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Lately I had been assigned a very complicated job, which I was carrying out in conjunction with the weekly serial publication. But since I could not finish it, I was tired both physically and mentally, and so prostrated that I wished for the unhappiness of people all over the world! Then, those middle-aged men who have nothing to do since the Gintama anime ended, pitied me, organized a drink to encourage me, honestly, drinking with filthy middle-aged men, and no women, is not at all comforting so I would have preferred to work instead of spending the time uselessly. But given the circumstances, I thought I’d relieve the stress, and attacked the others: ‘What do you mean Justaway won*? I want to make sashimi out of it and eat it now!”.
So as I continued with my complaints, they were all infected and we started to touch on complicated topics, such as the regulation of TV programs and the ideal future of the anime. They were arguing lively with their dirty but elated faces: “Rather than broadcasting something that isn’t Gintama, changing the work because of certain laws, it’s better to let it end!”. Or: “No! The most important thing is to fight against regulation and allow viewers to see Gintama edited within acceptable limits!”Well, I should have been grateful, because they cared enough about my manga to engage in a spirited discussion. They said nice things, nice words, but they were filthy and their saliva splattered all over the fried chicken and other dishes on the table… So I nodded randomly, hoping they’d stop talking and come up with a solution. I was thinking: ‘I don’t care about these things, I wish they would encourage me!’. Then the situation evolved in a totally unexpected way…
*It’s the name of a racehorse
At first, even though it was an argument, it was as if they were playing around and having a Mongolian sumo match partly for real and partly as a joke, smearing lubricant on each other. But since the drink was organized to encourage Sorachi sensei, which is me, I thought they would stop it sooner or later. However, when I returned from the bathroom, I found all these older men engaged in a Pride* match in a ring surrounded by barbed wire!
They’d been properly lubricated just now, but in the short time I’d been looking away, the lotion had dried up and they were straddling each other, dyeing themselves a completely different lotion than usual… red! Well, it wasn’t that they were really going at it, but two filthy middle-aged men were giving each other dirty looks as if they might fight at any moment. It was like, “Aah? You want to hit me? Hey!”
Have you ever seen older men looking at each other with hostile eyes? It was scary. It wasn’t a junior high school student! It was a middle-aged man against a middle-aged man! People who should have learnt many things in life, apart from knowing how to cope and understanding other people’s pain, were looking at each other hard!
Since I grew up in the lap of luxury, I was trembling with fear, but I couldn’t go on like this, because I too am a middle-aged man! So, together with Jelly Belly, my former editor, I immediately poured some lubricant on my head and slid slippery between the two of them, making unfunny jokes like: ‘Oof! Do you think it’s appropriate to show Sorachi sensei such a quarrel?! If the style of Gintama is going to change because of you guys, what are you going to do?” or, “Go for it! You might be useful for battle scenes!”. So I placated them by greasing everything with the cry of: “You’re not doing it seriously, are you? This isn’t a serious fight, it’s a comedy skit, right? Right? You’re joking, right? You’re all creeps, right?”
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 121
QUESTION FROM MISS CHIHIRO
In Gintama, which character is the most difficult to draw and which is the easiest?
ANSWER:
The easiest ones are Hasegawa and Zenzou. The most challenging part of drawing a character is the eyes. I avoid them with these characters. But above all, they’re middle-aged men, so even if they look a bit ugly, they’re still acceptable.
But I want to make the female characters pretty, so they take longer.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 122
QUESTION FROM MR. SOBANA’S PARTER
Bansai carries out his activities as a music producer under an assumed name. But since the Shinsengumi know his face, is he in no danger?
ANSWER:
Since he’s a mysterious producer who never shows his face and doesn’t even make his profile public, there’s no problem. By the way, Otsu has never met him in person either.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 123
QUESTION FROM MR. OGAWA
Who was the character in Gintama that first came to your mind?
