Our Youth

Translation by: Koenji Shawn Reviews

Famous for their major hits Touch and Urusei Yatsura, Adachi-sensei and Takahashi-sensei discuss their youth and their work...

“I had fun, so I’d say it was good...”
Mitsuru Adachi and Rumiko Takahashi are the creators of the hugely popular characters Minami, Tatsuya, and Kazuya from Touch and Lum from Urusei Yatsura, respectively. This week, we have a conversation between both masters about their works and “youth”.

Adachi: In my case, I actually originally liked things that get wrapped up in one installment, but Touch is published in an ongoing weekly magazine so when there’s an over-arching theme, I can carry it over into the next issue—but with Urusei Yatsura, every installment has an ending, isn’t it hard to wrap the story up every single time?

Takahashi: Well yes, I always make sure to have meetings beforehand so that I don’t come up with a story that’s too similar to the previous one. Or maybe we’ll discuss things like, will something be popular around the time of the release date? But at first, we just chat for a while.

Adachi: I’m the same. Isn’t it tough to be working on two projects at the same time, Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku?

Takahashi: It’s probably difficult for the editing department, but for me... with two series, I can change up my mood and work on something different... but how about you? You’re working on Touch and Miyuki...

Adachi: At first, I was writing [the other series] for my own fun, but lately, I haven’t had any time off...(laughs)

Do you get proper time off?

Takahashi: Um, yeah, for Golden Week...(laughs)

Adachi: You got that time off? Huh!? That’s weird, why didn’t I get time off? (laughs) When you get time off, don’t you want to go anywhere?

Takahashi: Yeah...Sometimes here, or there, or well, not really...

Adachi: What the hell? (laughs)

Takahashi: Traveling is, well I’m not the type that’s really up for doing things like that. But once I get going, I do a lot.

Adachi: You know the sounds you write out, like Ten-chan’s “jitabata…”? I just love that, but I doubt readers in the past would never have read [paid attention to] those things in the past...

Takahashi: I come up with those things on the spot every time, but I just don’t have the time that I used to so you know... Where do you come up with your ideas?

Adachi: Usually at a café, when I wake up. I’ll [come up with what I need] on the day. It’s probably not the best way to work, but.. (laughs)..

Takahashi: I do it all at our meetings, I put all my eggs in that basket.

Adachi: Do you usually work at night...?

Takahashi: Yeah, I do the manuscript work at night. I start the drawing conceptualization around the afternoon, and then work usually from night until it’s finished. You know how Tatsuya-kun slapped Minami-chan recently? I heard that you’d said that you based that on your own experience. Is that true?

Adachi: Oh, that... I don’t think I’ve ever actually hit anyone. I might have said I did. But it’s not so much that I base things on my own experiences when I write, it’s more about me fantasizing about things like, I wish it could have been like this, I wish I could have done that.

Takahashi: That situation [the slapping scene] in Touch was fine, but to hit a girl, that can... I mean it always depends on the T.P.O. (Time, Place, Occasion). But in the end, there is the issue of violence.

Were Your School Days Fun?

Adachi: Way back when, what did you want to be in the future...?

Takahashi: I didn’t even think about it.

Adachi: Did you always dream of being a mangaka? I always did...

Takahashi: I don’t think I did, but I wonder.. (laughs).

Adachi: What did you do in school?

Takahashi: I was in the Art Club...

Adachi: Ah, the same as me. When you were a high-schooler, you wore a sailor uniform?

Takahashi: No, something like a sweater and pleated skirt—since it was a variation of a blazer, it would be matched with a 16-pleat skirt with a string ribbon tied to the front. So as to separate the grades from each other.

Adachi: I think that’s my favorite type.

Have you liked Chinese-style dresses for a long time?

Takahashi: Pretty much since I entered uni. What kind of clothes do you like to wear?

Adachi: Typically, a sweatshirt, t-shirt, and jeans— that’s about all I wear (laughs).

Takahashi: Probably me too... Color?

Adachi: You could say brown—something like a wine color. I like things that are purple-ish. Was there someone you liked when you were in high school?

Takahashi: Not when I was in high school, but in junior high (laughs).

Adachi: There were a bunch that I liked (laughs).

Takahashi: A bunch!? Anyone in particular?

Adachi: Yeah, I guess I still think about people from junior high. So, what kind of guy do you like?

Takahashi: I don’t know if this is my type but like big eyes, I’m not sure about heavy folded eyelids... oh yeah, I don’t like flat noses...(Laughs), and then there’s the voice. But in the end, it depends on their personality...

Adachi: For me, if I was going to say, it’d be a small, chubby person. I don’t really care for skinny... I mean, within reason...

Takahashi: When you’re out walking, do you notice the men or the women?

Adachi: The women of course.

Takahashi: Of course.

Adachi: Which do you check out?

Takahashi: I look at the women, too.

Adachi: Wait, what do you mean “of course”...? (laughs)

Takahashi: No, like, I paid attention today realized I was looking at only the women, and I was wondering why...

Adachi: Because they’re colorful?

Takahashi: That’s it! That. It’s the color of their clothes.

Experiencing their Youth Now

Adachi: Are you influenced by men?

Takahashi: Ugh, that’s a pain in the ass.

Adachi: Ah, that can be the case. Pretty much a pain.

Takahashi: It just makes me angry when I have to learn the other person’s interests. And I just can’t put my heart into something I’m not interested in.

Adachi: I can’t do it myself, but I respect guys who work as hard as they can for the person they like, I envy them for that. And when they’re dumped, they bawl their eyes out. I think that’s cool. But I can’t be like that myself.

Takahashi: Me neither.

Adachi: If I could, I’d like to be like that. Basically, I want to be a passionate man, but it ends up coming off like a joke.

Takahashi: And I think girls should go for everything they can. Even if you get hurt, if you’re a girl strong enough to survive, then you should go for it...

Adachi: And you’re just getting started, right, Takahashi-san? You’re still in your youth, right?

Takahashi: Yeah, more or less in my youth...

Adachi: Me too, I’ve had a pretty good time so far and I’m still in my youth I’d say... ^[1]

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Footnotes

• [1] This interview was recorded in 1982, thirty-one years later in 2013 their second interview is coducted by DaVinci magazine and both artists make reference to this interview. Adachi's 2013 editor explains that this 1982 interview was conducted to fill a gap in Shonen Sunday due to Adachi needing a break from publishing Touch that week as he was simultaneously publishing both it and Miyuki in Shonen Big Comic. The editor added that Adachi commented that he did not know why the theme of the interview was "Youth" when he was 31 and Takahashi was 24 at the time.

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