BS Manga Yawa
Season 1 Episode 4 (aired August 22, 1996)
Translated by: Harley Acres
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Hikaru Saito: I'm Hikaru Saito, host of "BS Manga Yawa."
Miyuki Matsuno: Good evening, this is Miyuki Matsuno.
Saito: For two weeks this week and next, we've been doing a one-hour live broadcast of one manga per day, thoroughly reading it from various angles, and today marks our fourth such broadcast.
Matsuno: Yes, each day is a one-hour program with a lot of content.
Saito: That's right.
Matsuno: I wonder what will happen tonight. Now, let me introduce the guests who will be reading the manga with us tonight. First up is manga artist Jun Ishikawa.
Jun Ishikawa: Good evening, I decided to do some cosplay today. [1]
Saito/Matsuno: Thank you very much.
Matsuno: And the talent Tomomi Nishimura.
Tomomi Nishimura: Good evening.
Ishikawa: I'm looking forward to it.
Nishimura: To be honest, I love programs like this. I'm looking forward to it today (laughs).
Saito/Matsuno: Thank you very much.
Nishimura: Thank you very much.
Matsuno: And author Toshio Okada.
Toshio Okada: Good evening, this is Toshio Okada, a best-selling author and a man with a spark.
Ishikawa: Who’s an author? (laughs)
Okada: Haha, that's terrible.
Matsuno: Thank you very much. And then there's singer-songwriter TARAKO.
TARAKO: Good evening, this sounds like a very interesting program, so I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.
Okada: I understand...
Matsuno: Thank you very much. And then there's manga writer Kentaro Takekuma.
Kentaro Takekuma: Good evening, I’m Takekuma. I'll try my best to talk today.
Saito: No, no.
Okada: Hikaru Saito, um, have you ever been told that you look like a character from Thunderbirds? [2]
Saito: I haven’t.
Okada: He's been talking for a while now, his neck moving like this (shaking his hands and neck).
Ishikawa: I thought it was Hikaru Takatsuka (everyone laughs). [3]
Matsuno: Hahaha, suddenly I’m off track.
Saito: I don't like Hikaru Takatsuka, even though our names are written with the same kanji. By the way, this is the work I'm going to pick up this evening. Here is... (holding up book), it's Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku.
Yes, Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku was serialized for eight years from 1980 to 1987. The story goes like this.
Narration: Godai, a young ronin who failed to get into college lives in an old boarding house called Ikkoku-kan, continues to pursue the building manager, Kyoko. However, Kyoko cannot forget her husband, Soichiro, who left her as a widow. The cohabitants who live in Ikkoku-kan are also unusual. The two of them get caught up in the turmoil they are causing. Godai's unwavering enthusiasm soon moves Kyoko-san's heart as well. There are still many hardships ahead before Godai-kun's feelings reach Kyoko.
Matsuno: Yes, we have been receiving a lot of faxes since we started accepting faxes today. As you can see, I've received some with professional-looking illustrations, and I would like to introduce one of them to you.
"I don't think historical background is necessary for Rumiko Takahashi. In fact, even though Maison Ikkoku is a story that took place 16 years ago, it doesn't feel old at all. Out of all the characters, Yotsuya-san is my favorite. However, no one sympathized with me, and I have bitter memories of being labeled as a "weird child" when I was young. I hope there are other Yotsuya fans out there," said Ayumu, 19, from Nagano Prefecture, who also wrote this with such a cute illustration. Well, everyone, please send us a fax.Please feel free to share your memories of when you first read this work, scenes that moved you, your favorite characters, your opinions, and questions for our guests, etc. Fax number: Tokyo 035-453-1922, that’s Tokyo 035-453-1922. It's late at night, so please make sure you don't make any mistakes. We are looking forward to receiving many faxes.
Saito: Well, I'm a Yotsuya fan.
Okada: Eh! (Everyone laughs)
TARAKO: That's right.
Saito: Well, that's all right.
Okada: As one would expect from a Thunderbird puppet controlled by a tungsten wire without human blood.
Saito: (laughs) Well, first of all, I would like to start by talking about the first time you encountered this work, how about you, TARAKO?
TARAKO: Yes, I started reading as much as I could when I found out I was going to be in the anime.
Okada: Eh, when the Maison Ikkoku anime came out?
TARAKO: Yes, when the anime came out. There's a group of four people who are Yagami-san's classmates, although they really don't stand out at all. I play one of them.
Okada: Oh, it was a long time ago. Yes Yes Yes.
TARAKO: I played the role of Mami, the fattest of them. Not everyone even knows she has a name.
Okada: I'm ashamed from the bottom of my heart that I didn't remember.
TARAKO: I was a little sad. Well, that's how it all started, yes.
Okada: The designs are more gekiga-like, aren't they? [4]
TARAKO: As for the manga itself, I'm the same as Tomi-chan and started watching the anime, so when I saw the first volume, there was a huge gap, it was completely different, really.
Okada: It's more gekiga.
Takekuma: Kyoko’s eyes are more interesting.
TARAKO: Yes, that's right.
Takekuma: Initially she was a rather sexy type.
Saito: Ah, at the outset.
Takekuma: So I was thinking that she was an older widow playing with the naive Godai, but as the series progressed, she became more and more pure-hearted.
Saito: I see, I see.
Ishikawa: Her face at first was scary, right? (everyone laughs and agrees)
(Kyoko's face appears on the screen, comparison between volumes 1 and 10)
Nishimura: Yes, she kind of looks like Sakura.
Okada: That's right, Sakura-san, she came first.
Nishimura: She looks like an adult like Sakura-san...
Okada: As expected of Nishimura-san, you have already sparked a spark. I'm so happy.
Takekuma: I'm so happy.
Saito: In what way did Nishimura-san first...
Nishimura: (speaks quickly) I really like all of Rumiko Takahashi's works, but Urusei Yatsura was the first one I got into. I followed the same flow and watched the anime of Maison Ikkoku. I first got into it through the anime. After that, I looked at the manga. Yes, stories like this are good too. Yes (everyone laughs).
Saito: Is there a difference between manga and anime?
Nishimura: Ah, well, the atmosphere and the pictures are a little different.
Okada: Oh no (everyone laughs). Being sandwiched between these two geeky beauties makes me extremely happy today (everyone laughs).
Takekuma: What are you talking about?
The first female author to appear in a shonen magazine!
Saito: What about you, Takekuma-san?
Takekuma: Yes, I've been reading Rumiko Takahashi since her debut. It was in Shonen Sunday, and called Katte na Yatsura, and it debuted around 1978.
Okada: This short story was the basis for Urusei Yatsura.
Takekuma: This work was the basis for Urusei Yatsura, and Lum-chan had not yet appeared. So I thought, "Well, someone interesting has shown up.” I think she might be the first female manga artist who succeeded in drawing for shonen magazines. [5] Before that, Michiko Satonaka had done a little serialization in Magazine, but almost nothing. [6]
Okada: But she made her debut in a shonen magazine...
Takekuma: She made her debut in a shonen magazine, and was a woman, and...
Okada: No, if we say that she was the first to succeed in a shonen magazine, people would send us faxes to say that Moto Hagio drew Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights (百億の昼と千年の夜/Hyaku Oku no Hiru to Chitose no Yoru) in Shonen Champion, so we have to put the brakes on that. [7]
Takekuma: But she debuted before that, right? Before Moto Hagio drew it in a shonen magazine.
Ishikawa: Rather than making her debut, it was after Rumiko Takahashi made her mark.
Okada: Ah, I see.
Takekuma: So Katte na Yatsura became like a prototype for Urusei Yatsura. So it broke out and became a big hit, and I enjoyed reading it. Well, I first read her because I thought she was a rare woman who could draw gags. Then, after that, a seinen magazine called Big Comic Spirits was launched, and Maison Ikkoku was serialized... That serialization didn't start right away, though I don't remember exactly.
Ishikawa: It was after a while.
Takekuma: So when I saw it, I was like, “Wow?" Urusei Yatsura is still a sci-fi comedy, or rather, it's like a classic comedy manga, with all kinds of characters appearing like a box of toys. So, it's a story that goes around and around stuck in the same time. No matter how many years pass, the main character remains a high school student, and just keeps on going. On the other hand, Maison Ikkoku is a story where the main characters grow in real time. However, there’s a long story.
Saito: It's long.
Takekuma: We get older and better, but human relationships don't really develop... However, I think Rumiko Takahashi was the first to show that she could draw works like this. The content is suitable for seinen magazines, and there are parts of it that are very classic dramaturgy. It's not Your Name, but it's a kind of drama about people passing each other. [8] I'll go into more detail later, but my first impression is that we've found an amazing female artist with great expressive power.
Saito: What do you think, Okada-san?
Okada: When I read this, I was in the so-called anime club or science fiction club at university, so I was in the middle of the otaku path, so I guess you could say I read it as a way to educate myself. I read Urusei Yatsura because it was interesting, and some of my friends were members of the Urusei Yatsura fan club, so they ordered a really big bath towel and brought it to the club. [9] So, when Maison Ikkoku started, I was really surprised. I thought she was good at telling such geeky, sci-fi stories, but she didn't use any of her special skills and instead just told standard stories. The expressiveness develops only through characters interacting. Also, when I look at Rumiko Takahashi's drawings, I can see that she's getting better and better, so it's not like she's an artist we fans nurtured or anything (everyone laughs). That's why manga fans and anime fans have such fond memories of her as one of the creators who they grew up with.
Saito: I was just a college student, or just a little older, and a lot of my friends were reading it, and it became a hot topic of conversation.
Okada: This seems to be unique in many countries around the world. Whenever I meet manga or anime fans in any country, they ask me how Rumiko Takahashi-san is doing, or ask if I’ve gotten to meet Takahashi-san. They’ll immediately say, "I want to meet her!" And so on. If she were to break the tip of her pencil while she was working on a rough sketch, they’d jump on Northwest Airlines, fly to Japan, and sharpen her pencil right now! I heard that from three different fans.