ANSWER:
Gin-san. First of all, I put the main character at the centre, then I thought that in order to make him stand out, you needed someone to compare him to. So Shinpachi was born. Then Kagura, because we needed a little more sparkle. Otae appeared in the scene first, but Kagura’s outline had been done beforehand. After placing the Yorozuya at the centre of the story, I defined the characters around him. Even Hasegawa, who appeared in episode 2, was part of the Yorozuya in the outlining stage, to add an adult’s point of view, but then he fell through the cracks on his own…
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 124
QUESTION FROM MR. NAKAGAWA
Sorachi sensei, what do you do when you’re in the situation “I’m sleepy but I don’t have to sleep, I have to finish the boards”‘ I, personally, am always so sleepy lately….
ANSWER:
Drinking coffee, chewing gum, licking mustard, slapping myself with a slipper, even sticking a drawing pin in my arm… I’ve tried various methods to make a night of it over the past eight years, but they all only work at first, and once I get used to them, they have no effect. When I reach the limit, even if I’m giving directions to the assistants, I fall asleep.
“Sensei, tell me!”
“So, at this point… zzz…”
I once fell asleep for two or three minutes like this. I slept pretending to torment myself by staring at the boards. Since I reduce myself to this state, it is impossible to eliminate sleep completely, no matter what I do.
So what is to be done? Let’s face it: nothing but sleep! Even ten or twenty minutes is fine, fall asleep without hesitation. If you’re worried about people’s stares, collapse in the toilet pretending to poop. As soon as you wake up you are assailed for a moment by a sense of exhaustion, which makes you think that it would be better to die, but in this way, at least for a while, you manage to chase away sleep.
It’s just that your body feels the effects of all this, and you don’t work efficiently, so I advise you to get as much sleep as you need and to distribute your time well, so that you can work without interruption.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 125
QUESTION FROM MR. NAKAGAWA
Sorachi sensei, what do you do when you’re in the situation “I’m sleepy but I don’t have to sleep, I have to finish the boards!”? I’m always very sleepy lately….
ANSWER:
Drinking coffee, chewing gum, licking mustard, slapping myself with a slipper, even sticking a drawing pin in my arm… I’ve tried various methods to make a night of it over the past eight years, but they all only work at first, and once I get used to them they have no effect. When I reach the limit, even if I’m giving directions to the assistants, I fall asleep.
“Sensei, tell me!”
“So, at this point…zzz…”
I once fell asleep for two or three minutes like this. I slept pretending to torment myself by staring at the boards. Since I reduce myself to this state, it is impossible to eliminate sleep completely, no matter what I do.
So what is to be done? Let’s face it: nothing but sleep! Ten or even twenty minutes is fine, fall asleep without hesitation. If you’re worried about people’s stares, collapse in the toilet pretending to poop. As soon as you wake up you are assailed for a moment by a sense of exhaustion, which makes you think that it would be better to die, but in this way, at least for a while, you manage to chase away the sleep.
Only the body feels the effects of this, and you do not work efficiently. Therefore, I advise you to get as much sleep as you need and to distribute your time well, so that you can work without interruption.
However, when I later asked them the reason for the quarrel, they said that it is the order of the day to fight in such a skirmish. And they continued to make dirty jokes as if nothing had happened.
But the director Wada, from TV Tokyo, was sad because he had made a fool of himself in front of the author of the original work. He wasn’t moving, his eyes were half-closed, and his umbrella was clutched to his chest. So I said, “It’s not like that, Director Wada! I am quite moved. I feel really encouraged, because I saw that mature men like you are trying to turn such an absurd manga into anime by having lively discussions and even giving importance to a dirty joke! Rather than a meeting to support Sorachi sensei, it became a meeting to incite Zatoichi*. But that doesn’t matter, thank you very much for today!”.
Then Wada rushed to the bathroom. I thought he was crying and was moved by my words, but he didn’t come back. Since he was drunk off his ass, we started to worry.
“Director Wada! Are you alright?! Come on, Wadaaaa!” … Since he didn’t answer, I opened the bathroom door by picking the lock with a ten-yen coin and… I found Zatoichi pooping in a normal way…
New topic: “Meeting to see Zatoichi poop.”
*Literary character created by writer Kan Shimozawa.
Yorozuya Shinigami 