In 2020, Ernest Ng’s anime-style take on Malaysian life went viral, evolving into 'Covidball', a nine-volume chronicle of the pandemic era. — Artwork: Ernest Ng
Back in 2020, cartoonist Ernest Ng first started making regular webcomics that reimagined Malaysian life, politics, and other funny things happening around the country as an anime.
What he didn’t expect was for it to go viral, and eventually spawn a nine volume series about Covid-19 titled Covidball, which would become arguably one of the most detailed accounts of that period of time in Malaysian history.
Ng’s webcomic, Bro Don’t Like That Bro, was already one of the more prominent local webcomics around. Then came his If Malaysia Was An Anime webcomic series, where he not only captured the funny side of the political shenanigans that was happening around that time, but also made fun of general Malaysian news and viral stories.
“Before the whole If Malaysia Was An Anime thing, I have always been doing observational humour. I would see things and I try to find the humour in certain topics,” he explained during an interview in Petaling Jaya.
The first appearance of the Covid-19 character in Covidball.
“But the real start of the series was around February 2020, when Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) did that ‘shocking’ resignation (from his post as Prime Minister). It was a shock to me as well, and it was a very confusing time. No one understood what was going on.
“So I read and studied it a bit, and sort of wrote it all down in a sequence, chronicling the events in a way that I could understand better. Then after that, I felt that if I didn’t draw this, it would be such a waste of my effort,” he said.
The piece turned out to be one of the most viral pieces he had ever created at the time. Soon after, the world was plunged into chaos when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Ng is finally be retiring the 'Covidball' series, but he will continue to draw his 'If Malaysia Was An Anime' series. Photo: The Star/Michael Cheang
“When the whole Covid-19 thing happened, suddenly I had a new villain. So it just kept going until the whole thing ended,” he recalled.
As the pandemic worsened and the various Movement Control Order measures were put into place, Ng continued to chronicle the events in his webcomic, eventually calling the series Covidball (a homage to his favourite anime, Dragonball).
He eventually started compiling the Covidball series into books, the first of which was released in September 2020, and ending with Volume Nine, released in late 2023.
End of an era
Recently, Ng announced that there will no longer be anymore reprints of the Covidball books, effectively drawing a line under this “story arc” in his series after five years.
“I was absolutely shocked when I realised that I’d been doing this for five years. Although, I didn’t cover as much in 2024 because I was busy working on a new thing. I feel like now is a great time to retire the whole series,” Ng said.
According to him, Volume Nine is actually the “true ending of the entire Covid-19 arc”.
“(By then) the topic of conversation had moved on from Covid-19, and the political scene had changed again, with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim becoming the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
“At the same time, some people really like these (Covid-19) characters, and the design and philosophy and all that, so I felt it would be wrong if I didn’t do a proper wrap up,” he said.
Ng’s drawing was heavily influenced by various manga, including 'Dragonball'. Photo: Ernest Ng
“So, when I released the ninth and final book, I included over 50 pages of unpublished material that are not available online, and which wraps up the entire Covid-19 arc.”
That doesn’t mean he will no longer cover Malaysian news though.
“I am still doing those, but they won’t be called Covidball. The true title of the series has always been If Malaysia Was An Anime,” he said.
Accidental manga
The artwork for the If Malaysia Was An Anime series is very different from Ng’s usual four-panel webcomics – more manga-style panels, action, and stylised versions of real people.
“It’s a style that I’ve always wanted to explore for the longest time. Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to draw my own manga, and accidentally, I have one right now,” he said.
“When I usually draw my usual four-panel comics, they’re much simpler. That is actually my original drawing style. Then when I drew this, I realised there are more dynamic angles, and more ways you can compose the story and show the characters.
“I really, really wanted to play around with it. But it was hard to do that with my original drawing style, so I had to change it up.”
Ng started compiling the 'Covidball' series into books, the first of which was released in September 2020, and ending with Volume Nine, released in late 2023. Photo: Ernest Ng
Avid manga and anime fans will be able to recognise influences from popular series in Ng’s panels, such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Bleach, Naruto, and of course, Dragonball, though occasionally, there would be some unintentional references as well.
“I drew a scene of an anime or manga I’ve never read before, and there was one interesting observation from a fan. It was a scene based on my own imagination with some minor references to old movies from the 1970s. But then people started saying this was from Solo Leveling, which I had never seen before,” he said.
One major highlight of his career was when he actually go to meet the PM himself and pass him a book.
“I was selling my book at the KL International Book Fair at the World Trade Centre and Datuk Seri Anwar just happened to pass by while visiting the booths, so I gave him a copy of the GE15 book,” he said.
“But he was in a hurry, so we just managed to grab a photo together. But it was nice to actually finally meet him and give him my work.”
Ng has also met other politicians he covered in his series, such as former Education Minister Maszlee Malik, and current Youth And Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
“It turned out her husband is a way bigger fan than she is,” he said of his meeting with Yeoh. “But when she started using ‘Hanayo’, which is how I spell her name (in the comics), in her campaigns, that was kind of cool.”
Toeing the line
Still, when covering all these important figures and issues, Ng also had to be wary of not crossing the line, especially when it came to the more sensitive ones.
“Because we were talking about a lot of sensitive stuff, I try to be as careful as I can. I think that the key thing is I just don’t want my parents to worry! Whenever I draw these chapters, they always tell me to be careful,” he said.
With Volume Nine, Ng added more pages and panels in order to bring the 'Covidball' story arc to a proper close. Photo: Ernest Ng
“Sometimes when I draw something and I don’t have a good feeling about it, I would get advice from my journalist or friends to check and see whether I’ll get in trouble, or whether I’m being insensitive.”
Ultimately, the main aim for his series is to provide a source of entertainment, which many of us needed during the dark times of Covid-19.
“I was just trying to find the happiness and the lighter side of things and entertain people. Moving forward, I will still draw about Malaysia, but I will cover only the really massive news right now.
“After Anwar’s victory, I felt that there was an air of something more stable. There wasn’t as much drama as it used to be, so that was also a nice break for me!
“Of course, the next election is coming up, so that’s always a reason to do it all over again.”
