Thank you for purchasing the 19th volume! I’ve started playing Monster Hunter (PSP), despite having abstained until now for fear of not being able to work. I was told that you get so into it that you can’t go back to the real world. But after answering “I’m a guy who’s all about work, it’s impossible for me to get totally lost in a video game with no plot, where you just have to defeat monsters. There’s nothing dramatic about it, such as a father being killed or becoming a slave, or finding out that your son is a legendary hero, etc., right? So, I’ll definitely be able to return to the real world!” I went hunting as if I were taking a test of courage. A few weeks later, I realized I had become a respectable Hunter, so much so that I downloaded a “Special Event Quest” at a shop in the Yodobashi Camera, bringing my PSP around the kids.
Lately, all I’ve been doing is drawing or hunting. In the last week, in addition to completing a chapter, I made a helmet. Drawing manga also means getting lost in fantasies, so except for times when I go to the toilet, take a bath, or eat, I’m never in the real world… Which is very problematic. By now I can’t tell if I’m a Hunter or a mangaka. My editor’s face has begun to look like Yian Kut-ku’s*, and you can’t imagine how many times I’ve wanted to stab him with a big sword…
*A bird wyvern in the Monster Hunter game series
FREEWHEELING: INTERVIEW WITH HIDEAKI SORACHI OF OVER 40,000 CHARACTERS
INTERVIEWER – Onishi (Editor)
INTERVIEWER – Hideaki Sorachi (Author)
Published in the June 15, 2007 special issue of Akamaru Jump.
HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR DAYS OFF?
Onishi: Do you go drinking on your days off?
Sorachi: …After finishing the boards, at most I go out to eat with my assistants.
Onishi: Do you handle alcohol well?
Sorachi: Like a normal person, not very…
Onishi: You don’t like it too much or hate it, right?
Sorachi: It’s not that I don’t like it, I just get enough of the pleasant feeling of intoxication.
Onishi: What do you drink?
Sorachi: There’s nothing I prefer.
Onishi: Does that mean you drink different things every time?
Sorachi: I start with beer. After that, it depends on the situation.
Onishi: Like normal people (laughter)
Sorachi: Why? (laughter) It’s natural!
Onishi: You haven’t been playing video games lately, have you?
Sorachi: Hmm… There’s none I like too much so far.
Onishi: Which have you finished in the last few years?
Sorachi: Are you going to publish something like that?
Onishi: We’ll publish everything we can. Come on, even if it’s not a fun game, tell me which one you finished.
Sorachi: I don’t want anyone to know.
Onishi: What do you care?
Sorachi: Don’t publish it, you know! (laughs)
Onishi: I can’t accept your request.
Sorachi: Huh?
Onishi: Impossible to accommodate you!
Sorachi: But who knows how my words will be interpreted!
Onishi: You’ll just have to re-read everything at the end, before publication!
Sorachi: Yeah, right! Are you telling the truth?
Onishi: Of course! So what video game do you like?
Sorachi: Well, honestly, since the serial publication started, I can’t really get into any games.
Onishi: And you haven’t finished any?
Sorachi. Um, Yakuza…
Onishi: So you play!
Sorachi: It was about a year ago, when I ate some bugs (during the making of Gin Channel!*).
Onishi: You don’t play role-playing games?
Sorachi: Sure! I play them a lot!
Onishi: Like Dragon Quest, or Final Fantasy…
Sorachi: I did Dragon Quest, but I wasn’t that impressed.
Onishi: How about Final Fantasy?
Sorachi: I don’t play FF.
Onishi: So you’re a Dragon Quest lover!
Sorachi: In FF, the protagonists speak for themselves…
Onishi: You mean you find it hard to enter its world?
Sorachi: Yeah. I’m the kind of guy who puts his name to a hero.
BEGINNINGS AS AN ASPIRING MANGAKA
Onishi: Your blood type is AB, right?
Sorachi: If you’re not egocentric, you can’t draw manga.
Onishi: You’re right! To meekly follow the opinions of others is to accept what others say and believe them blindly. But if you see things from a different perspective, or with cynicism, you can create something new. Did you study hard as a student?
Sorachi: Of course, I studied like everyone else! I prepared properly for my high school and university entrance exams.
Onishi: So you were working hard…
Sorachi: You thought I didn’t study at all?
Onishi: I didn’t mean that, but I rather thought you were reading or drawing.
Sorachi: No comic books. In primary schools, I drew something, but my father mocked me by saying, “What is this?!”. I was very shocked by his offensive words…
Onishi: Like, “The main character is called Ken? Hmm…”.
Sorachi: It was a fantasy. I only drew fantasy comics.
Onishi: With a pen?
Sorachi: No, in a notebook with a pencil… Then I hid them, but he found them…
Onishi: What grade in primary schools was that?
Sorachi: Maybe third or fourth grade! But to tell you the truth, even in high school, I drew… I scribbled in my notebooks.
