Rumiko Takahashi - Long Interview

Translated by: Harley Acres

★ A spoken interview 40,000 characters in length!! ★
The treasure of the manga world, who is now famous not only in Japan but worldwide, from pre-debut anecdotes, to Urusei Yatsura to Kyokai no RINNE. Hear the stories behind her many masterpieces! (5 chapters in total).

Rumiko Takahashi Long Interview 1
From Gekiga Sonjuku to her debut with Katte na Yatsura

My favorite magazine as a child was Shonen Sunday.

In this long interview, I would like to ask about the inside story of your work in five parts, but this time, which is the first part, I would like to hear mainly about your debut as a manga artist. Takahashi-sensei's, you were born in Niigata Prefecture, what comes to mind about the landscape of your hometown?

Takahashi: I didn't pay much attention to it when I was a child, but as I grew up, I recall the cloudy skies of Niigata's winter sky occasionally. It's not exactly what you would call an original landscape, but I guess I unconsciously watched the sky from an early age.

In the interviews I have read with you in several magazines, youe often mentions your father as an "influential person".

Takahashi: Yes. My father used to do ink painting as a hobby when I was little, he often drew pictures of girls. ^[1] As I watched and imitated his sketches, I gradually came to like drawing.

It's said that your father was not only a painter, but also a haiku poet.

Takahashi: I've mentioned this once or twice in interviews in the past, but it seems that during the war, my father was almost sent to a submarine as a military doctor. As he was about to be placed on the submarine he composed a farewell poem, his superior officer happened to be a person interested in haiku. Perhaps because he liked my father's poem, he managed to survive without going on board the submarine.

What kind of a father was he?

Takahashi: He was an obstetrician and gynecologist, and since the clinic was connected to our house, I always saw my father working very hard. Even as a child, I always thought that obstetrics and gynecology was a very hard job. Almost every year, a baby was born on New Year's Eve (laughs). So it was a regular event at the end of the year for my family that a patient in the hospital would give birth around the time "Kohaku" was over, and we would make a big fuss about it. ^[2]

Did your father support you in becoming a mangaka?

Takahashi: Yes, he did. Maybe he didn't necessarily think I could make a living from manga, but he was supportive of me from the beginning. I can hardly remember my father ever opposing me in any way, not just regarding manga, but in general. I have two older brothers, but I was the only daughter, so I guess he thought I was cute.

I hear it was one of your older brothers that introduced you to Shonen Sunday.

Takahashi: Yes, he did. I can't remember which one, but I used to borrow and read the issues of Sunday that my brother used to buy. However, my brother stopped subscribing to it one day. After that, I started buying it with my own allowance. I was completely unable to stop reading Sunday. (laugh)

Did your interest in shonen manga begin around that time, Takahashi-sensei?

Takahashi: I wonder? I was a fan of Hideko Mizuno-sensei and I remember subscribing to Margaret magazine around the same time, so I must not have been uninterested in shojo manga. However, my allowance was limited, so I finally narrowed it down to one magazine, which was Sunday. So I chose Osamu Tezuka-sensei, Fujiko Fujio-sensei, and Fujio Akatsuka-sensei over shojo manga (laughs). In that sense, you could say that I was attracted to shonen manga from then on. ^[3]

Speaking of Akatsuka-sensei, you've also mentioned being influenced by Songo-kun (そんごくん). ^[4]

Takahashi: Songo-kun was the first work that taught me "this is a manga". Up until then, I had always liked the illustrations in manga and had seen them often, but in reality I was turning the pages of books without knowing how to read them properly. The panels are split and the dialog is interesting, but I didn't understand the methodology of how to read manga. However, one day, when I was casually looking through Songo-kun, I suddenly understood, "Ah, this is how manga should be read." And not only did I understand how to read it, it was also interesting to me. Because of that, Akatsuka-sensei is still one of the manga artists I respect from the bottom of my heart.

Judging from the people who you just mentioned, is it correct to think that the origins of the manga artists that you like are the so-called Tokiwa-so group led by Osamu Tezuka-sensei? ^[5]

Takahashi: Yes, it was. I used to read the Kappa Comics version of Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム/Tetsuwan Atom) a lot. I also like W3, Dororo (どろろ), The Vampires (バンパイヤ), and all of Tezuka's works from a certain period. If I read W3 now, the complicated plot structure in particular makes me sigh as a manga artist, but at the time I was more interested in "cram in as much stuff into one frame as possible!" (laughs) That's how addicted I was to Tezuka's manga characters. The influence of Dororo is also immeasurable. ^[6]

Did you have any interaction with Tezuka-sensei during his lifetime?

Takahashi: Unfortunately, I only got to shake his hand once. There were many things I wanted to talk to him about, but he was still an intimidating presence, so I could hardly say anything at the time. To tell the truth, I never met Akatsuka-sensei or Fujiko F. Fujio-sensei. But I have a lot of their wonderful works that they left behind, that I cherish. By the way, I sometimes met Fujiko Fujio A-sensei at celebrations.

I also heard that you read Garo for the first time in a hospital waiting room when you were about 10 years old. I heard that you picked it up by accident, but even so, how could a 10-year-old girl pick up such an avant-garde magazine? ^[7]

Takahashi: It was just in an easy-to-reach place (laughs). But in the end, I discovered Ryoichi Ikegami's manga through that magazine, so I'll try my hand at anything that piques my interest (laughs). At that time, of course, I didn't know the name "Ryoichi Ikegami", but his work had a great impact on me.

When did you start drawing manga yourself?

Takahashi: I bought my first dip pen when I was 12 years old and mainly drew four-panel manga. I remembers sending them to Sunday and Garo before I was in junior high school. ^[8] It was four-panel manga, but it was not gag manga. ^[9] I admired Susumu Katsumata-sensei at the time, and I was wondering if I could draw a manga with that kind of atmosphere, but in my own way. His works were not four-panel, though.

What was the result of your submissions?

Takahashi: Neither of them had any chance of winning anything. I didn't think I would win the award, but I would still get a little excited when the house phone rang (laughs).

Later on, in junior high school, you were into the manga of Ryoichi Ikegami-sensei, whose name you just mentioned, but his manga were quite different from those of the Tokiwa-so group, which you had liked until then.

Takahashi: That's right. I especially liked Farewell to Anger (怒りよさらば/Ikari yo Saraba) but I was first attracted to Ikegami-sensei's drawings. Of course, Tezuka-sensei's drawings were wonderful, but Ikegami-sensei's drawings were something different from Tezuka's, as you said.

Ikegami-sensei's manga, both in terms of the drawings and the content, were realistic, which appealed to my second grade of junior high school self. So, rather recklessly, I began to think, "I want to go into the same world as this person!" So, it was around the time when I was in the second year of junior high school that I began to seriously consider becoming a manga artist, a profession that I had only vaguely imagined going into since I was a child.

High school~college years when I started drawing manga in earnest.

This is a fairly well-known story among manga fans, but I heard that when you were in high school, you formed a manga club with Yoko Kondo-sensei. ^[10]

Takahashi: Yeah. I was in the art club, but there wasn't a manga lab, so I just said, "Well, let's make one." Kondo-san was a very cute high school girl. You could say that she doesn't look much different than she does now (laughs). She was a big fan of Moto Hagio-sensei, so she let me read various Hagio works. She also let me read many of her short stories that predated Poe Clan (ポーの一族/Po no ichizoku). ^[11]

Was the focus of club activities drawing manga or reading manga?

Takahashi: I was more interested in drawing. I also created a dojinshi, or a magazine that was circulated only once a year. I didn't follow the pace of our school festival, but when I finished one book, I had copies given out around the school.

Do you still have the book?

Takahashi: I don't think there are any left, but even if I did, I would never be able to show it (laughs). Because I was drawing a pretty dangerous parody story. ^[12]

What kind of manga did you draw, other than parody stories?

Takahashi: When I was in my second year of high school, I submitted a story to Shonen Magazine, and one of my favorites at the time was a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, who wrote slapstick comedies. ^[13] I read all of Tsutsui's works that were published at that time, and I think it was Kondo-san who taught me that, too. The appeal of Tsutsui's early novels can be summed up in one concept: the appeal of slapstick. The main character is just "me," and it is hard to imagine what he looks like, but I think that was a good thing when it came to adapting his work to manga. ^[14]

It can be said that many of Tsutsui's works have something in common with Takahashi-sensei's manga, not only in the slapstick comedy aspects, but also his work fuses science fiction with everyday people and Japanese things.

Takahashi: I agree. Certainly, I learned from Tsutsui-san's novels that science fiction is not just a high-tech world without a sense of life. It made me ponder if it would be okay to drink Japanese tea in a spaceship (laughs).

In addition to Tsutsui's work, I generally like Japanese science fiction, and there was a time when I randomly read the works of Shinichi Hoshi, Kazumasa Hirai, Taku Mayumura, and others. ^[15] Besides science fiction, I also like literary works by Junichiro Tanizaki, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, and Yukio Mishima. ^[16]

So you said that you submitted to Shonen Magazine when you were in your second year of high school?

Takahashi: Yes. To be more precise, I'm more of a Ashita no Joe fan than a Magazine fan (laughs). I didn't have enough pocket money to buy two magazines, so I chose Joe over Sunday (laughs). I haven't mentioned his name so far, but I also love Tetsuya Chiba's manga, and I think I've probably read almost all of his works, including those from his rental period. Many of Chiba-sensei's early works were cute and warm-hearted manga, but I was surprised when he suddenly drew a hard work like that found in Joe. ^[17]

If I remember correctly, Go Nagai's masterpiece Devilman was also serialized in Magazine at the time.

Takahashi: I love his work too (laughs). What's great about Nagai-sensei is that he can draw both gag and serious stories with the same touch. ^[18] This is something that is very difficult to do. The only other person I can think of is Kazuo Umezu-sensei. ^[19] I wanted to be that kind of mangaka myself, and so far I've gone through a lot of trial and error in the process.

By the way, what was the content of the work you submitted to Shonen Magazine?

Takahashi: It's a story about a devastated future where there is an ordinance to wear a sword, and everyone has a sword and ends up killing each other. Ah, if you just hear that, you might think it's a serious story, but it's just a slapstick gag. The aim was to tell that gag-like story with a slightly gekiga-like imagery. I remember the title, but I'm too embarrassed to say it, so I won't tell you (laughs). ^[20]

It didn't win any awards either, but I was quite shocked when it was not selected. I wanted to go into the same world as Ikegami-sensei, and I had seriously aspired to be a manga artist and put my all into this work. So I gave up on the idea of becoming a professional mangaka, saying to myself, "If this doesn't work out, I'll never make it." Now I wish I could have told my younger self, "You're too quick to give up!"

Still, Takahashi-sensei, you joined the manga club while you were in college, right? Didn't you still have a dream of becoming a professional mangaka at this time?

Takahashi: Hmmm... I don't really remember (laughs). I joined the history department, and there were many aspiring mangaka there. If I remember correctly, I was lured into the manga research club at university by one of them. ^[21]

What kind of works did you draw in your university manga lab?

Takahashi: Slapstick gag manga as usual. Sometimes it's a little sci-fi, sometimes it's not. At the time, I was making a printed doujinshi to sell at the school festival, and when I saw it for the first time, I was really happy with how it came out. Come to think of it, one time, I was inspired by a friend to bring it to Margaret, so I brought that doujinshi to Shonen Jump. The editor in charge of Doberman Cop (ドーベルマン刑事/Dooberuman deka) was the one who looked at it, and he said, "If you draw something new, please bring it." The editor reacted like that to me when I brought it in for the first time, so I was excited.

Later, when I drew a new manga and brought it to him, he was not there, but the person who took his place was the famous Torishima-san. Torishima-san said "your drawings are still inexperienced, but there seems to be something there." He showed me the raw manuscripts of The Distant Dawn (はるかなる朝/Harukanaru Asa) and Blue City (ブルーシティー) by Yukinobu Hoshino and said, "These are professional manuscripts." I just bowed down and said, "Wow!" (laughs) ^[22]

The fact that he even showed you such a valuable manuscript may have been something that stuck with Torishima-san.

Takahashi: Oh I don't know, he probably doesn't remember it.

When I was at Gekiga Sonjuku.

When you were in your second year of university, you attended Kazuo Koike's Gekiga Sonjuku. Originally, you were invited by a friend?

Takahashi: That's right. I also liked Lupin III (ルパン三世/Rupan Sansei) and used to read Manga Action (漫画アクション) a lot, and in the same magazine, I also read Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼/Kozure Okami) and A High School Knave in the Making (高校生無頼控/Kokosei burai hikae) both written by Koike-sensei. I also liked Seishun no Shiryu, which was serialized in GORO and I had been aware of Koike-sensei's name for some time. ^[23]

So you were back in the realm of professionals at this time.

Takahashi: That's right.

What was the actual content of the classes?

Takahashi: I took both the drawing course and the original work course, so I attended courses twice a week. The content of the classes was that Koike-sensei lectured directly on drawing and writing an original work. Sometimes professional manga artists were invited as guest lecturers, such as Michiko Satonaka and Ryoichi Ikegami. ^[24] Nowadays, many universities and vocational schools teach manga, but at that time there were very few schools that did, and I think that Gekiga Sonjuku taught quite practical techniques.