Nishimura: Wow, that's great! (everyone laughs)
Okada: One was American and one from Spain...
Nishimura: So she’s the world’s Takahashi, huh.
Saito/Takekuma: That's right.
Sad memories
Saito: What do you think, Ishikawa-san?
Ishikawa: Well, I have sad memories of Rumiko Takahashi (everyone bursts out laughing).
Okada: Ishikawa-san, are you already calling her out?
Ishikawa: Ah, well, as for Takahashi-sensei. Um, this was published in Spirits, right? Maison Ikkoku was serialized in Big Comic Spirits, and I had been serializing in Spirits since the first issue. Well, I was serializing Chandora. [10]
Okada: You did!
Ishikawa: So, at the time of its first issue, Spirits was a slightly maniacal magazine. I was drawing in the magazine, and also Hideo Azuma, Marley Caribu, Jiro Taniguchi, and so on were drawing in the magazine. [11] However, Spirits did not sell well at that time. I mean, it did not sell at all. In addition, Spirits was a monthly magazine when it started. Then, the period of monthly magazines which did not sell well continued for a while, and I, Hideo Azuma, Marley Caribu, and Jiro Taniguchi were fired. After Jiro Taniguchi was fired, Maison Ikkoku started, and it began to sell well and became a weekly magazine.
Takekuma and Okada: Ah.
Ishikawa: So, there were some sad memories... (everyone laughs).
Takekuma: No, Spirits had a long biweekly era before that. [12]
Ishikawa: It was every other week. It didn't become a weekly publication all at once.
Saito: Well, if you look at the materials here, Maison has been published since the first issue of Spirits. [13]
Ishikawa: Eh? Since the first issue? It had been going since the first issue?
Okada: I think the first issue of the weekly magazine version.
Saito: No, no, no, no, no, the November issue, the first year, 1980, of Spirits began with the November issue.
Ishikawa: So it was there from the very beginning.
Okada: Ah, then by that time you couldn't see anymore, Ishikawa-san, your eyes were already full of Chandora (everyone laughs).
Ishikawa: (laughs) I guess I was blinded.
Okada: You were already full of things like Chandora's Dainippon Teikoku Umeboshi. [14]
Takekuma/Ishikawa: (laughs) No one remembers that. No one remembers that.
Okada: Please don't say that about yourself. I can't believe no one remembers (everyone laughs).
Ishikawa: Well, I guess Maison Ikkoku was in Spirits from the beginning.
Takekuma: It’s been there from the very beginning, right?
Ishikawa: Yeah.
Otaku beauty's feelings
Okada: Nishimura-san you’ve been watching anime for a long time, starting with Urusei Yatsura and moving on to Maison.
Nishimura: Yeah, and then I turned to reading manga.
Okada: When you read the manga, did you end up buying it all?
Nishimura: Well, I've always had this pattern of just holding out for books to come out until the end and buying them in bulk. After all, once it's over, you're probably wondering what to do next. I want to see what happens next, but I don't want to wait thinking it's not going to come out yet, so I'll start from the beginning and wait.
Okada: Haha, is that so?
Nishimura: That's right, that's the type of person I am.
Ishikawa: Yeah, don't you buy magazines?
Nishimura: Yes, but I still end up looking at it every once in a while, and I find myself reaching for it.
Ishikawa: Oh, you can't help it. Well, a while ago, I talked to Yasuko Tomita and, er, I mean Yasuko-SAN (laughs). [15]
Okada: (adding the honorific) Ishikawa-san, it's not Ishikawa-san, so it's fine (laughs).
Ishikawa: Well, I had a conversation with Yasuko Tomita.
Nishimura: She's amazing.
Ishikawa: No, that girl is also great when it comes to manga. She said she loves the classics of manga and still goes to the convenience store every day and buys all the manga books she can buy, but she also said that she can't compete with Tomomi-chan.
Nishimura: (laughs) I'm sorry, I still go to used bookstores all the time, should I not go to used bookstores?
Okada: No, it's fine, it's fine.
Nishimura: I go as much as possible... They’re sold in bulk.
Okada: What kind of magazines are people buying now, shojo manga?
Nishimura: I buy all kinds of things.
Okada: You buy the shojo magazines, right? There's a gift for all the readers, right? [16] I'd go for something like that.
Nishimura: ...I do that, yes (everyone laughs). Ribon comes with a lot of extras. [17]
(Everyone is talking excitedly)
Takekuma: I have to get back to Maison.
Nishimura: Well, there are many books by Takahashi-sensei that I like, but Mermaid Forest is so scary that I just can't buy it. When someone lends me a book, I usually read it before I buy it, but that one scared me, so I haven't bought it yet. Sorry, I'm sorry, I'll buy it next time. yes. Sorry, this is a slightly different topic...
Saito: The atmosphere is quite different from Mermaid Forest.
Nishimura: Oh yes, completely, so there are a lot of Rumiko Takahashi's works from Urusei Yatsura onwards, including the boxing story, but they all have a different atmosphere. Yeah.
Ishikawa: I'm not so sure about that, as far as my impression goes, yeah.
Nishimura: Is that so?
Ishikawa: I don't feel like each one is different.
Takekuma: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ishikawa: There is a "Rumiko Takahashi World" that is not so big, created by Rumiko Takahashi, and I feel that these stories are at the right and left ends of it, but I don't feel that they depict a tremendously different world.
Does Rumiko Takahashi not draw sex?
Okada: You know, in Rumiko Takahashi's manga, women's achievements always appear at the center of the story. Especially, women with long hair symbolize it. For example, "I like her, but why doesn't she like me?" If you depict this in a comedy, it would be an enjoyable story of differences like Urusei or Maison, but if you make it into a story about a woman's work, it becomes Mermaid's Forest, in which the theme is "Then I'll kill you.” So that is just the left and right end of the spectrum, as Ishikawa-san says...
Ishikawa: No, I don't think it’s just at the left and right ends of the spectrum. I think Rumiko Takahashi is a very talented creator, but, well, for example, I don't think she is a creator who can depict everything around her in 360 degrees.
Takekuma: It seems like she has a set scope.
Ishikawa: Yes, Rumiko Takahashi is wearing her shackles tightly. Well, Rumiko Takahashi fans will probably be angry at me for saying this, but she never depicts sex. People who appear in Rumiko Takahashi works never engage in sexual acts. [18] That's it.
Takekuma: But it does appear briefly at the end of Maison Ikkoku.
Ishikawa: I don’t mean just a little hint at it. That’s very important when trying to depict human beings properly. If you make the biggest, most outward, firm line, she won't cross that. That's what I'm trying to say... No, I don't mean to be snarky.
Okada: No one would think that Ishikawa-san didn't say bad things (laughs).
Ishikawa: So, um, I think she's an amazing artist, but I don't think she's able to draw from the full range of human experience.
Takekuma: However, that's not necessarily the case, and there are certainly some points where you're right... Maison Ikkoku is different from Urusei in that, as I said earlier, the seasons change year by year, and the main character grows each year. We know from the beginning that this is a drama in which Godai and Kyoko get together, but if they were to get together at the beginning, the series would be over, so the key point in the series is how to extend it in various ways. That's why. Godai was a cram school student at first, then went on to university, graduated from university, and worked his way up until he got a job, eventually reaching the age of 25-26. [19] So, Godai had a girlfriend during that time, but it wasn't a relationship that involved love or sex. As I'll say later, this is all a drama about unrequited love.
Character relationship diagram
Nishimura: That's right, it's really rare to see such a one-way street!
(Here, Nishimura hands Takekuma a diagram, on it is a correlation chart of the characters, including Godai and Kyoko).
Takekuma: Ah, that's true...
Saito: Could you please explain that a little bit?
Takekuma: Well, this is a really simplified diagram, but the relationships in Maison Ikkoku are all about unrequited love, and if you think about it, it's a very abnormal world. Some people may think it's not abnormal. Normally, I think dramas are about relationships between people, so I think it's about people's likes and dislikes, and it's about contact or communication with people. However, although this is definitely a drama about human relationships, for example, there is a person named Kozue here (pointing to the picture). A woman named Kozue really likes Godai. Originally, these two were lovers. However, when Godai moved into the apartment called Ikkoku-kan, he met Kyoko and fell in love with her. Then, Yagami, who is further down the line in the story, was a student of Godai’s when he went to work at a high school for his teaching training just before he graduated from university. This is what makes her fall in love with Godai. So, Asuna-san here, the frail rich woman who appears at the end, likes Mitaka-san, and Mitaka-san is in love with Kyoko-san.
Okada: I think Mitaka-san's drawing is amazing, glittering (laughs).
Takekuma: So Godai and Mitaka were originally rivals over Kyoko. At first, I thought that Godai-kun was a humble ronin. [20] So, Mitaka works as a coach at a tennis school. He's a really cool guy, the kind of guy that would make any leisurely madam fall in love with him. That's the story of him falling in love with Kyoko for some reason. So, Kyoko is at the center of this story, and Kyoko fell in love with her teacher, Soichiro, right after graduating from high school, and married him. Soichiro died of an illness and Kyoko became a widow shortly after she graduated from high school. So, she’s been mourning Soichiro-san for a long time, and names her dog Soichiro-san. So unless Kyoko can forget Soichiro, she won't be able to fall in love. She rejects both Godai-kun and Mitaka-san. Ultimately, the structure is such that human relationships are drawn into the black hole that is Soichiro. In other words, the dead are ultimately their biggest rival. Since their rival for Kyoko’s love is a dead person, there’s no better rival. And since he is a person that lives in Kyoko’s memory, she can idealize him as much as she wants. It's like remembering only the good parts. It’s a powerful story, and I often watched it in admiration, thinking that Takahashi-san had come up with such an amazing story. So, there was something about that sex comment earlier about how the sexuality didn't come out...
Saito: I would like to ask you about that in a moment. We have received so many faxes.
