{"id":19935,"date":"2014-10-11T16:12:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-11T23:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=19935"},"modified":"2021-02-21T12:44:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T20:44:01","slug":"055a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/055a\/","title":{"rendered":"Akira Hio interview, 2014 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Back up to part 1<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Inside Message From Space<\/em><\/h3>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> But now, since mecha of the 70s and 80s is being re-evaluated so much, I think it\u2019s possible that you could work again. Design has taken a turn back to that time, and because it\u2019s usually unknown territory for someone in their teens or twenties, it would be really fresh now. Manga from Japan has a big influence on foreign films. Also, Japanese manga was affected by Star Wars<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What I though was great in the days of Star Wars<\/em> was, although small parts were stuck on the surface, the thing looks huge when you see it from a distance. When Star Wars<\/em> became a hit in Japan, it would have been wonderful if great SF was made with space as the setting. Some movies were made, but it didn\u2019t go very far. It was too bad. Around this time, Toei made Message from Space<\/em><\/a>, Toho did The War in Space<\/em><\/a>, and Star Wolf<\/em><\/a> was done for TV a little later. Sayonara Jupiter<\/em><\/a> came a little after that. It was the golden age of Japanese SF movies, so to speak. Wasn\u2019t there also a Message From Space<\/em> TV series?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It was Message From Space: the Galactic War<\/em>. I put a lot of effort into making mecha, but it was kind of a waste for TV. I did make a lot of money from mecha.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The director was the late Kinji Fukasaku<\/a>, and Hiroyuki Sanada<\/a> had the lead role in the TV series. When I think about it now, it was quite an elite staff. The villain was the late Mikio Narita, and the grandmother was Hideyo Amamoto. Shinichi Chibi had the role of the prince, and Etsuko Shihomi appeared in it, too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Once when I went to Uzumasa, Mr. Fukasaku was having a fight with [late Toei producer] Toru Hirayama. (Laughs) The scene had gotten really tense, and I was starting to feel like, \u201cShould I be hanging around here?\u201d They both grappled with each others\u2019 opinions all night, and it was nerve-wracking\u2026<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Was there a disagreement between Director Fukasaku and Producer Hirayama? Did Director Fukasaku not actually want to do an SF film?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Mr. Fukasaku liked SF, but his opinions didn\u2019t match Hirayama\u2019s with regard to his favorite actors. In short, Mr. Hirayama had an image in his head that was different from Mr. Chiba. After all, where Mr. Chiba is concerned, it\u2019s always too colorful. (Laughs) Maybe that\u2019s because of Rainbow Modeling Group, who made the mecha. They\u2019d made full-scale SF mecha props for Message from Space<\/em>, and the word was that their work was several levels above the others.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Certainly the special effects in the Toei group were a step above compared to combining robots in a sentai series. [Translator\u2019s note: this refers to the genre popularly known as \u201cPower Rangers\u201d in the US or Tokusatsu<\/em> \u2013 special-effects TV shows \u2013 in Japan.] It set the standard for the time. After that, the genre of \u201cSF space stuff\u201d was established in Japanese tokusatsu.<\/p>\n


\nConcept sketch for the Liabe fighter<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So surely now, Pacific Rim<\/em> is something that might have been made earlier in Japan. But to the contrary, a lot of that special-effects know-how has been lost, and people who can make something like that are very limited. The people who make the Toei sentai series have know-how, but to start now and make something brand new, there\u2019s nothing to be done, because the handing down of special effects craft has been interrupted. Because CG can now be done easily.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s the cause.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> With SF movies in Hollywood, they don\u2019t make props any more. Almost everything is finished with CG. All the live-action shooting is just done in front of a blue screen. Did Message From Space<\/em> use a blue screen?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yes. Already, in those days.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> But even today when you see mecha of Japan, it\u2019s flying sailing ships and aircraft carriers. When I think about flying sailboats, Flying Phantom Ship<\/em><\/a> was first created by [manga artist Shotaro] Ishinomori. A sailing ship looks good, so it\u2019s easy to make it attractive.<\/p>\n


\nBlue Noah<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Well, Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> had the battleship Yamato<\/em> flying in space in those days\u2026it makes a good looking picture.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> And Mr. Nishizaki made Odin Space Sailor Starlight<\/em> after that, too.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Oh, yeah. But in those days, everything Nishizaki made other than Yamato<\/em> generally failed. (Laughs) Like Space Carrier Blue Noah<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I was called in for the planning on that.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Do you have anything to say about the manga adaptation of it?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I had something to say, but Sonorama told me \u201cNo!\u201d (Laughs) And the editor said, \u201cI don\u2019t like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Was that because you took so much time?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yes. The editor in charge was the same as on Yamato<\/em>. \u201cMy rise seems to have been hampered thanks to you.\u201d (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Yeah?! But Yamato<\/em> sold, didn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Sure it did, but my artwork took too long. His road to in-house promotion was closed because of me, so the editing was handled by the chairman of the union.<\/p>\n


\nLiabe fighter model kit<\/em><\/p>\n

Akira Hio mecha design untold story<\/h3>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> When you did mecha design for Message From Space<\/em>, were you working at Ishimori Pro?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I wanted to do mecha design, and was summoned to Ishimori Pro in Shinjuku. Mr. Kato the manager and Toru Hirayama, then the producer of Toei, were there and told me what kind of mecha to draw. I didn\u2019t know how many things I had to draw, so I went for 24 hours a day and it became grueling.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The gimmicks on the Liabe fighter were novel. The place where two fighters are linked.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> In short, the order they placed was ridiculous. They\u2019d be like, \u201cWhat do you think if we did this?\u201d (Everyone Laughs)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right, huh?<\/p>\n


\nGalaxy Runner and Comet Fire<\/em><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> At first I thought about the enemy fighters in various ways. I made the Galaxy Runner<\/em> much later. I spent the whole first third of a month on it, and just couldn\u2019t do it. I drew with three other people for 24 hours until I was exhausted. Finally, after we managed to get something we thought was cool, Mr. Hirayama looks at the design and goes, \u201cOh, this is nice,\u201d Talk about trying to squeeze blood from a stone! (Everyone laughs)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> You really went overboard with the movie props themselves. Did you have to do precise, triple-view drawings?<\/p>\n


\nGovernor\u2019s battleship<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. I did three orthographic views. I was told to make it like Star Wars<\/em> or Battlestar Galactica<\/em>. \u201cDo an aircraft carrier,\u201d and I said, eh? I didn\u2019t think I could do it, but I had no choice. The governor\u2019s battleship is based on a Leiji Matsumoto idea. It\u2019s a three-stage carrier like the old days with two ships side by side and a battleship in the middle. The original image has that feeling.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> There\u2019s a Japanese style to that. In Star Wars<\/em>, this sort of wedge-shaped battleship somehow just strikes a chord. I was into Shotaro Ishinomori in those days, and I recognized the work of Ishimori Pro, and at some point I was told, \u201cThis is an Akira Hio design.\u201d And I knew exactly what they meant. I was like, \u201cYou don\u2019t say?\u201d It could be said that wasn\u2019t Shotaro Ishinomori\u2019s line work, but it\u2019s a novel design even now.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> You could call it novel. Or a jumbled mess. (Laughs)<\/p>\n


\nAlbegas, Laserion<\/em><\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> No, no! There\u2019s nothing like that in mecha design now. Transforming and combining mecha was followed up in anime like Lightspeed Electroid Albegas<\/em><\/a> and Video Warrior Laserion<\/em><\/a>. Were these designs based on a \u201cthis sort of concept\u201d order from Bandai?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> No, it was different. The original drawing was brought from Makoto Aoyagi from Ishimori Pro.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> I\u2019d also like to talk about Keiko Takemiya\u2019s story, Toward the Terra<\/em><\/a>. Was Myu\u2019s cigar-shaped ship done in the image of a submarine?<\/p>\n


\nToward the Terra (English edition available from Vertical, Inc.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s because it was simple. When I think about a form that\u2019s easy to start with in a design, it\u2019s definitely that one. I was busy when I worked on Toward the Terra<\/em>. I really wanted to do more, but there wasn\u2019t enough time. When work came from Keiko, I had to draw it and that made my own manga late. The editor cried.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> I think mecha had a great presence in the SF works Ms. Takemiya created in those days. So even if it was time-consuming to write the mecha in, I think it was properly transmitted to the reader. Wasn\u2019t all the mecha changed in the feature film version of Toward the Terra<\/em>? By the way, you did all the mecha design for the Toward the Terra<\/em> anime. [Feature film, 1980.]\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. The purpose was to clarify the friends and foes in the anime. And so we went through a whole bunch of images.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The Myu mecha is like marine vessels.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. I went with an organic design, so it would look like mecha made by people of Earth.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> There was no policy to retain the original?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> In the end it was all changed. In the short running time of a movie, we had to come up with a certain degree of closure.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> When the visuals are completely separate for friends and foes, there\u2019s no misunderstanding for the viewer, or something like that. I\u2019d say that the organic design with the shell is novel. Was there a policy to go in such a direction?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That was the intention of Director Hideo Onchi<\/a>. I drew it while looking at an illustrated biology book. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> He wasn\u2019t an anime director, was he? There were many cases with very long scenes, which was a novelty. It was a movie where \u201cOh, that\u2019s what can come from a person who isn\u2019t an anime director!\u201d Conversely, that\u2019s how I came to understand how most shots in anime are very short. By the way, did you work on Toward the Terra<\/em> after Farewell to Yamato<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Wasn\u2019t it almost simultaneous?<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> That was incredibly hard wark. Doing the comic adaptation of Farewell<\/em> while drawing Toward the Terra<\/em> at the same time!<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It was a barter trade. In other words, I could have Keiko fill in all the blacks on Yamato<\/em> (Roars with laughter) It was that sort of feeling. For Keiko\u2019s part, her attitude was basically, \u201cYou can do it if you want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> It was\u2019t forgotten. The staff list for Ms. Takemiya\u2019s Toward the Terra<\/em> didn\u2019t include the name Akira Hio. After all, that was a time when you were drawing only mecha, but even though your name wasn\u2019t on it, I thought, \u201cOh, Akira Hio drew that.\u201d Prior to Toward the Terra<\/em>, men didn\u2019t read manga by Keiko Takemiya, but that one brought Hio mecha into a girl\u2019s manga. Other than being involved as a mecha artist, what did you think of Toward the Terra<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I had no particular feeling about it. I was a specialist, and for me it was more about trying various things technically, like putting in two or three layers of screen tone. (Laughs) In that aspect, I loved it.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Yeah, at the time you did both Yamato<\/em> and Toward the Terra<\/em>, you tried different things with them, didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. I drew in color and practiced with an airbrush.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Another thing about the adaptations of Yamato<\/em> is that there were no color pages. But you could experiment abundantly on various things, couldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n


\nCyborg 009 movie poster, 1980<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A coating of analog and a coating of digital<\/h3>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Airbrush requires some technique, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That was true at the time. But it can be done easily now.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Now that it\u2019s digital, it can be easily redone.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It\u2019s harder when you can\u2019t redo it, because you can\u2019t correct color ink.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Because the base line on a color page was drawn in color ink in those days, you only had one chance at it. At least you could correct black and white art if you made a mistake.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Speaking of color ink, at the time of the film adaptation for Cyborg 009<\/em><\/a>, I drew all the posters at newspaper size (457 \u00d7570mm). I was forced to redraw them about ten times.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> You mean, Cyborg 009 Super Galaxy Legend<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yes. The master [Shotaro Ishinomori] told me, \u201cThe feeling of transparency here isn\u2019t enough.\u201d He apparently wanted the image of the Seagull Nebula<\/a>. It couldn\u2019t be drawn easily. And every time I had to redraw it, it was at newspaper size. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That took one full month. Somehow I did OK. Then I read in an anime magazine, \u201cThe teacher put on the pressure and it was redrawn ten times.\u201d I said, \u201cHey, that\u2019s me!\u201d (Burst of laughter)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Is that so? If you\u2019re just vaguely told to redraw it, that would be a problem, wouldn\u2019t it? Wasn\u2019t there some advice or a hint about how to redraw it?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I tried different paint ingredients and mixtures in various ways. Basically, the feeling of transparency is dependent upon the material. If you use a poster color-type paint, there is no transparency. But when you do it with color ink, corrections are very difficult.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> In some places, it stands out. In others, it doesn\u2019t. Did you eventually finish it in color ink?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yes. This is the story of another job, but I was once hired by Dentsu<\/a> to apply color to art by Seizo Watase<\/a> to be shown in an exhibition. I had to apply color to a copy, but previous artists had tried it with poster paint and been rejected since it didn\u2019t have that feeling of transparency. I had to paint it with color ink, and I finished about thirty sheets in one day. Watase had drawn it in black line and designated the color on the back.<\/p>\n


\nOther art by Seizo Watase<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The original was just linework because Mr. Watase designated the color for plate-making. The thing is, you can have no excuses at an exhibition, so he asked, \u201cCould you please just paint it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Poster color gave it a completely different image, so I redid it. He\u2019d given it to someone else to do, but the job came back to me.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Since you had already done such painting, you were known as someone who could work in color ink. Did you convert to digital drawing when Mac and Photoshop came out?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> No, I didn\u2019t. Yumiko Igarishi<\/a> was the first to introduce it. Mr. Igashi adopted digital, then began teaching it to the pros.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> As for people still painting in analog, I think artists over 50 tended to reject digital, whereas everyone below 30 embraced it. Since you can always redo, it never ends. There\u2019s no clear landing point. In that respect, analog is a one-draw, one-shot deal. If you fail, you have to redraw from zero. It\u2019s more like someone who plays hardball, and the tension of being hit by a real sword rather than a bamboo one.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> In the past, the fee for an assistant was completely different when it came to color painting.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Even at Tezuka Pro, the work of painting artwork in watercolor was an assistant\u2019s job. Did you get a color chart at Ishinomo Pro like the one at Tezuka Pro?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Our master didn\u2019t comply with it. There were only two of us who could paint in color in those days, myself and Morihiko Ishikawa<\/a>. Therefore, I stared into hell when the color pages increased. (Laughs)<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Ah, because you were the only two people, you got all the work, huh? Did you use translucent or opaque watercolors?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It was the ordinary watercolor paint used in schools. After I went freelance, I began to use color inks and an airbrush when I got jobs doing posters and calendars.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> I see. You got that kind of work, too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hand drawn doujinshi Three Drops of India Ink<\/em><\/h3>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Did you start at Ishimori Pro at the same time as Mitsuru Sugaya<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> We worked on doujinshi together in high school.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> I see. That sort of connection. Was it Three Drops of India Ink?<\/em><\/p>\n[Translator\u2019s note: this name originated from A Drop of India Ink<\/em><\/a>, a doujinshi by Shotaro Ishinomori, ten issues published from 1953 to 1960.]
<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. A Drop<\/em> was done by master Ishinomori, and Two Drops<\/em> was done by two female manga artists, Yoshiko<\/a> Nishitani<\/a> and Kimie Shiga<\/a>. So ours was Three Drops<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Was that a hand-drawn doujinshi?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Huh. When I once went to an art exhibition for master Ishinomori and master Tezuka, I was amazed to see a copy of A Drop of India Ink<\/em> in a glass case. \u201cThis is – !!\u201d At any rate, there was only one copy, so you couldn\u2019t have sent it out in the mail to be read.<\/p>\n


\nGallery display of pages from \u201cA Drop of India Ink\u201d volume 2 by Shotaro Ishinomori<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I saw it around the time I was in junior high and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to make one, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Did you read the whole thing?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yeah, it was great.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Did you letter all the characters by hand?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Who else contributed to Three Drops of India Ink<\/em> at the time?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yuji Hosoi<\/a>, Mitsuru Sugaya<\/a>, Akira Kawa<\/a>\u2026 they didn\u2019t turn pro after that, did they?<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> They still went on to be very famous. Yujui Hosoi drew for young children\u2019s magazines, didn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. Isn\u2019t he currently keeping up with Machiko<\/a> Satonaka<\/a> in teaching how to draw manga at Osaka University of Art?<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> And Akira Kawa drew for Special Edition Margaret<\/em> and Wave of Iraka<\/em>, right? She\u2019s female, but goes by the male name \u201cAkira.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAkira Hio, 2014<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It\u2019s the same name as a character in the master\u2019s story Chapter<\/em>. Just with one character [letter] added. Same as me.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The \u201cAkira\u201d in Akira Hio is named after the character in Shotaro Ishinomori\u2019s Chapter<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Personally, I thought Akira Kawa was a man. There were some men in those days who pretended to be women and drew girl\u2019s manga. Like Ayumi Tachihara<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Leiji Matsumoto teamed up with Miyako Maki to draw for Monthly Margaret<\/em>, too.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right, huh? I understood that men would collaborate with women. In those days, even a man could draw for girl\u2019s manga, right?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. Our master\u2019s manga Sarutobi<\/em><\/a> Ecchan<\/a><\/em> was serialized in Weekly Margaret<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Tetsuya<\/a> Chiba<\/a> and Fujio<\/a> Akatsuka<\/a> drew for it, too. Manga artists drew in every genre.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The first time I met Leiji Matsumoto, I asked if he used a writing brush like a G Pen. And he answered, \u201cNo, a Kabura pen.\u201d (See these drawing tools defined here<\/a>.) And I was like, \u201cHuh?!\u201d Since then I understood well that it\u2019s not the manga artist who decides the line, it\u2019s determined by the pen.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> That\u2019s right. I started using a new pen under master Ishinomori, and to some extent I used that pen forever.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> What pen did you decide to use?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I went with a Nichibun pen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Ah! Nichibun pens are good, huh? Have you used that since the old days?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Yes. There was a time when the manufacturing process didn\u2019t work because of environmental problems, so the quality dropped. The master didn\u2019t use it after that either, and I said, \u201cI don\u2019t like that any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> These days, current manga artists are getting away from the Nichibun pen, aren\u2019t they? Everywhere I go, there are only G pens, Maru pens<\/a>, and Spoon pens<\/a>. I use Nichibun pens, too, but it\u2019s hard to get them.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> There was a period when master Ishinomori bought several boxes of Maru pens from Zebra. If something is on the pen tip, it can completely ruin the quality.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> A very high quality pen point was released recently. Made of titanium. There seems to be no shortage of titanium. (Laughs) With the final push into digital, pen-making companies have begun to make pens exclusively for manga artists, for the sake of their own survival. But sometimes it feels like it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n


\nShotaro Ishinomori manga pages<\/em><\/p>\n

Comics expression is continuous invention<\/h3>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> I think it may have been Gosaku<\/a> Ota<\/a> who came up with the idea to use that marble pattern that Ishinomori often used as a background.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Drawing with water.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Was it applied directly to the artwork, or done afterward?<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It was applied directly. It was completely cut-and-paste. At first, they used it a lot, and used it well. You\u2019d stir water in a sink and drip India ink into it, then stick paper to the surface of the water. It would be done in a few minutes.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> In those days, Shotaro Ishinomori experimented with art in ways that other people didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> It was often like that.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> Did he invent the technique of sunlight slanting through leaves on trees? The light coming through the gaps. We now take that expression for granted, but someone had to start it.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> At the time I started to draw, he used almost no screen tone. All lines were drawn with a ruler up until then. I brought it to him. When I was swamped, I asked to use it.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> So when he started to use screen tone, it was because of you!<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> I used a lot of Instantex on The Way of Riyu<\/em><\/a>. That was in the early days before I started shaving screen tone, so I drew over it in white. [Translator\u2019s note: \u201cInstantex\u201d is a brand of adhesive screen tone. \u201cShaving\u201d is a method of scraping the surface with a blade to create additional texture.] I did that for a while, then started to get good at shaving it. But when I tried it for the first time, I said \u201cI shouldn\u2019t be shaving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> The range of expression spread strongly after tone-shaving was invented.<\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> Technology was necessary for that. You need a knife to shave the tone. It\u2019s dependent upon the point of the blade not going bad. I used the back. When doing a large surface, I\u2019d shave with the back of the blade.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> No matter how many times I\u2019ve tried that, I can\u2019t get it to work. But now that it can be done easily with digital software like Comic Studio, I\u2019m really grateful. I learned to use screentone around the time I saw Mr. Tezuka\u2019s Black Jack<\/em><\/a> and The Three-Eyed One<\/em><\/a>. I\u2019d apply it to a character\u2019s hair.<\/p>\n

Hiyo: Using a mesh to apply shadows wasn\u2019t really done much. It was an unorthodox way to do it, but it was a mark of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> In the sixties, master Tezuka and master Ishinomori drew horizontal lines with a ruler to express darkness over everything. It also had a non-uniform taste. When I met Takeshi Ebihara<\/a> (former assistant of Fujiko F. Fujio<\/a>), who created Maicching Machiko-Sensei<\/em><\/a>, he said \u201cI filled in the blue part of Doraemon<\/em><\/a> by drawing vertical lines while sticking on screen tone\u201d and I asked why that was.<\/p>\n

Doraemon<\/em> had both color pages and monochrome pages, and it was done with vertical lines on the monochrome pages. When a color page was put in the same book, it became grey. So, I was told that since the sudden change looked odd, in the sections with the mesh you put in lines, and then stick on screen tone in the sections with the lines and it gives it a uniform look.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Hio:<\/em><\/span> The degree of grey was adjusted.<\/p>\n

Tanaka:<\/em><\/span> It\u2019s strange when the tone suddenly becomes a line in a book. But when I talk to people who have invented various methods, it\u2019s fascinating to see how the history of manga and character expression has evolved.<\/p>\n

So, thank you very much for today!<\/p>\n

The End<\/h3>\n

Interview conducted November 11, 2014<\/em>
\nLocation: Caf\u00e9 Andes, Nerima, Tokyo<\/em>
\nTranslated by Tim Eldred with support from Neil Nadelman<\/em><\/p>\n

RELATED LINKS<\/p>\n

Akira Hio profile at Manga Updates<\/a><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em> Series 1 manga overview<\/a><\/p>\n

Farewell to Yamato<\/em> manga overview<\/a><\/p>\n

The New Voyage<\/em> manga overview<\/a><\/p>\n

Be Forever Yamato<\/em> manga overview<\/a><\/p>\n

Final Yamato<\/em> manga overview<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19935"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29809,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19935\/revisions\/29809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}