Aside from lectures, were there any classes where you actually drew manga there on site?

Takahashi: Our work was basically a homework assignment, and Koike-sensei would look at what we had drawn at home. So it was like showing the work that the our teacher thought was good in front of everyone and he'd comment on it.

And after half a year of the curriculum, Takahashi-sensei, you remained for a while as a special trainee.

Takahashi: Right. It seems that Gekiga Sonjuku didn't have a clear system in place for the first group of us, but after attending for half a year, Koike-sensei said, "I think this girl is good." There were several other special trainees besides me, but Koike-sensei kept telling me, "You can become a professional." Those words really encouraged me.

What kind of manga were you reading at that time?

Takahashi: I liked Macaroni Horenso (マカロニほうれん荘), Brat Cop (がきデカ/Gaki Deka), and other Champion type manga. But this is not limited to me, because Champion had tremendous momentum at that time. And, of course, Daijiro Moroboshi-sensei was there. I was shocked when I read Dark Myth (暗黒神話/Ankoku Shinwa). I wanted to do the kind of manga that Morohoshi-sensei drew, but I wasn't that smart, so I thought I'd explore other avenues (laughs). ^[25]

Debut with Katte na Yatsura

In what year of college were you working on your debut work, Katte na Yatsura, which won an honorable mention at the Shogakukan Newcomer's Manga Award? ^[26]

Takahashi: I was in my third year. However, before I heard the news of the award, Miyake-san from the editorial department of Sunday called me and said, "You can help Kazuo Umezu-sensei, even if it's just three days." Even so, I was a bit disappointed, saying, "What, you don't have any news about the award..." (laughs), but I was also a fan of Umezu-sensei, so I decided to visit his studio. ^[27]

The first thing that surprised or impressed me was that elementary school children kept coming in the door one after another without even ringing the chime, and I saw Umezu-sensei smiling and signing autographs for each of them. Back then, the mangaka's addresses were published in magazines and such. By the way, I was told it would take three days to go and work with Umezu-sensei, but it only took two. All I helped with was the solid inking and eraser application. So I painted the solid blacks somewhere in Makoto-chan (まことちゃん) (laughs). The story was about Makoto-chan and his family going to a video game arcade, if I recall.

Takahashi-sensei maniacs should check out that chapter (laughs). By the way, did Miyake-san say anything about the results of the award while you were working as an assistant?

Takahashi: Yes (laughs). Well, no, I think he said, "I don't know if you'll win or not," (laughs).

So, you must have been in the preliminary or finalist stage at that time, and Miyake-san, as an editor, was thinking "this work is good." In any case, Katte na Yatsura later won an honorable mention at the Newcomer's Manga Award, but I heard that Takahashi-sensei was dissatisfied with this "honorable mention" evaluation (laughs).

Takahashi: Yes, well (laughs). I was a cocky college student at the time. But one of the judges was Fujiko F. Fujio, whom I respected, and he wrote a very good evaluation, so I was very happy. ^[28]

Where did the idea for Katte na Yatsura come from?

Takahashi: As you can see, it's visually influenced by Invasion of Astro Monster (怪獣大戦争/Kaiju Dai-senso), but before that, I wanted to draw a slapstick sci-fi drama involving various characters. ^[29] The manga that felt the most natural to me at the time was that type of work.

What makes Katte na Yatsura so outstanding even today is that an ordinary rookie manga artist would probably be able to finish a single work with just the story of the main character having a bomb implanted in his body by an alien. However, the novelty of this work lies in the fact that it not only featured an "alien" but also includes a "half-fish man," an element that could have been used to create another work.

Takahashi: It's said somewhere that only one lie can be told in a single manga. If I were to follow this theory, I might have created a world where only "aliens" or "half-fish people" existed. But I didn't know anything about the basics of manga at the time (laughs), so I put both of them in without question. However, even the heroine says in the story, "There were half-fish people, so it's not surprising that there were aliens too," so I guess it's okay.

Certainly, with that one line, everything fits perfectly (laughs). Also, if you look at this work, you can understand the fun of the combination of "common people and SF" or "Japanese taste and SF" that I mentioned earlier.

Takahashi: At that time, I was exploring everything by hand. I still like the depiction of a kotatsu inside a UFO, or a teacup inside a flying saucer, and so on. That said, I wasn't the first to do that kind of expression, and I think there have been examples of this in the past, for example, Leiji Matsumoto's characters drink sake inside a space battleship full of instruments.

In terms of your imagery, it seems that "Rumiko Takahashi pictoral style" is already almost complete at this stage.

Takahashi: The basics are Osamu Tezuka-sensei and Go Nagai-sensei. I'm sure I'm also influenced by Ryoichi Ikegami-sensei and Leiji Matsumoto-sensei, but no one has pointed that out (laughs). In any case, when it comes to my drawings, I would ideally like to stick to the old-fashioned manga style, with a touch of gekiga realism.

How did you feel when your first manga was published in a major magazine like Shonen Sunday?

Takahashi: Oh, I was thrilled. At least more than when I was told I had only won an "honorable mention" (laughs). Actually, it hadn't been decided whether or not Katte na Yatsura would be published in the magazine. Then one day, a certain creator decided to redraw their work for that week, and my story was hastily published in Sunday as a substitute for the original. Normally, an honorable mention work would only be published in an extra issue, so it was a very good deal for me (laughs).

Now, looking back on it, what kind of work do you think Katte na Yatsura is for you, Takahashi-sensei?

Takahashi: It's a work that I put everything I had at that time into, even though it is full of immature parts. In a sense, I am still drawing the same elements over and over again, such as the two main characters, a man and a woman, and slapstick science fiction. Therefore, I consider Katte na Yatsura to be my starting point.

Rumiko Takahashi Long Interview 2
The first feature-length serializations of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku

An esper slapstick drama

In the second long interview, I would like to mainly ask about the early serializations Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, but before that, I would like to ask about the short-term serialization Dust Spot!! Could you tell us a little bit about it? How did this work begin?

Takahashi: When the first intensive serialization of Urusei Yatsura was over, I was asked by the editorial department to start a serialization in an additional Sunday magazine. ^[30] I was still a student at the time, but I thought I could do it while attending university if it was serialized in the extra editions, so I started it without much thought. Of course, I also had my own idea that I could come up with as many ideas as I wanted for a slapstick science fiction story similar to Katte na Yatsura.

If you hear the storyline described, you might imagine a rather grandiose science fiction story about a mysterious, gigantic organization and a man and a woman who are espers. However, the setting of this work is as commonplace as possible (laughs). In this aspect, as I said in our previous interview, we can see that you have created one of the "molds" for your future manga.

Takahashi: First of all, I'm not capable of drawing an epic story (laughs). When I draw a story that I think is interesting, it naturally turns out to be a story in that style.

What about the idea of the protagonist teleporting from trash heap to trash heap?

Takahashi: It was a simple idea: garbage can be found anywhere, so I thought it would allow the manga to travel to many different settings. Nowadays, there is a lot of waste that is bad for our health, but back then, garbage was a peaceful subject (laughs). In those days, there were garbage cans all over town, just like I showed in the manga. ^[31]

The hero is Tamuro Gomi and the heroine is Yura Enjoji. In this manga, as in many of Takahashi's later works, the two heroes, male and female, are treated as almost equal, but the "image of a strong heroine who is not protected by the hero," such as Yura, is unique to Takahashi-sensei.

Takahashi: I don't know how original it is, but Yura is a character I liked to draw. She's an esper who's just a really powerfully strong woman (laughs). I think her goofy side is also cute.

And in terms of characters, I personally think Sekoi was my favorite character. He is the prototype of Yotsuya in Maison Ikkoku, and I've always liked that type of character.

I think that each chapter is very interesting in terms of content, but the fact that it ended after five chapters does feel like the editorial department told you to concentrate on the serialization of Urusei Yatsura in its magazine at a certain stage? Urusei Yatsura became a full-scale serialization from chapter 23 after going through periods of intensive serialization and irregular publication.

Takahashi: Well, frankly speaking, yes. I really wanted to continue for a while. I was young, and if I had wanted to, I think I could have serialized two works, one in Sunday and another in the special editions. However, even if I were told to draw Dust Spot!! now, I wouldn't feel very motivated (laughs).

The original heroine was Shinobu instead of Lum.

Now let me ask you about Urusei Yatsura. The first intensive serialization of Urusei Yatsura started not long after you won the honorable mention for the Newcomer's Manga Award for Katte na Yatsura, right? Usually, it takes a few years to get a slot for a serialization after publishing a few "short stories" in special issues, but this was quite unusual for a rookie, wasn't it?

Takahashi: I think you're right. At that time, the editorial department of Kodansha's magazine Magazine Special (マガジン SPECIAL) was reaching out to new manga artists through various channels. When I mentioned this to Miyake-san, my editor at Shogakukan, he told me, "Do whatever you want, whether it's a short story or a longterm serialization, just start it right away!" (laughs) That was how the first serialization of Urusei was decided upon. It turned out to be a bit of a tactic, but on his say so, I decided I would stay with Shogakukan (laughs).

Even though it was a longform serialization, weren't you a bit intimidated by the fact that it was suddenly being published in a major magazine?

Takahashi: I was just happy. But, of course, there were great artists drawing in the magazine, so I knew I couldn't do anything too bad. Miyake-san was very good at directing me and told me, "There are a lot of great manga artists around you, but don't worry about that and just do your best." That made me feel much better.

In the early days of the series, the story wasn't led by Lum, but the focus was the story of "the man who attracts misfortune, Ataru Moroboshi."

Takahashi: Lum doesn't appear in the second chapter (laughs). As you can see from that, the original heroine was Shinobu, and Lum was just one of the supporting characters.

At what point did you decide to turn it into a slapstick piece centered on the love triangle between Lum, Ataru and Shinobu?

Takahashi: Fortunately, I received many letters from readers immediately after the release of the first chapter. I was very encouraged, but I was a bit surprised that most of the letters were asking what would happen to Ataru-kun and Shinobu-chan. I was a bit surprised to hear that, because I wanted to make a slapstick science fiction story, but it seemed that readers were less interested in that kind of story. I didn't think that I wanted to strengthen the romantic element, but eventually I thought it would be possible to depict the love triangle between Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu as the axis of the story when I started a full-fledged serialization of Urusei.

And the series ran for about nine years? It is amazing that the personalities of the main characters was very established from the beginning and remained consistent that entire time.

Takahashi: My drawing style changed quite a bit, though. Also, although this was intentional, only Shinobu's role was changed a little after the middle of the story. From that point on, Urusei became more about Lum and Ataru's chase than about the previous love triangle.

Also, speaking of characters, what I thought about the most was actually Ataru, the main character. It may look like there are times I'm drawing without thinking about anything (laughs). As you know, initially he's a character who gets caught up in things, but isn't it boring just to be a guy who just gets dragged along into problems? Then, when I was thinking about what I should do to resolve this, one day Miyake-san said regarding Ataru, "This is a guy who never gets discouraged." It was a remark after seeing the name (ネーム/storyboard) of the chapter when Oyuki first appeared, but I felt like I could finally envision his character.

Ataru has the strong image of a womanizing and frivolous man, but when I re-read the series for this interview, I found that his kindness toward girls is repeatedly and casually depicted at key points. I was a bit struck by his casual kindness. When you think of Urusei, you tend to focus on the cute heroines, but he is the main character afterall, isn't he? I would like to take this opportunity to say that I would like everyone to pay more attention to the pure side of Ataru (laughs).

Takahashi: Thanks (laughs).

Ryunosuke extended the life of the series.

That being said, when you think of Urusei, you think of Lum-chan.

Takahashi: Well, she's the one with the lightning (laughs).

No, no (laughs). There are times throughout the series when Ataru is kind to Lum, and it makes the reader feel warm and fuzzy.

Takahashi: I didn't think about anything particularly strategic, and I feel like that kind of "good story" was probably drawn under the suggestion of the editor at that time. But if you don't include that kind of chapter once in a while, if Ataru is always just running away from Lum, the reader won't be able to tell that he really likes her. ^[32]

Who is your favorite character outside of the three main leads?

Takahashi: I'm often asked this in interviews, but if I had to pick one, it would be Ryunosuke. You could say that the life of the series was extended thanks to her addition. In that sense, in the first half of the work, I was helped a lot by Sakuranbo. I thought it would be a success just by coming up with that face and name (laughs). ^[33]

Benten is also a character that I secretly like. When I saw her in the first movie (Urusei Yatsura Only You), the animation staff made her play an active role, and I realized, "Oh, she's a really good character" (laughs). Other than that, I had a lot of fun drawing all of Lum's friends, like Oyuki and Ran.

Ran-chan really is great, huh? Every time she says "you bitch" with that cute face, I burst out laughing (laughs).

Takahashi: Right (laughs). That special friendship between Ran and Lum was worth drawing.

Ryunosuke is a character that transcends gender, and I think this is one of the types of characters Takahashi-sensei would later revisit often.