Takekuma: Oh, yes, yes, yes,
Matsuno: I’ll try to speak quickly, we've received so many faxes. Thank you very much. I would like to introduce them on the program, but first, let me introduce three of them. This one is from a 20-year-old student in Ishikawa Prefecture who wrote,
"What I really like about Maison Ikkoku is that I can read it by comparing myself with Yusaku Godai. Yusaku Godai's personality isn’t unfamiliar to me, and when he confesses his feelings to Kyoko, I feel as if I am confessing them to her myself.”Yes, here is another illustrated version:
"What moved me the most was on page 186 of volume 15, when Godai-san says to Soichiro's grave, ‘On the day I met Kyoko you were already within her.’ I remember I was moved to tears when he said, 'That’s the Kyoko I fell in love with. So when I marry her... I know you’ll be there too.' This line is good because it shows the depth of love that Godai-san has for Kyoko-san,"said S., a job-hunting student from Oita City, Japan. I've received many other faxes saying they like this scene, which is found in volume 10.
Okada: That's right, page 314 of volume 10.
Matsuno: Thank you very much (laughs). Now, another letter, also with illustrations, says,
“I think Kyoko-san is a very cunning woman throughout the whole story, but as a woman, I’m bothered by the fact that the men in the story (including the male readers) and Kyoko-san herself do not think so. I think it is a little unforgivable for her to be sneaky without being aware of it. Maybe I feel that way especially because I was a fan of Mitaka, but I wonder if it means that men are weak against sneaky women. Please do your best, Tomomi, and say a lot of things,"said a 26-year-old woman named Countess Pandemo from Tokyo. We are still accepting faxes.
Matsuno: We're still looking to hear from you. We'd like to hear from you about your favorite characters and any questions you may have for our guests. Our fax number is Tokyo (035) 453-1922, again that's Tokyo (035) 453-1922. Please remember, it's late at night, so please make sure you don't make any mistakes when dialing. Thank you for your understanding.
Kyoko's Woman's Work
Saito: Let's talk a little bit about the content.
Ishikawa/Okada: I think we should do more with what we have now.
Saito: It's Kyoko's story.
Okada: In the fax, it was mentioned that Kyoko-san, who just came up in discussion, is sneaky. In the manga, Ichinose and Akemi repeatedly pointed this out. Each time, they would say, "You're sneaky, you're sneaky," and Kyoko would wonder whether this was true or not, but she would successfully evade the question.
Takekuma: Kyoko must be unaware of it.
Okada: So in terms of depiction, that's about it.
Takekuma: Oh, you mean that it looks underhanded.
Okada: Well, you know, as a woman, I think Takahashi's really good at drawing these kind of things. So, rather than Kyoko being unconscious of it, she portrays this person honestly and makes it a point to depict this characteristic that women have. I think that's amazing.
Saito: As Takekuma-san said earlier, Soichiro-san is like a black hole, so I think that kind of unconscious cunning is forgiven.
Takekuma: So, if Soichiro-san didn't exist, she would be an unpleasant woman (everyone laughs). But the basic premise is that she is manipulated by her dead husband, so as long as she can't forget him, she can't have a good reason like... whether Mitaka-san or Godai-kun comes on to her or not. But if they are out of it, hey, it may look like they are just balancing the scales.
TARAKO: There is a scene in the beginning where Godai gets drunk and says something like "I love you" and takes Kyoko in his arms, pushes her down on the futon, and falls asleep. Kyoko says, "I guess I’m still a woman, for better or worse.”
Takekuma: Where was that?
TARAKO: It's in the first one.
Okada: I think it's around the first volume.
Takekuma: There was a line like that at the beginning.
TARAKO: I think she knows that. I'm sure that somewhere inside, she knows that she's being unfair.
Okada: Ah, it's here, it's here, it's here, it's here.
Takekuma: After that, Kyoko's active personality disappears for a while.
TARAKO: That's right.
Okada: Well, page 185 of volume 1 is a scene where suddenly she's thrown down... I read it for the first time in a while and thought about it. Here, on page 193, she says, “Upstairs... if he hadn’t fallen asleep... I guess... I’m still a woman. For better or worse...”
Takekuma: Ah, there it is, there it is.
Okada: At this point, Kyoko-san had feelings for Godai-kun, and at that time, he didn't remember what happened the night before, and on the next page Godai-san said sorry to Kyoko-san, and she said, “So you were joking all along?!” She gets angry and says, “You said you loved me as a joke?! That’s just too much!!”
Takekuma: That's why whenever the relationship seems to be progressing, it always goes back on the next page or something.
Godai-kun's first time
Okada: This is the standard type of Japanese trendy drama that was very popular in the 1990s, isn't it? [21] If it was a so-called "trendy drama" and was 60 minutes long, you could watch it at... Generally, the latter half of a trendy drama gradually becomes faster and faster paced, so it is usually divided into three blocks. It seems to be going well, but a misunderstanding gets in the way. In the case of Maison Ikkoku, the story unfolds exactly the same way. In other words, Japanese trendy dramas that were very popular in the 90's actively incorporated the misunderstandings of Maison Ikkoku into their storylines.
Takekuma: Well, there have always been dramas in which the two characters cross paths, such as the classic Your Name, and I guess you could say that she has revived them in the modern age. Anyway, it's like taking one step forward and two steps backward.
TARAKO: Ah, there was a song like that. [22]
Takekuma: Well, that’s the perfect way of teasing things out. That's why it's great entertainment, but thanks to that, even though the serialization progresses, Kyoko-san and Godai-kun's relationship doesn't progress very far. So, Godai-kun reached the age of 20 or so while still being a virgin. So they thought it was a bad idea, and in the middle of the serialization, there was a proposal to have Godai-kun have a sexual encounter.
Okada: You mean within the editorial department.
Takekuma: No, that's not true. Takahashi-san herself seems to have thought it might have gone too far. The main character was about to go to college and had no relationships with women at all, so she thought, why not make a story about it and let him have that experience? When she brought this up to the editorial department, the entire editorial department was against it. I heard this rumor a long time ago. [23]
Ishikawa: But that doesn't mean that Rumiko Takahashi tried to draw sex, it doesn't mean that Rumiko Takahashi drew sex after all.
Okada: That's right.
Takekuma: But, putting aside the truth or falsehood of the rumors, Godai-kun actually goes to a sex club in the middle of Maison Ikkoku.
Ishikawa: Well, that's just a hint of something like that, but there's nothing like that in this...
Takekuma: Ah, that doesn't really come into the heart of the story.
Okada: In other words, the artist did not essentially depict such a scene, but rather created an alibi for it in order to get an OK.
Ishikawa: Yes, she’s avoiding it, isn’t she? I think that Rumiko Takahashi is a like a theme park, so much so that her works are even called "Rumic World".
A theme park called “Rumic World”
Takekuma: Yes, it's like Disneyland.
Ishikawa: There's a Maison Ikkoku pavilion, and there's an Urusei Yatsura pavilion, and they're all really well-made theme parks, so you can have a lot of fun when you go into one of those pavilions. But, it's all a made-up world, and when you look at it from the outside, you can see everything from here to there. That's why I think Rumiko Takahashi is interesting, and I think she's talented, but if there's one thing that I just can't enjoy enough. It's definitely that...
Takekuma: I wonder if there’s a generational difference between you and I, Ishikawa-san.
Ishikawa: Ah, that may be true to some extent.
Okada: Because she's so different from past artists such as Yumiko Oshima, I feel like Ishikawa favors Oshima! [24]
Ishikawa: Well, that's true, though (everyone laughs).
Takekuma: I think it's because there's a slight difference between Ishikawa-san's generation and our generation.
Ishikawa: I wonder if it's a generational thing. .
Takekuma: There is an anime movie directed by Mamoru Oshii called Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer. That's fits with exactly what Ishikawa-san just said. That's why it became one of the most representative animated movies of the 80's. It's a story about a school festival that never ends, no matter how long it lasts. It's a movie that tells you to wake up from that dream and return to reality, so in the sense that Ishikawa-san just said, it's like "I destroyed my miniature garden."
Ishikawa: Maybe Mamoru Oshii is on my side.
Takekuma: Yeah, Oshii-san and Ishikawa-san are probably about the same generation. That movie was a shock to us as well, but if you're a genuine Rumic World fan, there were some parts of it that were tasteless, even unfashionable. [25]
Ishikawa: It seems like there's something wrong with that "artificial world," but I feel like there's a generation that can fully enjoy the closed world of Rumiko Takahashi's "Rumic World," but then there's a limit. I'm sure it may be generational. Well, I don't know if you can call it generational.
Okada: Nishimura-san, you really like the anime Beautiful Dreamer, right? (everyone laughs)
Nishimura: Yes, yes.
Okada: If you look at her face, it says she likes it very much.
Ishikawa: I made a mistake (laughs).
Okada: Didn't you feel like there was a limit, like Ishikawa-san just said?
Takekuma: That's not how I look at it.
Nishimura: Yeah, I don't see it that way.
Okada: How do you view it?
Nishimura: Well, how would I put it...
Okada: Are you looking at me like a ray of love is coming out of my eyes?
Nishimura: Yes, everything is a-okay with me.
Okada: Everything is okay.
Nishimura: Yes.
Okada: If it's an Urusei Yatsura movie, 1, 2, 3, or 4 are okay with you.
Nishimura: I'll watch it.
Okada: It's ok to go back, that's amazing.
Ishikawa: What do you feel is the difference between Beautiful Dreamer and other anime?
Nishimura: Well, each work has its own slightly different parts, so I can understand the differences, but it is the consistent world of Urusei Yatsura, so if you think that's the way everything is, then it's totally fine.
Okada: That’s really something... You’re the ideal type of fan (laughs).
Ishikawa: You’ll do everything unconditionally... (laughs).
Takekuma: You just mentioned Beautiful Dreamer, in which Mamoru Oshii destroyed, in a sense, Rumiko Takahashi's "Rumic World.” In a sense, he destroyed it and returned to reality, which is a kind of a wild thing to do, but on the other hand, it raises an important issue that is also relevant to the present age. However, even Mamoru Oshii himself could not take a step forward from that point. Then, it is the biggest disease of our generation that we are still living in the stagnation of the 80's and 90's. Well, it's become a little bit difficult to talk about.
