners will be eligible for an all-expense-paid trip to Anime Japan 2026 in Tokyo, where they will represent original Indian content on a global platform.
As part of additional support, winning anime pilots will be dubbed in Hindi, English, and Japanese by Gulmohar Media to facilitate wider distribution. Winning webtoons will be published by Toonsutra to connect with global readers.
Ankur Bhasin, Secretary of the Media and Entertainment Association of India (MEAI), said that WAM! Bengaluru was a showcase of raw talent and creative vision. He noted that Bengaluru continues to serve as a hub for emerging creators and expressed pride in offering them a national platform.
WAM! is India’s first national initiative to promote original intellectual properties in anime, manga, webtoons, and cosplay. It is organised by the Media and Entertainment Association of India and supported by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The contest is part of WAVES – World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit, India’s largest platform for the AVGC-XR industry.
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Judiciary needs to function like 24x7 hospitals to address common man's pain, aspirations: CJI
Jabalpur (PTI): Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday said it was time for the judiciary to address the pain and aspirations of the common man through an immediate relief-giving mechanism, and stressed the need for the judicial system to function like hospitals that work round-the-clock.
He said technology was the only effective answer to wastage of judiciary's time, and called for deepening technology and artificial intelligence (AI)-based judicial architecture to expedite justice delivery.
The CJI was speaking at a programme organised by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on "Fragmentation to fusion, Empowering justice via united digital platform integration". He also launched the high court's newly-developed digital platforms.
"Indian judiciary is committed to ensuring optimum utilisation of not only technological advancements that have been going on and which are integral part of our system since 1990, but also of latest AI designs and how we can use them for the benefit of the common man," he said.
"We should think of deepening technology and AI-based judicial architecture. Technology is the only effective answer to wasting judicial time," CJI Kant said.
The time has come when the judiciary needs to address the aspirations, requirements, demands, pain and agony of the common man through an immediate relief-giving system, he said.
"For that, the judiciary needs to work like hospitals that function 24x7," he added.
Recalling the COVID-19 pandemic, the CJI said the Indian judiciary was praised globally for discharging its constitutional duties during difficult times.
"We did not close our courts," he said, elaborating on how technology enabled courts to conduct urgent hearings during the pandemic.
He stressed the need to make use of technological advancements in judiciary for expediting the justice delivery system.
Praising Madhya Pradesh HC for developing digital platforms, the CJI said that as stated by the Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, there was a need to roll out these technological advancements at the pan-India level.
A committee has been constituted by the Supreme Court on how to use AI for the benefit of the judicial system, especially in speedy disposal of cases, according to him.
Minister Meghwal, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and MP High Court Chief Justice Sanjeev Sabharwal also spoke on the occasion.
