Interview: "Ninja Slayer" Creators Bradley Bond & Philip N. Morzez [2/2]

In the first half of the interview, Philip Ninj@ Morzez explained that, after adding the characters for “nin” (from ninja) and “kill” to a Ninja Slayer sketch, “I was blown away, like I had been struck by lightning or I had just heard rock music for the first time in my life.” The other Ninja Slayer creator, Bradley Bond, gave his reason for spreading the manga and English version of the novel on Tokyo Otaku Mode, saying it was “because we wanted our work to be read by people around the world.”

What is it that the two of them are sending out into the world? And what kind of spirit and influence is hidden within that creation? To look into this mystery, we spoke with them some more.

── Ninja Slayer has become a big hit in Japan as a novel serialized on Twitter. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think your sensibilities fit well with people in Japan?

Bond: I feel honored that we’ve become a hit in Japan, the mecca of cyberpunk.

Morzez: I don’t know whether our sensibilities fit well with people in Japan. But, we wrote this story for all people who love cyberpunk and ninjas. That’s all.

──You researched Japanese customs, and there are times in the novel when things are depicted with a great deal of substance (such as the parts with sushi). How did you learn about what things were like in Japan?

Morzez: We did a pretty thorough investigation using movies, comics, TV and especially the Internet. We have confidence. At the time (mid- to late ‘90s), there wasn’t even image search or anything, so it was difficult.

Bond: Also, my nephew in Japan sends us interesting photos. Tuna, kawaii, bike gangs, the Diet... They’re all mysterious.

──Some very characteristic qualities of the series include the unique writing style interweaving English and Japanese and the minimal repetition of strange noises. What was the structure you had in mind when creating this style?

Bond: We were heavily influenced by film and music. It’s a collage.

Morzez: The minimal repetition is from techno music. The exotic Japanese signs that are inserted sporadically are from movies.

Bond: You don’t have to understand the signs. We just wanted to show visual chaos just using characters.

──Have you ever spent time in Japan? If so, what places left an impression with you?

Bond: Of course. The two of us traveled there for research. Kyoto and Tokyo did.

Morzez: The geisha at the hot spring inn stayed with me.

Bond: But, we didn’t travel there before writing Ninja Slayer. Actually, we wrote Neo Saitama without having been there even once.

──The character names are really cool! From what kind of places did you get the inspiration for the names?

Bond: Thank you. We referenced the names of ninjas in Japanese history for the ninja names. We also incorporated into that the conciseness that names in American comics have. It’s important for ninja names to be straightforward.

Morzez: We needed quite a lot of Japanese names, so I programmed a name generator in UNIX. I’m happy with it.

Bond: We often take names from our favorite film actors as well. Ishii and Mifune appear of course. They’re common names in Japan after all.

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In addition to the novel, Yuuki Yogo’s comic version is also available on Tokyo Otaku Mode. In early July, we also began selling a wide variety of Ninja Slayer merchandise, including T-shirts and smartphone cases, to countries around the world. Be sure to experience the mysterious and bloody ninja action taking place in the darkness of Neo Saitama.

Ninja Slayer TOM Official Site

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.