Onishi: But no finished works?
Sorachi. I thought I could never become a mangaka. When I was a kid, I told my parents about my dream, but they said, as so many do when they encourage their children to study, “If you’re not smart, you can’t become one!”.
*Guide on Gintama characters
Onishi: And you gave up because of that?
Sorachi: How should I put it… I wanted to, but I couldn’t say it in front of my friends because I was ashamed. So I said I was going to become an architect, just to ignore them.
Onishi: I get it!
Sorachi: I was studying drawing, saying I was going to study CG!
Onishi: What do you mean by “studying drawing”?
Sorachi: Actually, I just drew… because my course of study had almost nothing to do with drawing. I went to a school that was more related to advertising.
Onishi: So you were studying drawing comics?
Sorachi: But I was going to make at least one bet.
Onishi: When did you first submit artwork to a magazine?
Sorachi: When I was in my 3rd year at university…
Onishi: Was it a story about a ramen joint?
Sorachi: There were monsters in it.
Onishi: I don’t remember if the owner did anything… Was he the one who subdued the monsters?
Sorachi: Yeah!
Onishi: So while you were in college, did you submit that work to a magazine…?
Sorachi: I was sure I’d win some prize, but it went straight through the paper shredder. I’ve never said it publicly, but everyone thinks I won a prize with my first work. Even my parents don’t know that I failed.
Onishi: Why are you hiding it?
Sorachi: Well, I might as well have said it.
Onishi: Don’t you have character notes somewhere? It would be fun to publish them for readers!
Sorachi: Those characters didn’t have much charm.
Onishi: You were only delving into the plot, or the worldview that the story was imbued with, weren’t you?
Sorachi: I was just putting on airs!
“I THOUGHT (SORACHI) WAS LYING ABOUT HIS AGE” [ONISHI]
Onishi: You were putting on airs… about what? For example, about making monsters?
Sorachi: I don’t talk about that kind of thing, but I was boasting.
Onishi: Was the main character just cool?
Sorachi: Well, even though he was cool, he was basically like Gin-san. He ran a ramen joint, and saved the evil spirit of a cat. It was a self-contained work, and I had to do everything myself. Since it was the first time I’d drawn backgrounds and I had to use a ruler, which was very annoying, I thought I’d give up being a mangaka… “It’s impossible for me to do this.”
Onishi: But you finished that manga, right?
Sorachi: Yes…
Onishi: And you thought you had some kind of award in your pocket?
Sorachi: I was sure of it.
Onishi: Were you shocked?
Sorachi: Since it was a hassle to get a work done, I gave up drawing. However, when I was in my fourth year of college and looking for a job, I tried to submit another manga to a contest, and I won a prize! It took me about four months to complete…
Onishi: You mean it took that long from storyboard to completion?
Sorachi: Yes! It was just like now: working until the deadline. For that contest, you just had to send the manga in the mail by the end of every month. I’d get down to the last one, I wouldn’t make it in time, and then, since I had another month, I’d correct anything that didn’t convince me. But gradually the number of things that needed to be corrected increased, so I didn’t make it in time for the next deadline. So I’d start correcting things again…
Onishi: Understood.
Sorachi: But I think it was all good. In the end, I was my own editor… even though four months was still too long for a manga!
Onishi: I thought you were lying about your age. I was convinced you were at least thirty, judging by the atmosphere of your stories.
Sorachi: Some people even thought I was a woman.
Onishi: I couldn’t believe it until I met you in person.
Sorachi: You thought I was lying?
Onishi: Well, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d found a man in his mid-forties.
Sorachi: And that’s why you thought I was a liar?
Onishi: As for Dandelion, the work that was sent had a different content… I don’t remember what happened to the old lady.
Sorachi: She was torn to pieces. There was nothing moving about the manga. Among the fan letters, there are many that say, “I was moved by the scene where the old man and the old woman got together!”, but at the beginning, there wasn’t even such a scene. She was hit by a car… But in order to publish, I had to rethink everything from scratch.
Onishi: Including the drawings.
Sorachi: I don’t know what happened, but it was decided that the manga would be published in a magazine, so I was asked to correct at least the scene of the old woman, because “it wasn’t possible to print a manga like that”. At first, I had no intention of bringing the two old geezers together… We had a fight right from the start, don’t you remember? Right from the start! (laughter)
Onishi: Then, before Shirokuro, you came up with Samuraida. There was a middle-aged man wearing a suit. It was a story where the characters just talked, right?
Sorachi: It wasn’t a suit, it was a prison uniform.
Onishi: Anyway, the final boss was a bald man of a certain age, right?
Sorachi: Yeah! But that manga remains the prototype of Gintama, of the story about the arrival of extraterrestrials in the Edo era. In that sense, it wasn’t a useless work.
Onishi: Well, yes!
Sorachi: I thought it was funny, and you trashed it as if to say, “I’m disappointed in you.” ….
