What happens when Caribbean rhythm meets Japanese storytelling?
You get La Planète Takoo, a bold new shōnen universe where drums replace katanas and ancestral energy fuels every battle.
At its core is TEEYANDEE, the Afro-Caribbean creator rewriting the rules of manga with stories that breathe culture, pride, and power.
From childhood anime marathons to building a mythological bridge between Africa and the Caribbean, TEEYANDEE isn’t just creating art he’s leading a cultural movement.
ComicPanel sat down with him to uncover the fire, the fight, and the faith behind La Planète Takoo.
1. What inspired you to merge African and Caribbean mythology with the traditional Japanese shōnen storytelling style?
My inspiration comes from growing up with Club Dorothée, a famous French TV show from the 1990s that aired iconic anime such as Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, Ranma ½, and Sailor Moon.
Those series deeply shaped my childhood and my imagination. During middle and high school, I discovered Rurōni Kenshin, the manga that made me want to travel to Japan to explore the country where manga and anime were born.
From that journey came the desire to make people discover the Caribbean the same way Japan made me want to discover its culture through storytelling.
That’s how I decided to create my own manga, blending my Caribbean heritage with the narrative codes of the shōnen nekketsu genre.
It was born from a deep desire to build a mythological bridge between Africa and the Caribbean two worlds with shared roots but fragmented stories.
La Planète Takoo tells epic, spiritual, and heroic stories through our own ancestral voices where Dji replaces Ki, where the beat of the drum replaces the sound of the katana, and where Caribbean martial arts take the place of Asian ones.
2. The themes of identity, resilience, and cultural transmission are central to La Planète Takoo. How do these values reflect your own personal or artistic journey?
These themes are the very foundation of my life as an artist. I’ve had to fight for myself sometimes against my own family, against the many obstacles of an artistic path, and against a society where artists often struggle financially and are seen as outsiders.
As an Afro-Caribbean creator, identity has always been both a quest and an act of resistance, because the first support rarely comes from home it often comes from elsewhere.
La Planète Takoo allowed me to transform wounds into creative strength, to turn inherited silence into expression.
Resilience helped me build this universe independently, and transmission gives it meaning to inspire a generation to reclaim pride in who they are. That’s my daily fight since I began this adventure.
3. How do African and Caribbean aesthetics influence your art direction and character design?
Our aesthetics are rooted in texture, rhythm, and energy. The shapes and colors of my characters reflect the lands of the Caribbean and Africa, the sands of the continent, and the movements of Djokan (a traditional martial art from French Guiana), Mayolè (Guadeloupe), and Danmyé (Martinique).
I use warm color palettes, strong ink lines, and spiritual symbols inspired by ancestral rituals, masks, and totems.
Each character carries a piece of real culture through body marks, hairstyles, or patterns inspired by African cosmograms.
4. What motivated you to expand the Takoo universe into the upcoming 2D fighting game, L’Éveil du Guerrier?
Because the world of Takoo was meant to be experienced, not just read. I’m a huge fan of shōnen nekketsu, where battles are at the heart of the story.
So, what better way to showcase Caribbean martial arts such as Mayolè, Danmyé, and Djokan than through a 2D fighting game?
I wanted players to feel the energy of the Dji, the vibration of Gwoka drums, and the connection between body and spirit that defines our martial heritage.
Creating a fighting game was the natural evolution turning a cultural philosophy into an interactive and fun experience for everyone.
5. How did you and Le Petit Crayon balance cultural authenticity with engaging gameplay mechanics?
We started with one key principle: respect for the heritage, the art, and the players. Every fighting style in L’Éveil du Guerrier comes from a real tradition: Mayolè, Danmyé, Djokan, capoeira, kalenda, and others.
We integrated these authentic movements into fluid 2D mechanics using Ikemen GO, while the soundtrack fuses Gwoka rhythms with hang drums, creating an energy that is both meditative and powerful.
Our goal is for players to learn while playing to discover a philosophy through action.
We even developed a unique musical identity for the game called the Afro-Caribbean Beat, which plays a key role in the experience.
6. In your opinion, how do projects like La Planète Takoo contribute to the global recognition of Afro-Caribbean creativity in anime, manga, and gaming?
Simply by existing. For too long, Afro-Caribbean imagination has been trapped within folklore or stereotypes.
La Planète Takoo proves that we can create universes as deep, structured, and symbolic as major Japanese or Western sagas but through our own spiritual codes.
I believe we’re entering an era where Africa and the Caribbean will no longer imitate, but define the next global storytelling wave.
7. You also worked as an artistic consultant on Makandi. How did that collaboration influence your storytelling and visual approach?
Makandi reminded me of the power of collective storytelling, and gave me the opportunity to work on a project that wasn’t mine but with full artistic freedom.
The project was created by Yannick Théolade, founder of Djokan, the Amazonian martial art from French Guiana.
He loved La Planète Takoo so much that he asked me to turn his martial art into a manga and that’s how Makandi was born.
Collaborating with other African creators showed me that every culture brings its own rhythm and mythic logic.
It taught me to listen more to see universality not as sameness, but as harmony among differences.
That philosophy now guides the way I write and collaborate.
8. What have been your biggest challenges and breakthroughs in developing La Planète Takoo across both manga and gaming formats?
The biggest challenge has always been independence creating without a major studio or financial security is never easy.
But that constraint became my greatest strength: it forced me to innovate, to learn from mistakes, to improvise, to find creative solutions, and to be as imaginative in management as in storytelling.
I had to master writing, game design, production, and communication to build Takoo as a self-sustaining ecosystem.
It proves that creative sovereignty is possible for African and Caribbean artists, even if it remains financially difficult for those who take this path.
9. How has audience feedback shaped your creative decisions or inspired new directions?
The audience never dictated my story I’ve always written the story I wanted to read as a child, back when I watched Club Dorothée.
I write with my soul, and that naturally creates an echo in the hearts of readers.
When something is made with honesty and soul, it resonates especially today, in a world where so much feels standardized and soulless. People crave authenticity, freshness, and truth.
From school children in French Guiana to readers in Africa and Europe, their reactions constantly remind me why Takoo exists to awaken something within them.
Their enthusiasm pushed us to create L’Éveil du Guerrier, so they could experience the energy and combat of Takoo directly.
10. What’s next for the Takoo universe?
The next steps are expansion and elevation.
We’re preparing new manga chapters the story will conclude with Volume 14 along with the Perfect Editions, and the launch of La Planète Takoo: L’Éveil du Guerrier, which fans can support on Keremba
We’re also in discussions for an animated adaptation and other transmedia collaborations.
My dream is simple: that La Planète Takoo becomes not only a story, but a movement of cultural awakening across the world.
TEEYANDEE’s journey reminds us that representation isn’t just about being seen, it’s about being felt.
La Planète Takoo is proof that when creativity meets culture, legends are reborn. And this is only the beginning of an Afro-Caribbean universe set to echo across the world.