Takahashi: In the case of Urusei, I had a rule that a male character with a good face must have something ridiculous about them. Shutaro Mendo is a representative of this rule, but if I did that all the time, I gradually became stressed out. Sometimes I wanted to draw a cool male characters in a normal, cool way. But I didn't want to break the rules I had made, and one day it occurred to me that I could do that with female characters. If the character looks like a cool boy, but is really a girl, it can be used as this ridiculous element in itself.

I'm synchronized with Star Wars.

Urusei Yatsura stories sometimes have two parts, but basically the story progresses in one chapter increments at a time. Did you have a hard time coming up with solid plotlines every week?

Takahashi: Surprisingly, I didn't have any trouble. I don't really remember being confused about the name. ^[34] I still often draw at night, and the manuscript is delivered in the morning, the name is drawn by noon, the editor looks at it, and my assistants begin working on it starting in the evening of the same day. That's how it typically goes.

That's amazing. Do ideas just come to you as you go about your daily life?

Takahashi: That would be the ideal, but it rarely happens that way. For me, names are something I come up with by thinking about them as I sketch in a notebook or on a white piece of paper. After all, you can't come up with ideas for manga unless you think, "time to draw!"

As I mentioned last time, I think one of the charms of your manga, Takahashi-sensei, is that you bring a sense of the common folk and Japanese style into the science fiction genre. As you said earlier, this isn't without precedent, such as Leiji Matsumoto-sensei, and in a sense, Fujiko F. Fujio-sensei may also be considered a pioneer in this field. However, as an interviewer, it's frustrating that I can't verbalize it well, but when I read Takahashi-sensei's manga in real time, I felt a sense of "newness" and "contemporaneity" that was a little different from those. Considering the era, there was a cyberpunk boom in the 1980s, and works such as the novel Neuromancer and the movie Blade Runner repeatedly featured oriental items. ^[35] I think it's possible to talk about your work in relationship to those. In other words, the sight of Lum drinking tea and eating dried squid inside a UFO, or the main character of Blade Runner eating udon noodles at a food stall, those may be a sci-fi sensation unique to that era.

Takahashi: I've never been particularly conscious of that, but science fiction and Japanese-style objects may actually have a high affinity for one another. Especially for people overseas, anything Japanese is a fantasy in itself. Also, it may have been a time when everyone started wanting to bring out the flavor of life, something that had not been depicted in science fiction until then.

It's true that up until then, many science fiction works featured odorless, dust-free spaceships. Did that change with Star Wars? The main characters ride in a spaceship that is dirty and has signs of wear and tear.

Takahashi: Well, that may be true. By the way, I'm synchronized with Star Wars (laughs). (Note: Takahashi-sensei's debut and Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope's Japanese premiere took place in 1978.)

This is the first time I've heard the phrase "synchronized with Star Wars (laughs).

Did Shinobu's future really decide the ending of the story?!?

Shogakukan published a book called Shonen Sunday 1983 and the book featured the chapter "Lum's Wrath". The concept of this book is to collect "the best chapters of 1983 selected by the author." What was your favorite thing about this chapter? ^[36]

Takahashi: Sorry, I don't remember anything about that book (laughs), but I certainly don't dislike the "Lum's Wrath" chapter. It wouldn't be an understatement to suggest there was anything particularly noteworthy about it, but it was a pleasantly ridiculous chapter. That's the kind of thing I've always liked.

It embodies the story of Urusei Yatsura.

Takahashi: That's right. I drew an entire chapter with a silly plot where Ten mistakenly thinks he's angered Lum and has various people give him advice on how to apologize. My favorite part is when Mendo says, "sorry," and throws his head back (laughs). He's basically a character who cannot apologize to others. Anyway, Urusei doesn't really have a grand theme, and I was happy as long as it gave readers a casual laugh each week.

There is a term called "Sazae-san's Space-Time," and in this work, too, the main characters do not grow old, even though seasonal elements are inserted every year.

Takahashi: How many times did I draw a Setsubun story where Benten shows up? (laughs) That's kind of an old-fashioned manga type of thing. Even when it was serialized, there were a lot of people who took issue with it, but it didn't seem like everyone was angry about it, they seemed to be enjoying it, so I guess it's okay.

The final chapters revolves around Ataru and Lum once again playing a big game of tag with the world's fate hanging in the balance, at what point did you start thinking about ending the story?

Takahashi: Well, I had been thinking about Shinobu's role throughout the series. In an early chapter, "Intention", I had pictured a future where Shinobu was married to Ataru and had his child. As I mentioned earlier, I changed Shinobu's position in the series and she took a step back, and as the story unfolded, the only way to wrap up the story was for Ataru and Lum to finally get together, and I was wondering how to clear that earlier problem.

Then, one day, I came up with a story about the door from which Inaba-kun appears. There, the punch line was that the future could be remade. I thought that Shinobu would be able to be happy, and I started thinking about whether it was time to end the story. ^[37]

Looking back now, what are your impressions of your first serialized work, Urusei Yatsura?

Takahashi: When I first started, I wasn't very good at drawing, and another editor who wasn't Miyake-san scolded me and told me to draw properly (laughs). ^[38] But as you said, it's a little hard to look back at the early drawings now. I tried my best to draw it in my own way, but I guess my technique couldn't keep up with my feelings. However, during the lengthy serialization of Urusei I feel like I was able to grasp something called "my own style of drawing" that connects me to today. In that sense, this manga became an important work for me.

I'm also pleased with the fact that the gag tension did not drop off until the very end. Unlike Maison, with Urusei I basically wanted to keep the story slapstick until the very end, and I am proud to say that I succeeded in that respect. Incidentally, as a manga artist, I believe that if I can't make readers laugh with my gags, or if I can no longer make myself laugh, then I'm finished. In short, I want to draw manga that I can enjoy reading later. If I don't think the manga is interesting, I don't think many readers will enjoy it either.

What I think about three icons of my time.

At this point, I'd like to change topics for a second. I believe that the 1980s, when you gained popularity with works such as Urusei Yatsura, was the era that formed the basis of today's otaku culture, along with the Star Wars series (laughter) from the same period. Aside from that, there are several other people who broke out in the same era and are still dominating the manga and entertainment worlds. Manga fans want to know how Takahashi-sensei views such people. I'm sure there are quite a few, so I'm going to randomly name three people, and please tell me your impressions of each of them.

Takahashi: I guess that makes me a little defensive (laughs).

Just whatever first pops into your head. Let's start with Akira Toriyama-sensei. ^[39]

Takahashi: In a word, "great taste". The content of his manga is, of course, interesting, but I think it's the power of his drawings that are is unparalleled. Not only the vehicles he has designed, but even the props are stylishly crafted in a way that ordinary people would never come up with. As for Toriyama-sensei, as soon as he came on the scene, it was clear to me that someone amazing had arrived.

Next, Katsuhiro Otomo-sensei. ^[40]

Takahashi: I love his work (laughs). I have all his books as first editions. Like Toriyama-sensei, Otomo-sensei's manga impressed me with his illustrations, but to be more precise, the worldview he depicts is amazing. In particular, the story of the housing complex depicted in Domu (童夢) gave me a real sense of fear, as if it could be the world I live in.

In the 1980s, many manga artists were drawn to Otomo-sensei's designs, but Takahashi-sensei never wavered.

Takahashi: To be honest, I wanted to be drawn along like that, but I just couldn't (laughs). I wish I could draw like that (laughs).

And finally. Strictly speaking, he is not really thought of as a mangaka, and his career started in the 1960's, but his big break as a director was in the '80's, so what about director Hayao Miyazaki? ^[41]

Takahashi: I've been watching his works for a long time, so much so that I'm at a loss for an answer when asked what I think about them (laughs). I've been following the name "Hayao Miyazaki" since the time of The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険/Taiyo no Oji Horusu no Daiboken), even though he didn't direct that one. I think Future Boy Conan (未来少年コナン/Mirai Shonen Konan) in particular contains everything that is entertaining. The hero is cool and the heroine is brave and strong. In a sense, that is the ideal of shonen manga too. I think I learned a lot from him about how to make a story, how to create a character, and all of that.

Thank you very much for your very interesting answer. And, by the way, I apologize to Kazuhiko Shimamoto-sensei (laughs), but what about the criticism (?) by your younger colleague, Shimamoto-sensei, in Blue Blazes (アオイホノオ/Aoi Honoo), where he says that "Rumiko Takahashi lives only by her perfect timing"? What do you think about that? ^[42]

Takahashi: That would be the best compliment (laughs). I don't care what Shimamoto-sensei says. I feel his love.

At first, Maison Ikkoku was envisioned as a character study.

Now, let me ask you about Maison Ikkoku. How did you start serializing this work?

Takahashi: I think it was shortly before I graduated from university when I received the offer, I thought I could do two serials since I could focus on my manga career after graduation. Spirits was a monthly magazine when it was initially published. I was invited to serialize Maison by Yonai-san, who used to be the editor of Urusei, but the idea of "drawing it in the first issue of the magazine" was also very exciting for me as a manga artist, so I said "Please let me do it." ^[43]

In Maison Ikkoku, the science fiction elements that you are best at were eliminated. Was this done because you were being published in a seinen magazine?

Takahashi: Yeah. Considering the age of the readers, I thought it would be a good idea to write a modern drama with a slightly more mature feel, even though it would still have humorous elements. Also, around that time, I really liked Etsumi Haruki-sensei's Chie the Brat (じゃりン子チエ/Jarinko Chie), and I had a strong desire to do something like that. ^[44] So I had no particular concerns or complaints about the lack of science fiction elements.

So, at the beginning of the series, the main story was about human emotions, and you didn't expect the story to have a strong romance element?

Takahashi: If anything, yes. Of course, I had in mind the development of Godai's attraction to Kyoko-san, but rather than that, I wanted to depict a human drama set in Ikkoku-kan.

Which character did you think of first, Godai or Kyoko?

Takahashi: I think it was Kyoko. Before I thought about the visuals, the keywords "widow" and "apartment manager" first came to mind.

Kyoko-san is like Lum and Sakura in Urusei, and in that respect she is the strongest Takahashi heroine. She is a jealous and mature woman who is both cute and cool at the same time. She's become a heroine who is etched into the history of manga, and even has the image of a "saint," but if you read her carefully, you'll see that she's quite mundane, including her jealousy.

Takahashi: Originally, I had no intention of making her a saint-like heroine. I had the impression that she was just one of the characters at Ikkoku-kan. However, when I created her design for the first scene in which she appeared, I felt that there was something about her that I couldn't express in words, so I gradually made her one of the main characters. Far from being a saint, at the initial stage of setting up her character, she was a bit more spiteful and competitive (laughs).

What about turning all the other residents of Ikkoku-kan into weirdos?

Takahashi: Maison Ikkoku is a story that wouldn't work unless the character Godai is oppressed (laughs), so it was a natural progression to make the surrounding characters eccentric. Godai is, so to speak, a "normal person," but when you step into that room, he seems to be the most "weird" in a sense. I think that kind of gap between the characters is also interesting to me.

Who is your favorite character among them?

Takahashi: It has to be Yotsuya-san (laughs). As I said about Sekoi-san from Dust Spot!!, for some reason I like that type of character. I never get tired of drawing him.

Godai's Rivals

So, what about Mitaka, Godai's rival? This is also one of your specialties: he's a good-looking guy, but he's also a rival character that you can't hate.

Takahashi: To put it bluntly, Mitaka was a character that was created after the editor asked me to bring in a rival for Godai, and having him there certainly made the story flow easier. After all, obstacles for the main character are necessary in manga.

What was initially just a love triangle becomes a square and then a pentagon, which is typical of your work, Takahashi-sensei, and I can't take my eyes off it, but as this development continues, the relationships between the characters becomes quite complex. Do you ever find it confusing?

Takahashi: It was the same with Ranma 1/2, but when it comes to long-term serializations, the love triangle alone can't drive the story forward. It's true that some mangaka might get confused if they increase the number of characters, but for me, the more characters that appear, the easier it becomes to run a manga.

In terms of rivals, the technique of not showing the face of Godai-kun's true rival, Soichiro, was also an excellent choice.

Takahashi: That approach to drawing was not a traditional method, but I hoped that by not showing Soichiro's face, I could emphasize the feeling that "Godai is no match for him".

Having said that, I thought that the fact that Soichiro is Soichiro (although his face is never shown) and that he isn't a good-looking or perfect man, which is an amazing character trait.

Takahashi: My first thought was that a man who would suit a heroine like Kyoko probably wouldn't be very cool. He's good both on the outside and on the inside. However, he's generally kind and not a bad person. If I was able to portray a man like that, I think it would be a success for me as an author.

I wanted to draw a happy ending for each of them.

In one of the chapters after the midpoint of the story, Ichinose says some tough words to Kyoko, saying, "this lukewarm triangle of yours... you may want it to last forever." In a sense, this is a critique of the manga as a whole, in other words, the readers enjoyed this "lukewarm" state.

Takahashi: Well, that's how it goes. It was the same for me when I was drawing it, but if the two ended up together, the manga would end (laughs).

By the way, were you thinking about how Godai and Kyoko would get together from the beginning ?