Onishi: Well, you could hardly structure the next work, so I made you promise to fax me at least six pages of storyboard every day.
Sorachi: But I couldn’t do that, because it would take me a day to write a single line. Anyway, we used to phone each other, you’d ask me how many pages I’d done and I’d say: “All done!”, even though it wasn’t true at all. (laughter) So I’d improvise the three missing pages on the spot and send everything by fax. (laughter) Anyway, if I hadn’t done as you said, I wouldn’t have been able to do this work.
Onishi: No.
Sorachi: Yes.
Onishi: If I hadn’t gone this far, you wouldn’t have made it.
Sorachi: I feel like hell, I was always afraid the phone would ring. I was even having auditory hallucinations! (laughter) Seriously, when I would hear electronic sounds, I would weigh, “Ah, a phone call!” (laughter). I had a slight nervous breakdown.
Onishi: And after Shirokuro…
Sorachi: You asked me to do a storyboard for a serial, if I remember correctly…
Onishi: Well, if I thought it was good, I would have presented it at the meeting, but if I didn’t think it was great, I would have suggested publishing it as a self-contained manga.
Sorachi: Exactly! You told me to draw a story about the Shinsengumi, but I refused because I didn’t want to. Then I took up that idea again, since I had no other options, so I drew a manga… but only up to a point.
Onishi: At first, the story wasn’t about extraterrestrials, but about monsters, right?
Sorachi: No, that wasn’t my idea!
Onishi: Really?
Sorachi: You were the one who wanted monsters to fight the Shinsengumi, but I didn’t want to, so I chose extraterrestrials.
Onishi: But we said the other day that “maybe it was better to choose monsters”! (laughter)
Sorachi: Other than monsters… I thought it would be better to choose the Shinsengumi as the main characters. (laughter) I actually didn’t want to submit that story for serial publication yet, but since you said it might not be accepted, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem.
Onishi: To tell you the truth, I was convinced it wouldn’t… (laughter)
Sorachi: (laughter) You’re always sincere afterwards! You did the same for Shirokuro, too!
Onishi: If I really meant what I said, you’d never submit a story of yours!
Sorachi: That’s why you criticized a lot of things in Shirokuro too! But actually, by making changes, a work always gets better.
Onishi: Maybe you’re right, but…
Sorachi: Since I’m sure I can draw a more entertaining manga, I don’t want to interrupt the conceptual phase. And anyway, it was better to elaborate the story more before starting the serial publication, wasn’t it?
Onishi: In the end, the result would have been the same.
Sorachi: Or maybe the Shinsengumi would have become the main characters.
Onishi: Same result.
Sorachi: I doubt it…
“WHAT IS A DEADLINE? (LAUGHTER) [SORACHI]
ABOUT THE MEETINGS
Sorachi: I think one thing, though. The other mangaka respond properly to interviews because they think about questions on a daily basis.
Onishi: I guess that’s what you’re saying.
Sorachi: They also answer by thinking about what they’re not supposed to say, right? They’re amazing!
Onishi: But in a way, I think mangaka like you are to be envied. Because they don’t need to adapt to others.
Sorachi: Oh, no?
Onishi: No! They don’t even need to bow their heads to someone, or go to work in some office every day…
Sorachi: That’s the best thing about it.
Onishi: Just stick to the deadline, and they can keep drawing at their own pace.
Sorachi: Are you trying to tell me to meet the deadline…?
Onishi: Yeah!
Sorachi: What’s a deadline? (laughter)
Onishi: What do you mean?! (laughter)
Sorachi: What do you mean by “deadline”?
Onishi: It’s the limit for printing the magazine in time…
Sorachi: In that sense, I’ve never violated any deadlines.
Onishi: You’re on time because you have someone covering for you…
Sorachi: I’m talking about the one you impose on me at the beginning, Onishi! If the date beyond which the work will no longer be published is called a deadline, I think you should never exceed it, so don’t worry!
Onishi: Really…?
Sorachi: How will this interview be published in Akamaru?
Onishi: With a header. And I appear as the interviewer, as well as your editor…
Sorachi: But not everyone is that interested in something like that, right?
Onishi: In what?
Sorachi: In Gintama itself. Even if I talk for six pages, no one’s going to care, right?
Onishi: I think everyone is interested in you.
Sorachi: Really?
Onishi: Because everyone wants to hear your story! From questions and answers like the ones on the Gin Channel, it seems like you’re putting on airs, as if to say, “I’ve given it some thought before answering.”
Sorachi: Are you saying a confusing interview is better?
Onishi: Exactly! As in everyday chit-chat.
Sorachi: I’ve never seen an interview like that.
Onishi: You often see very long interviews in music magazines! You get asked about everything, starting with the history of your background!
Sorachi: That sounds unpleasant. I’d come across as obnoxious, and people might think I’ve gone overboard and that our story doesn’t matter…
Onishi: Well, those who want to read it, read it, and those who don’t… don’t.
