Rumiko Takahashi's Unknown World - 100 Yes or No!

Translation by: Harley Acres

Takahashi was asked a series of yes or no questions to promote her then upcoming It's A Rumic World gallery exhibition, which opened on July 30, 2008.

1. Is there another occupation you would like to try other than being a cartoonist?

Takahashi: No.

2. When you're drawing manga, do you use a lot of tools?

Takahashi: Yes.

3. Do you take good care of your things and use them for a long time?

Takahashi: Yes.

4. Does your daytime work carry on into the night?

Takahashi: No. ^[1]

5. Do you have any unpublished work?

Takahashi: No. ^[2]

6. Do you have a cel phone?

Takahashi: No.

7. Do you have internet?

Takahashi: No.

8. Are there any themes or subjects that you wouldn't draw?

Takahashi: No.

9. Is your work desk always organized?

Takahashi: No.

10. Have you thought of what your next series will be?

Takahashi: No.

11. Is being a cartoonist work, do you think?

Takahashi: Yes.

12. Do you listen to music when you work?

Takahashi: Yes.

13. Do you listen to the radio at work?

Takahashi: Yes.

14. Do you watch TV while you work?

Takahashi: Yes.

15. Do you think you'll continue to draw for shonen magazines?

Takahashi: Yes.

16. Have you ever thought about quitting your job as a mangaka?

Takahashi: No.

17. Are there times when you go out to dinner with fellow mangaka or have drinks together?

Takahashi: Yes. ^[3]

18. Is there someone you consider your teacher?

Takahashi: Yes. ^[4]

19. With the exception of manga, are there some things you are indifferent about?

Takahashi: No.

20. Would you like to continue drawing until you die?

Takahashi: Yes.

21. Do you keep a notebook for your ideas?

Takahashi: No.

22. Do you always wear an apron when you draw?

Takahashi: Yes.

23. Do you work quickly?

Takahashi: Yes.

24. Are there times when you get vexed when reading other mangaka's work?

Takahashi: Yes.

25. Are there times when you reach the end of your limits with a story?

Takahashi: Yes.

26. Is it easier to come up with the ending of a series, or to create a new one? If it's the ending, say "yes" if it's the series, say "no".

Takahashi: No.

27. Is there a time in your life you'd like to return to?

Takahashi: No.

28. If the world you draw really existed, would you like to go visit it?

Takahashi: No.

29. You majored in history when you were a college student, does that help with your work?

Takahashi: No. ^[5]

30. Do you still have the first manga you ever drew?

Takahashi: No. ^[6]

31. Have you ever changed a character due to readers' reactions?

Takahashi: No.

32. Do you follow the latest fads?

Takahashi: Yes.

33. Are you a maudlin drinker?

Takahashi: No.

34. Are you a merry drinker?

Takahashi: No. ^[7]

35. Do you like to travel during holidays?

Takahashi: Yes.

36. When you had homework over summer vacation, were you the type to do it immediately?

Takahashi: No.

37. Did you like school?

Takahashi: Yes.

38. Would you like to return to your hometown to live one day?

Takahashi: No.

39. Do you like karaoke?

Takahashi: No.

40. Do you have a favorite song you like to perform at karaoke?

Takahashi: No.

41. Urusei Yatsura seems to be set in Nerima, but have you ever lived in Nerima?

Takahashi: Yes.

42. Before your debut, did you read Shonen Sunday?

Takahashi: Yes.

43. Is Lum based on someone?

Takahashi: No. ^[8]

44. Do you think aliens exist?

Takahashi: No.

45. Are you attracted to fickle guys like Ataru Moroboshi?

Takahashi: No.

46. Were you ever prevented from using a certain gag or joke?

Takahashi: Yes.

47. Do you like mahjong?

Takahashi: No.

48. Were you depressed when you finished all 366 chapters?

Takahashi: Yes.

49. Have you ever sung "Lum's Love Song" at karaoke?

Takahashi: No.