Takahashi: Yes. There is a chapter relatively early in the story where we learn that Kyoko is a widow, and when I was drawing the name for that chapter, I had an image of Godai being in front of Soichiro's grave at the climax of the story. In any case, I felt that this manga had to end with a happy ending, so I needed them to stick together.

That grave scene is one of the most famous scenes in manga history. Did you also come up with Godai-kun's line, "when I marry her... I know you'll be there too," much earlier?

Takahashi: I thought of that line later. It's a casual line, but it's a line that I wrote after a lot of thought.

What's surprising is that that scene is drawn in a fairly small frames visually. In my personal image of the scene, it's a pretty big panel (laughs).

Takahashi: I see. I guess I should have done that with a double-page spread (laughs).

No, it's such a famous scene that I can't really say what to do with it, so I'll just leave it as it is (laughs). Come to think of it, Maison Ikkoku ended around the same time as the final chapter of Urusei.

Takahashi: Yes. However, it wasn't a conscious decision; in the case of Maison, the goal was already in sight at a certain stage, so it's just that that flow and the end of Urusei coincided at exactly the same time.

Now, this is the last question. You said that you wanted to do a character study when the series started, but over the course of the long series, what was it that you most wanted to portray in Maison Ikkoku?

Takahashi: As you can see, Maison became more of a romantic comedy as the story progressed, but I wrote it with the hope that Kyoko and Godai would be happy at the end. Aside from one-shot horror stories, I have no intention of writing bad endings in my long-running serials. The same goes for Shinobu in Urusei, but all the characters I've created are loveable, and I want each and every one of them to do well in the final chapter. So what I wanted to depict most in this manga was the scene in the final chapter where Godai and Kyoko get together, and with the people around them celebrating them.

Rumiko Takahashi Long Interview 3
Ranma 1/2 and One Pound Gospel depict love and struggle.

I wanted to draw a funny battle manga.

This time, I would like to ask you about Ranma 1/2 and One Pound Gospel, both of which have "fighting" as one of their themes. First of all, Ranma 1/2 was serialized in Shonen Sunday after Urusei Yatsura, so did you decide to lower the age range of your readers a little?

Takahashi: Rather than lowering the number, I wanted to expand the readership. The reason I say this is because after Urusei became an anime, I was happy to see an increase in fan letters from girls, so I planned the new series with the hope that even more people would read it.

I also wanted to do a school story with a slightly different feel than Urusei, and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to depict, such as gender swapping, so I put all of these things into the work (laughs).

Although the series has an axis as a romance manga or a romantic comedy, the story basically progresses with the appearances of a strange enemy and battles with Ranma each time, right? Have you always been interested in martial arts and Chinese kenpo?

Takahashi: I have, but it was mostly just that I liked Jackie Chan's Drunken Master, so I didn't have much in-depth knowledge of it. ^[45] However, I thought everything about the comical martial arts depicted in that movie was funny, from the hand movements to the facial expressions, so I wanted to depict that kind of funny fighting in Ranma as well. Ranma has a lot of martial arts that use animals as motifs, and this is also largely influenced by Jackie Chan movies.

Did you do any interviews for research?

Takahashi: I went to see Ryuichi Matsuda-sensei, the original author of Kenji. ^[46] He was teaching kenpo forms to students, and I was also introduced to other people who practice kenpo, and I was able to hear their stories. I did that several times.

As the title suggests, the main character, Ranma, is half-girl, but within your body of work, I feel like he's on par with Inuyasha, in the sense that he's the protagonist most likely to be the main character of a typical shonen manga. In that sense, did you feel like you were aiming for the classic style of shonen manga with this work?

Takahashi: Yes, that's right. I can't say that Urusei was a classic shonen manga (laughs). I've always liked Kotaro Forces His Way Through! (コータローまかりとおる!/Kotaro Makaritoru!), but I seriously wanted to try drawing "the shonen manga" set in that kind of school. ^[47]

As you said, I was very conscious of the fact that the next work I drew, Inuyasha, was a shonen manga, and I started serializing Ranma with that in mind.

There are old stories like Torikahebaya Monogatari (とりかへばや物語) that depict the swapping of gender between a man and a woman, but even if you don't go back that far, there are stories like the manga Princess Knight (リボンの騎士/Ribon no Kishi) and The Rose of Versailles (ベルサイユのばら/Berusaiyu no Bara), Stop!! Hibari-kun! (ストップ!! ひばりくん!), and the movies Transfer Student (転校生/Tenkousei) and Your Name (君の名は。/Kimi no Na wa.). ^[48] Many works of this type have been created in the world of entertainment, with different hands and products. In other words, whether it's one person pretending to be the opposite sex, or a man and a woman swapping their minds and bodies, I think this kind of story is already recognized as a genre of its own. Ranma 1/2 has now become one of the "classics," comparable to the works I just mentioned. In your previous work, Urusei, there were several characters who transcended gender, such as Ryunosuke and the masculine beauty Benten. Have you always felt the interest of such boundaryless characters?

Takahashi: It is interesting to have a boundaryless character on the sidelines, but I think it would be more effective to have him as the main character.

However, I gave a lot of thought to how the main character changes from a man to a woman. At first glance, it may seem like I didn't think much about how the protagonist turns into a woman when he is doused with cold water and back into a man when he is doused with hot water, but that was a setup that took a lot of thought (laughs). Of course, the idea of a woman returning to being a man by pouring hot water on her is based on the image of a cup of ramen, but before that, I was having a meeting with my editor, and suddenly the curtain of a public bathhouse came to my mind (laughs). ^[49]

It's a love that clashes with each other instead of chasing each other.

Among the many gorgeous female characters in Ranma 1/2, I think the female Ranma is the cutest (even though she's actually a man...). How did that character come about?

Takahashi: After coming up with the idea of changing sex with cold and hot water, as I just mentioned, I thought about a "cursed spring" as the cause, and thought that China is probably the only place in the world where such a thing exists even in modern times (laughs). Along with that, I thought about creating a heroine that looked like a Chinese girl, or one that would look good in a kung-fu uniform or a Chinese dress, and that's how Ranma came about.

In existing gender-swap stories, when a boy becomes a girl, there is always a scene where the boy checks every part of his body and blushes. Even in Ranma such a scene is briefly depicted, but it is played out very quickly.

Takahashi: I think it's because many of my works have a theme of sexual awakening, but in my case, I don't particularly want to draw something like that, but rather a fight between characters who can change into boys or girls. I just wanted to draw it, so I skipped that part.

Female Ranma is often naked or in a swimsuit, and of course it's a kind of fan service, but the psychological depiction is still that of a boy, so it's not very erotic, or rather, it's a new form of "cuteness," isn't it?

Takahashi: If female Ranma were to be shy or embarrassed, it would look weird, depending on how it was drawn. I made Ranma a type of character that puts a priority on winning the battle without worrying if her clothes come off or not. Moreover, depending on the enemy, she may use her "womanhood" as a weapon (laughs).

On the other hand, what kind of character did you think when you created the heroine Akane?

Takahashi: Akane is a character that I was fumbling around with a bit at the beginning. I was wondering what kind of character I should make her look and feel like when I was drawing her, but after I cut her hair, I think I finally understood what kind of girl she was. ^[50] She is, in other words, a girl who goes head-on with Ranma.

In Urusei Yatsura, the story was driven by a chase, and in Maison Ikkoku, the story was driven by unrequited love and miscommunication, but in a sense, both Lum and Kyoko are women who are "above" the men. The former has some special abilities and alien science items, and the latter is an older, more experienced woman. In comparison, I think Akane feels like she's on equal footing with the boy she likes.

Takahashi: It's exactly as you described it. In that sense, I wanted to depict a battle in the relationship between the main male and female characters in this manga. It was not like Lum and Ataru who were chasing after each other, but rather Ranma and Akane were on an equal footing, and they were going at it with all their might.

Is it okay to have those kinds of relationships!?!?!

This may be a question about story structure, but aside from the final chapter, you depict the days of adolescence as a never-ending series of events leading up to the final chapter, even though it seems like something big is about to happen. I think Urusei was drawn in the same style, but do you find it easiest to draw a loop of daily life like this?

Takahashi: I think the work of Fujiko F. Fujio has been a big influence on this kind of storytelling. For Urusei, I had decided from the beginning that I would finish each chapter with a single idea or hook, but for Ranma, I had a little more freedom, and there were quite a few stories where I ended each chapter with a little twist. However, there may be certain styles that are ingrained in our bodies (laughs). The editorial department often told me to bring out a final boss-like character, but I was in trouble because I wanted to draw battles in my manga but not that kind (laughs).

On a different note, the idea that Ranma's father transforms into a panda when he is splashed with water was a bit of a joke, but it was an interesting idea.

Takahashi: There's already an image that "China = panda". I'm sorry for not changing it up more (laughs). Normally, pandas are drawn cutely, but it's nice that Ranma's father as a panda isn't so cute. To begin with, I had never actually seen a panda, so I had no idea how big it really was. They look pretty big when you see one on TV, don't they? If I drew it exactly as I imagined it, it would turn out to be a big, evil panda (laughs).

As the series goes on, characters like Tatewaki, Ryoga, Kodachi, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ukyo appear one after another, each of whom seems to have unrequited love for someone, and their relationships become even more messy than in Maison. Of course, it's not just a love triangle, and it's even far from a four-way or five-way relationship.

Takahashi: I answered this in the previous interview, but as the one who's drawing and writing it, it's not that confusing. Not everyone will appear at the same time. If you have a good idea of who likes whom, it's actually easier to move the story in various directions, and it's easier to portray the occasional ambivalent attitude or joke.

Do you have any favorite supporting characters?

Takahashi: I liked drawing Ryoga a lot. I like him visually, but I like his silliness even more than his appearance (laughs). I also like Happosai, who is a parody of the master characters that often appear in Jackie Chan movies. He is usually comical, but when he's strong, he's incredibly strong. However, there are things about that character that are difficult for women to tolerate (laughs).

What was also refreshing about Ranma was the authenticity of the fight scenes. Perhaps it's because I have a strong image of Takahashi's manga with the relatively classical panel layouts seen in Urusei and Maison, but I also saw quite a few visual changes, such as the power of the battles in the spreads and the drawing of the characters before the fight by smashing through the panels compared to the size of the page. Did you use any existing fighting manga as a reference?

Takahashi: I love manga and have read a ton of them, so I think there were some things that stuck with me, but I didn't really use anything as a reference. To begin with, I wanted to draw a battle manga mixed with comedy that no one had ever seen before. So basically it's like reproducing the image in my head on paper.

Fighting while shouting out the name of each technique such as "Hiryu Shotenha!" reminded me of old manga, it was a really good feeling.

Takahashi: I love Masami Kurumada's Put It All In the Ring (リングにかけろ/Ringu ni Kakero) and Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢). I proudly paid homage to him (laughs). ^[51] As you know, in the next work I drew, Inuyasha, the main characters scream out their special moves (laughs).

Love and youth continue into extra innings.

There is a scene in the middle of the series where Akane jumps into the Hiryu Shotenha ascending into the sky to save Ranma, who has lost his strength, and Ranma desperately tries to save Akane as they fall to the ground. There are many famous scenes, but that scene left a strong impression on me personally because it was the first time that their feelings became clear.

Takahashi: Even up until that point, I had depicted them being attracted to each other, but this scene may have been the first time they risked their lives to help one another. I don't know if it's okay to admit this because there are many other people who say that that scene was very good, but it was actually a filler chapter (laughs). The truth is that when I cut out the names from the previous chapter, there was a little extra space, so I had them talk in mid-air for one chapter and created a gap to fill during their fall (laughs). ^[52] The fact that it was well received by the readers was really a blessing (laughs). It's a story unique to weekly serials, but that chapter being so well received made me realize that the readers also wanted to clearly see the feelings of Ranma and Akane.

The final chapter depicts a fierce battle over the fountain with the Saffron faction, but at that point, did you feel like you had accomplished what you wanted to do with this manga and it was time to end it?

Takahashi: That's right. I could have drawn Ranma as long as I wanted to, but I felt that I had completed the shonen manga that I set out to draw at the beginning, so I decided it was time to end it.

The scene is similar to the one mentioned above, but during the final battle, Ranma is more worried about Akane than whether he can return to his original body. It's such a cool scene.

Takahashi: That's just being a human being (laughs). Akane also became tiny for Ranma's sake. I wanted to depict the two of them thinking about the other more than themselves in the climax of the battle.

After the battle, Ranma returns to Japan without being able to return to his original body, but at the wedding of the two at the end, he receives water from the Spring of Drowned Man that would allow him to return to his original body. However, the fact that Happosai drinks it all up gives me a sense of Takahashi-sensei's gag aesthetic.

Takahashi: The beauty of a gag (laughs). It's not that big of a deal, but as the author, I was a little sad at the thought of seeing female Ranma disappear. Ranma turning back into a normal boy in the final chapter is probably a good way to end a manga, but even after I put down my pen, I still see Ranma changing between a man and a woman. I wanted the two versions of Ranma to argue and be friendly with Akane forever.

The word "overtime" that appears at the end of the story tells us the author's thoughts.

Takahashi: It's a fighting thing, and I thought that was the perfect term.

