Interviews in 2008

This page lists interviews in 2008.

Conan and Kindaichi Files Interview #1

Date: April 10, 2008
Published in: Detective Conan & Kindaichi Case files #1

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Raw:

Translated by: justwantanaccount

First, please tell the details on how the serializations began.

Seimaru Amagi (the writer for Kindaichi): At the time we started Kindaichi Case Files, genuine mystery manga using tricks were hopeless. When I started this job, there were a few themes that I wanted to do, and mystery manga was one of them. I thought of plans according to that.

Fumiya Sato (the illustrator for Kindaichi): For me, after returning from a trip, there was a probe about Kindaichi from the editorial department. At the time, it didn't sell, so it was the time when I thought about things like “what should I do next?”

Gosho Aoyama: Same feel for me. In my case, I was probed, “Since Kindaichi is popular, can do you do that kind of manga for Shonen Sunday?” At first, though, I had no interest at all. It would be a lot of trouble, you see.

Sato: You were already drawing Magic Kaito at the time, though, right?

Aoyama: That's thief material, you see. For thief material, you only have to steal something so it's easy.

Amagi: By nature, children love mysteries, and we read mystery novels when we were small, too. For manga, I thought that I could do it if I stretched it long with mysteries.

Aoyama: But when you actually do it, you understand why no one does it. Lines are long, and it's a lot of trouble.

Sato: At the beginning of Kindaichi's serialization, I thought it would only last about a year.

Aoyama: I, too, thought that it would only last about three months, since it's difficult to continue material-wise.

Sato: And then you do it at a weekly pace, so it's too unreasonable.

Aoyama: But Kindaichi served as quite a reference. I practically copied the part where the culprit is completely black.

Everyone: (Laughs wildly)

Amagi: That's Sato-sensei's invention. In the original work, I only wrote, “make sure you cannot identify the person.”

Sato: They're merely black, that's all.

Aoyama: But you can't tell who it is, and it feels eerie.

Amagi: There's a rule to it, isn't there? You draw the same body type for both men and women. Then, when the culprit is revealed, even if the body type changes no one makes a joke about it.

Aoyama: In novels, you explain the evidence, culprit, etc. in the text, but in manga, you can deftly draw them somewhere in the panel to build your trick.

Amagi: Mysteries are basically novels, so visual mysteries were untouched. When I realized that, I thought that I could do it for a long time. Meanwhile, I'll continue to give Sato-sensei trouble.

Do you verify your tricks?

Aoyama: For the trick that locks the door from the outside with tape, I got the editor to go outside and test it. But for tricks involving sealed rooms, I must show all the room beforehand for the trick. That is quite difficult.

Drawing-wise, drawing apart the characters must be a lot of trouble.

Aoyama: A lot of characters appear in Kindaichi at once – drawing apart seems like a lot of trouble.

Sato: I don't put much effort into drawing apart anymore (laughs). When I draw, things like “I might draw this tear-inducing, good-things-saying character the same way I drew that mean lady” happen.

What about the characters' names?

Aoyama: For me, I match with the theme of the work – for example, if the story was about the sky, I would give bird-related names. I get letters like “this time, [the names are based on] birds, right?” This is for self-satisfaction, though.

Sato: We don't use realistic names, do we?

Amagi: We try not to repeat the mood of the previous names. Characters that don't appear for long lasts only about three chapters, up to maybe 15 chapters, so in a sense the characters are built on the name. Give dubious names to dubious guys.

Aoyama: I see.

Sato: For forsaken heroins, we may use kanji's meaning “winter” or something that feels cold.

Aoyama: Characters are named well in Kindaichi. The names are quite scary. Names are truly important, aren't they?

Sato: You can convey a mood through the name's ideographs.

Both Conan and Kindaichi take place at various locations. Do you go to places for reference?

Aoyama: When I drew the story about the sleeping car train Hokutosei, I actually rode it. When I took pictures, I had to get off in the middle, though.

Sato: I drew material about trains, but I never went . . .

