Shopping Guide
This year, under the leadership of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), a project that aims to train people responsible for manga and anime, called the Anime and Manga Talent Nurturing Consortium was launched.
On Feb. 21, a training symposium was held. The main purposes of the symposium were reporting the activities of the consortium and making people better understand the purposes of the consortium. There was also a public talk with two well-known manga artists: Tetsuya Chiba and Monkey Punch. The following is an excerpt from their discussion.
On stage:
Takayuki Matsutani - president of Tezuka Productions (host)
Tetsuya Chiba - manga artist
Monkey Punch - manga artist
Matsutani: Chiba, congratulations on receiving the Order!
**Chiba:** Thank you!
Matsutani: The first question is, what made you want to be a manga artist?
**Chiba:** When I was a child, manga was considered harmful, so I was only reading novels. The first time I'd ever read a manga was around the age of 10. It was a small manga that came together with sweets as a present that I found lying on the roadside. I was immediately overwhelmed by the fact that the characters’ costumes, the background, facial expressions, and all other aspects were concentrated inside one frame. I thought it was amazing; all the information comes through with just one glance! So I started to imitate it, but my parents didn't like it one bit. They even had me throw away the one book I found, that's why I was reading and drawing manga at my friend's house. I think the enthusiasm I felt due to drawing manga in secret has a lot to do with my advancement.
**Monkey Punch:** I was just about the exact opposite of Chiba-sensei. Whenever my father went on a business trip, he always bought manga for me. I think this blessed environment was the reason that my debut was late, close to my thirties. The manga that inspired me were Norakuro and Bouken Danketsu, which were published before and during the Pacific War. After the war, I was reading imported works, serialized stories, and manga, which I often tried to copy. That is when I stumbled upon a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka. It was absolutely different from the other manga I had seen; it felt just like watching a movie. Of course, I copied some of his work too, which was published in the school paper when I was in middle and high school. At that time, I thought, "I'll definitely be a manga artist!" but the prejudice against manga was so strong that I was occasionally shot down by teachers.
**Chiba:** In the old days, painters and manga artists were all poor, so my parents were very worried.
**Monkey Punch:** My parents, on the contrary, told me to do as I like, but hearing Chiba-sensei’s story, I think I might have been exceptionally lucky.
Matsutani: How did you feel when your creations were made into anime?
**Chiba:** My first work that was made into an anime was Haris no Kaze. It was black and white, of course. I was moved when I saw my characters move, but at the same time, something was a bit off. On the other hand, the anime didn't quite capture the characters, so I had to talk to the director in order to make adjustments. Also, I noticed the cute behaviors reflected in the anime, so from then on, I tried to make my characters in the manga move more vividly.
**Monkey Punch:** At first, I turned down the request to make Lupin III into an anime. But, they told me to decide after I saw the pilot episode, and when I reluctantly went to watch it, something wonderful happened. I decided to leave the project in their hands, had repeated discussions, and it turned out to be an anime intended for young people, not oriented for children, which was quite usual at that time. Including this change of direction, I told them my opinions on many aspects. Thus, my work turned into an anime, but I also felt a change in my manga. Whenever I am drawing a manga, I always hear the voice of Lupin III’s voice actor, Yasuo Yamada in my head. I even unconsciously make the dialogue into words Yamada would say (laughs). The anime had great influence on me.
Matsutani: Monkey Punch-sensei, is it true that you have been to the International Comic-Con in San Diego many times?
**Monkey Punch:** I have participated since the first time, because I like comics. I also went with Tezuka-sensei on an occasion. Judging from the reactions of attendees, I feel like the world started to recognize manga around the 1980s.
Matsutani: So, Chiba-sensei, how do you teach manga, and what do you expect from your students?
**Chiba:** For those who have been drawing since childhood, I let them do as they like, because they draw even if they aren’t taught. For those who are drawing manga for the first time, I teach panel layout, perspective, and how to draw characters. Regarding characters, I have the impression that even if they can draw people their own age, they have a hard time when it comes to children or old people. They draw them all the same - same hairstyle, same body type - so I teach them to draw the protagonist and the supporting characters in a way to be recognizable just by their silhouettes. The most difficult thing is panel layout. Even if the story is interesting, it won’t trigger emotions if the panel layout is bad. That’s because if there’s no flow, you don’t feel the excitement when turning a page. That’s mostly what I teach.
Matsutani: Monkey Punch-sensei, as the pioneer of digital manga, what kind of things do you teach?
**Monkey Punch:** On the basis of techniques, I teach roughly the same as Chiba-sensei. However, in the future, the flow of digital publishing will become faster, and in anticipation of that, I teach my students to prepare for their work to be published digitally from the beginning. I would also like to advance the digitalization of manga with my students, but the equipment is very costly, so it’s not easy. The biggest attraction of digital manga is that it reaches people all over the world the moment it is published, so we manga artists also need to research this more thoroughly.
Matsutani: I still remember the words Osamu Tezuka told his underclassmen at Tokiwa-so: “If you want to become a manga artist, don’t learn from manga. Watch movies, go to theater, learn more things from outside of manga ”
**Chiba:** That is exactly what I teach. It is important to convey your feelings after reading various novels or watching movies. However, young people nowadays want to make popular console games into manga. If everyone plays the same game and wants to draw a manga from it, of course they will be the same.
**Monkey Punch:** There is no such thing as a definite recipe for success, of course. However, I think there are three things that are most important. The first is to make the characters and the story easy to understand. The second is to express something new that only you can. The last, and probably the most difficult (laughs), is to draw something interesting and enjoyable.
Matsutani: Anime and manga are very good media that can move people’s hearts. Thank you for your time and we’re hoping for your continued support in the future.