Sorachi: The fact remains that they think I’ve gone overboard.
Onishi: But you like other mangaka’s interviews too, right?
Sorachi: I do. Other people’s, though.
Onishi: See? And that’s the same thing.
Sorachi: I like other people’s interviews because they’re done properly. Their answers are useful to me, too.
“SACCHAN, KYUBEI AND TAKASUGI ARE REALLY HARD TO HANDLE” [SORACHI]
Onishi: You’re referring to the interviews with a headline like “I WANT TO DRAW HUMAN BEINGS” right? (laughter)
Sorachi: The ones that start with a big advertising slogan… Ooh! Will this interview be like that?
Onishi: Well, not that serious… So how do you produce a work?
Sorachi: At first, I consult with my editor that’s you…
Onishi: We devote four to five hours a week to this little meeting, don’t we?
Sorachi: The other day about seven!
Onishi: Really? But we chatted about this and that, didn’t we?
Sorachi: If I’m not mistaken, our meeting started with an argument, don’t you remember? “You’re late!” that’s how you started, then we talked about this and that… that’s why it took seven hours! My meetings are pretty long for a mangaka! Other people take about one or two hours, right?
Onishi: I guess it depends on the person. In your case, at the beginning of the week you and I meet, then we have phone meetings every day…
Sorachi: And when we come to an agreement, I feel like cheating on him.
Onishi: Yeah, you hardly ever accept my opinions! (laughter) Even when we’re on the same page…
Sorachi: Most of the time, the ideas we share turn out to be failures.
Onishi: Maybe that’s where it all ends, and it’s like you’re letting off steam at that moment.
Sorachi: It occurs to me that because I had fun in the meeting, there’s no need to make that idea fun in the manga. Instead, when I draw something completely different from the line we’ve decided on, the manga comes out hilarious.
Onishi: I think it’s a matter of motivation. I guess it’s better when there’s something you want to draw, even if it betrays the agreement you made.
HOW DO YOU MAKE THE CHARACTERS?
Onishi: How do you come up with fun characters?
Sorachi: To put it simply, I basically try to make them earthy.
Onishi: Rather, you try to bring them to the readers’ side.
Sorachi: Exactly! The characters in the manga seem to float on air, so I try to make them sink into real life.
Onishi: That means you want to tell people, “These aren’t special at all just because they appear in a comic book!”, right? Show them picking their noses too, eating cheap snacks, etc… You mean that, right?
Sorachi: I think about the smallest details, as if they were people close to me. When I start to know what I would find in the dustbin of the character in question, I succeed. However, in Gintama, it didn’t happen often, there are some characters that I still don’t fully understand, for example Sacchan. Also, Kyubei and Takasugi are really difficult to handle.
Onishi: You still don’t fully understand them?
Sorachi: Ah! This discussion isn’t bad, huh? It can be used for a title, right?
Onishi: For example, “I haven’t been able to fully understand my characters”! (laughter) Who’s the easiest to handle?
Sorachi: I’d say Zura.
Onishi: Zura? Well, he’s funny!
Sorachi: I get a kick out of drawing him, because when he becomes dumb, he’s more powerful than anyone else. And since he’s a serious character, I like to deform his character, so when I do that I get excited. That’s a speech for an interview! (laughter) I also like Chief Matsudaira, but I don’t really understand his feelings.
Onishi: Did I mention that a Gintama fan once protested to me in tears?
Sorachi: Why was that?
Onishi: It was a girl who said she was a fan of Gin-san. When I told her that he talks out of his ass, she said, “That’s not true! Cut it out!” …
Sorachi: Crying?
Onishi: More like angrily… She yelled at me, “What do you know about Gin-san?!” …
Sorachi: My goodness!
Onishi: Well, she was right…
Sorachi: How wonderful! As I was saying, Gin-san’s already become independent, so there’s nothing we can do for him.
Onishi: What’s your favourite episode in Gintama?
Sorachi: The one about sukiyaki (100th lesson). And you, Onishi?
Onishi: The ones where Katsura appears.
Sorachi: What about the “sentimental episodes”?
Onishi: I have the impression that for this kind of stories there aren’t always enough pages available, a sentimental atmosphere really sticks with the readers.
Sorachi: I’d choose the episode about the kappa (18th lesson), where I was able to put in some jokes at just the right point… I also like the one about fireworks (56th teaching), but there, after all, the members of Yorozuya didn’t do anything.
Onishi: As a third anniversary event, we held a vote in the magazine.
Sorachi: I’d also mention the episode on Mayora Thirteen (65th lesson). However, I never have enough pages, I always think that if I had more pages I would be able to conclude the story better. So I have some regrets for each episode, I’m never completely satisfied.
Onishi: How about the chapter where the characters go to observe the cherry blossom (17th lesson)?
