It has gone one step further with The Dyfabel, an online comic book Nawa was inspired to write against the prevailing stigma and discrimination of people with disabilities in Indonesia, and with an aim to “rehabilitate” the negative perception that physical disabilities limit a person.

The comic series, which derives its title from the Indonesian term for “diffable”, follows three disabled protagonists: a man with one leg who uses a crutch, a double-leg amputee woman who uses a wheelchair and a man who is a double-arm amputee. The trio of seemingly accidental heroes stands up against crime as viewed from the perspective of a young boy, and are as yet unnamed in the first three issues available on the popular digital comic reader, Webtoon.

Not your usual heroes

The Dyfabel reflects Nawa’s atypical take on what a hero entails, as he takes his inspiration from "things that bug me". This includes staff who dress up as pocong, a ghost still wrapped in its burial shroud, to promote a horror film at movie theaters.

The marketing gimmick made him wonder how moviegoers would respond if a pocong, which is often used in Indonesian horror films to terrify and shock viewers, was instead a dashing superhero who was good with kids.

Far-ranging orders: An intern at Yogyakarta-based PT. Jawara Tokoh Unggulan's costuming arm, JToku Studio, works on a Yellow Ranger helmet from the popular 'Power Ranger' series. The studio also receives orders from overseas, including the California-based creators of fan series 'Power Rangers: Shattered Past'. (JTOKU/Courtesy of JTOKU)

So in 2008, Nawa started working on the short film Pocongman, for which he was writer, director, producer and actor. He released it two years later on the Jtoku Indonesia YouTube channel and was happy when the 10-minute film received positive comments from viewers. Pocongman has racked up nearly 218,000 views to date.

"Alhamdulillah [Blessed be God], when we screened the film at layar tancap [mobile movie theaters] in villages around Yogyakarta, the tickets sold out," Nawa recalled.

Pocongman is also available as an online comic.

His latest work Brigadir Jogowargo, about four members of a superhero “brigade” that protects the people of Yogyakarta from villains, premiered on YouTube in November 2020. The Yogyakarta Culture Agency produced, with Nawa writing and directing.

"That was the first time the Yogyakarta Culture Agency was interested in producing a movie about local superheroes," said Nawa.

He preferred to release his films on YouTube rather than as commercial releases at movie theaters or on TV, as the video sharing platform gave him the freedom to express and translate his ideas cinematically without worrying about ratings or market demand.

Japanese influence

Nawa has long loved tokusatsu, a Japanese live action film genre that uses many practical effects as well as often cheesy special effects that are nonetheless compelling. Some popular tokusatsu TV series include Kamen Rider and Ultraman.

"When I watch [tokusatsu series], I feel like they expose me to the meaning of diversity through characters [that are] human, alien or half-human, half-alien,” he explained.

Cultural fusion: Nawa Rie Eda, cofounder of Yogyakarta-based PT. Jawara Tokoh Unggulan (JToku Indonesia), created Garudaman by turning the mythical winged creature garuda, one of Indonesia's cultural icons, into a superhero inspired by Japanese pop culture. (JTOKU/Courtesy of JTOKU)

When he was studying at the Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta (ISI Jogja), he wanted to actively pursue his passion for Japanese pop culture by turning it into a business entity. The idea of setting up a studio to realize this occurred to him in 2004.

Nawa was aware that it would be a challenge to develop the studio on his own, so he sought out die-hard tokusatsu fans in Yogyakarta. Eventually, he formed JToku Indonesia on April 1, 2005, even recruiting some of his staff from members of the local tokusatsu community.

The company currently has three divisions: Jtoku Studio, which designs characters, production house JToku Film and JToku Costume, which makes and sells character costumes.

Its costume manufacturing division’s renditions of Pocongman, Garudaman and Gatotkaca have attracted fans in Japan, the United States and other countries, and the studio often receives orders from abroad.

Among JToku's clients are foreign indie filmmakers like Colin K. Bass and Sean C. Swanson of Crimson Vision Studios in San Diego, California, creators of the popular fan series Power Rangers: Shattered Past. According to Nawa, Jtoku produced the costume for the Green Ranger.

Currently employing around 20 people, Jtoku now has four studios in Bantul, Imogiri and Umbulharjo, all in Yogyakarta province. The company also accepts interns.

"We train interns to make character costumes step by step. After they finish their internship, they can work for us as freelancers. We are not stingy about sharing our knowledge," said Nawa.

But finding human resources with creativity and imagination skills was a challenge, he said, and he often met with difficulty in recruiting new staff. Costume orders came in a variety of patterns, sizes and compositions, and not many possessed the creativity needed to keep up with client demands.

Faith-based restrictions

Another challenge, according to Nawa, was that the depiction of human-like characters went against certain religious values. The parents of some of his students at Sangilus Academy, where Nawa teaches illustration and comic art, voiced their concern about an assignment that required the students to draw characters and develop stories around them.

Good ghoul: 'Pocongman' is JToku Indonesia cofounder Nawa Rie Eda's positive spin on the supernatural creature. (JTOKU/Courtesy of JTOKU)

For Nawa, criticism came with the territory, so his goal was always to speak up for the disenfranchised, misunderstood and marginalized.

"Superheroes are often portrayed as visually 'attractive', with [muscular] or sexy physiques and cool costumes. My superheroes are far from having such characteristics," he said.