Thank you for purchasing the 14th volume! There’s a legend in Jump magazine that when you’re over thirty, it’s hard to keep up a weekly serial publication! But I started having problems before that age… until now, even though I know it’s hard, somewhere in my heart I’ve always had an unfounded self-confidence and thought: “I won’t have any problems”, “I’ll be able to do as many all-nighters as I want”, “I’ll always meet my deadlines”, “I’ll never die”, “I’m a phoenix”, etc… But maybe now I’m starting to pay for the fact that I’ve overworked myself… I suddenly caught a cold in the summer and infected all the members of my staff and I might not be able to complete the boards! While cackling while watching the World Cup, after passing the fatal moment of the deadline, I got palpitations and almost died. When I came out, I realized that I was wearing my polo shirt inside out and I thought of putting it behind the building where I live, but just when I was naked, a neighbour saw me and she almost called the police! In short, unusual things happen to me which make me realize that I’m not young anymore and that I’ve reached a certain age… I used to never have a nipple uncovered while I now have a polo shirt. Trying to blame everything on the polo shirt in this way is also typical of middle-aged men! Even this way of expressing myself, ‘It’s typical of…’, is very typical of a middle-aged man!
Q1: What was your first encounter with video games?
When I was in kindergarten, my father bought a Famicom. At the time, because I was naughty, I had broken my arm, but because I wanted to play it so badly, I held the controller on the floor and operated the directional cross with the thumb of my left foot and the A and B buttons with my right hand. In short, I played the game using these… unusual techniques. When I did this at my friends’ houses, they hated me, but being a brat, I didn’t care.
Q2: What were the first three games you got into?
3. Fire Emblem
2. Megami Tensei series
1. Zill O’ll
Q3: What was the first video game you ever bought?
Ice Climber. It’s a video game where a mountaineer climbs an icy mountain.
Q4: How many software do you own?
A lot. But because I’m busy, I never play them.
Q5: What do you care about when buying a video game?
I like protagonists who are quiet and don’t talk too much, who don’t talk out of turn and who only say “yes/no”.
Q6: Tell us about a video game you like.
I like all the Dragon Quests, but especially Dragon Quest 5. I got so into it that I was able to challenge Satan with a copper sword to defend Bianca. Then one day I found that the hero Hideaki’s adventure book had been changed to the hero Hideo’s, and that my bride had been changed to a woman called Flora that I didn’t know, so I ended up fighting with Hideo (my father). This memory makes me want to die…
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 40
QUESTION FROM MR. WIND MATASABURO OF SHIMANE PROVINCE
Good morning, Sorachi sensei! I’ve been worried about something for a long time… Why did you become a mangaka? Please give me a good answer!
ANSWER:
Both movies and manga and anime always have an ending. So, although I feel empathy for the protagonists, I suddenly feel abandoned. I hate that sad feeling, and I feel like shouting, “Wait a minute! Take me to the other world too!” … Just hearing this part of the speech would make me sound like a crazy person, but I really do feel that way, especially about Laputa. It makes me want to smash the TV set and yell, “Don’t finish, Friday Road Show*!”. This situation is so painful that I have no choice but to create the works myself… That’s what I thought. I got into this world because I’d rather be on the side of abandoning readers than being left alone.
Sorry if the answer is a bit awkward and far from beautiful!
*Television program where movies are shown.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER
OPINION BY MR. SAMURAI MAYORA, TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA
Sorachi sensei!
I’m a big fan of Kagura’s voice actress in the anime, but it gets awkward if the woman I like is always talking about obscenities like “the dick” (well… it’s kinda arousing too), so please refrain as much as possible from making her say obscene things. (Well, it’s kind of arousing… Huh? Is this the second time I’ve said that?)
ANSWER:
I beg your pardon, Mr. Samurai Mayora and Mrs. Kugimiya! Well, I was blasting out dirty jokes in the magazine as if I wanted to say to the anime staff, “I want to see if you can stick them in the anime!”. So they moved it from prime time to a different slot. Given the time when this decision was made, I thought it was my fault, but apparently not. Well… I don’t know the details… Maybe it wasn’t, maybe what I did had nothing to do with it… maybe.
New topic: “It’s not Sorachi sensei’s fault”.
Yorozuya Shinigami 