Saito: This story still has a bit of a "World" feel to it, but to my surprise, it deals with family problems in a very interesting way, and it's always about a family. Family, family, family, family. On the anniversary of Soichiro's death, they may have no choice but to visit his grave, and Kyoko's family will be there, as will Soichiro's family. Godai's family also appears, and although the families are a little broken now, this is an old-fashioned family until the end. I feel like that's true.
Ishikawa: Well, that's because it's a theme park...
Saito: Maybe it is a theme park.
Takekuma: Well, this is just an apartment called Ikkoku-kan, isn't it? Isn't an apartment actually a place of moratorium? [26] You'll probably start living a little further away from your parents while you're still a student. There are office workers living in Ikkoku-kan, but it’s essentially a temporary accommodation. I think that's symbolic. Manga set in apartments have been around for a long time, and I think Maison Ikkoku is a masterpiece from the 1980s. It's a temporary lodging, where you can create another pseudo-family, a little farther away from the hassles of your real family. Saito-san, what’s your view of family...?
Saito: Yes, for me, the ideal family at the time ends up getting married and getting together. I was able to read it in a way that makes me think that it's not going to fail, that it's going well, and that some people who have read it will think, "oh, that's wonderful."
Ishikawa: That's how you create a pseudo-family inside an apartment, show a story that satisfies everyone, and create a story with a happy ending.
Takekuma: Wasn't there something a bit strange about Kyoko's parents' house?
Saito: Weird, weird, no, I think they're both weird! (laughs), weird, hmm, let me correct this a little, it's a little different (everyone nods and says it's a bit different).
A simple question that comes to my mind now
Nishimura: Um, is it okay if I skip to another topic entirely?
Okada: Please go ahead.
Nishimura: Well, when you read something like Maison Ikkoku, and I think everyone does this, there are some strange things that you notice. For example, what does Soichiro-san look like? What is Yotsuya-san's occupation? And what type of dog is Soichiro-san?!?!
Ishikawa: (laughs) Those are groundbreaking questions.
Saito: Wahahaha.
Okada: You really are running on the ideal fan road (laughs).
Nishimura: Yes, I really wanted to make that clear here today.
Ishikawa: That's the first time I've noticed such questions (laughs).
Takekuma: If you say so.
Nishimura: What type of dog do you think Soichiro-san is? [27]
Okada: What exactly do you want to know when you ask us something like that (laughs)?
Ishikawa: I just thought that was some kind of dog.
Takekuma: Just some kind of shaggy dog.
Nishimura: Also, out of all the characters, which character do you like the most, TARAKO?
Akemi and Kyoko
TARAKO: I'd say Akemi-san. You know, I've always thought that perhaps Akemi-san was in love with Godai-kun. But she's a nice woman, isn't she? [28]
Okada: She’s been holding back all along, hasn't she? And then, sometimes, words like, "I want you to take me seriously, but I don't think you'll take me seriously," or "I'll go out with you," slip out.
TARAKO: She’d say “we went to a love hotel, didn't we?” I wonder if she's doing this on purpose to get Kyoko to get serious.
Okada: But after such interactions, Akemi always makes a remark to Kyoko-san, right (everyone laughs)? So, Rumiko Takahashi has created a very sophisticated drama in this area, though it is a bit of a construct.
TARAKO: She's a cute girl, so in that sense, I think it's quite understandable that Kyoko is cunning, because when women see Akemi and Kyoko, I think there are a lot of people who like Akemi. That's what I think. But men will definitely go for Kyoko.
Takekuma: Then the cuteness of a woman is rather on Akemi's side.
TARAKO: Yeah, I think so.
Takekuma: I guess you could call it a charming thing.
Nishimura: I guess it really depends on the person. Um, I'm sorry. Godai-san knows what Kyoko-san is feeling, but on the other hand, Kozue-san is there, right? Even though she has such a nice personality, I wonder why she doesn't tell him clearly. Maybe she can't say it because she's too kind, but I really think that kind of kindness isn't real kindness. But, on the other hand, this is also because everyone is not clear, so I'm sorry (gradually speaking faster).
Ishikawa: Keep going, keep going, more (laughs).
Mitaka and Asuna
Nishimura: Well, Mitaka-san... I think Mitaka-san is a mysterious character. I mean, rivals are always a little mean or a little weird and nasty. But he is unexpectedly one step more mature and gentle, and he even helped Godai-san.
Takekuma: At first, he was a rather unpleasant person. So it's pretty much a theory that a romantic rival is someone you don't like. But he gradually became a good guy.
Nishimura: Indeed, he became a good person.
TARAKO: Isn't it cute that he doesn't like dogs, but um, has McEnroe? (everyone laughs)
Okada/Nishimura: McEnroe (laughs)!
TARAKO: With those sparkling teeth.
Nishimura: And Salade!
Okada: Even the puppies he had with Salade had sparkling teeth.
TARAKO: "A celebrity's life depends on their teeth!" [29] He’s a character that could easily be in a commercial.
Takekuma: That's why, towards the end of the story, Rumiko Takahashi comes up with various follow-up ideas. In other words, it was decided from the beginning that Godai-san and Kyoko-san would get together, but it was a matter of how she would follow up with Mitaka-san and the others. So with Asuna-san, she is brought in as someone who'll end up with Mitaka-san, and she's quite kind, and there's a lot of follow-up in that regard.
Nishimura: Excuse me, uh... (raises his hand).
Okada: Oh, please go ahead (laughs).
Nishimura: The thing that made me laugh the most about Asuna-san was on page 280 of volume 8, when Mitaka-san says for the first time that he can't marry her, and she just collapses. This was the one that got the biggest laugh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to say that.
Takekuma: Where are you...? Oh, she’s a little frail.
TARAKO: Yes, she says she’s going to become a nun, all of a sudden.
Okada: Becoming a nun (laughs) it’s not a line from someone living in the 20th century (laughs).
Nishimura: I quite like it.
Takekuma: She's such an anachronistic character.
Okada: It makes me wonder what was going on during the period of high economic growth after the war...(laughs). "I'm going to become a nun."
TARAKO: Do men have a weakness for women like this? Ones that say they'll turn into nuns.
Okada: Rather than being weak, they run away (everyone laughs).
Ishikawa: It's going to catch on, it's going to catch on.
Okada: Mitaka-san is great, he handled it well here. The moment he saw her fall, he turned around and sprinted away, saying goodbye (laughs).
Ishikawa: That's why Rumiko Takahashi is so good at creating stories. You know, the moment you reach the goal, you’ve already known how you're going to reach the goal, and you've been doing that for more than eight years...
Takekuma: It was going for about eight or nine years, right?
Ishikawa: They kept running and running and running and running and running, and then she changed the characters, and she put this one and that one together, and she pulled this one and that one apart, and she just kept stretching and stretching and stretching until they got to the goal as she had planned.
Saito: This is the fax corner.
(On the screen appears a picture of a viewer's fax)
Saito: Please give us a little introduction.
Matsuno: Yes. We’ve received a lot of faxes.
"Well, I've been a fan of Maison Ikkoku ever since it was published in the magazine. To prove that, I named my daughter Asuna. That's the kind of child I wanted, but in reality, she's a big, energetic 8-year-old."(Everyone laughs) She's so cute. Well, we received that from Tomomitsu Hori, Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and from Asuna, thank you very much. Okay, and this one says,
"No matter what great manga works I come across in the future, I'll never be able to get anything better than the various feelings I had over the seven years I spent with Godai, Kyoko, and others in real time. I’m not exaggerating, this is the one work that changed my life."Ishikawa: That's amazing.
Matsuno: We received this from a 27-year-old from Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, whose pen name is Miya. Thank you very much. We've received a lot of comments, but here's one that says,
"I'm a fan of Yotsuya-san, too, and I'm sure he's appeared in other manga by Takahashi-sensei, the spy one."Okada: The character from the Rumic World story Dust Spot!! is also similar.
Matsuno: Ah, is that so? We received that from Kondo-san in Tokushima Prefecture. Thank you. And finally, let me introduce one more:
"Well, I started reading it when I was a ronin. I love Kyoko's cuteness and Godai's frustration. Why is Takahashi-sensei so masculine even though she's a woman?"We received this from a 28-year-old office worker from Osaka Prefecture who said,
"I bet she can draw characters that tickle your fancy."It also includes illustrations, thank you very much.
Saito: Thank you very much.
Is Maison real?
Okada: When I draw my ideal female character, I usually draw a character that is a little prettier and has no flaws, but the characters that Rumiko Takahashi draws are extremely jealous, and if you look at them in terms other than the beauty of the drawings, it's personality-wise. There are many people who are quite twisted. Are you saying you have a corrupt personality? So in the case of Kyoko in Maison Ikkoku, she seems to be very beautiful at first glance because she loves her late husband forever and ever, but because of that, for example, she doesn't get close to other men. That's why she’ll just hit someone. She's a pretty weird character who suddenly slaps someone even when he's not even holding her hand, but it's amazing how realistic it is, she doesn't make it feel weird.
Takekuma: Also, as you just said with the fax, it was the first time I had ever heard of a female artist who was able to draw realistic men, that is, true-to-life men. Even though Ataru Moroboshi is not an idealized man, he is, in short, a cheater. That's a certain kind of man, so it's often difficult for women to draw such things in a true-to-life way. Also, on the other hand, don't men have the mentality that if a glamorous woman like Lum-chan or Akemi-san approaches you, you'll be attracted to them?
Okada: If they say no (laughs), I'm afraid they'll miss out on something good in the future if they were to say no at a moment like that...
(Suddenly, Takahiro Otsuki bursts in.)
Otsuki Uh, excuse me a moment (everyone laughs). I'm just a folklorist passing through.
Ishikawa: What did you come here for? (laughs)
Otsuki: I got a lot of faxes and it's a hassle (hands the audience faxes to the panelists). That's an incredible number.
Saito: Please, please (gestures for Otsuki to have a seat).
