Rumic World is Unstoppable!
Congratulations on your 46th anniversary daccha! Now a playback of her most "heartwarming" scenes!
Translation by: Harley Acres
As Weekly Shonen Sunday celebrates its 65th anniversary, a collection of original drawings by Rumiko Takahashi, a manga artist who has been on the masthead for 46 years, has been released. "My original drawing collection has just been released. I just love manga," said Takahashi, who is currently serialized in the weekly magazine. [1] Along with secret stories and treasured details revealed by successive editors, we explore her endless creative drive.
The search of the ultimate punch line! Hot days were discussed all night long!
Tomofumi Arito (the editor in charge of short stories and Urusei Yatsura)
"When I took over in the summer of 1983, Takahashi-sensei was already a leading writer in both Weekly Shonen Sunday and Big Comic Spirits magazines, and the editor-in-chief of both of them probably intended to have her "absolutely continue publishing in every issue," but Takahashi-sensei herself had no intention of taking a break in the first place. I was trying really hard to keep up (laughs).
There were times where I'd say, "since Maison's progress is delayed, we'll bump up Urusei by three days!" Urusei is also essentially a one-shot series, so we had to create each story from scratch. Whether it was a slapstick story or a drama the punchline had to be carefully planned during our meetings. When we were producing a one-shot supplement story, there were nights when we'd talk for 10 hours straight until we found the "best development". Even now that she is a veteran creator, she still listens sincerely to the words of her editor, who is nearly 40 years her junior. I feel like this is the reason why her work never gets old." [2]
1978-1987 Urusei Yatsura
-Story-Due to a misunderstanding, Ataru Moroboshi, a boy with exceedingly rare levels of bad luck, ends up being courted by Lum, an oni girl who has come to invade Earth. What will happen to Lum, who wants to say "I love you," and stubborn Ataru, in their "eternal chase" that involves the whole universe!?
What kind of person is the character? Even I don't know. It's like I only understand them when I meet them.
1980-1987 Maison Ikkoku
-Story-Yusaku Godai, a ronin who lives in an old apartment building full of eccentrics called "Ikkoku-kan", falls in love at first sight with Kyoko Otonashi, who is also the manager of the building. However, she continues to think of her late husband, Soichiro. Godai faces his love rival who he cannot hope to match because Soichiro is deceased. Eventually Godai speaks an "oath" in front of Soichiro's grave. It is a must-read.
The theme is love. I think it's important to be happy. I want to continue writing happy endings. I definitely want to continue drawing manga that make you feel good after you finish reading them.
1987-1996 Ranma 1/2
-Story-Ranma Saotome falls into a cursed spring in China, and when he splashes himself with water, he turns into a girl, but when he pours hot water on himself, he turns back into a boy. While battling against a crowd of weirdos with martial arts, he also engages in a love battle with his fiancée, Akane Tendo, who he lives with under the same roof.
Ranma came off as extremely pretentious in the first draft. He was boring. After redrawing it many times, thinking to myself, "this is no good," I came up with the first scene where the character is running frantically while being chased by a panda, and I thought, "This, this, this!"
The history and miracles of Rumic World are here!"The raw manuscripts that Rumiko Takahashi has been drawing for 46 years are recorded just as they were at the time they were made." Rumiko Takahashi Original Artwork Collection COLORS 1978-2024 was published by Shogakukan on March 29th. Kento Moriwaki-shi, who was in charge of editing the book, turned the pages while talking with us. "Look, if you look closely at the parts painted black, you'll notice that there are subtle shadings. The book's printed in high definition so that you can even see the movements of the brushstrokes. It's sure to be irresistible to fans of the classics, with sensei's handwritten letters and phototypesetting cut and pasted one by one." (Kento Moriwaki-shi, editor in charge of original art collection book)
The color selections and manga illustrations included were carefully selected by Takahashi herself. The illustration for Maison Ikkoku posted on the right-hand page is a "treasured selection" that has been released for the first time in roughly 30 years. "It was an illustration that had never appeared before, so I went to a warehouse in Saitama and looked through the back issues of Big Comic Spirits, and found out that it was a pin-up from 1995. By the way, on the back was a gravure photo of Yumiko Takahashi (laughs)." [3] (Tomofumi Arito-shi, editor in charge of original art collection book)
Takahashi, who made her debut with a gag manga, is currently serializing the dark manga MAO. Riri Okamoto-shi, who is the editor of the series, reveals, "Sensei talks about each character as if they were real people." Populated with characters that fill the page with dynamic action, transcend boundaries and continue to live out their own stories, and are loved throughout the ages. Rumic World continues into tomorrow, breaking all barriers.