Aoyama: But traveling with the editor is dull, isn't it?

Sato: That happens!

Amagi: What did we do at Kindaichi's time?

Sato: The staff went and took pictures. We never went to Hokkaido! Even Hajime went many times, though he's only a high school student.

Aoyama: (laughs)

Snowy places appear often in Kindaichi. What is the reason?

Sato: Because it's easy to isolate people in winter.

Aoyama: There was a trick that made footprints appear by sprinkling salt, wasn't there? I thought that it was good.

Amagi: It was simple and easy to understand, and it was beautiful, too, wasn't it? I like the phrase “sakura snow”, too. I had a lot of fun writing it at the time.

Aoyama: At the time? (laughs)

Sato: We tried to change the taste a little for that, since we'd done this for a long time back then.

Did you do location hunting at the time?

Sato: No, not at all!

Aoyama: (laughs)

What do you think is the appeal of mystery manga?

Amagi: The number one appeal would be solving mysteries. That aspect is manga-esque now, isn't it?

Sato: In the end, if there is a mystery, one must solve it.

Aoyama: Love comedy is an element in Kindaichi and Conan.

Characters like female high school student heroines and sexy women appear, don't they?

Amagi: It's a promise.

Aoyama: Not much sexy girls appear in Conan, though beautiful women might float naked in a bathtub in Kindaichi.

Sato: That's because we're at Shonen Magazine (laughs).

Amagi: Shower scenes and such.

Aoyama: The editorial department would stop it in Shonen Sunday (laughs).

Sato: Shonen Sunday doesn't do it much from the old days, do they?

Amagi: Mystery mangas are logical and hard to understand, aren't they? So you include eye-catching panty shots to make the readers want to try reading, because you don't want to limit the audience.

Sato: Those kind of pulls really does become the start sometimes in manga, doesn't it? Some readers start reading simply because cute girls appear in the manga.

Aoyama: For me, I drew with the intention to include elements of love comedy in Conan from the beginning. The protagonist becoming small is truly a love comedy, you see. I thought that having a small boy and a girl that the boy's real self loves would be interesting.

Amagi: That sounds interesting, even if it wasn't a mystery manga.

Aoyama: Yes, that part by itself without deductions would be good, I think.

Amagi: The small boy might look inside a skirt really quick.

Sato: That's only in Shonen Magazine!

Amagi: That's true (laughs).

Then, what is especially troublesome doing a mystery manga?

Amagi: Though the motive for the case is really important, in truth there aren't much variation, is there?

Aoyama: You use everything, and running out of ideas on interesting motives become imminent (laughs).

Amagi: Since the readership is wide in manga, you have to hype up dramatically or else the readers may start feeling unsatisfied.

Sato: The motive for the murder starts changing, too. In the old days, you use “my lover was killed . . .”, but recently it became “in truth the person wasn't even my lover!” - it becomes distorted like this.

Aoyama: That's true, twists are essential.

Amagi: If you make it a simple revenge and the like, you get told that you've already done it before.

Aoyama: I think “I did this, didn't I?”, even when I'm drawing myself.

Amagi: Yes, yes. I ran out of ideas for motives in the first 1~2 years. I've had difficulty ever since.

Catch phrases are characteristic, too, aren't they?

Amagi: They tighten the story, and I like how it gives the expectation that the tables will be turned from that point on. Thanks to “In the name of grandpa”, I feel that I've gained one chapter's worth.

Aoyama: In Conan's case, he says “Edogawa Conan – a detective” from time to time, and that's it. Maybe I should make him say “In the name of ___”, at least once.

Everyone: (laughs)

Amagi: Yes, let us exchange!

Aoyama: You'll make him say “Kindaichi Hajime – a detective”?

Amagi: I like it!

Sato: But he's a high school student.

Amagi: Someone might joke, “He's not [officially] a detective, is he?”

As a result of the two works' influence, manga with a lot of text increased, didn't it?

Aoyama: Maybe, perhaps.

Amagi: It became acceptable due to the hits, didn't it?

Sato: The readers nowadays can apparently understand better.

Amagi: For example, in the old days, the amount of text in this manga, which was also made into a film, was impossible. It's at the level that if you applied for the New Talent Award, you'll be told to cut down the text to a third.

Aoyama: But readers came to accept this.

Sato: Games exist, too – readers got accustomed to reading more text, didn't they?

Aoyama: But the one that created most of this is Kindaichi, isn't it?

Then, do you prohibit yourselves from doing anything in the manga?

Aoyama: That would be indiscriminate killings. I take care to include a motive, even if it looks indiscriminate.

Sato: It'll be a different manga if we do a psycho killer.

Amagi: Indiscriminate killings and the like feel like you've run out of ideas, and there's the fear that they might interest those with cruel tendencies.

Aoyama: That's true. It would be problematic if people sympathized with the culprit and attempted murder.

Kindaichi focus on longer cases, and Conan focus on shorter cases, don't they?

Amagi: About 14, 15 chapters.

Aoyama: That's amazing. In Conan, one case is three chapters, six chapters at the longest. First, a person dies, then the mystery is presented, and finally the case gets solved. This is the golden pattern. Right now, I can't draw more than that. You two are doing well.

Sato: That's because the plot is divided with Amagi-sensei.

Amagi: But sometimes you begin before you complete the plot.

Aoyama: Do you never contradict each other?

Sato: It does happen.

Amagi: For example, even though it's a wedding, the bridegroom is missing. [In another example,] I said that, since I'll put it in the pre-manuscript later, why don't you put a bag or something over the head, and there really was a bag over the head.

Aoyama: Does Sato-sensei never want to change the original work?

Sato: As you'd expect, I can't change the trick, but sometimes I change the emotional parts.

Amagi: On how to draw the characters, there are parts that I leave completely to you – with those parts, you have some degree of freedom, yes?

Aoyama: Since I think [of ideas] on my own and draw on my own, sometimes I arbitrarily change arrangements with the editor. If you work with someone, I thought that that aspect seems troublesome.

Amagi: It's actually all right.

Sato: Sometimes I add a gag ad lib. I've changed the flow in the end at times.

Finally, do you have anything you want to say?

Amagi: Can I start? Aoyama-sensei, please continue Conan until your death!

Aoyama: I do feel like dying from exhaustion (laughs).

Amagi: If Aoyama-sensei does it, we can work hard, too.

Sato: Yes, yes. In manga, if you don't have a rival in your genre, it's easier for your work to go to waste.

Aoyama: It's an incentive for me, too.

Amagi: In truth, our fan bases are slightly different, so we can divide our habitats well.

Aoyama: We're no [Yomiuri] Giants and Hanshin [Tigers], but let us work hard as rivals.
[TN: Famous Japanese baseball teams]

Otona Fami Interview #1

Date: April 21, 2008
Published in: Otona Fami(Adult Family), June issue

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Partial Raw: (posted on 2ch)

スマソ！載ってたの６月号なんだよ。もう売ってないよな…orz ２ページだけだったけど、１回きりで青山のインタビュー載ってた。
全体的には対したこと言ってなかったけど、最後に今後の展開を聞かれて、「まず、漫画で は黒の組織の新しい仲間、バーボンとの対決です。
映画は１３弾という数字がヒント。舞台は高い・・・ あ、これ以上はネタバレになっちゃうか（笑）どちらも楽しみにして頂ければと思います。」

とポロっと。いろいろと説明不足でスマンかった。

Translation:
'Excuse me! It was in the June issue. It's no longer on sale... it was only two
pages, and Aoyama appeared on it. He didn't say anything important but when they
asked him about what will happen in the story, he answered:

"First, there will be confrontation with Bourbon, the new Black Organization member.
About the movie, '13 bullets' number is a hint. It will be at a 'high' place...
Ah, I can't say more or it will be a spoiler (smile). I hope you enjoy them both
(the movie and manga)." Sorry for the lack of explanation.'