Otsuki: Sorry, I was already sorting things out in the back, but Yotsuya-san is really popular! It's all about Yotsuya-san.
Matsuno: Yes, there are many.
Okada: But Otsuki-san is doing well. He was with us at Denny's in Kichijoji until 6 a.m. today (everyone laughs). [30]
Otsuki: We talked nonsense until after 6 o'clock (laughs).
Matsuno: That's the inside story.
Okada: Kichijoji is a scary neighborhood (laughs).
Matsuno: Well, we've received a lot of faxes related to Yotsuya-san.
Otsuki: Yotsuya-san is very popular. Also, I've got one from a visitor from the Philippines. “I'm from the Philippines," he wrote.
Okada: “And I like Yotsuya-san” (laughs).
Otsuki: No, it's not about Yotsuya-san (laughs), it's not Yotsuya-san. What kind of dog is Soichiro, Ishikawa, a Filipino?
Okada: No one has answered the mystery of Soichiro (laughs).
Ishikawa: I wish someone would answer that (laughs).
Saito: I guess it's a hybrid, basically.
Otsuki: (laughs) As for the types...
Ishikawa: It looks like a crossbreed of a Western dog.
Viewer Fax Corner
Ishikawa: Oh, this, this. Takahashi's anime overseas, Kim-san. Like the situation of Japanese animation.
Otsuki: That must be Okada-san, after all.
Okada:
"I'm currently a 22-year-old student. I'm in a similar situation to Godai-kun. I found the series helpful in many ways, including employment exams and teaching practice. Like Godai-kun, I also fell in love. I'd like everyone to try it."Ryo, Tochigi Prefecture. Wow.
Takekuma: But he's a man, and he was uncomfortable with his obvious sympathy for the male characters (Everyone: Wow). Maison Ikkoku was a manga I read when I was in high school and college, and I couldn't find any sympathy for the male characters, which made me uncomfortable. Men in their teens and twenties are horny. It's not just sexual desire, it's anger and anxiety that make you feel horny. The men in Maison don't feel that way.
Okada: I think Ishikawa-san would say that you shouldn't say things like that to theme park cast members. I don't think so. What do you think?
Ishikawa: Why would you say that? (laughs) Well, that's what I thought too.
Okada: The virtual Ishikawa in my head just told me (laughs).
Nishimura: I received this fax from Hirota Usta-san in Nagano Prefecture, who said,
"I would like to see how Godai-kun is living with Kyoko-san and Haruka-san now, I wonder if there will be a sequel."
Sequel to Maison
TARAKO: Hey, aren't you going to answer?
Takekuma: But just in case...
Okada: Do you want to see the sequel? But…
Takekuma: That's it...
Ishikawa: There's nothing more to say than that (everyone agrees).
TARAKO: Stories about children growing up.
Okada: Ah, now that the child has grown up, the grandfather and grandmother, Godai and Kyoko... That may be true.
Otsuki: But Takekuma-san, usually with a series like this, things don't go well when the sequels get older.
Takekuma: Yeah, that's right.
Otsuki: Now that I've gotten older, my favorite is 1, 2, Sanshiro (1.2の三四郎), and I have the impression that it's doing quite well, but I haven't seen a situation like that before. [31] There have been many requests for a sequel, but when they are released, they are not very good.
Nishimura: Well, in the manga Tokimeki Tonight (ときめきトゥナイト), the story revolves around a child again, making it extremely long, but what do you think? [32]
TARAKO: My dreams are expanding.
Okada: Awesome!!
Ishikawa: But Maison has already ended. At that point, when they carried their child in their arms, I had completely hit the end mark, so when I thought about that child growing up, it felt like my dreams were fading away.
Nishimura: It was beautiful, especially at the end.
Takekuma: But in the end, they return to Ikkoku-kan, holding their child.
Nishimura: That's right.
Okada: It was good, wasn't it? (to Nishimura)
Nishimura: It was great, I want to live at Ikkoku-kan (everyone bursts out laughing).
Otsuki: I-I want to live there!!!
Nishimura: That clock on the fourth or third floor is nice.
Otsuki: That stopped clock.
Ishikawa: The clock tower was nice.
Nishimura: I don't know what it is about it, but I'd like to explore inside.
Moratorium drama
Saito: The origin of Ikkoku-kan isn’t mentioned at all.
Okada: There’s no mention of it.
Takekuma: Oh, the clock has been stopped for a long time.
Okada: The town is called Tokeizaka, and Ikkoku-kan is located at the top of the Tokeizaka shopping street. It's really a fictional town that was created by Takahashi, but it's beautifully done. The moment Nishimura-san said earlier that she wanted to live in Ikkoku-kan, Takekuma-san gave an indescribable expression...
Takekuma: No, no.
Okada: You must have thought, "I don't want to be in that time-stopped space."
Takekuma: Well, I don't want to see beyond it, so I didn't know what to make of it. No, this is a happy ending, but if it were true, they would have children, grow up as people, and leave Ikkoku-kan. In other words, they would generally abandon the moratorium and leave. Isn't it a coming-of-age drama?
Okada: A standard Hollywood ending is definitely what this is.
Takekuma: But they come back.
Ishikawa: It's a theme park after all. In the end, you enter through the entrance and exit through the exit, but that exit is actually an entrance. So, the beginning and end are the same place.
Saito: I guess that's why she's like Walt Disney.
Ishikawa: No, even Walt Disney is a little different these days.
Takekuma: No, Disney actually lived inside Disneyland for a while when they built it. He built his own house inside Disneyland, took a walk every day, looked around the venue, and had a say in the details of the construction. That's right.
Saito: Regarding Ikkoku-kan, I think people of my generation, like Otsuki-san, were like this in real life.
Otsuki: There are still a boarding houses like this, dirty boarding houses, for better or for worse.
Saito: Yeah, yeah.
Otsuki: One’s without a bath.
Saito: Nope, no, none.
Okada: At least one of my friends lived in a place like this.
Ishikawa: Did Ikkoku-kan have a bath?
Otsuki: There's no bath here. That's why, after this work, these kinds of rooms gradually changed to one-room spaces in the city. So, if you look at that fax now, there are probably people who read it in high school and are now in college. What kind of reality does this living space have when these people read it? We read it at the same time, so it must have been in real time, probably for Saito-san. That's the difference, isn't it? Also, I wanted to ask Ishikawa-san about this, but as I was listening over there, I thought that Takahashi-san has improved tremendously in terms of her technical skills as she has continued to draw.
The highest level of ordinary painting
Ishikawa: She’s getting better, uh, compared to the time of her debut, I guess.
Otsuki: Clearly, she wasn’t that far off.
Ishikawa: Amateurs, amateurs who are a little familiar with drawing... I don't really like her drawings that much, but I think she's gotten better compared to when she first started. Even in Maison Ikkoku, if you compare the first volume with the last volume, you can tell just by looking at this picture (Kyoko's face that appeared at the beginning of the program). However, there are some things that haven't changed, can I just say something? (everyone bursts into laughter)
Otsuki: Ahaha, it's here, as promised (laughs).
Ishikawa: (stands up and points to the picture) Rumiko Takahashi's characteristic is the white color here. [33]
Saito: Ah, yes, yes, the white in the hair.
Ishikawa: White involves adding lines using poster color on top of the ink, but there aren't many manga artists these days who put lines like this here and there (everyone laughs). Rumiko Takahashi is still doing it. This technique is quite old, or rather, it's a method used by people in the past, and there aren't many people who do it anymore, but she still does it. This is interesting. Well, not only this, Rumiko Takahashi's technique is a bit old in many ways. I wonder what it is, but the first thing that came out before Urusei Yatsura was Katte na Yatsura. This made me think that someone from the world of old manga had reappeared. I thought she was far older than a newcomer. (Otsuki bursts out laughing) Oh, um.
Otsuki: Now, Rumiko Takahashi will be angry when she sees this, Ishikawa-san (laughs).
Okada: Takahashi-san knows that Ishikawa-san can't help himself.
Takekuma: Well, it's said in the manga world that Ishikawa-san can’t help himself.
Okada: There are not that many people in Japan who can be angry with Ishikawa-san.
Ishikawa: I guess so (laughs). But I like her. I especially like Rumiko Takahashi's personality. [34]
Takekuma: What are you talking about? (laughs)
Okada: It's amazing how old a newcomer can be (laughs).
Ishikawa: No, but I think she probably knows that too. Because she's so good at it, technically speaking, her drawings aren't anything new. The way the story is structured is also very unorthodox.
Okada: What do you mean when you say her techniques aren’t new? For example, what you said earlier was about adding white to the hair. How would people do that today? If you're a new creator.
Otsuki: Ah, I want to hear that.
Takekuma: Nowadays, I use a maru pen to draw a shine like this. [35]
Ishikawa: Also, screentones and rough scraping. [36]
Takekuma: Yes, removing screentone, is how it’s done these days.
Ishikawa: Ah, the highest level of normalcy. It means that you thought of something other than that. Rumiko Takahashi's manga is really in my ranking... For example, if the past's Yumiko Oshima was a high-ranking Yokozuna, Rumiko Takahashi is, for me, erm, a personal evaluation, uh, Sekiwake class. [37] The reason why there is such a difference is that Rumiko Takahashi's works are, in my opinion, “the highest level of normalcy.”
Saito: Ah, the highest level of normalcy.
Okada: Well, here's the questionnaire I received from Rumiko Takahashi, which was completed for this program, and Rumiko Takahashi herself submitted the answers by fax. "Authors that I immersed myself in reading from childhood to adolescence were Shotaro Ishinomori's Cyborg 009 (サイボーグ009), Tetsuya Chiba's Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー), and Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo (どろろ) and Wonder 3 (W3 or ワンダースリー). [38]
Otsuki: They're all shonen manga.
Okada: The classics.
Takekuma: What? Ryoichi Ikegami-sensei isn't included? I'm sure she said in an old interview that she was a fan of his. [39]
Okada: Yes, she read these works from the upper grades of elementary school to middle school and high school. This is definitely someone who likes the old works.
Takekuma: That's why she likes orthodox boys' manga.
