Where Manga Meets

Role: Account Director at Hornet.

Instead of leading with legacy or pushing titles, we flipped the focus. We celebrated the community already driving manga forward and gave them a place to show up: Kodansha House. A physical space in SoHo, part pop-up, part cultural hub—built for fans to gather, create, and connect.

The campaign was wrapped in a visual identity that drew straight from the source, capturing the bright, bold energy of manga graphics at every scale. The result? Kodansha didn't just show up for the culture. They became part of it. That's the kind of advocacy no brand can manufacture. That's how we created real gravity for Kodansha.

Some key statistics:

21,491 total visitors over 14 days

4.89M impressions across IG + TikTok (July 25–Oct 19 2025)

406.4k engagements

I acted as Account Director, overseeing all areas of development and collaborating with multiple talented teams, as well as US and Japan-based clients, across physical production, retail, communications, and more. Growing up as a nerd for anime and manga, this was truly a career highlight project to have been a part of.

Client: Kodansha, USA & Japan

Hornet Team Credits

Managing Partner: Hana Shimizu

Executive Creative Director: Daniel Fries

Head of Production: Dez Stavracos

Executive Producer: Ryan McRee

Communications Manager: Zoe Black

Production Coordinator: Ryann Rezza

Assistant Editor: Cole Bannick

Line Producer: Sean Roberts

Lead Graphic Designer: Vincent Diga