The older you get, the more things happen to change. Your obligations pile up. The energy you had as a kid isn’t the same. Also you have to get to work, which means waking up early or late to catch that taxi or train. When getting to your transportation of choice, you have plenty of options to kill time until you make it to your stop. You can listen to a podcast, read the paper, or read the chapter of a book.
But then the train arrives at your stop, so you have to slide your bookmark or stuff your newspaper in your bag. That’s when you gotta go to work.
This moment was one of the reasons Ben Watanabe decided to create Everyst. Well, that and being inspired by the stories he’s read growing up. “I wanted to create Everyst because of how stories inspire us to not just dream, but to go out and try new things.”
A good example was him getting into boxing because of Hajime no Ippo. That…that hasn’t gone too well in his words, according to him.
But essentially for him, Ben wanted to create something that made the most of your time. The obvious line said everywhere is, “Time is valuable.” So why not make the most of it by reading a comic while waiting for the bus? “Everyst makes the most of those moments by telling stories little-by-little in real-time, the same way your friends tell their stories in real-time on Twitter.”
So sometime over the past year, he formed a staff in Tokyo. Then they began work on creating it. After beta testing it for bugs and reliability under the name Longshorts, the app launched for Android and iOS. With 9 people on the staff, and working with different types of writers and artists around the world over the past year, there’s been an assortment of comics on the service, and they’re looking to add more.
“We’re having a lot of fun reimagining our classic favorites like Dracula, Romeo & Juliet, and Jekyll & Hyde in this new style with new illustrations,” said Ben, but he does want different types of stories told on the platform. Whether that’s the mountains of Transylvania in Dracula or a work that blurs the line between real like The Blind Leading The Blind, they simply want those stories to be told, but in a brand-new way.
“We want to tell stories that inspire readers to go out and try something new,” he said. “Whether that’s climbing Everest, trying sushi, or anything.”
One of the stories you can check out is a non-fiction comic involving a woman who got arrested in Japan. Why did she get arrested?
“She realizes a knife she was given is bigger than the allowed size,” said Hengtee Lim, the editor of Chappy 979 (and also creator of Familiar Magic). He was also wondering how Yapi, a foreigner just going on an adventure, got sent to jail. The comic, which she worked on in 2015, was brought to the attention of Everyst, and they worked with her to refine the story. To be more precise, refine it in a manner that fit their style to make it seem like it’s happening in real-time on Twitter. Now you get to figure out if she really wants cuter handcuffs than some other girl.
Though just because it’s intended to be read at certain intervals (on Mondays and Fridays) doesn’t mean you can’t jump back into past episodes to read her comic (or others), and read it all in one go. In addition, rather than catch updates on a girl going through Japan’s jail system, you can discover what Sherlock and Watson are up throughout the day. Or a former Mr. Olympia looking to be great again in minutes.
“Once a day of a story finishes,” said Ben, “it goes into our growing library of 60+ weeks of stories that are now bingeable, no tension building waiting time necessary, for when you have time to sit down and want to binge something.”
The options are plenty. The question will be is it satisfying enough for readers?
“One of the hardest parts for us going forward is going to be continuing to get in touch with the adventurous creators and readers that are up for exploring what stories can be.” As Ben touched upon some of the challenges Everyst faces — in addition to figuring out what types of stories they want to have — it’s finding a way to connect with readers. What will be a great read that will connect with people as they go on with their day? In addition, for a group that’s recently started, they can only have so many titles as they’re a small team trying something new.
At this moment however, they’re undeterred.
In fact, they’re not content with standing still. In addition to a few continuing stories getting new episodes, they’re also looking to collaborate with more artists on works. “Also in that vain,” he continued, “We’re launching a local Mangaka Internship in Tokyo in February, with an international one coming in March where a few artists will win summer trips to Japan to intern as mangaka.”
So they’re looking to do their part in helping artists succeed. We’ll have to see where their story will go from here.