Interviews
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Interviews by year (2006-present) |
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This page lists all interviews in relation with Detective Conan.
1994
Newtype Magazine "Comic Now" Interview
Date: August 9, 1994
Published in: Newtype Vol. 10, no. 9 (Cover date September 1994)
Source: http://ayase.blog4.fc2.com/blog-entry-803.html
Raw:
『CN（Comic Now）第20回・漫画家最前線』
小学生から女子中高生を中心に圧倒的な支持を得る良心浪漫画家！名作品に隠された意外な裏話とは！？「まじっく快斗」最新刊はもうすぐ！！
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プロフィール |
快斗、週刊連載に取れる！？そしてコナンVS快斗？？
―漫画を描き始めたのは、いつごろからですか？
「大学生のときに、おもしろそうだからって漫研に入ったら漫画家の先輩（阿部ゆたか）がいて、彼から〝君は絵がうまいから漫画家になってみないか？〟と言われてその気になったんです（笑）。それで漫研の同人誌とかで何本か描いたんですけど、僕は筆が遅いのでひとりだけで仕上げたことってないんですよ。デビュー作ですらアシスタントを使っていたという（笑）。だから特に下積みとかそういうのはなくて、トントン拍子でここまで来たってうい感じなんですよね」
―特に漫画家になるつもりはなかった？
「大学が美大だったので、美術の先生になるつもりだったんですよ。でも、いつのまにかにこんなことになってしまって（笑）。デビューしたのが大学を卒業した年の12月だったんですけど、それまでは『ひらけポンキッキ』の背景を描くバイトをしたりしてて。まあ、ここまできたらほかにすることもないし・・・・・・という感じでしたね」
―それでその半年後には「まじっく快斗」の連載が始まったワクですよね？
「『快斗』はもともと単発モノだったのが人気があったので連載になったんですよね。でも最初は月に1本も描けないってました。それまではひとコマにこだわって描いたりしてて、2か月くらいかけてたんですから。だからそれこそ当時は週刊連載なんて神ワザじゃない！とか思ってましたね。」
―現在「快斗」は中断していますが、今後の予定がどうなるか気になるところですか・・・・・・。
「今度、6年ぶりに新刊が出ます！昭和のときに出たコミックスの続きが（笑）。もう『快斗』は気長に待っていてくださいとしか言えませんねえ。実は今の連載「名探偵コナン」が始まるときも『快斗』はどかっていう話もあったんですけど、やっぱり毎週はつらいんですよね。もう『快斗』はライフワークと思ってますから。気長にちょこと描きつづけていきたいんです」
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まじっく快斗 |
―「YAIBA」は〝神ワザ〟（笑）であるところの週刊連載となりましたが、いかがでした？
「もう絶対できないと思ってましたからね。それに週刊連載を始めたら好きな『快斗』も中断しなくちゃいけないし・・・・・・。でもせっかくのチャンスだから頑張ってみようかなということで。だから一生懸命描きましたよ。毎週毎週地獄のようにね（笑）。 最初は9回の予定だったんですよ。それが人気があったのでどんどん続いて・・・・・・」
―アニメ化もされましたしね。
「ええ。とてもよくできてたので感謝しています。毎週放映時間には必ず見てましたよ。「あ、動いてら」とか言いながら（笑）。でも自分の描いたネームを続まれるのは恥ずかしいですけどね。『好きだよ』とかそういうのがくると、やめてくれ！みたいな（笑）。やっぱり書くのとしゃべるのでは違いますから。あと原作よりアニメのほうが熱かったですよね。僕が描くヤイバって、どなったり叫んだりはするんですけど、絶対泣かないんですよ。アニメ見たら『あ、泣いてる』（笑）。熱いなーって。基本的に男の子は泣いちゃいけないと思ってますから、ほかの作品でも絶対主人公キャラは泣きませんね。泣くことがあるとすれば、ヒロインの女の子とか親が死んだりするときくらいなんじゃないかな？逆に女の子はよく泣くけど（笑）」
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仕事机はアシスタントたちと机を並べてある。アシスタントが渡された原稿を読んでいるときの反応を見るのが好きだとか。いちばん最初の読者層は男性は小中学生、女性は中高生が多いそうだ。 |
名探偵コナン登場！ヒロインは相変わらず（笑）
―現在連載中の「名探偵コナン」は「快斗」とは反対の探偵モノですが。
「泥棒も好きですけど、同じくらいに探偵も好きなんですよね。基本的にホームズとかルパンが好きですから。コロンボとか、最近では古畑任三郎みたいなヤツをやってみたくて。ただやるだけじゃつまらないので、主人公を小さくしてしまってね。高校生のままのほうが展開は楽なんですけど、子供の姿でどうやって推理を大人に伝えるのか・・・・・・とかそういうほうがおもしろいかな、と思いまして。最初のころに、ヒロインがコナン（少年姿の新一）にそれと知らずに、新一のことを好きだって言っちゃうシーンがあるんですよ。『大好き』って。それがやりたかった。意地っぱりだから普通なら絶対言えないんですけどね。まあ、基本的にはカエルになった王子様が元に戻る話ですから。それに推理をちょっとからめて」
―でも推理を毎週考えるのは大変ですよね？
「すーっごく大変ですよ！（笑）それだけは言えます。いつも編集と知恵を絞ってるんですけど。毎回話が決まるまでにものすごい疲れる。『YAIBA』のころとはネームの量が違いますから。ほかの人が探偵モノをやらないのがよく分かりました（笑）」
―どの作品もヒロインの性格がみんな似てるのは？
「最初は違うように描こうと思うんですけどだんだん似てきちゃう（笑）。けっこう姉さん女房的な、勝ち気で意地っぱりな女の子しか・・・描けないんですよ。なんかね。はっきり言って同じ役者の子がやってるんじゃないかというくらい（笑）。女の子はホントに同じですよねえ」
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名探偵コナン |
―最後にこれからの抱負などありましたら。
「ありきたりですが・・・みんなをハラハラドキドキさせる漫画が描いていきたいですね」
Translated by: House of Mystery
Edits by: circumference
Comic Now: The Manga-ka Front Line (No.20)
(A gentleman! A romantic! A manga-ka who's captured hearts from grade-school boys to high-school girls! Just what is the secret behind his masterworks?)
(Keep an eye out for the new Magic Kaito, coming soon!)
Aoyama Gosho: A Profile
Name: Gosho Aoyama
Born: 21 June 1963
Blood Type: B
Origin: Tottori
Works:
- Chotto Matte (“Wait a Minute”), 1986. Completed in his senior year of college, to the tune of Grand Prize at the Shonen Sunday Comics Awards!
- Magic Kaito, 1987. The Special Edition Shonen Sunday feature that launched his fanbase!
- Yaiba, 1988. The Weekly Shonen Sunday feature that cemented his star!
- Detective Conan, Now. His current feature, for that very same magazine!
Kaito: Bound for the weeklies??! Plus: Conan vs. Kaito?
Q: When did you start drawing manga?
A: Well, I thought the Manga Society looked fun in undergrad, so I joined, and one of the seniors (Yutaka Abe) told me, “You draw pretty good, why don’t you take a shot at it?” Got me hooked. [Laughs] So I did a couple doujins for the Society, but I worked slow, so I never finished any of them solo. Even my debut work needed assistants! [Laughs]. So yeah, I didn’t really work my way up the trenches or anything. It was just like, poof and I was here.
Q: So you weren’t specifically looking to be a manga pro?
A: Well, I was going to an Arts school, so I thought I’d wind up an art teacher. Somehow, I got this instead. [Laughs] My pro debut was December of the year I graduated; up till then I worked as a part-timer on backgrounds for Hirake Ponkiki. Well, once I’d gotten that far… it didn’t seem like anything else was right, you know?
Q: And in a half a year you were running Magic Kaito, right?
A: Yeah, I started Kaito as a one-off, but enough people liked it for an ongoing. Back then… let me tell you, back then I couldn’t even finish one chapter a month. I was used to doing things one panel at a time, and it’d take at least two months. Weekly ongoings… that was the stuff of capital-M Miracles to me.
Q: So Kaito’s on hiatus right now, but if we were to ask what’s in store for him…
A: Right―he’s getting his first volume in six years. Come one, come all, see the story that’s been running since Showa! [Laughs] But really, “patience is a virtue” is all I can say when it comes to Kaito. You know, back when Conan was about to start there was talk of running Kaito as a weekly, but that would’ve been a tough order. I already consider Kaito my Life’s Work, so to speak―it’s something I’d like to keep working on hurry-free.
Magic Kaito
“Kaito can go for a while between chapters, so the artstyle can change in a heartbeat. It’s like, who drew that?― when I’m looking at my old volumes as I draw. By the way, Kaito’s birthday and blood-type (B)? All mine. