As a cartoonist, was your turning point the one-shot "Video Girl"? That's right. When Torishima-san again became my head editor, he suggested I make a romantic comedy comic. At the meeting, I was told to "go and draw a girl you'd like to draw", so I drew a boy-ish Haruno. Then, we both thought of what we could create, but we ended up with a story "about a girl who hates males because a teacher she trusted tried to sexually molest her". (Laughs) I said, "If there's no science fiction elements in it I'm barely interested" . The person in charge had seen a video called "Amazing Stories" and apparently there was a story of "a man that comes out of a magazine which has a potion poured on it". We figured we’d do a female version of that story. So, we thought of a story about "the main character who pours a potion on a porno book (laughs) and a girl comes out... but because he poured too much, it seeped into the other page so the girl got the personality of the man on the other page." But we thought a porno book would be unwise. At the time rental video stores were popular, so we immediately thought, "let's use a video!". So, we came up with "a main character who accidentally presses the record button, and the image of a man on TV mixes with the video, so a boy-ish girl comes out" and I started drawing.

Video Girl Ai is a love story that pushed realism

Well, it didn't happen like that. (Laughs) You see, Torishima-san became Vice-Editor, so my head editor changed. At that time, I was friends with Katsuya Terada, and after watching director Kenta Amamiya's "Mirai Ninja (Future Ninja)" on video, we thought, "Japanese style is 'in' right now" and when I drew "SHIN NO SHIN (New of New)", it was popular in our magazine. After thinking I should serialize this, Torishima-san said, "No, do a love story. Why aren't you doing 'Video Girl'?". (Laughs) So, I made up my mind and began the serial of "Video Girl". (Laughs) Since "Wingman", I've been told many times to do love stories. But I kept having arguments with them whether I should or shouldn't do it. With I"s, for the first time, I opened my heart to what Jump told me and replied "Okay, I'll do as you say."(Laughs)

Even at the time of "Video Girl", ordinary romantic-comedies didn't interest me. I thought I should do a different sort of romantic comedy. From where Nobuko comes in, I was able to think "How should I draw her to be interesting", and I was able to get into it and draw. The key to Video Girl was "Realism", and I became disenchanted with really cartoony drawings. Even with describing feelings, I always tried make it realistic. Naturally, if a boy and a girl are going out together it is normal to have a love scene, but there are many touchy people. So, I decided that "I can't do nudes, but I'll draw erotically." That is when I "awakened." (Laughs) That's why, in "Video Girl", I think it changed before and after the appearance of Nobuko. After she appeared, I really detailed the girls' movements. Maybe it was because I was a little perverted. (Laughs).

First Scoop! What Was the Plot Behind The Failed DNA2 Movie!?

With "Shadow Lady" I wanted to attain the atmosphere of "Batman". With the first of the series, I went to America, and did a full-color seven page intro in 2 days. I asked Terada-kun to draw the backgrounds, and extremely tired as I was, left on a late night. That was a bad memory. (Laughs)

There was a story that director Kaneda and I would make a movie of "DNA2". The story was set after the end of the comic; after Karin went back to the future, she bounty-hunted. In that time, DNA experiments were developing and cloning techniques existed. The most effective use may have been to make spares of someone's original body. Well in the end, the story might have gone along those lines and we thought that "actually, Karin is the clone of a spare body." In the movie, it was going to be about her meeting with the original body, but we couldn't do it because of the cost...

After that was "ZETMAN" which is my work inspired by my love for "Batman". A while back, when I was in a taxi, there was a traffic jam and we couldn't move. So, when the taxi driver pushed the horn, the man in front of us made this face like "What the f*** is your problem?!" I got really mad and went in to a sort of a "fantasy mode". (Laughs). "As soon as I opened the door, I became a black shadow and beat that guy up. Then, just like nothing had happened, I sat back in the taxi." That was the thought that came to me in that situation, and I made a comic from it. (Laughs). But actually, it was really dark humor. He’s the kind of hero that comes flying at a kid who makes a peace sign during a camera taping of a sad accident, punchs the kid out and then leaves.

Go on to Page 3 of the Interview




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