KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — Malaysian animated Muslim friendly travel series ‘ly With Yaya Tohoku produced by Monsta animation studio has been nominated in the Newcomer Award category at the 2020 Licensing International Excellence Awards in the United States.

Monsta, a company known by its popular animated franchise BoBoiBoy, said in a statement today, the nomination was a significant milestone for the studio and showed that there was a global demand for the representation of Muslim characters in the media.

"We hope Fly With Yaya Tohoku’s nomination in the Licensing International Excellence Awards will open up more opportunities for Monsta and Malaysian brands in general, as well as promoting Muslim-friendly travel destinations in the global market.

"Monsta spent almost two years building a strong brand for Yaya through the series in the effort to prove that a strong and confident Muslim girl can also appeal to an international audience. The series tells about Yaya who travels around the world to explore beautiful sights in Muslim-friendly destinations,” it said.

Response to the show has been phenomenal as it garnered more than 21 million views on the Monsta YouTube Network in just 13 months, the statement said.

It also said that Monsta has plans to use the same approach to promote and rejuvenate the struggling Malaysian tourism industry in a post-COVID-19 Malaysian economy by promoting local tourist destinations.

Fly With Yaya Tohoku was nominated from 600 other entries by companies in 22 countries, which also include The Coca-Cola Company, Puma, Shiseido, Mattel, Hasbro, Bandai, The Hershey Company and many more. The award was previously won by popular online video game, Fortnite, in 2019.

Founded in 1985, Licensing International has its headquarters in the United States (New York City), and maintains offices in Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom, with additional representatives located in Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, and Russia. — Bernama