Now, I know it's been quite a while since you finished drawing this work, but looking back on it now, what place in your oeuvre does Ranma 1/2 occupy?

Takahashi: Ranma was my attempt to draw another fun manga after Urusei. Thanks to that, there are many people who still say that this work is their favorite, and it has been widely read for a long time. In that sense, as the author, I’m very happy with it.

A new type of boxing manga.

Next, let me ask you about One Pound Gospel. This was published in a seinen magazine, Young Sunday, how did that come about?

Takahashi: One day, the editor of Yansan (Young Sunday) came to me and asked if I would draw something for him. It was right around the time when Urusei and Maison had just finished, so I readily got started. ^[53]

Did you like boxing?

Takahashi: Yes. In the past, boxing was often shown on TV during prime time, and I thought it was interesting to watch because it was a straightforward fighting sport. My favorite fighter is Masao Oba (大場政夫), who died in a car accident while he was still the world champion, and when I watch footage from that time, his matches look like something out of a boxing manga. ^[54]

I think that traditional boxing manga have shown that one should watch what they eat in order to maintain their weight, or that one should not date women in order to live a stoic life, but Hatanaka, the main character in this manga, is not against either of these?

Also, Hatanaka is greedy for women. That was new to me, and at the same time, I felt that it was a parody or critique of boxing manga. What kind of image did you have for the character of Hatanaka?

Takahashi: While I admired Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー), I knew that I couldn't and shouldn't draw a serious boxing manga, so I naturally created a character with a casual personality (laughs). ^[55] Many manga artists have depicted boxers struggling with weight loss, and I thought it was something of a cottage industry, or rather, I wondered if I could turn that into a gag.

Other fighting manga, including Ranma 1/2, often depict special training scenes, but in this manga there are almost none.

Takahashi: Hatanaka is a genius (laughs). What he strives for is not boxing practice, but how he can eat and drink behind his coach's back (laughs). Isn't that more interesting?

On the other hand, what kind of image did you have in mind when creating the heroine, Sister Angela?

Takahashi: I chose her as novice nun simply because I thought it was interesting to see an innocent Sister watching a bloody boxing match. Also, I can share this story with you now, but one day when I was drawing various things with Angela, I was called by a certain church, and was told, "Please do some research before you continue drawing this manga." (laughs) The easiest thing to understand is that sisters do not receive confession. However, because of that call, I was able to do a lot of interviews, and from then on, I tried to portray the sisters as realistically as possible. ^[56]

Well, I won't reveal the ending here, but was Angela's "decision" at the end something you had decided from the beginning?

Takahashi: Yes. That was decided from the moment I set her up as a nun. The image of that scene was in my mind from a relatively early stage. My manga often ends with the daily life continuing in the same fashion even after the ending, but for One Pound Gospel, I decided to complete the story in four volumes. That's what I had planned. Of course, the lives of those two people will continue after that, but I think it's up to the readers to imagine that for themselves.

Rumiko Takahashi Long Interview 4
The love and bonds of shonen manga conveyed by Inuyasha, a masterpiece of historical romance

The basis for an interesting story is The Journey to the West.

In our fourth interview, we'll ask you about Inuyasha. Before that, yokai had appeared occasionally in the serials and one-shot works that you had drawn, but after you finished Ranma did you decide that you wanted to draw a long, straight-forward yokai manga?

Takahashi: If anything, the first thing I wanted to draw was a story from the Sengoku period. Because I like drawing kimonos (laughs). So, I thought that for that era, adding the elements of yokai would make the manga more interesting. So I decided to make Inuyasha, the main character, a "half-demon". ^[57]

The primary crux of the story is that the main characters collect the pieces of the Shikon Jewel that has been shattered. "Collecting something scattered around the world" is a classic storyline in shonen manga, with a good example being the early parts of Dragon Ball.

Takahashi: Yes, I think so. If you go further back, you will find the original story of Dragon Ball, Journey to the West. The reason why that story is still widely read today is that the main character, Tang Sanzang, has a purpose to go to India to receive sutras, and on his way there, bad monsters swarm him to devour him, and Sun Wukong and his friends fight them off. In other words, this may be an extreme theory, but I think that an interesting story is one in which the main characters fight in the process of searching for and collecting something.

By the way, was there any influence from the yokai of Dororo (どろろ)?

Takahashi: It is true that Dororo is also a story about recovering what was lost, and I have always loved it, but I was not particularly conscious of that when I drew Inuyasha. ^[58] Of course, it is one of the works that are in my blood, so I can't say that I was not influenced by it in any way.

How about Nanso Satomi Hakkenden (南総里見八犬伝)? ^[59]

Takahashi: In this manga, I may have been more conscious of that rather than Dororo. I'm not talking about the details, just the overall atmosphere.

Were you aware of Shigeru Mizuki, the master of yokai manga?

Takahashi: Of course I love Mizuki-sensei's manga, but that's why I felt I had to step away from that when thinking about the designs for the yokai. ^[60]

All of these yokai designs were unique, but are they basically original to the series, Takahashi-sensei? Even though Mizuki-sensei wasn't an influence, didn't you also refer to old yokai paintings?

Takahashi: I basically thought it all out in my head. However, some of the monsters, such as the yokai old woman named Urasue who brought Kikyo back to life, I found interesting after looking at some materials, so I used them as reference. The yokai listed in the reference materials have different names and abilities. It was just a visual impression. I'm sorry for the vague answer, as I forgot the name of the source material. Also, the saimyosho and Royakan are from books related to hell. For most of the other monsters, I drew the roughs and thought about them in my head while moving my hands.

I think Inuyasha's being a "half-demon" was an excellent element added to this work.

Takahashi: One day, my editor, Seno-san, suddenly said to me, "How about a half-demon?" (laughs). Since it is easier to depict a drama when the main character is not fully one thing or the other, I used that idea. ^[61]

As I mentioned earlier, the axis of the story revolves around collecting the scattered pieces of the Shikon Jewel, and I was impressed by the way the lonely characters who lack something in their hearts or are loners, one by one, become friends with Kagome at the center. In that sense, Inuyasha is a manga that fills in the missing pieces. In other words, I think that the main characters' goal of "collecting shards of the shattered jewel" in this manga is a metaphor for the fact that "those who lack something become stronger by coming together."

Takahashi: As the author, I hadn't thought about it that deeply (laughs), but now that you mention it, it's true. However, when I create a main character or an important supporting character, I always add some kind of flaw. How they overcome it is what makes the story exciting. In that sense, other manga perhaps have a similar structure.

I'm intrigued by Inuyasha's half-demon (半妖/hanyo) nature, but when I hear the word, I tend to immediately associate it with negative images such as "half-a-man" (半人前/hanninmai) or "half-minute" (半分/hanbun). However, if you read this manga carefully, you will see it depicts that this may be a "perfect being."

Takahashi: It's not that they can't be both, half-demons have the power of both, because a half-demon is a hybrid being. They have the mind of a human and the different powers of a yokai. I think Inuyasha's father understood all of this, and that is why he entrusted Inuyasha and his brother Sesshomaru with what to do after he died.

Tasteful characters

I would like to ask you about the main characters. First of all, regarding Inuyasha, when I initially read the first chapter of the series, I was suddenly shocked by the fact that the main character (Inuyasha), who was supposed to be active in the future, was drawn in a double-page spread where it looked like he was dead.

Takahashi: When I was drawing the first chapter, that visual was the first thing that came to mind. In order for the story to unfold, we had to stop time for Inuyasha until he meets Kagome, and in a meeting with my editor, we came up with the idea of "freezing" him, but I didn't think that was the right image from an artistic standpoint (laughs). Instead, I thought it would be better to have him being shot by an arrow into a sacred tree and not being able to move. I also decided that if I depicted the tree growing large around him, it would express the passage of time, and that would be better than ice.

I'm sure there are many animal-based yokai, but what made you choose a dog?

Takahashi: Just because it's cute (laughs).

That's not bad (laughs). Also, the main character of your previous work, Ranma 1/2, was a character typical of a shonen manga, but this time I felt that was even moreso and Inuyasha has a heroic feel to him.

Takahashi: It's true that with Ranma I was conscious of him being the hero of a shonen manga, but he also transforms into a girl, so he's more of a curveball character. So, in that sense, you could say that Inuyasha was the first shonen manga hero that I took seriously. I've been reading shonen manga ever since I was a child, and this character represents the kind of ideal hero I had in my mind, and I'm proud that I was able to draw him the way I had pictured in my mind.

Next, let me ask you about the heroine, Kagome. One of the charms of Takahashi-sensei's heroines is that they are cute when they get angry and jealous. In that sense, the heroine in this story is a little bit jealous, but she basically acknowledges Kikyo's existence and has a big heart.

Takahashi: But if Kagome was even more belligerent in that situation, wouldn't Inuyasha be driven to the brink? Of course there is an element of romance in this work, but there was something else I wanted to depict, so I had Kagome take a step back and become a character with a more mature outlook. In my previous manga, the main male and female characters were often fighting to make the story more exciting, but for this work, I made a rule that I would do my best to avoid that.

I wanted to make Kagome a girl with a stronger sense of responsibility than my previous heroines. Otherwise, the well was always connected to the modern era in the beginning, so I couldn't understand why she would go back to the dangerous Sengoku Period over and over again. (laugh)

Kagome and Kikyo are reincarnations of each other. How did you try to differentiate the two heroines as characters?

Takahashi: While their faces are similar, their inner worlds are yin and yang, and I think I drew them with that separation in mind. Especially with Kikyo, after she was resurrected, I had to create a character with a different atmosphere than when she was alive, so in a way, it was like creating three heroine characters. Kikyo had a life-threatening love affair with Inuyasha, died once because she felt betrayed, and came back to life again, so her personality must have changed considerably, if not to the extent that she is a different person from before. Therefore, it was interesting to depict the change in Kikyo's emotional state.

As for the supporting characters, Miroku, who acts as Inuyasha's partner, is also a good character. Although he has a womanizing side, he is basically an honest and just man. In a way, it was new that he didn't clash with Inuyasha. I think that in Takahashi-sensei's previous manga, if anything, that role would have been filled with a character like Koga and he would always clash with Inuyasha.

Takahashi: He and Koga are always clashing with each other, though (laughs).

It is true that I tend to bring in characters who are at odds with the main character as the second male character, like Mendo in Urusei or Ryoga in Ranma, but I thought that this time the story would be a bit stale if I did.

Miroku was easy to draw. I think I did a good job with Koga and Inuyasha, but I was also happy with Miroku and Inuyasha because I was able to portray a sense of trust that transcended the boundaries between humans and yokai.

Did you think from the beginning that he and Sango would fall in love with each other?

Takahashi: I let the story flow as it progressed, and that's just how it ended up. Sango also has a very tragic past, and I thought that Miroku was the only one who could embody it.

A strong villain named Naraku and the growth of Sesshomaru.

And above all, the presence of Naraku is very strong. As you can see by reading works such as Dororo and Devilman, some shonen manga have mercilessly depicted the "evil" heart of humans, which is, in a sense, more terrifying than that of yokai. I thought the chapter about how Naraku was born as a yokai was as scary as those stories. And I think what's even more amazing is that he never wavered as the final boss until the end of this long story.

Takahashi: I'm glad to hear you say that, but the truth is that Naraku was a character that I didn't really plan in advance. He was a character that I continued to flesh out as I drew him each time. However, while I was drawing him, I realized that I should make him the culprit behind everything (laugh).

So, in the first chapter, you weren't thinking about the final boss at all?

Takahashi: Yes, that's right (laughs). I had an idea that someone had framed Kikyo and Inuyasha, but I didn't clearly decide on the source of the crime or the existence of the final boss, so I let the story run its course. It is true that in some shonen manga, the last boss keeps changing and becoming stronger and stronger, but I'm not suited to that kind of style, and I probably couldn't draw it even if I wanted to, so I decided to have him stand as the biggest enemy of Inuyasha and his friends until the end, once I decided on him as the source of the problem.

Naraku was quite an interesting villain, but equally memorable and great of a character was Inuyasha's older brother, Sesshomaru, who I could never tell if he was friend or foe. If I may say so without fear of being misunderstood, Inuyasha is a righteous hero who is almost complete from the beginning. So I would rather say that this story was "the story of Sesshomaru's growth".

Takahashi: That aspect is certainly true. Sesshomaru's one of the characters that I was quite emotionally involved in drawing.

He initially seems as if he does not have a warm heart, but I think his first change comes around the time he saves Rin's life, and the many chapters with Kagura that follow are even more poignant.

Takahashi: It's similar to the story about Sango and Miroku from earlier, but I didn't originally intend for Kagura to be so intertwined with Sesshomaru. At a very early stage in her life, she starts to ask for freedom, saying things like, "I am the wind." From that point on, it felt like the characters started to move away from the author's hands. However, it's sad to say that Kagura won't be able to be free in this world as long as Naraku is around, so I decided to leave something big for Sesshomaru and his friends at a certain stage and have her leave the story.

