CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 234
QUESTION FROM MISS AYANO KON, AOMORI PROVINCE
This is my first time writing to you, Sorachi sensei. As I understand it, after the Shinsengumi left Edo, Hijikata quit smoking… But when he came back in volume 67, he had a cigarette in his mouth! Why?! Or was it some kind of lollipop? Tell me the truth, please!
ANSWER:
The one in Hijikata’s mouth is a kind of “pipe-like” electronic cigarette.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 235
QUESTION FROM MR. “FOR THE GRADUATION EXAM THEME I TOOK INSPIRATION FROM GINTAMA!”
Good morning, Sorachi sensei! Taking into account all the steps involved in making a manga, how long does it take to draw an entire volume (including the cover and the rib)? Leafing through the issue of “Jump Ryu“* dedicated to you, it seems to take an eternity!
ANSWER:
First of all, each panel is a story in itself. Let’s start with the cover: the rib can take as little as ten minutes, but everything else can take an hour or a whole day. That’s why it’s difficult to calculate precise times, but it takes approximately four to seven hours. As for any other colour plates, it can take me half a day or two. On “Jump Ryu,” you can see that I sketch out the lines over and over again before drawing them, but I only use this method for pin-ups or colour illustrations. Ordinary’ boards are drawn in one draft, so it takes me one to three hours to complete one, or twenty to forty minutes when the delivery date is approaching. Taking into account the time it takes my assistants to complete the backgrounds, let’s say that in one day we can complete a maximum of five pages. An episode consists of nineteen pages, so it takes four days to complete. Drawing the backgrounds is definitely more challenging than portraying the characters. So, at the end of the day, if a volume contains more or less nine episodes, it takes an average of thirty-six days to complete it. Thirty if you deduct the hours of sleep.
*Limited-edition publication periodically dedicated to a mangaka from “Jump” magazine.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 236
QUESTION FROM MISS “I’M NOT MIKA BUT MINORS” FROM FUKUOKA PROVINCE
I suddenly had a question for you, sensei! In the flashback of the 590th lesson, you see Utsuro giving his immortal blood to Oboro, then in the 594th lesson, you see him giving it to the Tendoshu’s men as well. They lost their arms and legs, but Oboro didn’t… Why?! Please explain it to me in full so that even a non-bright seventh grader can understand it!
ANSWER:
It depends on how much blood you receive and how much you tolerate it.
Utsuro’s blood, containing Altana, is too heavy for the body of an ordinary mortal, who cannot contain it without facing devastating consequences. The men of Tendoshu received a great deal of it because they wanted immortality and ended up in that state. Oboro, on the other hand, received very little and his body was better preserved, but his vital functions were gradually affected until he died.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 237
QUESTION FROM MR. “ORGANIZE MORE EVENTS IN SAPPORO TOO!”
Hello, Sorachi sensei, I have a question for you. When Okita fought Utsuro, he felt, for the first time in his life, that he was facing an enemy he couldn’t defeat. When he faced Kamui, didn’t he feel the same way?
ANSWER:
I imagine that in front of Kamui, no matter how hard he was struggling, Okita felt he had a thread of hope because their strengths were equal. But when faced with Utsuro, no matter how hard he fought, guided by his experience in the field and his instinct for survival, Okita knew right away that he would not win.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 238
QUESTION FROM MR. “GINTAMA REVOLUTION“, TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA
Sensei, I can’t draw men of a certain age well… But how do you do it?! How do you make them look so cool?! Please help me, Sorachi sensei!
ANSWER:
In order to draw middle-aged men well, you have to reset the canon of manga, i.e. no pointed chin, sharp nose, and so on. All the know-how you’ve learned to make cool characters becomes useless. Rather, you have to recover the bad habits you have abandoned. Basically, you need to know how to draw a rough chin, a greasy potato nose, the nasolabial groove, etc. But the most important thing of all is to express tiredness. Middle-aged men are tired beings. Think of your father. Although he never does much, he always says, “Aah, I’m so tired!”, right? “I’m too tired, don’t bother me any more with this housework!”… They are miserable and inept beings who barricade themselves behind a facade of tiredness. One must learn to draw this tiredness accurately, to make the gaze dull, to make drool drip from the mouth, to make something protrude from the nose that is not a hair, etc.