50. Did you watch the Urusei Yatsura anime?

Takahashi: Yes.

51. Rather than looking at something subjectively, can you look at things objectively?

Takahashi: Yes.

52. Is Ikkoku-kan based on a real building?

Takahashi: Yes. ^[9]

53. Have you lived in an apartment like Ikkoku-kan?

Takahashi: No.

54. Was anyone ever scheduled to live in Room 3?

Takahashi: No.

55. Is Kyoko Otonashi modeled on anyone?

Takahashi: No.

56. Did you always intend to never show Soichiro Otonashi's face even up until the end?

Takahashi: Yes.

57. Ikkoku sits on top of a hill which makes an impressive sight, do you like towns like that?

Takahashi: Yes. ^[10]

58. Hanae Ichinose is a hearty woman, do you know women like her?

Takahashi: No.

59. Concerning the names and room numbers, was it difficult to put together?

Takahashi: Yes.

60. Do you think having a cell phone is necessary for romantic manga?

Takahashi: No.

61. Do you observe other people?

Takahashi: Yes.

62. Is Jusenkyo modeled on a real place?

Takahashi: No.

63. Did you gather ideas by watching kung-fu movies?

Takahashi: No. ^[11]

64. If it was possible for you to change from a woman to a man, would you?

Takahashi: No.

65. Do you read books before you go to bed?

Takahashi: Yes.

66. Would you like to raise a panda?

Takahashi: No.

67. Have you been to China?

Takahashi: No.

68. Would you like to learn to fight with martial arts?

Takahashi: No.

69. When you were little were you an active child?

Takahashi: No. ^[12]

70. Are you the type of person that always arrives on time for appointments?

Takahashi: Yes.

71. Are there times when you think using witchcraft could be useful?

Takahashi: Yes.

72. Have you ever seen a ghost or a demon?

Takahashi: No.

73. If the Shikon Jewel were real, would you want to make a wish on it?

Takahashi: No.

74. Is there a God?

Takahashi: No.

75. Are there any historical novels which Inuyasha uses as a motif?

Takahashi: No.

76. Do you read historical novels?

Takahashi: No.

77. Do you use references or historical literature when you are looking for names such as Tessaiga?

Takahashi: No.

78. Did you see the Inuyasha play in 2000?

Takahashi: Yes.

79. Has anything you've ever dreamt come true?

Takahashi: No.

80. Do you have all the anime DVDs of your series?

Takahashi: Yes.

81. Is there a TV series that you must watch every week?

Takahashi: Yes.

82. Is there a manga that you enjoy reading each week (or month)?

Takahashi: Yes.

83. Do you prefer Japanese music to Western music?

Takahashi: Yes.

84. Do you think you are a genius?

Takahashi: No.

85. When Hanshin loses do you get in a bad mood?

Takahashi: No.

86. Are human emotions clear?

Takahashi: No.

87. Is there anything you collect?

Takahashi: Yes.

88. Can you tell us the title of a popular tune right now?

Takahashi: No.

89. Have you been to a comedy show?

Takahashi: Yes. ^[13]

90. Do you get tense when you see a cherry tree?

Takahashi: Yes.

91. Do you have many friends?

Takahashi: Yes.

92. Are you a passionate person?

Takahashi: No.

93. Do you immediately trust people?

Takahashi: No.

94. Do you pay attention to the ecology?

Takahashi: No.

95. Do you have a pet?

Takahashi: No.

96. Do you like children?

Takahashi: Yes.

97. Are there any tastes that you have a fetish for?

Takahashi: No.

98. Do you sort all of the manga on your bookshelves in numerical order?

Takahashi: Yes.

99. Are you a worrier?

Takahashi: Yes.

100. Do you have ambition?

Takahashi: No.

