Rumiko Takahashi and Takashi Iwashige

Translation by Windi

Rumiko Takahashi

Born in 1957. In 1978, she won an honorable mention in the Shogakukan New Comic Award's Newcomers Division for her work Katte na Yatsura with which she made her debut. Her work Urusei Yatsura won the Shogakukan Manga Award. She has written many long-running, blockbuster works, including Maison Ikkoku serialized in this magazine. Currently, she is serializing Kyokai no RINNE in Shonen Sunday.

Takashi Iwashige

Born in 1954. He debuted at the age of 15 after being selected for a Shonen Jump Newcomer Manga Award, but remained in obscurity for a while. In 1978, his work Wasure Yuki (忘れ雪) won the Shogakukan Newcomer Comic Award in the Youth Division, and he debuted again with the same work. ^[1] His serialization of Bokkemon (ぼっけもん) in this magazine won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1985. Currently, he is serializing Joukyou Hanabi (上京花日) in Big Comic. ^[2]

Mr. Takashi Iwashige passed away in 2013.

We now have the actual first issue of Big Comic Spirits available.

Iwashige: Oh, I don't want to see it (laughs). It's so embarrassing.

Takahashi: This takes me back. I remember those days very well. I was drawing posters even before the first issue was published, and there was a very passionate preview. I was glad to be a part of that kind of excitement at the moment a book was being created.

Iwashige: That's true. Because it's not often that you get to be involved in the first issue.

How were you two approached for the first issue of Spirits?

Iwashige: I was working on an irregular serialization of Bokkemon for Big Comic. ^[3] I was told that a new magazine was about to be launched and that I should start drawing in serial form, so I started thinking about doing a groundbreaking new work for my first serial, but the editor told me not to think about anything else, and I ended up trading Bokkemon as it was. I was a newcomer at the time and didn't know up from down, but it was a rare occurrence to switch magazines in the middle of a work.

Takahashi: Since I was a student, I had been working on an irregular serialization of Urusei Yatsura in Shonen Sunday, but shortly after I left university, I was invited by the editor in charge at the time to move to the Spirits editorial department, which was preparing to launch a new magazine, and he told me that it would be a monthly publication. ^{[4] [5]}

Iwashige: Spirits was initially a monthly publication. It became a semi-monthly publication about 4 or 5 months later, though.

Takahashi: That's about right. It was spring, and I was drawing a tennis scene. I thought I could do at least one monthly publication in addition to Urusei, so I was happy to do it. ^[6]

What was your enthusiasm like at the time of the first issue?

Iwashige: I wasn't confident at all. Around 1980, with Rumiko Takahashi at the top, Akira Toriyama, Hisashi Eguchi, Katsuhiro Otomo, and many others of the so-called "New Wave" were coming out, and I thought I could never compete with such monstrous beings (laughs). ^[7]

Takahashi: I am not at the top!

Iwashige: I mean... I was wondering how my unrefined drawings would fare amidst all the popular artists who were showing up one after another, both in terms of art and content.

Takahashi: I wouldn't say that. I loved your depiction of the seasons then, and I still love it now.

Iwashige: That is very encouraging to hear.

Takahashi: On the other hand, I was just trying to make a book for an older audience than Shonen Sunday, and since Urusei is a science fiction slapstick story, I was trying to draw something more ordinary. I started from scratch, with a rough idea of an apartment human drama, the design and layout of the apartment, and the character design.

From the title page of the first chapter of the series, you have already drawn the residents of each room.

Takahashi: I started the series without much thought, so I thought I could handle it, but I would not be able to do it today if I had to create so many characters from the beginning.

Iwashige: When we met at the time, I asked you what this Yotsuya guy's occupation was, thinking that you had already decided on one, but I was surprised when you answered that you had not decided on anything (laughs).

Takahashi: People still don't know what Yotsuya's job is. There's a limit to how far you can go in without a plan. I know I've said this here and there, but there was a rundown apartment next to or across from the apartment I was living in at the time, and the students who lived there had a bizarre vibe, so I thought it might work. ^[8]

Iwashige: But I have the impression that Maison was a bridge between the 70s and the 80s, as was the appearance of Ikkoku-kan. I think it bridges the 70's and 80's. I'll read it again later.



Takahashi: Bokkemon depicts a similar world. It was set in a world where people lived in poor apartments, even back then.

Iwashige: But in the Takahashi style, poverty is hip. Bokkemon is actually poor (laughs).

Were you aware of such a milestone of the times in any aspect back then?

Takahashi: Not when I was drawing. You never know what is going to happen.

Iwashige: But in 1978, when I started Bokkemon in Big Comic, Southern All Stars appeared, and I thought that was no longer the feeling of the 70s four-and-a-half-mat room​ culture. Then in the 80s, Mr. Itoi's "Delicious Life" and "I Love Wonder" slogans and Yasuo Tanaka's Somehow, Crystal came out, and things changed dramatically in a year or two. ^[9] The student apartments that were "common" in the 70s became "the kind of things that still exist today."