Ishikawa: That's certainly true.
From borderless shonen and shojo manga to romantic comedy
Otsuki: Well, I think it was Rumiko Takahashi's achievement that the boundary between shonen and shojo manga really collapsed so resoundingly. Around the same time, Fumi Saimon-san made her debut in a boys' magazine. So, it was probably around the beginning of the 80s, or something like with P.S. Genki desu, Shunpei (P.S.元気です、俊平). [40] Up until then, some things had happened, but I have the impression that she was the one that clearly destroyed it.
Takekuma: In the late 1970s, when Takahashi-san made her debut, shojo manga was actually at the cutting edge of manga expression.
Otsuki: Yes, that was indeed the case at the time.
Takekuma: At that time. So, shonen manga was really lacking in energy. So, at a time when the excessive gekiga of the past had stalled, the soil was fertile for a variety of new works to emerge, and female creators like Rumiko Takahashi were also able to emerge.
Otsuki: So when it came to shonen manga it was revitalized.
Takekuma: It was revitalized. So, Takahashi-san was able to draw a shonen manga that was more like a shonen manga than a normal shonen manga had been.
Otsuki: After all, Urusei Yatsura was in Shonen Sunday.
Takekuma: Sunday, yes.
Saito: Even in shonen manga itself, there weren't that many romance stories.
Takekuma: Well, anyway, the cutting edge of the 1970s was shojo manga. [41] So, isn't love the basis of shojo manga? Male writers were also influenced by that. So they decided to somehow incorporate elements of shojo manga into their work and draw some manga ourselves. For example, Mitsuru Adachi-san actually drew manga for girls, but he moved on to magazines for boys. [42] It was around the end of the 1970s that a genre called romantic comedy started appearing in shonen magazines. [43]
Ishikawa: It was amazing.
(Cover of Hiatari! Ryoko! on the screen)
Otsuki: This is when, Good Weather (陽あたり良好!/Hiatari Ryoko!) was coming out. [44]
Ishikawa: You're following me properly.
Otsuki: I'm following you.
Okada: I don't know why I can follow you (laughs). It's great.
Ishikawa: That's amazing. Romantic comedies around this time were amazing, and every magazine was doing romantic comedies at the same time.
Okada: I couldn't read shonen manga magazines back then. In particular, it was Kick Off (キックオフ) that was in Shonen Jump (everyone laughs). [45]
Ishikawa: Ah, there it is. The ones that look at each other and the flowers flutter away.
Okada: If you go to a used bookstore right now, you'll see Kick Off everywhere.
Ishikawa: Yes (everyone laughs).
Okada: Everyone was crazy about buying it back then, and now they're selling it because they're embarrassed (laughs).
Takekuma: But second-hand bookstores don't take back best-selling books (laughs) (everyone laughs bitterly).
Ishikawa: The panels are divided horizontally, and there is a man and a woman on the far right and the far left, looking at each other like this... and flowers bloom in the middle.
Okada: That's right.
Otsuki: After all, there was a book written by Jump's editor-in-chief, Farewell to Shonen Jump’s Youth (さらば青春の少年ジャンプ/Saraba Seishun no Shonen Jump).
Ishikawa: Ah, Nishimura-san. [46]
Otsuki: Right, Nishimura-san. There were romantic comedies in the mid-70s, when my subordinates would come up with a lot of ideas and I'd kick them because I didn't like them, but they'd come up with them anyway, and after a certain point I gave up on them and they started selling.
Takekuma: No, this may be a little off topic from Takahashi-san's story, but in the 1970s, the gigantic mountain range known as Ikki Kajiwara lost momentum. [47]
Otsuki: Yes, yes.
Takekuma: Well, the reason for this is that things like effort and perseverance have become increasingly lame. Well, what I mean is that as Japan has become richer, the very act of trying hard has become lame.
Otsuki: The purpose became unclear.
Takekuma: In other words, when the idea of working hard to become rich or working hard to win some kind of prize became lame, romantic comedies appeared, meaning that in the end, the goal is striving for human relationships, spirituality, etc. It becomes something like that. Then the theme of love inevitably comes up, leading to a romantic comedy.
Rumiko Takahashi's influence
Ishikawa: However, the influence that Rumiko Takahashi has had on the otaku world is amazing.
Okada: It's huge.
Takekuma: Isn’t that so, Okada-san.
Okada: For a while, they sold a lot of T-shirts and Piyo Piyo aprons (laughs).
Ishikawa: It's amazing that Piyo Piyo aprons would sell (laughs).
Okada: Because if you go to Comiket, you'll see cosplayers with Piyo Piyo aprons and a bamboo broom, or dressed as Lum-chan.
Ishikawa: Lum-chan.
Okada: Fat Lums, skinny Lums, male Lums, women Lums... (everyone laughs) It was an incredible environment.
Takekuma: I've seen Lum-chan with a three-tiered belly.
Okada: I've seen all kinds of variations of Lum-chan. Lum-chan transcended all races, bodies, and genders.
Otsuki: Today's fax also had a lot of pictures, it’s been overwhelmingly pictures. It's really like a bulletin board at Yoyogi Station, yes. [48]
Okada: Was there anything about that impressed you about today's faxes, TARAKO-san?
TARAKO: This one,
“I read Maison Ikkoku when I was still a child, so I couldn't properly understand the depth of the human relationships in this work. I left Maison because I didn't like it, but now that I'm at this age and watching this show and reading Maison Ikkoku again, I feel like I might be able to understand Kyoko's cunning as a human again."(everyone cheers)
Okada: This program is also doing something good for manga culture, and it's not just badmouthing Ishikawa (laughs).
TARAKO: Getting more and more fans.
Okada: That's why you can read it again and understand it.
TARAKO: That's right.
Okada: For me, there is a story called The Poe Clan (ポーの一族/Po no ichizoku) that we did on the second episode, but when I read it again for the show for the first time in about 10 years, I thought, “Wow!” It's even better now. [49] It's interesting. More obviously so than 10 years ago.” This manga was created by a woman who was between 24 and 25 years old who thought hard about the idea that it’s more interesting to me now at 38 years old, and it will be when I’m 48 years old.
TARAKO: At 38?!
Okada: That's right (everyone laughs).
Otsuki: How old did you think he was? (laughs)
TARAKO: No, you're young.
Okada: I can't believe TARAKO is so young... (laughs).
Ishikawa: No, but it's interesting that when you read a manga again years later, you can read it in a different way, and as you grow older, you can read it in a different way again (everyone nods).
Otsuki: No, on the contrary, as our generation gets older, there'll be a lot of elderly people in nursing homes who will read these kinds of books tirelessly.
Ishikawa: Yes, the shelves at nursing homes are probably full of manga.
Otsuki: The shelves are lined with grubby copies of Maison Ikkoku.
Okada: And yet, when I tell the kids to look at manga, they say, “Manga is too difficult to read!" (everyone laughs)
Otsuki: Kids of a certain age can't even read manga anymore.
Okada: Now, everything’s virtual, I don't know what it is, but it was something that had joysticks and other strange things attached to it, and they were playing with things that we can't understand. But no, I've managed to get through life pretty well (laughs).
The future works of Rumiko Takahashi
Otsuki: Takahashi-san, she's currently in her nascent period, having just finished Ranma 1/2.
Takekuma: Ranma has ended, yeah.
Otsuki: It's over, for now.
Ishikawa: What will she bring out next? [50]
Takekuma: I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with. Hmm.
Otsuki: I guess it'll be for a shonen magazine.
Takekuma: Well, I don't know, that's what I’d do (laughs).
Ishikawa: If she left Shonen Sunday that would be a bit harsh, huh.
Okada: Oh god (laughs).
Takekuma: Oh god (laughs).
Okada: That's exactly right. The only person who can say that on TV is Jun Ishikawa (laughs).
Ishikawa: I guess so (laughs).
Otsuki: Is it possible for Rumiko Takahashi to exist outside of her theme park?
Ishikawa: Hmm.
Okada: So for Ishikawa-san, Mermaid Scar, Mermaid Forest, the Mermaid series, is also a haunted house inside a theme park?
Otsuki: Even that is a part of the theme park.
Ishikawa: That's the only way I can read it.
Okada: Well, I used to mix in the human drama and the fun stuff when I was reading through Maison Ikkoku, but after I started the Mermaid series, I divided the fun stuff into Ranma and the Mermaid stuff into the darker stuff. On the other hand, I couldn't read Ranma anymore. I was more interested in the Mermaid series. So, I thought that Maison was a good balance.
Otsuki: Well, this may seem a bit out of nowhere, but with Yoji Yamada's Tora-san series, Yamada-san sometimes gets angry when he says he's serious, but (everyone laughs) there's Son (息子/Musuko) and the School (学校/Gakko) series, etc. [51]
Matsuno: There's so much to talk about, but I'm sorry, but we're running out of time.
(Everyone says things like “It’s early!” and “Already!”)
Matsuno: Our next episode will be next week on the 27th. The work is pink by Kyoko Okazaki. [52]
Otsuki: Ah, that's tough.
Matsuno: We are also looking for your faxes. Thank you very much to everyone for today. And thank you very much, Otsuki-san, for jumping in.
Matsuno: We'd love to hear your memories of when you first read pink, the moments that moved you, your favorite characters, etc., as well as your opinions and impressions about the program. The fax number is the same as today. Tokyo 035-453-1922 Tokyo 035-453-1922 from 11pm on Mondays. I'm looking forward to receiving a lot of faxes. Thank you very much to everyone for today.
Footnotes
- [1] Ishikawa is wearing a yukata, so his cosplay is likely meant to be a reference to Yotsuya from Maison Ikkoku.
- [2] Thunderbirds is a British sci-fi television show using marionettes and models. The show was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson in 1965. The show focuses on a group called International Rescue and their five Thunderbird vehicles.
- [3] Hikaru Takatsuka (高塚光) is a former psychic and alleged healer by laying his hands on people with illnesses and injuries.