The scene where she dies is one of the most famous scenes in Inuyasha. As you said, her final moments left something behind, not only for Sesshomaru, but for the main characters as well. Later, when Naraku curses Kagura for "dying in vain," the scene where Sesshomaru uncharacteristically loses his temper is also a hot scene. ^[62]

Takahashi: It's already in the spirit of a shonen manga (laughs). In that sense, Sesshomaru is an easy-to-understand character, so it was relatively easy to draw him. He was a popular character to begin with, but I feel like he became even more popular after that.

What I wanted to convey with Inuyasha.

I was very impressed with the developments at the end of the series. First of all, the story leading up to the defeat of Naraku is spectacular. "There are things that neither Tessaiga nor Bakusaiga can cut," which is said to be the "soul of Naraku," and in the end, Naraku disappears with the power of Kagome's arrow.

Takahashi: After all, the only person who can purify Naraku, or rather finish him off, is not Inuyasha or Sesshomaru, but Kikyo's reincarnation, Kagome. That's why it can be said that she went out of her way to go from the present day to the Sengoku period, and I feel a little sad when Naraku disappears. He says that he himself knows that it is unlikely that he will be able to go to the same place as Kikyo in the afterlife... I had Naraku play the role of the villain until the end, but as the author, I wrote that scene with sympathy for him. ^[63]

I thought that was the end of the story, but I was astonished to find out that Naraku had a further plan in mind and that the story wasn't over yet. Kagome is trapped in the Shikon Jewel, unable to go anywhere in the pitch-black world, and is waiting for Inuyasha's help.

Takahashi: I've always liked to draw characters who rebel against something at the climax of the story. For example, when the jewel says to Kagome, "If you wish to return to your original world, you can," she won't say anything, even if it's the only thing she can say (laughs). But Kagome isn't just rebelling without thinking, deep down she believes that Inuyasha will come to her rescue. In the end, with Inuyasha's support, she wishes the Shikon Jewel to "disappear!"

I think that part of the story was good because it illustrated the meaning behind the hero and heroine being in that world. If I might go into a bit more detail, after all the battles ended, Inuyasha and Kagome were separated for three years, but during that time, he was able to let Kagome live her high school life. As an author, I find that satisfying. She makes her final decision, but after the battle for the Shikon Jewel is over, those three years spent with her family and friends in the present day are a big part of her life, and will be something she carries with her. Even if I went with that idea, I thought it would definitely be a great treasure.

Re-reading it this time, I realized that this work, Inuyasha, is not only an interesting manga with each battle against yokai, but more than that, it's a manga filled with someone's feelings for someone else. And because of this, I realized that this long story has a universal appeal that goes beyond being just a manga about battling yokai.

Takahashi: When drawing Inuyasha, I didn't have any grand themes in mind, but I did decide on some rules for myself. I'm a little embarrassed to mention it again, but I tried to remember that love is important, and bonds are important, no matter what chapter I was drawing. Occasionally, if a character goes astray, I try to save them, even if it means taking a detour. There were some chapters that dragged on a bit because of that, but in the end I think it was good that all the main characters were carefully portrayed. After all, love and bonds are one of the things that shonen manga should depict.

Rumiko Takahashi Long Interview 5
Depicting the worklife and lovelife of a shinigami, Kyokai no RINNE and Mermaid Saga.

A shinigami is also a type of god.

This time, in the last of our long interviews, we'll be asking about Kyokai no RINNE and the Mermaid Saga. First of all, with regard to Kyokai no RINNE, it seems like after finishing the serious, lengthy work Inuyasha, you wanted to draw a manga that went in a slightly different direction.

Takahashi: That's right. Rhythm is a big part of weekly magazine serialization, so I find it a bit suffocating as a creator to make serious stories one after another. So even with MAO, which I'm currently drawing, I think that's a large part of the reason that the manga that I'm drawing now has this kind of vibe, because Kyokai no RINNE was a manga that had the kind of vibe it did as well. Also, I wanted to draw things like "school" and "seasons" that I hadn't been able to draw much in Inuyasha.

Furthermore, have you ever wanted to do a manga like Takahashi's School Ghost Stories?

Takahashi: Oh, of course: one complete story.

Also, although there are many "Shinigami manga" in the world, I felt that the image of a "good Shinigami" depicted in this work was new. Aside from the damashigami, Rinne and the others are righteous beings who guide lost spirits.

Takahashi: I've always believed that that is what a shinigami is supposed to be. They're not scary beings that appear in front of healthy people and forcibly take them to the afterlife. Yes, there is a frightening image of a skullface with a big sickle, but I have a stronger impression of shinigami as a navigator who takes the souls of the dead to the other world. After all, they are a kind of god, so they are supposed to be there to save people (laughs).

On my first reading, I was immediately taken by the visual of the Wheel of Reincarnation in the first chapter. Where did you get that seemingly mechanical, yet Japanese-style visual?

Takahashi: That is inspired by the wheel of a imperial carriage. I made it huge (laughs). I didn't draw the inside to make it look mysterious, but I think it would be fun for readers to imagine the interior.

I think it is a style of manga in which you, Takahashi-sensei, depict the main male character from the point of view of a narrator girl is a style in which you seems to have a monopoly, and with this series you especially make the most of that charm. ^[64]

Takahashi: I think it is largely because I'm a woman, but it's difficult to advance a story with only the boy's perspective. So, even if I were to create a hero, I would feel more comfortable if I depicted him not only from his own perspective, but also from the perspective of the heroine, who is almost the same level as him as the main character.

Let me ask you about the heroine, Sakura. She is interested in Rinne, but doesn't show much romantic interest until the middle of the story.

Takahashi: It's not even in the middle, but it's around the final chapter that she clearly realizes her feelings (laughs). I feel like I dragged it out too much, but I thought the story wouldn't end if I didn't draw it her recognizing her feelings, so I drew it.

The story of Rinne's family.

Rinne is forced to work as a shinigami due to his grandmother's quota and his father's debt, but he doesn't really feel forced to do it.

Takahashi: I guess he's a serious person at heart (laughs). Even if you don't take quotas or debts into consideration, he probably has the blood of a shinigami in him and wants to properly send lost spirits to the Wheel of Reincarnation.

Sakura realizes that he is a "kind shinigami" relatively early on, but it's also nice that Rinne continues to address her by her full name, "Sakura Mamiya," until the end.

Takahashi: One of the techniques for characterization is how the characters address one another, but since I lost the chance to change the way he addresses Sakura (laughs), I had to stick with it through to the end. But I think I was able to depict the awkwardness that a boy has for a girl that he likes.

Also, what I've always liked about not only Takahashi-sensei's manga, but Shonen Sunday manga in general, is that they properly depict families. In a sense, this work can be read as "the story of Rinne's family," but the first thing that stands out to me is his grandmother, Tamako.

Takahashi: I wanted a character who could help Rinne when he was in a pinch, so I thought that in this case, a grandmother would be a good choice.

On the other hand, Tamako's son, (Rinne's father) Sabato, is also a strong character. They say he's good-looking yet garbage (laughs). However, I was still impressed by the great character development that made it hard to completely hate him.

Takahashi: What he's doing is really trashy (laughs). But I had a lot of fun drawing that scumbag. There aren't many villains or enemy characters in Kyokai no RINNE, so I had no choice but to have Sabato play that role.

Also, as I was reading the story, I was wondering why Rinne's mother didn't appear, but she makes an impactful appearance towards the end.

Takahashi: As for Rinne's mother, I had been thinking about bringing her into the story, but I had a hard time finalizing her character, and she ended up appearing only at the end of the story. When I came up with the idea of her being reincarnated and being younger than Rinne, I thought I had done it (laughs). As you know, this family usually lives separately, but in one of the last chapters, there was a story about a family trip that ended up happening, albeit by accident.

As usual in this series, I think all the other supporting characters are appealing, but do you have a favorite character?

Takahashi: I drew all the contracted black cats thinking they were cute, but Rokumon was my favorite. The mascot characters I've drawn so far, whether it's Ten or Shippo, tend to interact with the main character, but I think it's cute that Rokumon obediently serves Rinne. Other than that, I think the devil Masato was also a very interesting character (laughs). ^[64]

Also, I think the reason why this manga is interesting is because it neatly depicts the concepts of "work" and "money". Because earning money means working in society, which is one of the most important things in life. I think it's good that this manga teaches this lesson to boys who will later enter the workforce. ^[65]

Takahashi: I didn't have such a grandiose sense of mission (laughs), but there was definitely a part of me that was obsessed with the importance of money. I included that in the last line of Sakura's speech at the end of the series. Also, my previous work, Inuyasha, was a rather grandiose story that expanded into a big epic, so it was fun to make RINNE a complete story that was more episodic and bite-sized.

I hadn't decided what kind of character he would be when I drew him for the preview illustration.

Finally, I would like to ask you about the Mermaid Saga. Actually, in this long interview, I was planning to ask you only about long-form serialized works, so I didn't intend to ask you to talk about the Mermaid Saga. But in the process of editing this book, I kept hearing comments from people involved saying, "I love the mermaid series!" (laughs) Thinking that I should probably listen to the voice of the readers of the Mangakabon series of books, I decided I'll ask you a little bit about this series.

Takahashi: There are certainly many people who say that (laughs).

Basically, I would like to ask questions about your first three works in this series, A Mermaid Never Smiles, The Village of Fighting Fish, and Mermaid Forest, but I'll start with A Mermaid Never Smiles. I'm assuming that at first there were no plans to make it into a series, and the plan was to end with just the first two parts.

Takahashi: That's right. I had been drawing a few horror-esque short stories in the extra issues of Sunday, so I conceived this story based on the legend of Yaobikuni as one of the stories in the series. When I finished the story, I suddenly realized that I could use these two main characters as many times as I wanted. ^[66]

While other horror stories ended in a way that they were completely finished, A Mermaid Never Smiles ended as if it were going to continue in the future. Fortunately, it was well-received by readers, and I wanted to continue to draw more, so it unwittingly became more and more like a series.

I also love this series and have read it over and over again, but the way the foreshadowing is laid out is really spectacular. In Takahashi-sensei's other short stories, Fire Tripper has amazing hints and foreshadowing on every page, but when you write a short story, do you have a lot of time to work on the name? ^[67]

Takahashi: Fire Tripper certainly took a lot of time to come up with the name. The Mermaid Saga is similar, but I'm basically always working on weekly serials, so I don't have as much time to spend on short stories. The editor is trying to figure out how much time I have to draw in the special issue, but in the end, no matter how hard I try, I end up having to squeeze in time for the weekly series, so I don't have much time to sleep (laughs). I guess I was able to do it because I was young.

I think everything from the tempo to the development of characters is different between a long weekly serial and a short story, but for you, what is the most important element in a short story?

Takahashi: I think the importance of the characters is the same for both serials and short stories, but since short stories are created in one go, I feel that the overall plot or structure is the most important. I often create a plot with several climaxes and a twist or foreshadowing at the end, and then fit the characters into the plot.

Come to think of it, for A Mermaid Never Smiles, I drew only the preview image first, and then thought about the story and character settings (laughs). In the past, there were quite a few works that were carried out in such a vague manner when it came to publishing one-shots in extra issues, and when I think about it now, I'm horrified by how haphazard it was (laughs).

So, in the preview image, perhaps there was no plan for Yuta to eat mermaid's flesh?

Takahashi: Yes, that's right. I think I had an image of him as "an ordinary young man who got involved in a case involving mermaids." When I came up with the idea of "a man who ate mermaid flesh" just before I was ready to write the story, I thought I had a winner (laughs).

I was reading the magazine in real time when it was published, and to those accustomed to reading Urusei Yatsura, I was shocked by the cruel depictions of Yuta being stabbed and Mana being shackled.

Takahashi: Is that so? I have depicted quite violent scenes in other one-shots, but as an artist, I sometimes want to depict such scenes. As an aside, there was a scene in Mermaid's Promise from the Mermaid Saga that paid homage to Ryoichi Ikegami, but no one noticed (laughs).

Takahashi-sensei's original setting is that even if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, if it doesn't suit your body you'll die, or you turn into a monster known as a "lost soul".

Takahashi: I think it's a very good idea. If you look for it, you may be able to find similar stories, but I don't think there have been any other stories of people becoming monsters after eating mermaid's flesh.

A story that lives firmly in eternity.

The second work, The Village of Fighting Fish, as you mentioned earlier, was probably actually drawn because you thought there were things you could still draw or wanted to draw with these characters, but were you reluctant to make it a story from Yuta's past instead of a sequel to A Mermaid Never Smiles?

Takahashi: I thought Japanese pirates like the Murakami Suigun were interesting, so I wanted to write a story that combined them with the mermaid legend. ^[68]

This story is one of the most entertaining in the series, and the battle scenes at the climax are very powerful, but more than that, the sad aftermath of the last scene will stay with me forever. The scene where the heroine, Rin, who has learned that she will no longer be able to live with him speaks to to Yuta, "It was a short dream, but a nice one," he comments, "Was I a part of that dream?" That scene is always heartbreaking.

Takahashi: In that scene, I intentionally didn't show the heroine's facial expressions to mask her feelings.

The third work, Mermaid Forest, is also the title of the book, so I think it must be your favorite of the three.

