‘Cyberpunk: Peach John’ is a revolutionary manga, the creation of which was facilitated by an AI-powered online image generator known as Midjourney. This manga, brought to life by Shinchosha, is reputed to be the first fully AI-generated manga globally. The narrative unfolds in Neo-Okayama, a city that echoes cyberpunk masterpieces such as Blade Runner and follows the memory-challenged protagonist Peach John on his futuristic journey.
The development process required inputting text descriptions that were fine-tuned through a series of trials until images congruent with the plotline were produced. The artist had to steer the AI by supplying specific details like ‘pink hair, Asian boy, cyberpunk’ to obtain the desired illustrations. Despite apprehensions among Japanese artists regarding AI’s influence on their careers and potential copyright complications, ‘Cyberpunk: Peach John’ marks a significant landmark in AI-produced content.
The inception of this manga underscores the changing terrain where AI is progressively employed in artistic domains like manga production. Although there are worries about AI possibly supplanting human artists, the unique fusion of human inventiveness and AI proficiency exhibited in ‘Cyberpunk: Peach John’ illustrates the innovative outcomes when technology and art converge.
‘Rootport,’ a pseudonymous author, has pioneered the creation of ‘Cyberpunk: Peach John. The narrative unfolds in a futuristic cityscape and revolves around an amnesiac protagonist with pink hair, who finds himself reliving the tales of Momotaro. Rootport employed AI-based drawing tools such as Midjourney and Google Imagen to craft the visuals for ‘Cyberpunk: Peach John.’
The manga was first published on March 9, 2023, by Shinchosha, one of Japan’s leading publishers. It holds the distinction of being the globe’s inaugural fully AI-generated manga work and can be purchased in Japanese. However, this innovative use of AI in art production has sparked debates concerning its potential effects on conventional manga artists and copyright matters. As it stands now, ‘Cyberpunk: Peach John’ is yet to be translated into English or have an English release date confirmed.
