Afghanis-tan (あふがにすタン, Afuganisu-tan, see note on name below) or Afghanistan is a Japanese yonkoma manga, originally published as a webcomic, by Timaking (ちまきing). It is also the name of the protagonist of the manga. The manga is nicknamed Afgan (あふがん, Afugan)
Each yonkoma strip is accompanied by an "Afghan Memo" that explains some of the background and history of the nations depicted. Additional pages give short biographies of the characters.
The fact that it is a moe manga depicting international conflict, and the fact that it personifies countries, has drawn some criticism. However, it has also drawn attention for its attempt to blend an appropriate depiction of the history and background of each country with the personality of its characters.
Afghanis-tan has finished, and work on its sequel, "Pakis-tan" (ISBN 4-86199-116-1), was suspended after four editions but was released in 2008 by the company SansaiBooks. The author of both the comics caught a virus on his computer that had leaked his personal info, after which he took down his website and moved on from associating with the comics.
On July 26, 2005, after several delays, the series went on sale as a comic book, "Afghanis-tan" (ISBN4-86199-009-2).
Characters
Note that most of the character names are written in Japanese the same way the country they represent is written, only with a katakana emphasis on the "-tan" suffix
The protagonist of the series, an unfortunate girl surrounded by neighbors with strong personalities. According to her character description, "she trips and falls a lot". Her design appears to be based on Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman whose iconic photo appeared on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic.
A group of feral cats causing trouble in the neighborhood. Come to live in Afghanis-tan's house while she is out.
Reception
Around the time when the book was published by Sansai Books, part of the intention was to provide information about the current state of Afghanistan.[citation needed]
There is criticism that using the style of moe trivializes the situation. In particular, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were depicted as "an incident where a cat called Al-Qaeda bit America", a fact which was severely criticized in the secondary work, "Introduction to the Kashmir conflict (カシミール紛争入門, Kashimīru Funsō Nyūmon)".