- [4] "Gekiga" (劇画) or "dramatic pictures" is a style of manga strongly connected to the work of Takao Saito (斎藤隆夫), Sanpei Shirato (白土三平), Ryoichi Ikegami (池上 遼一), Yoshiharu Tsuge (つげ義春), Yoshihiro Tatsumi (辰巳ヨシヒロ) and Shigeru Mizuki (水木しげる) among others.
- [5] In 1976, Rumiko Takahashi made her debut in Shonen Sunday. Before that, female artists active in shonen magazines included Moto Hagio (萩尾望都), who began serializing Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights (百億の昼と千年の夜/Hyaku Oku no Hiru to Chitose no Yoru) in Shonen Champion in 1976, and Keiko Takemiya (竹宮惠子), started serializing Toward the Terra (地球へ/Tera e...) in Gekkan Manga Shonen the same year. However, these women were originally shojo manga artists. Rumiko Takahashi was the first female author to have a big hit in shonen and seinen magazines without having come from the shojo genre. After that, Fumi Saimon (柴門ふみ) serialized P.S. Genki desu, Shunpei (P.S.元 気です、俊平) in Young Magazine in 1980. Kei Ishizaka (石坂啓) serialized An Anyuuzoku (安穏族) in Young Jump starting in 1986, and Natsuko Heiuchi (塀内夏子) made her debut in Shonen Magazine in 1988. Makoto Isshiki (一色まこと) made her debut in Young Magazine in 1986, and Jinko Kobayashi (小林じんこ) serialized Furoagari no Yozora ni (呂あがりの夜空に) in Young Magazine from 1988.
- [6] Michiko Satonaka (里中満智子) cites many shonen manga artists as her influence including Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫), Tetsuya Chiba (ちばてつや), and Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎), though unlike Takahashi she also cites a number of shojo artists as well such as Hideko Mizuno (水野英子). She made her debut by winning the first Kodansha New Faces Award for Portrait of Pia (ピアの肖像/Pia no shozo). Her first major hit came with Tomorrow Will Shine (あした輝く/Ashita Kagayaku). Her most famous work is Ladies of Aries (アリエスの乙女たち/Ariesu no Otometachi). Her manga Constellation of the Hunter (狩人の星座/Karyudo no Seiza) won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1982. She later became active in josei manga.
- [7] Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights (百億の昼と千年の夜/Hyaku Oku no Hiru to Chitose no Yoru) is a serialized novel by Ryu Mitsuse (光瀬龍) published from 1965 to 1966 in SF Magazine (S-Fマガジン). However, the manga adaptation by Moto Hagio (萩尾望都) was published from 1977 to 1978 in Shonen Champion thus slightly predating Takahashi's 1978 debut in Shonen Sunday.
- [8] Your Name (君の名は/Kimi no Na Wa) is not the popular 2016 anime film of the same name, rather this is an unrelated NHK radio drama that ran from 1952 to 1954 based on an original work by Kazuo Kikuta (菊田一夫). It was said the radio serial was so popular that women's bath houses were entirely empty when the broadcast would air, it was later adapted into a three part film series from 2002 to 2005. The story deals with a man and woman meeting on Sukiyabashi Bridge in Tokyo at the end of World War II without revealing their names to one another due to the sound of air raid sirens blaring. They promise to meet again and keep passing one another and failing to reconnect.
- [9] The Urusei Yatsura fan club eventually turned into the Kitty Animation Circle which promoted Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2 along with a few other Kitty Animation productions as as Yawara.
- [10] Chandora (ちゃんどら) was a gag manga by Jun Ishikawa that began in the first issue of Big Comic Spirits in 1980. The main character is Chandora, a detective robot who uses special abilities to solve cases. Chandora's name is a reference to Raymond Chandler, the famous mystery novelist. In the manga Chandora is pitted against Fu Manshu, a parody of the classic villain Fu Manchu. Throughout the manga are references and parodies of numerous other anime and manga.
- [11] Hideo Azuma (吾妻ひでお), often cited as the creator of "lolicon" debuted in 1969 with Ringside Crazy (リングサイド・クレイジー) and serialized series such as Futari no Gonin (ふたりと5人) in Shonen Champion. In the west his 2005 autobiographical manga, Disappearance Diary (不条理日記/Fujori Nikki), which detailed his descent into alcoholism and homelessness is his most well-known work. His manga Cybele (シベール) is considered the first lolicon manga. Azuma passed away in 2019. Takahashi paid tribute to him in a brief essay manga. Marley Caribu (狩撫麻礼) is the pen-name (one of many) of a manga writer who was also one of the first year students at Kazuo Koike's Gekiga Sonjuku alongside Rumiko Takahashi. Other names he has published under include Garon Tsuchiya (土屋ガロン) and Marginal. Fearful of getting typecast for writing certain kinds of stories, Caribu frequently changed his pen-name later in his career. Caribu's most noted manga is Old Boy which he wrote (under the pen name Garon Tsuchiya) with artwork by Nobuaki Minegishi (嶺岸信明). Old Boy has twice been adapted into film, once in 2003 by Park Chan-wook which won the Grand Prix at the Canne Film Festival and again in 2013 by Spike Lee. Jiro Taniguchi (谷口 ジロー) primarily worked in the gekiga (劇画) style of manga and often worked as an illustrator alongside a writer. He debuted in 1970 and worked with Garon Tsuchiya (土屋ガロン) (aka Marley Caribu [狩撫麻礼]) on Blue Fighter (青の戦士/Ao no Senshi), Knuckle Wars (ナックル・ウォーズ/Nakkuru Wozu) and Live! Odyssey (LIVE! オデッセイ). Taniguchi wrote and illustrated the mountain climbing manga Summit of the Gods (神々の山嶺/Kamigami no Itadaki) though it was based on a novel by another of his writing partners, Baku Yumemakura (夢枕獏). Alongside French artist Moebius, Taniguchi illustrated Icaro (イカル/Ikaru). Taniguchi passed away in 2017 at the age of 69. His manga Hotel Harbor View (海景酒店), written by Natsuo Sekikawa (関川夏央) was one of the first manga published by Viz in the United States. Later his manga Benkei in New York, written by Jinpachi Mori (毛利甚八), was also published by Viz in English.
- [12] Big Comic Spirits (ビッグコミックスピリッツ) was launched in October 1980 by editor-in-chief Katsuya Shirai. The magazine started as a monthly magazine and then shifted to bi-weekly in June 1981.
- [13] This is true. Ishikawa mistakenly believes that Takahashi came onto the struggling Big Comic Spirits and the creators he mentioned were all fired and she saved the magazine. In truth, she had been publishing alongside Ishikawa and the other artists he mentioned. Takahashi was one of the creators chosen to help launch the magazine and she has spoken about her excitement about being a part of the launch of a new magazine.
- [14] This is one of the seven abilities of Chandora in Ishikawa's manga. The Dainippon Teikoku Umeboshi Beam has the robot spit liquor at his opponents.
- [15] Yasuko Tomita (富田靖子) is an actress who won the Japan Academy Prize for her debut in Aiko 16 Sai, a film based on the novel of the same name written by 17 year old Akemi Hotta (堀田あけみ). The film adaptation launched Tomita's career and she has won many accolades for her other films which include Bu Su (ブス), The Christ of Nanjing (南京的基督), and My Neighbors the Yamadas (ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん/Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun).
- [16] Beginning in the March 1958 issue of Ribon a golden brooch was given away to all readers that sent in three coupons from sequential issues of the magazine. From then on the magazine became known for giving away unique items that encouraged readers to buy the magazine and submit the required proof of purchase in order to gain the unique goods. Some were character-based items while others included things like tote bags, playing cards, watches and stationary sets.
- [17] Ribon began publication in August 1955 from Shueisha. It has been home to many famous manga including Sally the Witch (魔法使いサリー/Mahotsukai Sarii), Chibi Maruko-chan (ちびまる子ちゃん), Tokimeki Tonight (ときめきトゥナイト), and Aishiteruze Baby (愛してるぜ ベイベ).
- [18] Sex is rarely depicted in shonen manga, however Maison Ikkoku is a seinen series directed at an older audience. In the series Godai and Kyoko are shown to have a sexual encounter over the course of six pages, though the encounter is not explicit. As to why Ishikawa is so focused on Takahashi's depiction of sex, it could be because he had been reading Kyoko Okazaki's work pink for the follow day's show. That is also why he is making comparisons between Takahashi and Yumiko Oshima (大島弓子) during the episode, as she had been the topic of discussion on the previous night's episode.
- [19] Godai is 19 years old at the beginning of the series and Kyoko is two years older than him, so 21. By the time Godai proposes and marries Kyoko he is 25, and it is assumed that he is 26 when Haruka is born.
- [20] Historically a "ronin" (浪人) was a masterless samurai. Today the term is used to refer to a high school graduate who did not pass their college entrance exams and is awaiting another opportunity to take the exam and enter university.
- [21] So-called "trendy dramas" (トレンディドラマ) were dramas that involved multiple love triangles set in a metropolitan environment. Accord to one theory, Seven Men and Women, Summer Story (男女7人夏物語/Danjo Shichinin Natsu Monogatari) which aired on TBS in 1966 is a precursor to the trendy drama. Examples of trendy dramas include Kimi no Hitomi o Arrest! (君の瞳を逮捕する!), starring Yuko Asano (浅野ゆう子) from 1988, Dakishimetai! (抱きしめたい!) starring W Asano (Double Asano = Atsuko Asano and Yuko Asano) also from 1988 and Tokyo Love Story (東京ラブストーリー) based on the manga by Fumi Saimon in 1991.
- [22] This is a reference to the song 365 Step March (365歩のマーチ) by Kiyoko Suizenji (水前寺清子).
- [23] You can read an interview with Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku era editor, Soichiro Suzuki (鈴木総一郎), where he discusses the debate about whether Godai should lose his virginity or not.
- [24] Yumiko Oshima (大島弓子) is a shojo manga artist and member of the venerated "Year 24 Group". She is often cited as the creator of the "cat girl" archetype from the protagonist of her manga The Star of Cottonland (綿の国星/Wata no Kunihoshi). Oshima is cited as being one of the most visually inventive of manga artists and much of her panel designs and layout have become standardized in shojo manga due to her influence.
