Thank you for buying the 13th volume of Gintama! Having reached thirteen, as an inauspicious number, lately… or rather, since the work has been transposed into anime, I come across many enemies. Even among the letters sent by fans I find comments like: “You have no taste in clothes, sensei! Take Tutor Hitman Reborn as an example! And D. Gray Man!” Or: “I hate you, sensei, but I like Gintama!”. So, I don’t know if I should be happy or not… Someone even raised a suspicion of plagiarism writing: “You are a mean mangaka, you must die!”. I’d like to say, “Wait a minute! I may die, but you don’t have the slightest intention of trusting me?”. It’s true that when I was a kid, I stole an arm of the Goggle Five robot from my friend’s house, the one with the rocket punch that can be thrown, but that friend stole it back from me, and a few years later he even apologized! I even lectured him: ‘Don’t ever do anything like that again!’
Having said that, the suspicion of plagiarism has strengthened, and I have many enemies… Well, it is normal to be faced with such animosity, and I would be inclined to welcome this hostility with gentleness, but lately I perceive a great malice also from the editorial staff, which should instead suffocate me with gentleness…
This is the continuation of the speech about the editorial staff who seem to have a murderous instinct towards me. The other day I had the opportunity to be on the jury of the monthly “Twelve Masterpieces” award. As you know, despite the fact that I am overconfident and very proud, I have a strong inferiority complex. To put it bluntly, I am as dangerous as performing a clumsy tap dance on a pyramid of playing cards. So I scrutinise the works with fear, asking myself, “Huh? Can I really do this? Of course I try my best, but there are details that I find difficult to comment on. I could never criticize others by making myself look good, for example, about the drawings… But, being a professional, I examine works severely and without hesitation! In short, I thought I would write a vague comment, without going into too much detail, believing that even the members of the editorial staff would understand my intentions, but they have as many as follows:
“It is a pity that many people do not take the readers into consideration. Especially when the drawings are sloppy, the work is at a disadvantage, even if it has an interesting story. If one is clumsy in drawing, correcting the black parts outside the outline with whitewash, or doing careful work on the backgrounds, the overall impression changes a lot. Try to make a work with the readers’ existence in mind!”
This comment refers to me, I know! What?! It is the taboo comment to me! Or you, members of the editorial staff, should understand the atmosphere I breathe! I thought I could get away without commenting on the details! You have to think about the position of Sorachi sensei, who tries to put on airs like this: “The work of someone who has managed to draw what he wants is always entertaining!”. By now, the playing cards have collapsed like a rock, and the tap dancing that I pride myself on is a simple scraping in the air with my feet… it’s like falling to the bottom of the valley, dancing.
Having said that, I can’t help but think that there was a certain amount of malice on the part of the editorial staff in the selection of the “Twelve Masterpieces” award… Pretending to criticize aspiring mangaka, they bombarded me with precise targeting. Faced with such an attitude, it’s as if they’d taken me up to a Shinto altar and thrown me down, shouting “Die, Sorachi!” It’s natural for me to lose faith in people! So in the midst of all these enemies, I only have family on my side, the last lifeline. And I called it. My mother says to me: “Lately you’ve been resorting to too much dirty jokes, don’t you think? When you don’t have a good idea, you always overdo it… That’s what Mr Onishi says!” What the hell does that man want? (My editor, Onishi, met my parents at the “Jump Festa” organized in Hokkaido). My family members are so serious that just seeing a slightly erotic scene in a movie makes them all stiffen up! So I asked him not to talk about certain topics… Don’t you think his behaviour was terrible? How can he compensate me for this unpleasant feeling I have in front of my mother? Well, I felt a certain irritation at her words (because I find it harder to write), so I replied: ‘Even filthy jokes are ideas to be respected. As long as they are funny! I’ll stop sending you money, damn you!”, to which she replied, “Ooh… you’ve changed…”. Eh…? She goes too far, as if she meant “Hideaki has changed since he went to Tokyo” … How bitter…!
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 37
QUESTION FROM MR. “I WANT TO EAT GIN-CHAN’S HANDMADE CAKES” FROM MIYAZAKI PROVINCE
I have a question for Sorachi sensei. Zura… is he actually a dirtbag? I’m asking because although his hair was cut off in the Benizakura saga, it grew out a lot in “103rd Lesson”. Or does he really wear a wig? I really care about this fact, so answer my question if you don’t mind.
ANSWER:
From the Benizakura saga to the “103rd lesson”, in the monographic volume, very little time seems to have passed, but you have to consider that a few months have actually passed. Anyway, Zura is a dirty man. In fact, all men are dirty.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 38
QUESTION FROM MS HANAKO MOTOKI, TOYAMA PROVINCE
Who prepares the dishes served at the table in the Yorozuya? Is there anyone among the three who can cook properly?
ANSWER:
They take turns cooking. Shinpachi lives with his older sister, but because she is the way she is, he had to learn to cook to survive. Gin-san is also skilled despite his appearance. Whereas Kagura mostly makes rice with a raw egg and soy sauce… or with various dry seasonings.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 39
QUESTION FROM MS. SARA, CHIBA PROVINCE
What is the difference between “Patriots promoting the campaign against foreigners” and “Masterless samurai promoting the campaign against foreigners”? Let me know, Sorachi sensei!
ANSWER:
Basically, they are the same. The patriots are the people who want to expel foreigners. Among them were many masterless samurai who acted freely by leaving their fiefdom (a kind of village). That is why they were called that.
By the way, in the world of Gintama, fiefs have already been abolished, so there are no feudal lords, only the Tokugawa shogun. To make a long story short, men like the Shinsengumi, who serve the shogun’s family and the shogunate, from whom they get their salary, are officially called samurai, while others like Gin-san, Katsura, etc., who have no master and carry a sword without permission, are considered masterless samurai.
So, that’s how volume 13 ends… I’ve written a number of things, but all in all I wanted to say that having three months at my disposal is nice because I can accumulate so many ideas and so I’d like them to publish a volume every three months from now on! As if to say… since I have revealed the truth in all honesty, I find it difficult to be a member of the jury of the “Twelve Masterpieces” award. I’m so ashamed that I’m afraid I can’t do it. This is because, if I and the editorial team were to make a comment that did not refer to the drawings at all, after writing the background, you readers would think: “Damn! These are sickening!”. Rather, is it better to criticize the drawings severely? Or rather, to comment only on the drawings? But how concerned am I with people’s criticism? How delicate am I?
I turned 27 the other day! Try not to become an adult like me! See you in the next volume! Goodbye!
New topic: “If you’re not delicate, you can’t draw comics. Mangaka are all annoying types”.
Yorozuya Shinigami 