Shopping Guide
)
This fall, Evening will be publishing many new series in five continuous issues! We will be holding in-depth interviews with seven creators who will be releasing their extraordinary new series.
Part Three: Special interview with author Takashi Tajima and manga artist Takahiro Kochi debuts in Evening Issue 21 (out 10/8)
Following the previous works Buchigire Gambo and its predecessor Gokuaku Gambo comes the newest work in the Gambo series!
Out from Hiroshima, to a larger stage in life...
Kanzaki, who used to want to “go up in the world” and “become a big-shot,” and also once lived in the lowliest tiers in society, is now one of the biggest “fixers”—conflict resolvers—in Osaka. This new story follows elite bureaucrat Ninomiya and “Gambo,” the people trying to gain supremacy in the new grounds of Osaka.
“Gambo” is a word in the Hiroshima dialect that means “mischievous,” “naughty,” “violent,” or “bad.”
[Interview with Takashi Tajima]
―Could you tell us the sequence of events that lead you to move the story from Hiroshima to Osaka?
In the last episode of Buchigire Gambo (Volume 7 and 8), Kanzaki, along with his ally Ninomiya, breaks completely away from Hiroshima to storm into Osaka for a showdown with their enemy, Chief Hata.
In the process of creating this, I started to really want to see Kanzaki, who was “invincible” in Hiroshima, get down and dirty in Osaka, which is a more immense and severe environment compared to Hiroshima, and watch him become bigger than ever. I wanted to see Kanzaki like he was in Gokuaku Gambo—ambitious and with a feisty look in his eyes—a return to his roots, so to speak. And of course, I wanted to show the other main character, Ninomiya, make his way up in the bureaucratic world, so I had him transferred and promoted to Osaka.
I believe the readers wouldn’t want Kanzaki to come back to Hiroshima, leaving what he had taken from Chief Hata in Osaka in another person’s hands, right (LOL)? I’ve been spurring on my two “alter egos” so to speak, telling them to do whatever it takes, to use Osaka as a steppingstone to greatness!
―I’ve heard that presently “fixers” are not the same as they used to be when the Gambo series started (10 years ago). What kind of effect will the changes in the fixer world have in the way Kanzaki fights?
Fixers like Kanzaki had a period of good business during the time of disorder after the economic bubble collapsed. It was during this period Gokuaku Gambo started. However, a certain type of yakuza had been gaining presence during the bubble economy and started to strengthen their influence. These yakuza were called economic yakuza. By using the full power of their yakuza coat of arms, they ruthlessly reaped profits from the fixers. Many fixers were left with no choice but to rent the yakuza’s “coat of arms.” In other words, the present world has become a difficult place for freelance fixers like Kanzaki to live in. But Kanzaki is a type of man that sticks to his policy as a freelancer and aims for the big league. Although Kanzaki is certainly a person who would be categorized as being anti-social, I will try my best to have readers sympathize and cheer Kanzaki on as he continues on living a manly life with his spirit of adventure.
―I was impressed with the scene in Gokuaku Gambo where Kanzaki desperately swims from the work boat. The new Gambo series starts off once again in the Senshu region of Osaka. It seems that the ocean is an important theme for you; do you have any personal feelings toward it?
Kure––where I was born, raised, and still live––faces the ocean. As I have mentioned in my autobiography recently published by Kodansha, Life Instructions According to Kabachi May the Weak Complain, Struggle and Persevere!,
working to become a marine procedure commission agent was my ticket out of the depths of poverty which I was living in. I believe I wouldn’t have thought of trying to be a marine procedure commission agent in the first place if the ocean wasn’t near me. In that way, the ocean has a very special place in my heart. So when starting off on Gambo - Naniwa Akudo-hen, I decided to launch the story in an area of Osaka that had ties with the ocean. Additionally, the Senshu region has the popular “Danjiri Matsuri,” so I thought it would be great if I could bring up the “Danjiri Matsuri” in the four-page colored section I was given as the start of my new series (LOL). My cousin Kochi, who is also from Kure, loves the “Danjiri Matsuri,” so I wanted to give him an opportunity to draw it in color, too.
I did research, of course, on the “Danjiri Matsuri” in the Senshu region. Before I started writing the first episode, I just had to see for myself, so I jumped on a bullet train and returned late at night on the same day. I was able to mingle with the residents of the Senshu region, albeit briefly, but everything felt even more familiar to me after visiting, seeing the ocean landscape and temperament of the people there. Unfortunately, this research trip was done on a whim, so my correspondent, who wanted to tag along to enjoy eating out in Osaka, told me sarcastically,
“You said that you were too busy to go to Osaka for research!” (LOL).
Oh, by the way, Life Instructions According to Kabachi May the Weak Complain, Struggle and Persevere! is full of candid episodes that were too difficult for me to write in the past. It should be interesting, as you’ll be able to see what experiences were the foundation in making this-or-that scene or episode in Danda Rin - The Labour Standards Inspector which airs every Wednesday night at 10 on the Nippon Television Network, a manga written as Takashi Tontani, and also the Kabachitare! and Gambo series. I hope you’ll give it a try.
[Interview with Takahiro Kochi]
―The new Gambo starts off with the famous “Danjiri Matsuri” of Osaka’s Kishiwada city. We asked Kochi, a resident of Osaka, to explain about the appeal of Osaka, which is the backdrop for the new Gambo series.
It’s been 14 to 15 years since I started living in Osaka. During this time, I’ve been to the “Danjiri Matsuri” 10 times. So I had no reason to gather any documents; I just put all the energy and power of the “Danjiri” I’ve been watching every year into the pages of the manga. I usually have my assistant draw the backgrounds of my manga manuscripts, but for the color pages featuring the “Danjiri”, I straightaway went to work on everything from the background to the characters myself.
Osaka has many faces. There is a unique atmosphere of that region and so many types of people who live there, which surprised me being an outsider. There are vagrants, as it is an urban area. On the other hand, there are posh neighborhoods. There are business districts and red-light districts, and a feeling of human desire that is stronger than any other city. I want to portray Osaka, the city, as real as possible with subtle bits of scenery and gestures of the extra characters.
―Could you tell us how you drew Kanzaki and Ninomiya in the new Gambo?
Kanzaki has grown, as a human, standing on a greater stage doing a bigger job. I want to convey the power he has well enough to suit his character’s abilities. However, the way he is on the inside hasn’t changed, so I’d like to continue to draw the naïve side of Kanzaki too.
Ninomiya will probably be having more of a bureaucratic role. But as he was in Buchigire, I’d like to express his kindness and humanity, and the way he is unable to become totally heartless, although he is aiming for a higher spot in his job.
Gambo - Naniwa Akudo-hen, the newest story in the Gambo series, is running in Evening to rave reviews!
The prequel to the Osaka story, the newest issue of Buchigire Gambo Volume 8 will hit shelves on Oct. 23!
http://evening.moae.jp/book/list/new
Life Instructions According to Kabachi May the Weak Complain, Struggle and Persevere! by Takashi Tajima is now on sale from Kodansha to rave reviews!
http://bookclub.kodansha.co.jp/bc2_bc/search_view.jsp?b=2180936
Source: Evening Official Facebook