Takahashi: I think that what was normal in the 70's was beginning to be forgotten. Like in Ikkoku-kan, there was only one telephone in the building, and the person in charge would answer it. This was the case in the dormitory of the university I attended. Was that the last time such things were still commonplace?

Iwashige: And in Spirits, after the first few issues, Karuizawa Syndrome would start. ^[10]

Takahashi: That was fashionable, wasn't it? A fashionable manga. Also, I think it was around 1981 when Kimagure Concept started. ^[11] That was also ahead of its time.

Iwashige: It certainly had a lot of Spirits flavor in it.

Takahashi: I think Kimagure Concept made the flavor of Spirits stronger, in a publicly accredited way.

By the way, Oishinbo started in 1983. Mr. Hanasaki was a new author who just debuted with a short story in the same year. ^[12]

Iwashige: Shinpei no Funakai. I remember Mr. Hanasaki well because he had the same flavor as me. Including that aspect, Spirits stands on the edge of each era, or rather, the flavor of the era is the best among manga magazines. Nowadays, it has the flavor of an inward-facing, closed era.

Takahashi: In the case of Sensha Yoshida Sensha's Utsurun Desu. and Oishinbo, there was a sense that they were both written in the style of their time. ^[13]

What do you hope for Spirits now or in the future?

Takahashi: Spirits has been very interesting to read recently, but there are more and more things I want to read, including people who came from other magazines, and I would like to see my favorite works in the magazine every week if possible (laughs).



Iwashige: As I said before, I think the magazine is in line with the times, but I am afraid to draw my own work (laughs). There is a phrase "musician's musician," and Spirits is a magazine that makes me very nervous, as if I am being tested in front of my peers.

Takahashi: Is that a different feeling from, say, Big Comic or Morning?

Iwashige: Totally different, somehow. I can still maintain my presence of mind in other magazines. The reason why I started working on 2-hiki no Bull right after Bokkemon was because I was scared. I was afraid that if I took a break, I would lose my job.

In that sense, I have the impression that Ms. Takahashi had breathing room.

Takahashi: I don't think I had breathing room. It became more difficult when it became a weekly publication. I couldn't do two weekly serials, so I had to settle for one every two weeks towards the end... I know I contradicted myself when I said earlier that I wanted to read it every week, though (laughs).