I’m writing all this while I’m rolling up something that came out of my nose. Aah, how tired I am!
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 239
QUESTION FROM MR. “ISABURO WILL ALWAYS BE A SLOB”, KYOTO PROVINCE
Sorachi sensei, good morning! I wanted to ask you if there’s a criterion you use to design the characters’ clothes. I really hope you can tell me!
ANSWER:
You can immediately tell if someone has just started university or has just started dressing up, because their flashy look immediately makes you think, “Ah, this guy’s trying hard to look cool!”. But it’s not because their face doesn’t match their clothing or hair, or because they look ugly… it just gives the impression of something a bit contrived. So I try to avoid that and make sure that my characters don’t have to try too hard. It shouldn’t look like they’ve dressed up for the occasion, but that they’ve been wearing those clothes forever. Except for Utsuro, who is clearly not comfortable in that black cloak. He definitely made his debut as an eternal youth.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 240
QUESTION FROM MR. “KIBIDANGO HANGING ON THE SIDE” OF MIE PROVINCE
Sorachi sensei, I have a problem. I would like to correct my overly apprehensive nature. Even the slightest thing can cause my anxiety to soar as I brood over it and imagine its effects. People often say to me: “Why don’t you use your vivid imagination for something more creative?”… But I just want to change my personality! How can I do that?! Please help me (and I apologize for asking such a serious question).
ANSWER:
From the point of view of the undersigned, who for 37 years has been concerned about having a hairy behind, personality cannot be changed. Human beings are naturally inclined to torment themselves over anything, even the smallest thing. If you think about it, why did we start tormenting ourselves? When we were still naked and going “Huhua huhua,” what did we torment ourselves about? It’s very easy to imagine, isn’t it? “Because sabre-toothed tigers are scary,” you’d all say. Mankind’s great concern is survival. That is, passing on their genes and making them thrive. However, tiger fangs are really scary and at the time there was no language as articulate as today’s, so they might say: ‘Shall we do Huhua? But what about huhua and huhua (let’s make a kind of sabre and fight sabre-toothed tigers)!”.
In this way they were able to guarantee themselves a better chance of survival.
But wishes never run out. Once they had solved the problem of the tigers, they began to give themselves other thoughts: “I’ve got huhua, but there’s huhua (Kobayashi’s sabre is bigger and more magnificent than mine, I don’t like that)!” The torments for survival turned into torments for a more agitated life: “Then I’ll make huhua to Kobayashi too!” … “S-Stop it! (Kobayashi)” … “Huhua huhuuua!”
Even after making huhua to Kobayashi, the humans continued to torment themselves. For example, thinking, “I made huhua to Kobayashi, but the person who made huhua should also undergo huhua, shouldn’t they?”, “We should all go to Kobayashi’s house together to make huhua carrying a package of sweets, and have him teach us how to make a magnificent saber!” … They continued each time they overcame a problem, the easier life became, the more their torments receded from the starting point. And so we come to the present day: “Huhuaaaaaa! (I have too much hair on my behind)!”.
This shows why we are destined to torment ourselves forever. This is our nature, and it is because we have become too efficient. We tend to make fun of people who worry about nothing, but the size of the problem does not matter. There are simply no more sabre-toothed tigers or sabres, so we fight against the hairs on our asses. If there were still sabre-toothed tigers, I wouldn’t pay attention to my hair either. But the opposite is also true: if there had not been those tigers, even primitive men would have been concerned about their hair. They were certainly hirsute.
Having said that, listen, Kibidango Hanging on One Side… I’m not going to stand here and tell you not to pay attention to nonsense. Since you’re a highly efficient living being, you live tormenting yourself over trifles. However, if you continue to suffer for it or to detest yourself, put yourself in front of a sabre-toothed tiger, that is, challenge a bigger problem. You will surely forget all the other torments. By the way, ever since I stood in front of a sabre-toothed tiger named “manga” I keep fighting my ass hairs by seeing them as sabres.
New topic: “Huhua huhua!”
Yorozuya Shinigami 