iceemperor schrieb:

Kubo was a guest on TBS Radio's Shonen Jump 50th anniversary collaboration

tbsradio.jp/197344

This time as well, lots of interesting things came out in the talk:

• Kubo lives in Roppongi Hills, an incredibly affluent district popular for its night life and expensive residences. He was able to walk to the location this talk would be recorded and broadcasted, in Akasaka which is north of Roppongi. He's lived there for the last 10 years. The hosts were super surprised as they'd never known anyone who lived in Roppongi. Kubo's wife also wanted to come to this appearance as she is also a fan of the host duo but she was sick and so couldn't make it.
  
• Kubo got his start in Jump when he was in highschool when he told his teacher he'd become a mangaka and then went on to write a oneshot for an award, Pop Step Award. He said he had to do this after telling his teacher he'd become a mangaka. He didn't win the award, he got to the final round, but an editor from Jump contacted him saying he'd be his editor. He initially declined as he doesn't like collaborating with people and likes doing everything on his own but eventually agreed. That editor became his first editor.
  
• Kubo's favourite manga when he was a kid were GeGeGe no Kitaro and Saint Seiya, though his art style is completely different. He was constantly drawing youkai and the like as a kid, imitating Kitaro. His parents were indifferent to hearing him say he'd become a mangaka. They never said yes or no.
  
• Soon after he began working with his editor, he began writing some works. The hosts ask whether the editor asked him to change stuff as the editor is more experienced and has seen more manga and artists but Kubo says that his first editor didn't really ask him to change much. He was apparently rather fond of Kubo's work. Kubo would also not change much. Even if the editor tells him to change something, if he thought it was interesting he'd not change it. His editor didn't really make much of a fuss and let it through though. Kubo doesn't really remember much from his time with that editor as nothing that left an impression happened.
  
• Kubo is rather bad at working in a group. The hosts ask if he's a lone wolf and he says he probably is. He keeps the time spent with the assistants rather short due to this but he says he rather likes his assistants. He's also the type to eat by himself, though its different now that he's married.
  
• Kubo debuted in Jump in a 1996 special issue. These special issues also have their own voting system. He says that for each special issue, experienced mangaka write the series on the cover as well as one shots& yonkoma from current serialized mangaka. These would take the first two spots. From number three and down would be oneshots from newcomers and rookies. He was fourth that issue. Oda was above him at third with Romance Dawn. From then on he didn't like Oda as much.
  
• Three years later he would begin his first serialized series. During those three years, he would make one shots though he says he didn't really do much then. His editor would make him write stories but he himself didn't really want to. He would write one-shots barely in time for the deadlines and then his editor would bring assistants then. About a week before the deadline, Kubo would be called to Tokyo and be "confined" to a room and would finish the one-shot there with assistants specifically for that one-shot. At that time, the assistants were all older than Kubo so he found it rather difficult to work there. He secretly thought "Can't these people leave?". When giving them work, he'd say "Please draw it like this" or "Please draw it to have this kind of feeling" though it would often not be done according to his image and then he would correct it himself after.
  
• Before Zombie Powder, he wrote two one-shots. This is supposedly rather early for a serialization for a rookie. However, during the time of the one-shots, he was often scolded. Before his second one-shot, he was called to Tokyo by Torishima, the Editor-in-Chief at the time. At Shueisha, he was sent to a room with his then editor and Torishima. There Torishima told him "You manga is not good", though the nuance is more harsh. Torishima then put Dragon Ball and First of the North Star's Volume 1s on the table in front of him and said," Go home and read these. Write these kinds of manga". Kubo thought to himself "This bastard..!" Kubo says that the intent behind that was that they wanted him to write huge hits like those two manga, as told to him by his then editor. He didn't read those volumes later, though at that point he already knew about those two manga given how big they were.
  
• Zombie powder ended in 2000 and Bleach began in 2001. There was little time between the two. Soon after Zombie Powder ended, the editors wanted him to write again though he wanted to rest a bit more. Since he was cancelled, his editor said to "write a story or you'll be forgotten". His editor had already reserved a space for the cover of the next special issue, so he was forced to write a one-shot. The story for that issue was the Bleach one-shot. The feedback was good for that one-shot and thus it became a series.
  
• For Bleach, he had already been writing down characters in a notebook to use later for a while and with the sudden task of the oneshot, he used characters from that notebook. Rukia was the first character designed for Bleach, though the shinigami theme wasn't decided until later using a prototype of Rukia's design. The shinigami theme was, according to Kubo, partially influenced by Kitaro but also that he was rather scared of the afterlife and dying and so he made that the theme.
  
• Since each character in Bleach has their own Zanpakuto and the like, the hosts ask if it was difficult to design so many of them but he says he didn't really struggle. He had designed everything with the character as a set.
  
• He had already decided on the ending at the beginning. In his case, he writes with certain scenes in mind and then connects them together so he had already decided on the final scene. Filling the parts in between was his main writing style. The ending didn't change the entire 15 years as he had already decided to end with a "next generation taking over" type of scene. This also worked out well even if he was cancelled in-between as he was basically kicking it down the line as he was writing and could end it there. There were times when, in the middle, he wasn't really thinking too much, however its impossible to write if you're not thinking at all. The hosts also say sometimes that works out great as in the case of Otokojuki where even the inconsistencies are enjoyable and make for a great manga. Its different for each mangaka.
  
• Nakano was his second editor. He was supposedly rather nice to Kubo though Kubo says that his attitude changes per mangaka. Nakano was apparently very hard on Matsui. Rather than hard, Kubo says "haughty" might be closer to how their relationship was.
  
• Bleach was eventually made into an anime. Kubo was happy when this happened but he knew that series in Jump that gained popularity would get anime so he was more like "This late..?". Bleach was apparently rather late in getting an anime at that time. Other series that were serialized had already gotten their anime. It took around 3 years to get an anime, an amount of time that lots of series could end in. That Bleach didn't end in 3 years, Kubo was glad. Kubo was both happy and thinking, "this is late...", though he never said this at the time.
  
• Kubo was involved quite a bit with the anime. In the beginning he wasn't but he saw that the anime would change lots of things from the manga and he said "his stomach would hurt". He would get irritated with that and say, "That's wrong!". In the beginning he would look at those different scenes and basically squeeze his cushion with irritation. Then from some point on he asked to check the scripts and the like. Each week, the script would be sent to him. He says he's rather particular about the dialogue and since the anime can't overtake the manga, there would be extra dialogue. Sometimes it would be different from how the character actually is and the readers would notice the differences and he didn't like that so he would correct it. It was a feeling of responsibility to the readers since his name would appear first and lots of people would enter the series through the anime but he also didn't want to let the readers from before the anime down so he would correct it to make sure everything was right.
  
• During the 15 years of Bleach, he didn't really get bored as he was writing what he had already decided so deadlines were only rough whenever his health declined. He would think about next week as he was writing this week's story so he didn't really worry/waver too much for the upcoming weeks. His lifestyle was rather precise as he didn't like being "chased" for time. He was the type to finish his summer homework at the beginning of summer.
  
• During the 15 years, his editor changed around 7-8 times though he didn't really count as his editors would sometimes stop in the middle, due to them moving up or whatever reason, and a new editor would come in. He had a good relationship with his editors though he would be harsh when there was a misprint. He would yell on the phone at those times, but he would still have a good relationship with the editor after that.
  
• After Bleach ended, rather then a feeling of accomplishment, he felt more like "I'm tired...". Apparently throughout Bleach, there were times when he thought "I want to stop this here...." but at the beginning he had already said that, "I will write up-till here" and thus felt that he must write until he reached that scene of what not. He wasn't really in much "agony" those 15 years, only when his health declined. He didn't really feel like going many places for vacation though he did go at times like when he was called to speak for an event abroad and took a week off then and went.
  
• In response to a question from a listener regarding whether he cried or whatnot when a scene came out really good he said he didn't really cry but he did get goosebumps when a scene came out better then expected. He says its probably something every mangaka experiences as its something you don't get unless you actually draw the specific scene itself. If you don't draw thinking "This is great!" then when this is read, nothing will be communicated to the readers. So he draws to make sure he feels deep emotions otherwise, the readers won't feel anything.
  
• He doesn't really have anything to say regarding new works as he says he not doing anything right now.
  

That came out longer than expected but the hosts note that Kubo has many more things "hidden in the darkness" that he's holding back saying.

iceemperor schrieb:

An interesting Comic essay was published on Jump + yesterday by Amami Yoshikazu, mangaka of Dead or Animation. Some interesting facts that came out of there included that:

• According to one report, the top 30% of series are keeping the industry in the black. The remaining 70% of series are all in the red with the top 30% covering for the losses of the bottom 70%.
  
• Including web manga, there are a few thousand series currently in serialization in Japan right now.
  

The most interesting bit was the talk with Oda however. Amami was Oda's assistant for 3 years prior to debuting. He supposedly had lots of things he wanted to ask Oda but couldn't during that time because he didn't want to take time away from Oda. He was invited in 2016 to Oda's Christmas party (Amami was supposedly homeless at this time after being cancelled). At the party he was able to eat lots of great food that were in the shape of food in the manga. He also was able to have a chat with Oda regarding manga, specifically "How do you draw an interesting manga". Oda's reply was "Draw something crazy/completely out there" (The phrase used is "「ヤバイの」を描くんですよ"). You draw something that so crazy that its just before the line when your editor will get mad at you. Oda
says that since the sheer number of manga have increased, its important to first stand out. Compared to back in the past when there weren't as many manga, its not okay to just draw something that will get a "This is pretty interesting" type of response.

Oda then says, to stand out "You have to make people think, "This mangaka is crazy!!"" (The line is "「この作者ヤベエ!!」と思わせるんですよ！"). To make them think that, you do anything to have to. By acting cool and being embarrassed you can't draw anything that will make people feel that. You have to show other people something that's not been done before and make them think, "You'd go this far!!?". In other words, "Take off your pants!" (the phrase is "「パンツを脱ぐ」だ！！"). One of the other people there also listening says that when they did that, the editor turned it down. Amami also says he remembers a similar incident where, before he debuted, the name his editor had put forward at the editor serialization meeting was turned down. Amami asks why even though his editor said
that the characters were "Strong/dense" (濃くって) and "it was interesting". His editor then says that it was turned down because of that reason. Apparently some manga how to books that Amami had read had told him that characters had to be "strong/stand on their own" and thus he thought as long as that passed it'd be fine.

When they tell this to Oda, how if its too crazy its "pulled out", and that "isn't making it really crazy but not getting "pulled out" contradict itelf". Oda then says, "You have to persuade the readers".
The important thing is that its interesting. If you write something that's weird, it'll just be weird and not interesting. You have to make people think "This is good!!" about something that only you can write, something not in the mainstream yet, your own "fetish". You have to persuade the readers to think that's good and interesting. If you can do so, "It will definitely sell".

shonenjumpplus.com/article/entry/tsumeaka_01