Takahashi: That's right. It was interesting for me to be able to draw a variety of twists and turns, and it was also the work that was most highly rated by readers, I changed the style from the first two works to a Yokomizo Seishi style story, which I also enjoyed. ^[69]

Now, unfortunately, no new work in the Mermaid Saga has been drawn since Mermaid's Mask, which was released in 1994. I'm sure there are many readers who would like to read a new work in this series, do you have any plans to draw one at the moment?

Takahashi: I agree. And it's true that there are quite a few people asking me to draw new works in the series, but I'm sorry, it's been over 20 years and I honestly don't know how to draw them (laughs). For example, if either Yuta or Mana is missing and they haven't seen each other for 20 years, it could be possible to start from a situation like that, but even then, I don't have any plans to draw any stories in this series at the moment. ^[70]

In a word, what did you want to depict in the Mermaid Saga, Takahashi-sensei?

Takahashi: Ultimately, it's about the way those two characters live their lives. I'm sure there are many stories about living to the fullest in a limited amount of time, but I hope that this series conveys a different kind of "strength to live" to readers. Also, I think Yuta was quite an interesting character, but I really like the unfinished feeling of Mana.

Now, this is the last question of this long interview. I'm sorry if this is a common question, but this is the only thing I want to ask, so I'll ask it. What does manga mean to Takahashi-sensei?

Takahashi: It's part of my body. I must be a manga fan at heart, because I've never felt like I've had a really hard time since I became a professional. I still enjoy being at my desk drawing manga. So today, after this interview, I'd like to go to my desk and draw a story right away (laughs).