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Footnotes

• [1] Both Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子) and Takashi Iwashige (いわしげ孝) won the 2nd Shogakukan Newcomers held in 1978 (the awards are twice yearly). The way the Newcomer Manga Award is structured is there is a single winner and then two to three honorable mentions that are unranked. In 1978 the winner in the shonen category was Yoshimi Yoshimaro (吉見嘉麿) for D-1 which was published in Shonen Sunday 1978 Vol. 26. The other honorable mentions in addition to Rumiko Takahashi were Masao Kunitoshi (国俊昌生) for The Memoirs of Dr. Watson (ワトソン博士回顧録) which was published in Shonen Sunday 1978 Vol. 27 and Hiroaki Oka (岡広秋) for Confrontation on the Snowy Mountains (雪山の対決) which was published in a special edition of Shonen Sunday (週刊少年サンデー増刊号). Oka would also publish later under the name Jun Hayami (早見純). Other winners in various Newcomers categories include Gosho Aoyama, Koji Kumeta, Yuu Watase, Kazuhiko Shimamoto, Naoki Urasawa, Kazuhiro Fujita and Ryoji Minagawa and Yellow Tanabe.
• [2] Joukyou Hanabi began publication in 2008 but had to go on hiatus due to Iwashige's illness in 2010. He returned to the manga in 2011 and published into early 2012 before going on hiatus again. He died March 22, 2013.
• [3] Bokkemon (ぼっけもん) is a semi-autobiographical story about a young couple working to build a theater in Kagoshima prefecture.
• [4] Urusei Yatsura's early publication history was fairly non-traditional. After the first five chapters were published weekly from August through September of 1978 the sixth chapter was then published in a special issue of Shonen Sunday in October or November. Takahashi then returned in February to continue Urusei Yatsura for approximately ten chapters as she mentions in this interview. This was because Takahashi was still in college at this point in her life. She then returned to Urusei Yatsura through April 1979 before stopping and publishing the five chapter monthly mini-series Dust Spot!! in a special edition of Shonen Sunday. After Dust Spot!! she returned to Urusei Yatsura sporadically until March of 1980 when its continual, regular weekly publication began in earnest. Looking at the publication dates of the chapters in the first two volumes helps clarify this as well as shows that some of the chapters were rearranged from their original publication order.
• [5] The editor in charge at the time was likely Takao Yonai (米内孝夫) her first editor on Maison Ikkoku who was also her second editor on Urusei Yatsura. She states in the Monthly Heroes interview that she was taken to meet the editor-in-chief of Shonen Sunday, Katsuya Shirai (白井勝也) who launched Big Comic Spirits. At that meeting she was asked to publish something for the new magazine as well.
• [6] As mentioned here Big Comic Spirits was initially monthly but then becomes bi-monthly. At the time Takahashi is handling Urusei Yatsura weekly and for the most part Maison Ikkoku remains on its monthly schedule appearing in every other issue of Big Comic Spirits once it moves to its twice monthly publication schedule. After the end of Urusei Yatsura Takahashi begins publishing Maison Ikkoku twice monthly starting with chapter 146 until its conclusion.
• [7] The New Wave (ニューウェーブ) movement in manga is a product of the late 1970s into the early 1980s characterized by experimental works that did not fit into the traditional shonen/shojo/seinen/adult manga categories that were established at the time. Small circulation manga magazines such as June (ジュネ), Peke, Boys and Girls Complete Competitive Collection of SF Manga (少年少女SFマンガ競作大全集) and Supplemental Volume of Fantastic Sci-Fi Manga Complete Works (別冊奇想天外SFマンガ大全集) were the homes of these experimental newcomer manga artists. Katsuhiro Otomo (大友克洋) and Hideo Azuma (吾妻ひでお) are both held up as universally agreed upon members of the New Wave, though there is little overall consensus. Other artists often cited as part of the New Wave include Jun Ishikawa (いしかわじゅん), Daijiro Morohoshi (諸星大二郎), Hiroshi Masumura (ますむらひろし), Noma Sabea (さべあのま) and Michio Hisauchi (ひさうちみちお). Though Rumiko Takahashi is not often named as a part of the New Wave, I feel a case could be made to include her. She is of the era and published some small works in Boys and Girls Complete Competitive Collection of SF Manga such as ElFairy/Sprite. The New Wave is said to have ended with the launch of Big Comic Spirits and Young Magazine which served as more mainstream homes for these avant garde artists. Rumiko Takahashi, Hideo Azuma and Jun Ishikawa all were published in the first issues of Big Comic Spirits.
• [8] Takahashi illustrated her experience of witnessing the goings-on at this neighboring building and its inspiration for Maison Ikkoku in the short story 1980.
• [9] Mr. Itoi is Shigesato Itoi (糸井重里). You can read his interview of Rumiko Takahashi on the site here. Itoi is one of the most famous copy writers in Japan and is the creator of the Mother/Earthbound video game series. Yasuo Tanaka (田中康夫) is a novelist turned reform-minded politician. His book Somehow, Crystal (なんとなく、クリスタル/Nantonaku, Kurisutaru) was a runaway bestseller in Japan in 1981 and was akin to Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire in which makes heavy use of intertextuality.
• [10] Karuizawa Syndrome (軽井沢シンドローム) is a manga by Yoshihisa Tagami (たがみよしひさ) about the romantic life of a cameraman in Karuizawa, Japan. Tagami might be more familiar to American audiences as the creator of the manga Grey and the anime Grey: Digital Target which was released by Viz.
• [11] Kimagure Concept (気まぐれコンセプト) is a four-panel gag manga created by the team known as Hoi Choi Productions (ホイチョイ・プロダクションズ). It is comprised of two members, Yasuo Baba (馬場康夫) the writer, and artist Mitsunobu Matsuda (松田充信). Both were classmates with prime minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三). While writing Kimagure Concept Baba continued to work at Hitachi in the advertising department until 1987 when he began directing films.
• [12] Oishinbo (美味しんぼ) is one of the most popular, highest-selling manga of all time. Created by writer Tetsu Kariya (雁屋哲) and artist Akira Hanasaki (花咲アキラ) it follows the culinary adventures of Shiro Yamaoka who works for the Tozai Shimbun newspaper as they write a series of articles about the "ultimate menu". The manga ran from 1983 until it was placed on hiatus in 2014 having reached 111 volumes. The hiatus was due to the manga's criticism of the Fukushina nuclear power plant melt down after protagonist Yamaoka visits the area and begins suffering from nosebleeds. The outcry from local government officials was so loud that prime minsister Shinzo Abe said the government would take action against anyone spreading rumors about side effects from the nuclear disaster. Consequently Oishinbo went on what was claimed to have been a pre-scheduled hiatus though it has not continued publication since 2014.
• [13] Utsurun desu. (伝染るんです。) is a famous four-panel gag strip known for its non sequitur humor. It ran for five volumes between 1989 and 1994. Takahashi was a fan of author Sensha Yoshida (吉田戦車) and contributed a gag manga of her own drawn in his unique style called Arbitrary Infection as well as drew a tribute to him.

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