Interview:Tokai Lecture (June 2006): Difference between revisions

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Interview: Fixed formatting and Wikipedia link, rearranged images to follow transcript of Reference #1. Further citations can be added like in #1. Only #1 is translated, so this page can be supplemented by Reference #2 and such (there are actually multiple transcripts by other fans listed in #1)
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{{font|3|'''Motives For Drawing Manga, Family, Days of Youth'''}}
 
Young Araki lived with his father, an office worker, his mother, a stay-at-home mom, and younger identical twin sisters. Those sisters were quite a handful: for example, if there were 3 snacks, the sisters, upon arriving home first, would eat all 3, and then proceed to conceal any traces of evidence. Growing up, young Araki, thinking that there weren't any snacks, "would think 'man, I'm hungry' and go chew on something like a really old piece of kamaboko." (audience bursts into laughter). And when his sisters' evil doings came to light, a fight would erupt; and this would occur on a daily basis. (yet more laughter) He would often feel such a sense of exclusion and ill-will towards his sisters that he didn't want to come home. He used to find relief in spending time alongalone in his room, reading classic manga from the '70's and his father's collection of art books, which he supposes was his motive for drawing manga. He figures that had he not started drawing manga, he "might have gotten out of hand and killed my sisters." (laughter)
 
*By the way, in [[Interview:Weekly_Shonen_Brackets_100Q_(April_2003)|Fuji Television 721's Weekly Shonen Brackets]] Mr. Araki describes his sisters as "the devil" (laughs).
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{{font|3|'''Days of Submissions and Rejections'''}}
 
He attended a prep school through junior high and high school, but he remembered wanting to become a manga artist after his friend complimented him on the manga he drew (apparently he [[Interview:Kahoku_Shimpo_(February_2004)|drew his first manga while he was in 4th grade]]), due to thinking that he might as well if his very first fan thought he was good. So, he began to secretly draw manga when his parents were not looking. He first began submitting his work during his first year of high school; however, all of his submissions were rejected. At the same time, a rash of artists who were the same age ({{W|Yudetamago}}) or younger than him ({{W|Masakazu Katsura}}) continued to make big splashes with their debut. But Mr. Araki could not understand why he was rejected, and decided to finish off a submission on an all-nighter and go on a 4-hour trip to pay a visit to the editors in Tokyo, and to ask them for an explanation. At first he intended to visit {{W|Shogakukan}}, which published {{W|Weekly Shōnen Sunday|Shonen Sunday}}, but he was intimidated by the size of their building, and decided to take his submission into the smaller [[Shueisha]] building next door. It was noon when he visited, but [[Ryosuke Kabashima|one rookie editor]] (about {{convert|185|cm|ft}} tall) happened to be there, so he showed him his work. However, the editor, after reading the first page, promptly quipped "your white-out's leaked (you haven't fixed it)": he was criticized every time the editor flipped through each page; Mr. Araki, already exhausted from having been up all night, felt like he was going to pass out. However, after he was finished, he was told that it might be good, and was immediately told to fix it up for the {{W|Tezuka Award|Tezuka Awards}} in 5 days. That submission was "[[Poker Under Arms]]", which won was the runner-up prize at the Tezuka Awards.
 
{{font|3|'''The Jump Editors At The Time Were Really Scary'''}}
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At the time, Mr. Torishima (Akira Toriyama's editor, and inspiration for the Dr. Slump character Dr. Mashirito) would take submissions out of their envelopes, glance at the folder, promptly go "I don't want to see this style!" and order a rewrite. Apparently, he wanted people to draw in such a way that looking at the cover was enough to make people want to read the manga. The editorial department as a whole was always on edge at the time. But he also mentioned in the latter half of his lecture that manga editors were like golf caddies; they provided objective information like "why don't you hit this way" or "you're X meters away from the green" and that he appreciated them. He also said that people who wanted to become manga artists had to get along with editors.
 
{{font|3|'''Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (1): {{convert|10 Meters|m|ft}}'''}}
 
Drawing styles which are so distinctive that you can look at a person from {{convert|10 meters|m|ft}} away and go, "oh hey, he's reading that manga" are incredible: Araki managed to make his debut, but didn't feel like he had that unique style. And so from 1981 onwards he started thinking about how he could achieve that distinctive style, something that would make people think "oh, that's him!"
 
{{font|3|'''Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (2): The World's Most Simple Drawing'''}}
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Araki introduces modern abstract art such as Barnett Newman's drawing of an orange square on a piece of canvas, Agness Martin's drawing of nothing but a pencil line on white canvas etc. And then he drew the following, calling it the ultimate simple, ideal character in manga anybody could draw:
[[File:Tokai Lecture drawing.jpg|thumb|center]]
Oh no, we're gonna get sued!
"I might get in trouble for displaying this in public, so." (audience bursts into laughter)
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{{font|3|'''Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (5): Aim & Direction'''}}
 
