- A long time ago, in a magazine called COM2, I drew a manga about myself. In the manga, I'm sitting at my desk, trying desperately to think of a good idea and then when I finally come up with something, I enthusiastically draw it. But then, when I look back at it, I think "Ah, this is so boring" and I go to sleep... It was really fun to draw!
- I'm always telling [my students] to keep the dialogue to a minimum and to express things with the characters movements or the background. You don't want people to read your manga, you want them to feel it! And I don't mean to say the characters must be of silent types, it's okay to have chatty characters too.
- Manga is something that's meant to be read smoothly. A reader may be turning the pages quickly, but he's completely absorbed in the story. But if there's too much information, he's not quite sure where to look. It's very unfortunate if an artist takes so much time and puts in so much effort but the message doesn't get across :- the piece must be read several times, carefully checking each panel, only then the reader might realize that it's actually a very good story.
- You need to explain the setting earlier on, to let your readers come in to your world. But, I think that instead of using narration or dialogue, you should try to explain those things silently.
- In school anime, you have a lot of characters wearing the same uniform. If you don't make your characters distinct, then they can get lost in the background. I often stop and ask my students "Wait, who's this guy again?" You have to make characters so distinct that you can tell who they are just by looking at their silhouette. Not just their size, but the look in their eyes, their accessories, the way they speak... You have to make it so that the reader knows who they are with just a glance.
- Moving someone, making someone laugh, or even cry. I think it's amazing that you can do all that with just a single pencil. When I was 6, I just made a few crude drawings, but even that made my brother really happy.
- People have always lived in a world of color. In the beginning, Japanese manga was really cheap. The paper quality was bad and the printing technology was very simple. People thought "Keep it simple. As long as it meets the minimum requirements to be entertaining, it's fine" and so it was done in black and white. But in the digital age, paper is unnecessary, so it's natural that color should be added.
- While I'm a manga artist, I also try to keep the readers' perspective in mind. In reality, it might all be very quick. Whack! Whack! Whack! And the match is over. But that's not very interesting. With every single punch, the boxer should be feeling something. People drag their past along with them. For example, if the opponent is someone they've lost to in the past, and they're having a rematch, they might be replaying the last match in their heads. The thoughts are running around in their minds. Directing is showing the readers those thoughts. There might only be a few seconds between the punches, but in that time, there's lots going on. You can't draw too much and you can't draw too little.
- My generation was definitely influenced by movies and directing. Manga is like a movie storyboard really. Osamu Tezuka, Takao Saitô, Shotaro Ishinomori, Leiji Matsumoto... they all loved movies!
- Japanese manga has spread all over the world and people from different countries have discovered how it can be used to create interesting, expressive stories. Many artists have been influenced by manga. I hope those artists will now use what they have learned to create something distinctive of their own countries. I hope they'll all be able to become great artists in their unique way. I'm looking forward to seeing what they create! After all, in the beginning, Japanese manga was influenced by Disney, American comics and French bande dessinée.
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