Depending on the work, the editorial department might say, "It's about time to finish the story." Or the author might want to finish the story, but the public won't allow them to end it. The author has to part ways with the characters who have decided the story's trajectory and with whom they have been intimately interacting every day, and abandon the setting and perspective in the process. And furthermore, they can't just throw out the answers to the mysteries and the fates of the characters that they've been dragging out. They have to get it right.
Will the readers be satisfied with this outline for the last part of the story? I get so nervous. And once I finish drawing, there'll be nothing left for me to do. I end up thinking to myself, "What am I going to do now?" This is the situation that comes at the end of a manga series.
Though such severe ending situations do exist, in the case of both Steel Ball Run and JoJo Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, the premise sets the readers up to believe that the end is when the inevitable goal is reached. I felt no hesitation or anxiety, and my only concern during the ending was how to end it. It ended exactly how it was supposed to. When the work finally reached the goal, only one feeling arose within me: "Well done. You did an excellent job. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
I think my favorite scene to draw was near the end of Steel Ball Run, the scene where Gyro and Johnny share their personal secrets with each other. Gyro shares his real name, and Johnny shares his fetish. That personal information itself is rather trivial, but will those secrets be secrets forever? Or, if they survive, will the secrets live on in their hearts? When I was drawing it, I couldn't help but cry.[Translated by HudgynS]