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Footnotes

• [1] Rumiko Takahashi's father, Mitsuo, was a gynecologist in Niigata. Here she mentions her father enjoying drawing and in 1989 she published a collection of his sumi-e paintings of kappa, Utusgi Kappa Drawings (卯木河童図/Utsugi Kappa-zu), which he published under the pen name Utsugi Takahashi (高橋卯木).
• [2] NHK Red and White Song Battle (NHK紅白歌合戦/NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen), better known simply as "Kohaku" is an annual New Year's Eve television special that features a singing contest between two teams of celebrities (a red team and a white team). The show has aired each year since 1953. Many muscians from Takahashi related anime have appeared on the show over the decades including Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, AAA, Every Little Thing and Namie Amuro. International stars that have appeared include Lum's namesake, Agens Lum, along with Cyndi Lauper and Paul Simon.
• [3] Hideko Mizuno (水野英子) was a former assistant to Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) and lived at the legendary apartment Tokiwa-so where many iconic manga artists lived. Her best known work is the 1969–1971 series Fire!. Takahashi has mentioned in previous interviews that Osomatsu-kun (おそ松くん) by Fujio Akatsuka (赤塚不二夫) and Obake no Q-taro (オバケのQ太郎) by Fujiko Fujio (藤子不二雄) were both comedy gag manga in Shonen Sunday in the 1960s and 1970s that she admired. Takahashi has made a short manga about her love of Obake no Q-taro. Additionally Takahashi expressed her excitement that director Naoyuki Asano (浅野直之) would be working on the 2022 Urusei Yatsura anime as she had enjoyed his work on Osomatsu-san (おそ松さん). Osamu Tezuka was the "god of manga" and easily the most influential mangaka in history. He created dozens of iconic series such as Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム/Tetsuwan Atom), Black Jack (ブラック・ジャック), Princess Knight (リボンの騎士/Ribon no Kishi) and many, many others.
• [4] Songo-kun (そんごくん) is the 1964-1965 manga by Fujio Akatasuka of Tensai Bakabon (天才バカボン) fame. Takahashi previously discussed this in "Examining the Source of Masterpieces! Rumiko Takahashi's History."
• [5] As mentioned above, Tokiwa-so (トキワ荘) was an apartment building where a number of iconic mangaka lived and worked from the 1950s through the early 1960s (the apartment was torn down in 1982). The artists who lived at Tokiwa-so were Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫), Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎), Fujio Akatsuka (赤塚不二夫), Hideko Mizuno (水野英子), Tokuo Yokota (よこたとくお), Hiroo Terada (寺田ヒロオ), Fujiko Fujio (藤子不二雄), Naoya Moriyasu (森安なおや) and George Yamaguchi (山内ジョージ).
• [6] Takahashi has mentioned the influence of Vampires before and has mentioned Dororo in many, many interviews as a highly influential series to her. Takahashi has also mentioned her fondness for W3 however this is the first time she has confessed that as an adult she finds the storyline overwhelming. Interesting enough in our manga shelf review video Dylan mentioned that he too found W3 disappointing among Tezuka's work prior to our translation of this interview.
• [7] Takahashi has discussed the strong impression Garo made on her as a child in previous interviews particularly the work of Ryoichi Ikegami, her biggest inspiration.
• [8] We have copies of Takahashi's pre-debut work dating to when she was in high school such as Star of Empty Trash and Dust in the Wind (Chapter 2). However the juvenile work she published in junior high school and earlier has never been documented beyond her mentioning that she drew some manga as a child. She has never given a title or a thorough discription of what these manga were about.
• [9] Four panel manga (4コマ/yon-koma) are manga in vertical strips consisting of four-panels. Most manga in this format are comedic gag strips. Takahashi mentions being inspired by Susumu Katsumata (勝又進). Katsumata published in Garo with series such as Red Snow (赤い雪/Akai yuki).
• [10] Takahashi and Yoko Kondo (近藤ようこ) were high school classmates and both went on to become professional manga artists. She made her debut in Garo. Volume 2 of Bizarre Manga Road: Unusual Edition (怪奇まんが道 奇想天外篇/Kaiki Manga Dou Kisoutengaihen) has a story detailing her high school life with Rumiko Takahashi. Her Twitter account is @suikyokitan. Takahashi also thanks her in the final chapter of Urusei Yatsura.
• [11] Moto Hagio (萩尾望都) is the legendary shojo manga artist best known for her series The Poe Clan (ポーの一族/Poe no Ichizoku) and The Heart of Thomas (トーマの心臓/Tooma no Shinzo). She and Rumiko Takahashi interview one another in "New Year's Special Project Rumiko Takahashi and Moto Hagio".
• [12] We own a copy of this dojinshi. The collected volume is called The Diarrhea (ざ・だいありぃあ) and it contains Star of Empty Trash which is a parody of Star of the Giants (巨人の星/Kyojin no Hoshi). Inside Takahashi also did a drawing in the style of Ryoichi Ikegami of Spider-Man. You can see our copy on our YouTube Channel.
• [13] Yasutaka Tsutsui (筒井康隆) is a novelist perhaps best known to western audiences as the writer of Paprika which was turned into a film by Satoshi Kon. The Girl Who Lept Through Time (時をかける少女) is another well-known novel by Tsutsui.
• [14] Over the course of her career Takahashi has mentioned a handful of times that she did submit to Shonen Magazine originally but did not hear back from them. She mentions this in "Ryoichi Ikegami Book Interview with Rumiko Takahashi", "Examinging the Source of Masterpieces! Rumiko Takahashi's History", and "Toriyama/Takahashi Interview". Other than the plot described in this interview it is unknown what this story was or if it was a reworking of her Star of Empty Trash story.
• [15] Shinichi Hoshi (星新一) is well known for his science fiction and mystery novels. He was a friend of Osamu Tezuka's. Kazumasa Hirai (平井和正) was a science fiction novelist best known for 8 Man (8マン), Genma Wars (幻魔大戦) and Wolf Guy (ウルフガイ). Takahashi illustrated a number of his Wolf Guy novels in the early 1980s. He published two interview books of discussions he had with Takahashi entitled The Time We Spoke Endlessly About the Things We Loved (語り尽せ熱愛時代/Kataretsuse netsuai jidai) and The Gentle World of Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子の優しい世界/Takahashi Rumiko no Yasashii Sekai) which is his analysis of Maison Ikkoku and Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer. Taku Mayumura (眉村卓) twice won the Seiun Award (星雲賞/Seiunsho) for his novels The Aureole of Vanishment (消滅の光輪/Shometsu no Korin) in 1979 and The Time of Ebbing Tide (引き潮のとき/Hikishio no toki) in 1996.
• [16] Junichiro Tanizaki (谷崎潤一郎) was a major figure in Japanese modernist literature. Junnosuke Yoshiyuki (吉行淳之介) was the acclaimed writer of Toward Dusk and Other Stories (夕暮れまで/Yugure made). Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫) is perhaps one of the most famous novelists in Japanese history. He was a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963 and committed suicide after trying to insight the overthrow of the government in 1970.
• [17] Rumiko Takahashi has often spoken of her fondness for Ashita no Joe and its artist Tetsuya Chiba.
• [18] Go Nagai (永井潔) is the very versatile mangaka known for Devilman (デビルマン), Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー) and Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ). Go Nagai's Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園/Shameless School) was highly influential on school set manga and was one of the earliest "ecchi" series. It is thought to be one of the first to feature gags like flipping up girl's skirts and peeping on phyiscal examinations.
• [19] Kazuo Umezu is a well-respected horror manga artist known for The Drifting Classroom (漂流教室), Orochi (おろち), Cat Eyed Boy (猫目小僧), Makoto-chan (まことちゃん) and My Name is Shingo (わたしは真悟). Rumiko Takahashi is often stated to have been one of Kazuo Umezu's assistants, though in truth this was an arrangement by their shared editor, Shinobu Miyake, who wanted the novice Takahashi to see how a professional studio was set up. Takahashi explains that she only visited Umezu's studio three times and filled in the ink on Makoto's mouth. Umezu is a noted eccentric, always shown wearing red and white striped shirts and living in a red and white striped house.
• [20] Takahashi has mentioned this story before but has never mentioned the title unfortunately.
• [21] Takahashi discusses her thesis in "Gekkan Takarajima" (February 1982) (月刊宝島」1982年2月号) which was later collected in "Manga-ka ga Tsutaeru" (Manga Critique Compendium, Vol. 4: Heibonsha, 1988) (マンガ批評大系第4巻：平凡社、1988年). Her thesis was "The Edo Shogunate's Countermeasures Against Homeless People" (江戸幕府の無宿人対策). This is also touched upon in her profile in Popeye magazine.
• [22] The editor Takahashi is referring to is Kazuhiko Torishima (鳥嶋和彦) who has mentioned a few different times that Takahashi submitted work to him and he overlooked her and does not recall it though he has heard the story of his overlooking her work. In addition to Doberman Cop (ドーベルマン刑事/Dooberuman deka) Torishima was Akira Toriyama's (鳥山明) editor on Dr. Slump (Dr.スランプ) and Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) and encouraged Toriyama to create Cell in Dragon Ball. Torishima is one of the most famous editors in Shonen Jump's history. Yukinobu Hoshino (星野之宣) is best known for 2001 Nights (2001夜物語/2001 yoru monogatari), he has been interviewed on Naoki Urasawa's (浦沢直樹) Manben television program.
• [23] Gekiga Sonjuku was a manga "cram school" where Kazuo Koike, the writer of such iconic manga as Lone Wolf and Cub, Crying Freeman and Lady Snowblood helped train a number of manga luminaries before their debuts. Besides Rumiko Takahashi, other Gekiga Sonjuku alumnai include Tetsuo Hara (Fist of the North Star), Yuji Hori (Dragon Quest), Hideyuki Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D), Keisuke Itagaki (Grappler Baki) and Marley Caribu (Old Boy).
• [24] Machiko Satonaka (里中満智子) is a shojo mangaka known for Tomorrow Will Shine (あした輝く/Ashita kagayaku) and Cleopatra (クレオパトラ). Rumiko Takahashi and Ryoichi Ikegami would both return to lecture at Gekiga Sonjuku in 1987 and were interviewed for the Koike's magazine at the time.
• [25] Macaroni Horenso (マカロニほうれん荘) is a manga by Tsubame Kamogawa (鴨川つばめ) about a young man living in an strange apartment building. Brat Cop (がきデカ/Gaki Deka) is a series that Takahashi has mentioned as being a favorite of her teenage years. She even wrote a short manga in tribute to it. Daijiro Morohoshi (諸星大二郎) is another favorite of Takahashi's and she has mentioned his Dark Myth (暗黒神話/Ankoku Shinwa) as being one of her many favorites that he wrote.
• [26] Takahashi won honorable mention for the 2nd Shogakukan Newcomers Manga Award (第2回小学館新人コミック大賞) in the shonen category. 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, Yellow Tanabe and Takashi Iwashige.
• [27] Kazuo Umezu is a well-respected horror manga artist known for The Drifting Classroom (漂流教室), Orochi (おろち), Cat Eyed Boy (猫目小僧), Makoto-chan (まことちゃん) and My Name is Shingo (わたしは真悟). Rumiko Takahashi is often stated to have been one of Kazuo Umezu's assistants, though in truth this was an arrangement by their shared editor, Shinobu Miyake (三宅克), who wanted the novice Takahashi to see how a professional studio was set up. Takahashi explains that she only visited Umezu's studio three times and filled in the ink on Makoto's mouth. Umezu is a noted eccentric, always shown wearing red and white striped shirts and living in a red and white striped house. Shinobu Miyake is also the namesake of the Urusei Yatsura character.
• [28] Rumiko Takahashi now frequently serves as a judge for this award. The judges when Takahashi won were Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士), Fujiko F. Fujio (藤子F不二雄), Jiro Saito (斎藤次郎), Kazuo Umezu (楳図かずお), Fujio Akatsuka (赤塚不二夫). Fujiko F. Fujio stated, "I think it's an interesting story on a large scale. The characters such as the invaders, undersea men, etc., could be drawn better."
• [29] Invasion of Astro Monster (怪獣大戦争/Kaiju Dai-senso, literally The Giant Monster War) is the sixth Godzilla film. It was released in 1965 and featured Godzilla in a battle against King Ghidorah.
• [30] 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. 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.
• [31] Despite how clean Japan is there are very few garbage cans in major cities like Tokyo, though this was not always the case. In 1995 following the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, garbage cans were removed to prevent further bombs or gas devices from being hidden.
• [32] For more on this, please see the interview "I'll Never Let Ataru Say 'I Love You!'".
• [33] His name Sakuranbo (錯乱坊) is the Japanese word for "cherry," (チェリー) as he likes to be called. However Sakuranbo is written with kanji that alter the meaning to "deranged priest".
• [34] "Name" (ネーム) are storyboards. These are the rough drawings that layout each page's panel layouts, character positions in each panel, and handwritten dialogue balloons. Some artists ink over their name, others draw on a fresh sheet which preserves the name. After joining Twitter (and on a few rare occasions earlier) Takahashi would share a panel of her name next to the finished panel.
• [35] Released in 1984, Neuromancer by William Gibson is often cited as the novel that gave birth to the cyberpunk genre. Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) was equally influential in shaping the East meets West, high tech low life vision of the future.
• [36] Shonen Sunday 1983, is a "mook" (magazine book) that focuses the stories published in Shonen Sunday in 1983 with the most popular mangaka picking their favorite story that they published that year. In addition to the above mentioned chapter of Urusei Yatsura it also include the final chapter of Takahashi's short autobiographical series The Diary of Kemo Kobiru.
• [37] Takahashi had mentioned this in a previous interview, "My Dreaming Days".
• [38] It would be reckless speculation to hazard a guess regarding which of Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura era editors made this comment to her. She specifically says it was not Shinobu Miyake (三宅克), her first editor. The editors that followed were: Takao Yonai (米内孝夫), Satoshi Iwamoto (岩本敏), Masahiro Mizuguchi, Makoto Oshima (大島誠), Tomofumi Arito (有藤智文), and Shigeo Kubota (久保田滋夫).
• [39] Akira Toriyama's (鳥山明) is the creator of Dr. Slump (Dr.スランプ) and Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) and was publishing in Shonen Jump throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Along with his manga work he also did character designs for the Dragon Quest series of video games and Chrono Trigger.
• [40] Katsuhiro Otomo (大友克洋) is one of the most noted mangaka and film directors. He created AKIRA, Domu (童夢), Fire-Ball, Sayonara Nippon (さよならにっぽん) and many short stories. He has directed anime films including adapting his own manga AKIRA, Steamboy (スチームボーイ) and the live-action film Mushishi (蟲師).
• [41] Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿) is the Academy Award winning director of films such as My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ/Tonari no Totoro), Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫/Mononoke-hime), Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し/Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), and many many others. Miyazaki was the key animator and scene designer for the 1968 film The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険/Taiyo no Oji Horusu no Daiboken). Future Boy Conan (未来少年コナン/Mirai Shonen Konan) is a 1978 television series directed by Miyazaki.
• [42] Kazuhiko Shimamoto (島本和彦) is mangaka of the same era as Rumiko Takahashi and a noted fan of her work. A great deal of his manga are about making manga, and his protagonists often cite the importance of Rumiko Takahashi has an influence and rival.
• [43] Takao Yonai (米内孝夫) was the second editor on Urusei Yatsura and the first editor on Maison Ikkoku which Takahashi was publishing at the same time. In an interview Takahashi says he is the one that came up with the term “Rumic World” to advertise Urusei Yatsura. The editor-in-chief of Big Comic Spirits, Katsuya Shirai (白井勝也) also discusses how he played a part in recruiting Takahashi into the new magazine, which she helped launch from the first issue.
• [44] Chie the Brat (じゃりン子チエ/Jarinko Chie) by Etsumi Haruki (はるき悦巳) who was a close associate of Kazuo Koike (小池一夫) and Marley Caribu (狩撫麻礼). When Takahashi won the 1980 Shogakukan Manga Award in the the shonen category for Urusei Yatsura, Chie the Bra won in the seinen category that same year.
• [45] Drunken Master (醉拳) is Jackie Chan's 1978 martial arts film directed by Yuen Woo-Ping.
• [46] Ryuichi Matsuda (松田隆智) is a martial artist and writer. Matsuda researched Chinese martial arts and has written a number of books on the subject and studied it extensively. Matsuda is hailed for his curiosity about Chinese martial arts and his research in Taiwan on Chinese kenpo at a time when Japan and China did not have diplomatic relations. He is often thought of as helping to establish the study of Chinese kenpo in Japan, when Chinese martial arts were seen as mysterious and difficult to learn about in contrast to the plentiful judo, aikido and karate dojos of Japan's native martial arts traditions. Eventually Matsuda served as an adviser on Otokogumi (男組) written by Tetsu Kariya (雁屋哲) and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami (). After that he wrote the marital artist manga Kenji (拳児) which is illustrated by Ikegami's disciple Yoshihide Fujiwara (藤原芳秀).
• [47] Kotaro Forces His Way Through! (コータローまかりとおる!/Kotaro Makaritoru!) is a martial arts manga that ran from 1982 to 1994 in Shonen Magazine. Written by Tatsuya Hiruta (蛭田達也), the story deals with a long-haired martial artist who loves to steal underwear. The series has spawned a number of sequels and won the Kodansha Manga Award in the shonen category in 1986.
• [48] Torikahebaya Monogatari (とりかへばや物語), often called "The Changeling" in English is a Heian era (794 to 1185) story about siblings who's mannerisms are of the opposite gender. Princess Knight (リボンの騎士/Ribon no Kishi) is a 1967-1968 manga by Osamu Tezuka and often cited as a pioneering work of shojo manga. The 1972-1973 series by Riyoko Ikeda (池田理代子), The Rose of Versailles (ベルサイユのばら/Berusaiyu no Bara) is one of the most iconic manga series of all time and perhaps one of the most famous shojo series. Stop!! Hibari-kun! (ストップ!! ひばりくん!) is a cross-dressing comedy by Hisashi Eguchi (江口寿史) that ran from 1981 to 1983 in Shonen Jump. Transfer Student (転校生/Tenkousei) is a 1982 body-swap film based on the story I'm That Guy, That Guy is Me (おれがあいつであいつがおれで/Ore ga Aitsu de aitsu ga ore de) by Hisashi Yamanaka (山中恒). Your Name. (君の名は。/Kimi no Na wa.) is a 2016 body-swap film directed by Makoto Shinkai (新海誠).
• [49] In the "Ranma 1/2 Memorial Interview" Takahashi recounts the story about the bathhouse curtain as well. She also mentions considering a punch to the face causing Ranma's transformation, which is a method of transformation she wound up using in Excuse Me For Being A Dog!. This series was released in 1985, two years prior to Ranma 1/2.
• [50] Takahashi discussed this when an American fan asked her about cutting Akane's hair when on one of her visits to the United States.
• [51] Masami Kurumada's (車田正美) best known works are Put It All In the Ring (リングにかけろ/Ringu ni Kakero) and Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢) which were major series in Shonen Jump from the late 1970s through to the beginning of the 1990s. One of Takahashi's editors, Masanao Murakami (村上正直), discussed his excitement when Takahashi discussed Kurumada's influence in the "My Page One" series of interviews.
• [52] First, as we mentioned in a previous note in this interview "name" (ネーム) are storyboards. These are the rough drawings that layout each page's panel layouts, character positions in each panel, and handwritten dialogue balloons. This is one of the only times Takahashi has mentioned one of her chapters (of any series) as a "filler" or a "stopgap" (つなぎ/tsunagi). By contrast one of her editors, Shunsuke Moteki (茂木俊輔), relates how his ideas would have extended the ending of Inuyasha and Takahashi responded by saying, "If we follow your suggestion, Moteki-san, the last part of the fourth chapter will certainly be very exciting. But the three chapters leading up to that point will be just a "fill-in" chapter. I draw manga for the readers who pay 230 yen every week to buy Shonen Sunday to enjoy each and every chapter, and I don't want to make them read three weeks of "uninteresting connecting chapters" in order to make the next four interesting. Let's think about next week again next week."
• [53] Takahashi published a gag manga strip in the first issue of Young Sunday in 1987. It was just six months later that she'd begin publishing One Pound Gospel in the new magazine. Young Sunday ultimately ceases publication July 31, 2008.
• [54] Takahashi mentions this in her interview with boxer Kiyoshi Hatanaka, she also mentioned it in her comments in Shonen Sunday in 1995.
• [55] Rumiko Takahashi is a huge fan of Tetsuya Chiba (ちばてつや), the author of Ashita no Joe which she has mentioned in many different interviews. She has also written a tribute manga to Chiba as well.
• [56] This is a mistake that was made in the first chapter of the series, Sister Angela is in the confessional listening to Kosaku confess. She mentions this on Twitter as well.
• [57] For clarity sake to our readers, when referring to "yokai" (妖怪) in Rumiko Takahashi's work we typically use Viz's translated term of "demon". "Demon" is not always a perfect word to use in lieu of "yokai" but generally works well enough for series like Inuyasha where the creatures are plentiful and typically serve as fodder to be slaughtered en masse.
• [58] Dororo (どろろ) was Osamu Tezuka's 1967-1969 series about the ronin Hyakkimaru trying to retrieve his missing body parts. Takahashi has cited its frequently as a favorite manga from her youth.
• [59] Nanso Satomi Hakkenden (南総里見八犬伝) is a Japanese epic novel written and published over twenty-eight years (1814–42) in the Edo period, by Kyokutei Bakin.
• [60] Shigeru Mizuki is important not only for his manga, but for cataloging the folklore of Japan. Many, if not most, of the yokai that appear in his work are actual yokai passed down through oral tradition in many small towns and villages throughout Japan. Mizuki researched, noted, and illustrated these creatures and spent many years researching and cataloging these stories. Takahashi wrote a forward to a collected volume of Mizuki's work which you can read here.
• [61] This is referring to her first editor on Inuyasha, Toshiyuki Seno.
• [62] Though the interviewer says the scene is between Naraku and Sesshomaru, it is actually between Moryomaru and Sesshomaru.
• [63] In an interview when asked about her villainous characters Takahashi stated, "Even with villains, I'm unable to write a character that I truly hate. When I'm writing evil characters, I think a lot about why they became evil, and what sort of background and motivation they have. I couldn't write them any other way."
• [64] Kazushi Shimada (島田一志), the interviewer, will write a book two years after this interview entitled Corona and Manga (コロナと漫画) where he discusses the impact of the coronavirus on manga production. In it he interviews Rumiko Takahashi again and once more revisits this female-protagonist-as-narrator concept.
• [65] There is a manga series for nearly every topic one could imagine, and working life manga are plentiful as well. Perhaps the most famous is the life story of salaryman Kosaku Shima (島耕作) by Kenshi Hirokane (弘兼憲史). Other salaryman/working life series include Salaryman Kintaro (サラリーマン金太郎) by Hiroshi Motomiya (本宮ひろ志), Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ) and Trillion Game (トリリオンゲーム) which are both drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami (池上遼一) and written by Sho Fumimura (史村翔) and Riichiro Inagaki (稲垣理一郎) respectively. The defunct manga magazine Business Jump focused on publishing many such series.
• [66] Yaobikuni (八百比丘尼) is the story of a nun who lived for 800 years without aging due to eating the flesh of a mermaid. Undying, she traveled through Japan as a nun, where local legends say that she planted many tress that still surive today. Unable to die she took up residence in a cave in the town of Wakasa in Fukui Prefecture. She sat, unmoving in the cavern and eventually turned to stone.
• [67] Again, "name" (ネーム) are storyboards. These are the rough drawings that layout each page's panel layouts, character positions in each panel, and handwritten dialogue balloons.
• [68] The Murakami Suigun (村上水軍) were a group of pirates that operated in the Seto Inland Sea between Chugoku and Shikoku. In Takashi Shiina's manga adaptation of Yashahime he touches on this with some chapters set among pirates on the Seto Inland Sea.
• [69] Seishi Yokomizo (横溝正史) was a mystery novelist known for creating the detective Kosuke Kindaichi and his numerous adventures which includes The Inugami Family (犬神家の一族/Inugami ke no ichizoku).
• [70] A 2009 interview conducted by Takahashi's American publisher, Viz, was made up of questions Viz had solicited from American fans. The most interesting questions were then chosen to be asked to Takahashi. The 10th question about the Mermaid Saga was submitted by our very own webmaster, Harley Acres. His question was "Will you ever return to write more Mermaid Saga stories, or do you consider that series complete?" to which Takahashi responded at the time, "I don’t consider it complete, so I would like to draw more sometime."

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