Sorachi: Well… I think there was a better way to end that story, too. To tell you the truth, I would have liked to have all the characters appear.
Onishi: You’re right!
Sorachi: Thinking about it now, we hardly ever discuss Gintama properly, even though we often talk about other manga or crime cases.
Onishi: Yeah! We get too involved, so there may be a lot of things we don’t understand.
WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRAW?
Onishi: Besides Gintama, what kind of story would you like to draw?
Sorachi: A manga with a school setting.
Onishi: Why?
Sorachi: I feel like once I get too old, I won’t be able to publish that kind of manga anymore. Besides, I enjoy drawing noisy scenes! And just by being in a classroom, a character might stand out.
Onishi: So the next work will be about school!
Sorachi: But to be funny, you can’t just put everyone in a school…
Onishi: If I remember correctly, among Miyazaki’s films, the one you like best is Kiki’s Delivery Service, right?
Sorachi: That’s right! But I never found Kiki cute.
Onishi: So what do you like?
Sorachi: The development of the story… and the description of the urban character!
Onishi: But narratively, it’s an ordinary work.
Sorachi: Huh? But it’s a lot of fun, isn’t it?
Onishi: There’s no fighting and no airships crash!
Sorachi: That’s true! However, I also like Laputa – The Castle in the Sky.
Onishi: You don’t like superheroes?
Sorachi: No.
Onishi: Do you like works that depict ordinary people who live by being busy?
Sorachi: It’s true that in Miyazaki’s anime I like the secondary characters, but not the main characters. Except for Sheeta. What do you like about this work, Onishi?
Onishi: It makes me feel emotions!
Sorachi: Your answer sounds stupid (laughter) But do you like the rendering of the scenes or the simplicity of the story?
Onishi: For example, the fact that the castle moves!
Sorachi: Yeah, you can feel the romance in Laputa! And in this interview, there’s also an exchange about Miyazaki’s anime! (laughs) Seriously, if I thought about drawing manga, it was because of Laputa. When I see the final scene, where it flies away, I feel very sad. I feel like saying, “Don’t leave me!”… I don’t know if you can understand.
Onishi: Did you, by any chance, draw the sequel yourself?
Sorachi: (laughter) No. For television works, and for manga, there’s always an end. And the readers definitely feel a sense of abandonment. They’ll feel like saying, “Wait a minute!” … Rather than being dumped like that, it’s better to switch sides. Maybe I draw for that reason too, it’s the only way to resolve such a situation, don’t you think?
Onishi: My way of resolving it is to wait for the next work.
Sorachi: Which will also end (laughter). There’s no choice but to become an author! Also, there’s one thing to add: the more funny movies you see, the more you feel an emptiness in your heart… isn’t that right?
Onishi: Why?
Sorachi: Because all you can do is “watch” them!
Onishi: Well, that’s normal!
Sorachi: Wouldn’t you like to be in a position where you can think, “I want to make a movie too!”?
Onishi: Normal people don’t think like that! Only you have that idea!
Sorachi: Of course I’m not capable of making something great, but I want to stay in this business forever.
Onishi: So you want to be a director after all?
Sorachi: No, not really… it’s more of a desire to create something. The more I see films, the more sad I get. Maybe that’s why I’m a mangaka.
Onishi: I don’t think everyone feels that way. You usually enjoy watching them.
Sorachi: Don’t you feel like enhancing that feeling in some way? Doesn’t hearing, “Ooh, I have to go back to the office tomorrow!” … doesn’t it make you feel empty inside? Isn’t it great to think that you can create something better the next day?
Onishi: (laughter) Yeah, but normal people don’t think like that.
Sorachi: Don’t they think, “I’d like to create something moving too!”?
Onishi: No. But it’s because you think like that that you became a mangaka, right?
Sorachi: The more you see funny works, the more excited you get…!
“YOU DON’T TALK TO OTHERS MUCH, DO YOU?” [ONISHI]
WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE GOALS?
Onishi: Any plans for the future?
Sorachi: I’ll be happy if I can continue drawing.
Onishi: Until what age?
Sorachi: Until I die.
Onishi: Really?
Sorachi: Yeah! Hmm?
Onishi: Well, do you want to retire at a specific age…?
Sorachi: No.
Onishi: Do you want to keep drawing forever?
Sorachi: Yes! But without being cornered like that, even if it’s impossible.
Onishi: More like…
Sorachi: Impossible. The next work will be a failure. (laughter) Maybe I’ll eventually open a cafe, and that’ll be the end of my career.
Onishi: (laughter) Why a cafe?
Sorachi: Well… There’s no particular reason… A situation like this comes to mind: “I used to draw manga…”!
Onishi: A cafe run by Hideaki Sorachi, the former mangaka! Basically, a manga cafe? (laughter)
Sorachi: No! It would just be a place where you could talk to the owner!
Onishi: You don’t talk to other people much, do you?