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Footnotes

• [1] Takahashi perhaps said "no" to this because she does not often work during the daytime. Instead she typically works all through the night.
• [2] Takahashi mentions this unnamed story in her long interview and in an interview, "I created my first story manga in my second year of high school, and I submitted it to Shonen Magazine. At the time I was a fan of Ikegami-sensei, so I copied his tough/macho style and drew a slapstick gag manga (laughs). It was a slapstick “sword-rattler in which everyone was attacked with biological weapons, and under the setting that no one would die in mediocrity, students and salarymen dueled each other with swords." Other than the plot described here it is unknown what this story was or if it was a reworking of her Star of Empty Trash story. She may not count this as "unpublished" due to it being prior to her debut. If we only count material she has made since 1978 (her debut) then there is nothing that she has ever mentioned that has not been published. However, there some items that were published and take many years before they are collected in easier to acquire collected volumes such as her yearly short stories.
• [3] Rumiko Takahashi seems to be friends with or socialize (to some extent) with Mitsuru Adachi, Kazuhiro Shimamoto, Tetsuya Chiba, Daijiro Morohoshi, Daisuke Itagaki, Koji Kumeta and many others.
• [4] Takahashi is likely thinking of Kazuo Koike (小池 一夫). Koike is one of the most famous manga writers (原作者/gensakusha) having written Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼), Crying Freeman (クライング フリーマン), Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫) and contributed some stories to Takao Saito's Golgo 13 (ゴルゴ13). Koike created Gekiga Sonjuku the manga course that Rumiko Takahashi studied in as one of the first year students alongside Marley Caribu (狩撫麻礼) and Atsuji Yamamoto (山本貴嗣).
• [5] Takahashi discusses her thesis in "Gekkan Takarajima" (February 1982) (月刊宝島」1982年2月号) which was later collected in "Manga-ka ga Tsutaeru" (Manga Critique Compendium, Vol. 4: Heibonsha, 1988) (マンガ批評大系第4巻：平凡社、1988年). Her thesis was "The Edo Shogunate's Countermeasures Against Homeless People" (江戸幕府の無宿人対策). This is also touched upon in her profile in Popeye magazine.
• [6] Takahashi has drawn manga since her childhood and recalls one of her earliest manga. "I started drawing manga-like things when I entered junior high school. I drew something like a four-panel comics. Until then, I was always drawing graffiti on things. I was really scared of the scene in the animated movie The Orphan Brothers (安寿と厨子王丸/Anju to Kurashiohmaru) where the mother and children are separated and kidnapped by Sansho the Bailiff." Those are likely the items that she no longer has. In terms of professional work she believed she had lost the original pages of three of her short stories at one time. Here you can read about those and a complex legal case concerning Makoto Raiku's manga that was lost by editors at Shonen Sunday.
• [7] Rumiko Takahashi states in her interview with a sake brewer that she doesn't drink very often.
• [8] Lum herself might not be based directly on anyone, but Takahashi has stated before that the singer/swimsuit model Agnes Lum was at least inspirational on some level (perhaps just the name). She has also mentioned that "Lum/Rum" (depending on how you anglicize it) was her childhood nickname.
• [9] Years later Takahashi would illustrate her experience of witnessing the goings-on at this neighboring building in the Nakano neighborhood where she lived at the time and its inspiration for Maison Ikkoku in the short story 1980.
• [10] Takahashi explains that Tokeizaka, the setting for Maison Ikkoku is not inspired by any real place, but she has a vague childhood memory of a hilly area and that was likely what inspired the locale.
• [11] She has mentioned that in general Jackie Chan films were an inspiration for her approach to Ranma 1/2.
• [12] Takahashi mentions that as a child she was not atheletic and only wanted to draw.
• [13] Shunsuke Moteki (茂木俊輔), the final editor on Inuyasha and the first editor on Kyokai no RINNE states that Takahashi is a big fan of Japanese comedians. At the "It's a Rumic World" event the comedy duo "Hige Danshaku" helped pay tribute to Takahashi. She has also said she is a fan of "Downtown".

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