(Araki shows a diagram<ref>[https://jojowiki.com/File:Tokai_Lecture_graphic.gif Recreation of Tokai Lecture (June 2006) Manga Diagram by SHATO from Atmarkjojo.org]</ref> mapping the world of manga)
*(Araki shows a diagram mapping the world of manga, broken into 4 quadrants with the X-axis labeled "Using classical methods to portray reality" and "Impressionist markings and symbolic fantasy" and the Y-axis labeled "Treating introspective themes such as inner emotions as the central focus" and "Putting weight on the plot structure. "Suspense" and "creating a sense of the world")
[[File:Tokai Lecture graphicArakiTokaiLectureMap.gifpng|thumb|300px|center]]
*On the lower left of {{W|Kamui (1964 manga)|Kamui}} is {{W|Yukinobu Hoshino}}, who for some reason is the only person referred to by their name and not the title of their work
 
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Araki was fascinated by mysteries ever since he was a child, fantasized about deserted islands and believed that King Kong and Nessie existed, and so writes his manga with "mystery" as the central theme. In Jojo, Araki wondered what "superpowers" really were, and if he could portray "energy" itself, which lead to [[Phantom Blood|Parts 1]] & [[Battle Tendency|2]], and the [[Stand|Stands]] in [[Stardust Crusaders|Part 3]], which were like guardians who could "destroy boulders and stuff." They would "stand" by their master and would be called "Stands." Apparently Part 3 began immediately after Part 2 with no interval in between, which was difficult. He exclaimed, "I went, 'Of course I didn't have any characters ready since it just ended, sir!'" (everyone starts a roar of laughter)
 
{{font|3|'''Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (7): Like an RPG or {{W|Sugoroku#E-sugoroku|Boardroll-and-move Gameboard game}}'''}}
 
At the time, the "pyramid (tournament) formula" (A would fight & defeat B, then fight stronger character C, and on and on) was all the craze in [[Shonen Jump]]. But, Araki wondered, how strong could they get? Wouldn't the entire system collapse as soon as you reached the top, much like the economic bubble of the 80's in Japan? It wasn't like there could be an infinite number of levels of strength. So, he decided to create an RPG/{{W|Sugoroku#E-sugoroku|roll-and-move board game}}-style system where characters traveled to different places to fight enemies, as seen in Jojo Part 3, where the protagonists traveled across Egypt while battling enemies
 
Araki's lecture ended here and proceeded to a Q&A with students, which may or may not be posted here as Part 3.
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The most powerful technique: "Time". Stopping it, returning to the past, watching the future... if there were people who can control such a thing, they'd be invincible. For a main character with powers that aren't invincible, I want to have people wonder how such a character could win. The ability to control physical things, such as gravity, is also very powerful.
 
*(Also refer to [http[Interview://atmarkjojo.org/archives/1120.html Araki Hirohiko/Shibasaki Tomoka's Osaka University of Arts, CollegeUniversity Manga Vol. 4] [Note:(November This interview is missing on JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia2005)]])
{{Text|
Araki: About time, when I think about it, it's incredibly powerful. You can do things like repeating the same morning over and over, stopping time while jumping, and the people who become visible only at a particular time, etc. But if I used that concept every time, someone would say: "Is JoJo only about 'time'?" So... (laughs).
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When asked about his designs that continue to change, Araki replied that since he's not trying to draw using classical techniques, the designs won't be the same, and usually experience rapid changes. "I'm not concerned about the old drawings (assertion)." Though the readers may get confused, I wonder if they will forgive me".
 
*Also included in [[The_Gorgeous_Irene_(Volume)#Aizōban-4|The Gorgeous Irene: Hirohiko Araki Short Story Collection (Aizōban or Collector's Edition)]], the [[Gorgeous_Irene#Artwork-2|illustration of Irene]] that was drawn for [[Ultra Jump]] in 2003<ref>[https://jojowiki.com/File:UJ2003No1b.png Ultra Jump 2003 Issue #1 - Irene Rapona (Poster)]</ref> seems to be an entirely different person from the original character drawn in 1985. At that time, the comment from UJ PRESS was: "I can't draw in my old style anymore." <ref>[Notehttps://jojowiki.com/File:UJ2003No1UJPress.png ThisUltra commentJump is2003 missingIssue on#1 JoJo's- BizarreJolyne EncyclopediaCujoh & Irene Rapona (UJ PRESS)].</ref>
 
{{font|3|'''Question for Araki-sensei! (12): "You Stopped Drawing Your Self-Portrait"'''}}
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- End -
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[Translated by Neuroretardant (Lecture and Manga Diagram)<ref>[http://comipress.com/article/2006/06/30/387 Hirohiko Araki Lecture Part 1: His Past & Motives]</ref><ref>[https://www.comipress.com/article/2006/07/25/516 Hirohiko Araki Lecture Part 2: Drawing Manga, Araki-Style]</ref>, Xibanya (Manga Diagram)<ref>[https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3723471&pagenumber=33&perpage=40#post446898997 Translation of Tokai Lecture (June 2006) Manga Diagram by Xibanya from somethingawful.com]</ref>, and Aldo (Q&A Session)<ref>[https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/04/29/1896 Hirohiko Araki Lecture Part 3: Questions and Answers with Araki-Sensei]</ref>]
[Translated by Neuroretardant (Parts 1 and 2) and Aldo (Part 3)<ref>http://comipress.com/article/2006/06/30/387</ref>]
 
==Gallery==
<gallery>
arakibyringo.jpg| Illustrated by Ume of "Uchu Ringo"
Tokai Lecture graphic.gif|Recreation of Tokai Lecture (June 2006) Manga Diagram by SHATO from Atmarkjojo.org
</gallery>
==References==