Sorachi: A place where aspiring mangaka gather.
Onishi: In Hokkaido?
Sorachi: I don’t want to go back there anymore. But I’d like to continue making manga, or screenplays… After all, there’s nothing else I want to do…
Onishi: Would you still like to continue creating stories?
Sorachi: Yeah! Something similar to what I’m doing now.
Onishi: What if you eventually die drawing a storyboard? (laughter)
Sorachi: That would be fine. While I’m writing the storyboard, I offer a lot, but when the readers say the manga is fun, I’m really happy. I’d say drawing is my only hobby.
Onishi: By the way, you never get sick.
Sorachi: I do get sick, but I get treatment.
Onishi: When did you ever get sick? (laughter)
Sorachi: Several times! You didn’t know? The episode where Zura attends a driving school (125th lesson) has an eccentric story… Well, it was due to a fever.
Onishi: (laughter)
Sorachi: That time I was about thirty-eight, and had a big cough. I drew the storyboard in a state of confusion. Seriously, it was risky, I had a strange feeling. Right before the deadline, everyone feels tense… or maybe only I do since I’m up against the wall.
Onishi: You had to struggle!
TELL ME ABOUT WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD!
Onishi: What were you like as a child?
Sorachi: I don’t want to brag, but until primary schools, I was everyone’s favourite.
Onishi: Did you make the others laugh?
Sorachi: Yes! I was the centre of my class!
Onishi: You used to give funny answers to teachers’ questions, right?
Sorachi: I wasn’t that skilled. And then in middle school, I met a whole different level of kids from all over the city, and my popularity disappeared.
Onishi: Without standing out, you’d like to be the centre of attention, right?
Sorachi: I’m shy, but I like making others laugh.
Onishi: It’s as if you want to say, “Look at me!” …
Sorachi: Not really. I’ve always wanted to be funny anyway.
Onishi: Which is like saying, “Hey, look at me!” …
Sorachi: Um… It’s an unpleasant expression.
Onishi: It’s because you want to express yourself that you draw manga, right?
Sorachi: Thinking about it now… is that why? If so, I’m drawing out of a desire that’s pretty disgusting.
Onishi: Disgusting…? Basically we all have the same desire, the desire to get recognition, and that desire leads to a concrete result. Some people become mangaka, and some become criminals. It’s not really for that reason, however we often talk about criminal cases.
Sorachi: That’s right, we comment on a certain guy’s character, for example.
Onishi: Exactly! We get hung up on the characteristics of the likely perpetrator.
Sorachi: The meeting ends in about fifteen minutes, and then we talk about these things.
Onishi: Let’s get right off topic.
Sorachi: Rather… I have the impression that this interview is questionable.
Onishi: No problem, it’ll be published secretly anyway.
Sorachi: Our reputation will suffer a lot, won’t it?
Onishi: Since it’s going to come out in a corner of Akamaru unbeknownst to everyone, there’s no need to worry!
Sorachi: But someone in writing is always to be feared. The readers will take everything literally.
Onishi: Then it’s enough to say honestly everything the criminals feel can teach the mangaka something.
Sorachi: They don’t have to be criminals.
Onishi: They’re hiding a deep wound in their hearts.
Sorachi: Yeah…
Onishi: So imagining why they’ve gone to such lengths is like creating characters after all.
Sorachi: You’re right! The character who hasn’t strayed from the path of righteousness despite his past experiences is the perfect manga protagonist.
Onishi: Exactly! Finding a reason that justifies behavior that seems strange or bizarre at first glance is a mangaka’s job. When asked, “Why does he do that?”, instead of saying he’s eccentric, you have to come up with a proper explanation.
Sorachi: In that sense, parents are always important. I have great faith in mine.
Onishi: In the end, it always comes back to this point: “If I do something like this, my parents will suffer!” … It’s not a matter of logic.
Sorachi: Yeah.
Onishi: There’s a lot of things we go through when we have that thought.
Sorachi: Now that those of our generation have become parents, maybe that way of thinking has changed a bit? Crimes have always existed, so we all have the opportunity to commit some crime? It’s just that the problems have changed… but what are we talking about?
Onishi: We’re discussing modern society.
Sorachi: Are you going to publish this too?
Onishi: Yes, if it’s interesting!
Sorachi: I’d rather readers didn’t read this conversation.
Onishi: It’s only natural that you feel that way… We’ve gotten a little off topic. When you were in primary schools, did you do anything else besides draw comics?
Sorachi: I was lively, I was good at sports!
Onishi: If I remember correctly, you were in the basketball club in junior high, right?
Sorachi: Yes, but I became less and less agile and realised I wasn’t good at physical activities. I started to find a lot of people who stood out more, so I thought, “Great! It’s time to go the comedy route.
Onishi: That’s a great path to follow in life!
Sorachi: I’m glad I did.
Onishi: You mean it’s because of that that you’re doing your job now?
