What is the most requested manga genre? What style influenced Akira Toriyama? Mangakas answer these questions and more

“Akira Toriyama himself was influenced by the style of American comics, something he brought to Japan. Even Katsuhiro Ōtomo (creator of ‘Akira’) received inspiration from French designs by Moebius and his illustrations. Sometimes we are very closed, and bringing works from abroad as is is not viable”, comments the anthropologist and mangaka Tsuru Daisaky in an interview with El Comercio. To which her colleague, mangaka Ryo Sumiyoshi (who prefers to keep her face hidden from her), adds: “We don’t close the door to anyone, but the fence in Japan is high”.

―It is inevitable to talk about the manga and not think about Akira Toriyama, who recently passed away. What does he represent to mangakas?

Tsuru Daisaku: Akira is like an idol for all the mangakas in Japan. Toriyama’s visuals and designs were exceptional. We always wondered how he could create those things. It’s not that he is Leonardo Da Vinci, but his works are invaluable. Everyone wants to imitate him, but no one can.

Ryo Sumiyoshi: My editor told me that we shouldn’t take him as a role model because the models and lines he made were perfect. Trying to achieve perfection would only make us look second nature. That’s why it’s better to follow your own path. Toriyama’s influence was such that even people who do not belong to the manga world know him. He and his work are practically a separate current.

―Manga went from being an entertainment tool to a cultural phenomenon that covers more aspects of society every day. What is the current role of manga?

Tsuru: Every day it becomes more difficult to answer that question. Thinking that it is something that is only given to children is a concept from the past. Now those children grew up and were trained with mangas, something that they passed on from generation to generation. At this point, manga is a way to express ideas and capture emotions. Just as people write a poem at home or draw things in their notebooks, mangas are made with the same naturalness today.

Ryo: The designs and approaches also varied. Now there are mangas for all ages and genders. Everyone can make manga, but to make a living from it you must perfect what you capture. Entering that small group of people who make manga is difficult, but the internet made it easier to work making manga, but also easier to “break” emotionally when reading comments about your work.

―How willing is the manga-consuming public to explore other styles and genres besides the popular Shonen?

Ryo: Many people abroad began to ask more and more for this new BL trend [historias eróticas o sexuales entre dos o más hombres]. I also had to make those types of drawings for the foreign market in languages ​​like Chinese, English and Portuguese. This is also consumed by men, who represent a large part of the public that consumes this type of content.

Tsuru: Shonen Jump is the one that leads abroad, with a wide catalog, but this new trend that is being led by women is huge, it also goes hand in hand with the loss of the feeling of love. When they see these stories, they feel attracted to an ideal romance that, since they do not experience it firsthand, cannot hurt them.

―There is also a trend of seeing more zoomorphic characters in mangas every day.

Ryo: This is because we are living in overpopulation. We are tired of thinking about people. Furthermore, interest in seeing stories of people having adventures is lost. Using zoomorphic characters offers a greater connection with our audience. They more easily accept the message you are trying to convey.

Tsuru: These characters that appeared in the 90s have now gained more momentum. We talk about characters that do not exist in real life, which allows mangakas to approach stories in a different way and expand our imagination to other horizons.

―When we talk about manga, do we also talk about Japan? How intertwined are they?

Ryo: It’s everyday. Children, adults, the elderly, everyone finds themselves involved in the mangas. It is not something that is prohibited from reading as it was done before. Nobody looks at someone else with a strange face anymore if they read manga. He lives alongside news newspapers and other media. Another thing is that it is not a stage of life, but something that accompanies you forever, it only changes the manga that you are willing to read.

Tsuru: Another mistake is that one can think that everyone loves manga because it is the place where great titles come from, but not everyone likes manga and they are not looked down upon either because there are an infinite number of alternatives and manga is only one of them. they.

―It is more common to hear that illustrators from all over the world travel to Japan to work in the manga industry. Has this arrival of foreigners affected the way manga is made?

Tsuru: Akira Toriyama himself was influenced by the style of American comics, something he brought to Japan. Even Katsuhiro Ōtomo [Akira] He received inspiration from French Moebius designs and his illustrations. Sometimes we are very closed, and bringing works from abroad as is is not viable, that is why we need interpreting mangakas to adapt these stories here.

Ryo: It’s good that foreigners come because we find ourselves saturated with the same styles and the arrival of foreign visions makes young Japanese mangakas once again have that passion for creating more stories. An example is the creator of the manga “Dr. Stone”, Boichi, who is Korean and even published in Shonen Jump. We don’t close the door to anyone, but the fence in Japan is high.

Tsuru: Many come thinking about entering Shonen Jump, and it is natural, because it is the most popular, but they forget that very specific requirements are asked for and difficult to overcome. What makes Japan attractive for foreign illustrators to come is that here, manga editors make you mature, in a difficult way, but that generates a great evolution in your art.

—And how many Latin Americans have tried it?

Tsuru: Few come from Latin America. Mostly it is Brazilians who come with immensely rich stories and it is good that they want to come and be just another mangaka from the crowd found in Japan, but it would be more interesting to have a type of Jump in each country.

Ryo Even though the language is not understood, manga offers the possibility of transmitting stories through images, which has a great power of connection. Local editors should train mangakas in their own regions, so great stories are not lost due to simple interpretations.