1996-2008 Inuyasha
-Story-Kagome Higurashi is dragged into an old well by a demon and travels back in time to the Sengoku period. After breaking the seal on Inuyasha, a half-demon boy with a great-demon father and a human mother, a journey filled with cause and effect surrounding the "Shikon Jewel," which offers great magical power, begins.
I want you to read my manga without thinking about anything, just as if you're taking a deep breath.
"No!" The need to improve the sense of the language.
Riri Okamoto (currently the editor in charge of MAO)
"Takahashi-sensei is full of curiosity, watching and reading everything from currently popular manga, to novels, to anime, and dramas and Weekly Bunshun (laughs). Takahashi-sensei reads these not because she feels obligated to do so out of some need to "gather fodder for ideas for her work", but because she really wants to read them. It seems that she read all of Agatha Christie's works before serializing MAO, but that was because she "just wanted to read them." [4] She always plays movies and variety shows at work, and her current favorite gag is Tom Brown's "No!" [5] She always says, "Because I'm exposed to real words and phrasing, I think my lines are more lively and that is where my tempo is born." In the original art book, one of the favorite panels chosen by sensei also mentions "I love comedy." There are many moving scenes, such as Inuyasha playing with a cat (shown at the bottom left), and I'm like, "wha, you want to include these?" (laughs). However, the simple everyday scenes perhaps capture the endearing moments for Takahashi-sensei when she can show the character's humanity." [6]
2009-2018 Kyokai no RINNE
-Story-"A shinigami... kind of" who clears away the lingering regrets of the dead and guides them to the afterlife. The story depicts the days of Rinne Rokudo, an impoverished high school student who makes a living through his work as a grim reaper. The highlight is the earnest and surreal love story of a girl, Sakura Mamiya, who is devoted to her classmate, but whose relationship doesn't progress because his heart is swayed by money.
You can't hate Ataru Motoboshi because he has "that".
Kento Moriwaki (the editor in charge of Kyokai no RINNE and MAO)
"Takahashi-sensei's works are enjoyable to read no matter how tired your brain is. The dialogue and panel movements have a good rhythm, and things move along quickly. As I was editing the art book, I really felt that she was putting her life into making her stories easy to read. Sensei once told a new writer, "As a manga artist, there are two things you must remember," one was "to make classy shonen manga." Even the flirtatious Ataru Morohoshi is loved by readers because of his character and morals, such as how he is so sincere with the ghost girl who adores him.
And then, "never lower the bar for what you consider to be interesting." No matter how busy she is, she won't release any work that doesn't meet those requirements. I'll never forget the vivid punch line that Takahashi-sensei stuck with working on from dawn until around noon in Kyokai no RINNE. For her, manga is "the ultimate entertainment that makes you forget the pain of reality." That's why she never compromises on entertaining her readers." [7]
2019-present MAO
-Story-Having "died" in an accident when she was a child, Nanoka Kiba somehow came back to life. She is suddenly transported to the Taisho era and meets Mao, an onmyoji who has lived for 900 years. What is the "Curse of Byoki" that connects the two? The darkness and karma of the Goko Clan, a famous onmyoji organization, is revealed behind the scenes.
Footnotes
- [1] Most of the quotes attributed to Takahashi in this article are from the artbook or her Twitter account, or were related by the three editors that were spoken to for this article who each put together the Rumiko Takahashi Original Artwork Collection COLORS 1978-2024. Most of the comments here are clipped and lightly edited from the more substantial article that appeared on Weekly Bunshin's website which you can read in translation here.
- [2] Tomofumi Arito (有藤智文) was Rumiko Takahashi's editor during Urusei Yatsura and the character SALT-1 was based on him as stated by Rumiko Takahashi. He also appears as a character in the Diary of Kemo Kobiru autobiographical series.
- [3] Yumiko Takahashi (高橋由美子) is a singer and actress and is no relation to Rumiko Takahashi. Also she is not to be confused with the also unrelated animator/character designer Kumiko Takahashi (高橋久美子).
- [4] Takahashi discusses reading Agatha Christie's works when developing MAO in her interview "Rumiko Takahashi: Beyond Boundaries".
- [5] "Tom Brown" (トム・ブラウン) is a manzai comedy duo comprised of Hiroki Nunokawa and Michio. The "no!" in the headline of that section is also a reference to their gag.
- [6] Riri Okamoto (岡本吏莉) was the sucessor to Kento Moriwaki on MAO and Rumiko Takahashi's first female editor. Takahashi mentions her in her Wednesday Diary.
- [7] Kento Moriwaki (森脇健人) was the final editor on Kyokai no RINNE and the first editor on MAO. He is also the editor responsible for getting Rumiko Takahashi to join Twitter. You can read an interview with him here.
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