Sorachi: Yes!
Onishi: Were you ever scolded by your parents? And how they did it.
Sorachi: Huh? Are you asking me?
Onishi: What do you mean? Who do you think I’m interviewing? (laughter)
Sorachi: I was scolded a lot more by my teachers than by my parents.
Onishi: Why was that?
Sorachi: Because I was joking around too much…! I happened to get beaten up because I took a shortcut during the marathon.
Onishi: Really?
Sorachi: We used to call the PE teacher “Gori”. As I was trotting after cheating, I saw him coming towards me. So I changed tactics and told him I had a stomachache, but he had already found out and punched me in the stomach with all his might.
Onishi: You tend to show great courage on unexpected occasions…!
FOR THOSE WHO ASPIRE TO BE MANGAKA
Onishi: Say something to the kids who want to become mangaka!
Sorachi: Well, it’s not good to just read comics.
Onishi: Then what should they do?
Sorachi: Since they want to become mangaka, it’s clear they like comics. So, they need something else.
Onishi: Yeah!
Sorachi: They need to do the activities of some circle, like everyone else… Because they need to know about normal life too, right? For example, they need to know how other high schoolers live, but… while maintaining a cynical outlook.
Onishi: “Normal life, but with cynicism” … Is that what you mean?
Sorachi: That would be insolent, not to publish it!
Onishi: Well, just don’t write it arrogantly.
Sorachi: No, don’t publish it!
Onishi: Just add a sentence like “It’s not for me to say, but…”!
Sorachi: I don’t want to be like that!
Onishi: I hope to even create a series of interviews like this.
Sorachi: What?! Did you like it?
Onishi: Everyone likes interviews with mangaka, but it’s rare to find them… I think so.
Sorachi: Then I’d better say something useful, right?
Onishi: It doesn’t have to be “useful”. As in, everyone wants to read the diary on Social Mixi, right? Anyway, lesser people don’t like it.
Sorachi: (laughter) Do you get angry reading your friends’ diaries?
Onishi: People who don’t reply to my emails often update their pages. It doesn’t take that long to reply to an email! (laughter)
Sorachi: But Mixi has nothing to do with this! (laughter)
Onishi: (laughter)
Sorachi: Going back to the question I asked earlier, people who want to become mangaka usually tend to study only as a drawer, and of course that’s important.
Onishi: But it would also be good to observe people…
Sorachi: If you ask me, “If you draw, can you automatically become a mangaka?”, I’d say no.
Onishi: You’re right! You have to be able to describe “people”, to delve into human nature.
Sorachi: On second thought, if the person who draws a manga initially doesn’t want to be a mangaka… It would be more interesting.
“YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE ‘PEOPLE’, SO IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A PERSPECTIVE TO DELVE INTO HUMAN NATURE.” [ONISHI]
ABOUT GINTAMA…
Onishi: What developments should we expect?
Sorachi: Hmm? Are you talking about Gintama?
Onishi: Yes.
Sorachi: If I revealed it, that would be the end!
Onishi: You can’t tell us anything at all…?
Sorachi: I’d like to finish this work before I get to volume 30.
Onishi: Volume 30?
Sorachi: Otherwise, the desire to collect all the volumes will disappear, won’t it?
Onishi: I don’t think so, for example Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo.
Sorachi: For a work like that there’s no problem, but for a frivolous manga like Gintama it’ll be harder. Frankly, it already is. I think it’s good to close Gintama at about the 18th volume!
Onishi: But there are a lot of fans asking you to continue forever!
Sorachi: Since each episode is so confusing, if it goes past thirty volumes it’ll feel like Sazae-san.
Onishi: Sazae-san‘s episodes aren’t confusing, and everyone watches them!
Sorachi: Not at all! Since it’s broadcast on Sundays at that time, everyone watches it out of inertia.
Onishi: That’s not true! When I was a kid, I used to look forward to it! And since they were showing three episodes, I’d think, “One more, how lucky I am!”.
Sorachi: But I didn’t want to watch it anymore because I thought, “Tomorrow it’s back to school…”.
Onishi: I used to watch them.
Sorachi: When it’s time for Sazae-san, don’t you start feeling melancholy?
Onishi: Well, that’s true… Then how about the Gintama anime?
Sorachi: It made me happy! At first, I was told that proposals for an anime were coming, but I was never presented with any concrete plans. So I couldn’t see the possibility. Then, looking at the audience’s reaction at the JF-AT ’05 (Jump Festa Anime Tour 2005), I realized that Gintama is really appreciated and that made me happy, I almost cried.
Onishi: It may be that mangaka generally don’t realize it. Because the editors have contact with various people, they have control over the situation, but the illustrators are always locked up at home.
Sorachi: I don’t really know if my work is popular or not.
Onishi: You might be able to tell from the copies of the monographs that are printed,
Sorachi: But it’s always about numbers that you can’t actually check. However, when I went to JF-AT ’05, and saw the audience’s reaction, I felt happy… Gintama is liked!