- [25] Mamoru Oshii (押井守) got his start as the director of the Urusei Yatsura anime along with the first two films, Only You and Beautiful Dreamer. Readers are often curious about Takahashi's feelings about Mamoru Oshii's work on Beautiful Dreamer, and his adapatation of Urusei Yatsura. "The Time We Spoke Endlessly About the Things We Loved" and "Three-Way Interview" are two articles that are recommended so that readers can make up their own minds about her feelings in her own words. Additionally in her 35th anniversary interview with Comics Natalie she expresses her enjoyment of Oshii's work, though by contrast in her Italian interview she gave a vague answer that was more negative (though she did not name Oshii or Beautiful Dreamer explicitly).
- [26] An included footnote states, "moratorium was originally an economic term meaning deferral of payment, it was later used to refer to a period during which a person who has gorwn up is given a grace period from fulfilling social obligations. Adolescence is considered a prepatory period for social growth. Right from the time he started living at Ikkoku-kan until he got a job, Yusaku Godai was under a moratorium." Interestingly Ishikawa and Takahashi both gave an interview about using the moratorum of their college days to begin working towards a careern in manga. You can read that interview here.
- [27] Soichiro is a samoyed.
- [28] In 2022 Takahashi was actually asked if Akemi had feelings for Godai. She said as far as she was concerned, Akemi did not have feelings for Godai.
- [29] This line is from a series of toothpaste ads for Apagard that was airing in Japan when this episode of BS Manga Yawa was airing in 1996. Mikihisa Higashi (東幹久) and Saki Takaoka (高岡早紀) appeared in the ad and the catch phrase won the "Buzzword Award" in 1996. You can see the advertisements here.
- [30] An included note states, "The day before this broadcast, after the program ended Ishikawa, Okada, Otsuki and Takekuma went to Denny's in the Kichijoji area and talked about manga until morning, despite the cold stares of the waitresses." The previous day's episode covered Yumiko Oshima (who Ishikawa said he enjoyed more than Rumiko Takahashi) and her manga Akihiko Kakukatariki (秋日子かく語りき).
- [31] 1, 2, Sanshiro (1.2の三四郎/Ichi Ni no Sanshiro) is a manga by Makoto Kobayashi (小林まこと). Running from 1978 until 1983, the manga spawned two sequels, 1, 2, Sanshiro 2 (1・2の三四郎 2/Ichi ni no Sanshiro 2) which ran from 1994 to 1998 and Fighting Detectives (格闘探偵団/Kakuto Tanteidan) from 2003 to 2006. The series follows Sanshiro through high school and adulthood as he participates in the judo and rugby clubs at his high school and then graduates to become a professional wrestler. The later series sees him become a detective.
- [32] Mangaka Koi Ikeno (池野恋) created Tokimeki Tonight (ときめきトゥナイト) ran from 1982 to 1994 in Ribon. By the third arc of the story the daughter of a werewolf and vampire (Ranze Eto) has married Shun Makabe and had a daughter named Aira. At the time this episode of BS Manga Yawa aired there were no proper sequels to the series, but in 2002 Tokimeki Midnight (ときめきミッドナイト) and 2021's Tokimeki Midnight: Sore Kara (ときめきトゥナイト それから) were released.
- [33] "White" (ホワイト/Howaito) is "white out" or "correction fluid" used to correct mistakes or to add highlights. In addition to white out "poster color" (ポスターカラー) is also sometimes used. In the United States poster color/poster paint is typically tempera, while in Asia it usually refers to gouache.
- [34] Takahashi published a small tribute to Ishikawa. In his books on manga criticism he often had other manga artists such as Takahashi and Akira Toriyama provide illustrations.
- [35] A "maru pen" (丸ペン), sometimes translated as a "mapping pen" is a type of nib for a dip pen. This pen is mainly used to draw thin lines such as backgrounds and effect lines, and main lines such as human figures, etc.
- [36] "Screentone" (スクリーントーン) is a pattern made of dots oand lines that is printed onto a transparent surface with an adhesive on the back. This is then adhered to the original illustration. The screentone can be trimmed to fit in various shapes (to create patterns on clothing for instance) and the pattern can also be scraped off to create highlights.
- [37] In sumo ranking terminology yokozuna (横綱) would be the highest rank while sekiwake (関脇) would be the third highest rank.
- [38] Cyborg 009 (サイボーグ009) by Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎) began serialization in 1964 and was published off and on until the 1980s and is one of the classics of shonen manga dealing with the lives of nine individuals forced to become cyborgs and their battle against the Black Ghost organization. Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー) is the legendary boxing manga by Ikki Kajiwara (梶原一騎) and Tetsuya Chiba (ちばてつや) which ran from 1968-1973. Dororo (どろろ) is the famed manga by Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) which ran from 1968-1969 dealing with a samurai trying to reclaim his missing body parts from demons. Tezuka's Wonder 3 (W3 or ワンダースリー) is from 1965 and deals with three aliens masquerading as a rabbit, horse and duck.
- [39] Ryoichi Ikegami (池上遼一) is by far Takahashi's biggest influence and favorite artist as she has professed many times. His work includes Crying Freeman (クライング フリーマン), Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ) and Wounded Man (傷追い人).
- [40] P.S. Genki desu, Shunpei (P.S.元気です、俊平) by Fumi Saimon (柴門ふみ) this 1980 manga series has parallels to Maison Ikkoku in some ways as it focuses on a ronin who falls in love with a college student who is dating a doctor. The manga started the same year as Maison Ikkoku in a seinen magazine (Kodansha's Young Magazine) which was created in the same year as Big Comic Spirits to compete for the same aged audience. Saimon is the author of Tokyo Love Story which was given as an example of a "trendy drama" earlier.
- [41] The cutting edge of manga in the 1970s was lead by the "Year 24 Group" (24年組/Nijuyonen gumi), named for "Showa 24" (1949) the year in which many of these notable manga artists were born. They burst onto the scene in the early 1970s and the leading figures of the movement include Moto Hagio (萩尾望都), Yumiko Oshima (大島弓子), Keiko Takemiya (竹宮惠子), Ryoko Yamagishi (山岸凉子), and Minori Kimura (樹村みのり). These mangaka were all working primarily in the shojo field and were introducing new topics and stylistic techniques that were not seen in manga before.
- [42] Mitsuru Adachi (あだち充) got his start in shojo comics before moving to Shonen Sunday which would be his primary publisher for the vast majority of his career. At Sunday he published alongside Rumiko Takahashi for three decades before he moved to Gessan, the monthly Sunday imprint. Adachi is well known for his romantic sports comedies such as Touch, Miyuki, H2, Katsu and Mix among many, many others. You can read a very early interview between Takahashi and Adachi here and then a second interview between the friends here.
- [43] The romantic comedy (ラブコメディ/love comedy) genre took shape in manga during the tail end of the 1970s in shonen manga as it began to incorporate romance elements from shojo manga. Early examples include Soaring Couple (翔んだカップル/Tonda Couple) by Kimio Yanagisawa (柳沢きみお) from Shonen Magazine in 1978, Munasawagi no Hougako (胸さわぎの放課後) by Mio Murao (村生ミオ) in 1980 (also in Shonen Magazine) and Miyuki (みゆき) by Mitsuru Adachi (あだち充) from Big Comic.
- [44] Good Weather (陽あたり良好!/Hiatari Ryoko!) by Mitsuru Adachi was serialized in Shojo Comic from 1979-1981. The story revolves around four boys courting Kasumi Kishimoto after she moves into a boarding house owned by her aunt where they are also living.
- [45] Kick Off (キックオフ) by Taku Chiba (ちば拓) was published in Shonen Jump from 1982 to 1983. In his book Manga Editing Techniques (まんが編集術), the editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump, Shigeo Nishimura (西村繁男), asserts on page 243-244 that Kick Off should be viewed as a parody of the iconic romantic comedies published by Shonen Sunday at the time, particularly Mitsuru Adachi's Touch.
- [46] Farewell to Shonen Jump’s Youth (さらば青春の少年ジャンプ/Saraba Seishun no Shonen Jump) by Shigeo Nishimura was published in 1997 by the aforementioned Shigeo Nishimura (西村繁男).
- [47] Ikki Kajiwara (梶原一騎) was the writer of a number of notable manga including Star of the Giants (巨人の星/Kyojin no Hoshi), Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー) and Tiger Mask (タイガーマスク). His manga is strongly associated with "hot-blooded heroes", harsh training techniques and combat sports such as boxing and professional wrestling.
- [48] At the time of this program's broadcast in 1996 the bulletin board on the platform of the JR Sobu Line at Yoyogi Station was covered with drawings that people could freely post. There were high-quality drawings stuck to the board drawn by students at the nearby Yoyogi Animation Gakuin as well as doodles by high schoolers as well.
- [49] The Poe Clan (ポーの一族/Po no ichizoku) is one of Moto Hagio (萩尾望都) masterpieces. The story follows the immortal lives of vampires Edgar Portsnell, Marybelle Portsnell, and Alan Twilight. The Poe Clan won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1975.
- [50] This show aired shortly after Ranma 1/2 ended in 1996. Shortly her next, longest and one of her most popular works, Inuyasha (1996-2008) was soon to begin.
- [51] Yoji Yamada (山田洋次) was a film director known for the It's Hard Being a Man (男はつらいよ/Otoko wa Tsurai yo) film series starting the loveable character Tora-san. My Sons (息子/Musuko) and A Class to Remember (学校/Gakko/School) are two other series of films he made as well.
- [52] pink by Kyoko Okazaki (岡崎京子) was published in 1989 and is the story of an office worker-by-day/call girl-by-night and her pet alligator. Okazaki cut her teeth in ecchi magazines such as Manga Burikko. In English her works Helter Skelter (ヘルタースケルター) and River's Edge (リバーズ・エッジ) have been published.
漫画夜話 Vol. 4
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