Onishi: I get it!
Sorachi: I have one more thing to say. Maybe it’s not appropriate to use the term “inept people”, but it seems like my work makes you think… “Even if I’m inept, I can go on living!”. Anyway, I personally don’t think I’m drawing incompetent people… or it means I am too…
Onishi: Maybe that’s what readers like. The message they read between the lines is “there’s no such thing as an incompetent person”.
Sorachi: Hmm, I don’t think my work is that refined.
Onishi: True, but it sends a message like that! Even though there are lots of superhero stories in children’s magazines, in your manga a lot of characters throw up or pick their nose…
Sorachi: But I’m not the only one who does that! Everybody does it, don’t they?
Onishi: What are you talking about?
Sorachi: Don’t the others humiliate their characters?
Onishi: Yes, but there’s always a limit!
Sorachi: I humiliate them too much?
Onishi: Yeah! If Luffy was a peeping tom, he’d back off at some point.
Sorachi: But Luffy was a peeping tom at the end of the Alabasta saga!
Onishi: Really? Gin-san would be more obscene anyway, because he’d be more realistic!
Sorachi: (laughing)
Onishi: More than just looking like a cheerful dirtbag…
Sorachi: He’d impress everyone, and with another misstep, he might lose his fans… Even though he’s made some missteps now…
Onishi: Do you read the letters sent by your fans?
Sorachi: Of course! That’s my only pleasure!
Onishi: Ok…
Sorachi: That’s normal! I draw with all my might because I can see what the readers are saying! If I don’t get any letters, it’ll be hard to keep working.
Onishi: Have you received any unusual messages?
Sorachi: A letter from a prisoner. It looks like it was written in solitary confinement. “Gintama saved me.” … I’m happy that my manga can be useful to someone.
Onishi: Do you often get letters from abroad, too?
Sorachi: Yes.
Onishi: I wonder if foreigners understand Gintama‘s gags?
Sorachi: I’m very pleased that my work is published in the North American edition of Jump, because there are some amazing authors there! There’s also Rurouni Kenshin, who’s a big hit.
Onishi: It seems like samurai and ninja always enjoy a lot of popularity.
Sorachi: Americans still have a misconception about us. If I remember correctly, in the American edition of the film Godzilla, in the scene where the beast comes out of the sea for the first time, you see fishermen in the ship eating sushi while watching a sumo match. There’s still a bizarre description of Japan.
Onishi: Anyway, the Japanese see sumo matches and eat sushi. This information, in itself, is correct…
Sorachi: But I’d say you wouldn’t do that on a fishing boat! (laughter)
Onishi: It can also happen the other way around, in the sense that the Japanese may have a misconception about Americans.
Sorachi: Of course…
Onishi: We’d imagine them eating popcorn in front of a baseball game, or holding a hamburger.
Sorachi: And the Americans would say, “Not in this situation!”?
Onishi: Probably.
“I DRAW WITH ALL MY STRENGTH PRECISELY BECAUSE I CAN VERIFY THE REACTIONS OF THE READERS!” [SORACHI]
SAY SOMETHING TO YOUR FANS…
Onishi: That’s it! And finally, say something to your fans!
Sorachi: Don’t ask me a question like that… I get tense! (laughter) Ask me something similar but in a more natural way.
Onishi: What can we expect to see in the future?
Sorachi: Do we have any special episodes planned? The ninja saga, then…?
Onishi: I don’t remember what the Ninja Saga is…
Sorachi: A series of episodes where Sacchan and Zenzou have more significance. There was also the saga of the great war in Kabukicho!
Onishi: The Four Devas of the district will appear.
Sorachi: I’d also like to expand on Otose, and then the saga of Mutsu and Sakamoto. There will also be a story about Kagura’s older brother. However, it’s hard to believe that no one seems to expect a serious story, they all want me to go on with gag after gag… It’s difficult for me.
Onishi: I think there can be serious stories too.
Sorachi: What should I do to make a serious story funny? Maybe my drawings aren’t right? They’re not serious…?
Onishi: That’s not it.
Sorachi: So most of this interview is impossible to publish, right?
Onishi: Is that right?
Sorachi: Are we going to have trouble? (laughter)
Onishi: Maybe…
END
So, the Monster Hunter special ends here. Almost all the extra space was taken up by the interview published in Akamaru magazine, but not because I deserted the job. I want to stress that I wasn’t just hunting, I was busy with various things: illustrations for the novel, work for Akamaru, eliminating the Yian Kut-Ku… I distinguish work from hunting, I’m a professional! The next volume will be like the others, so I’m asking my comrades who are willing to go and defeat the Yian Kut-ku with me to send me messages without any hesitation! I’ll be waiting for you in a tavern!
New topic: “Someone destroy my console”.
Yorozuya Shinigami 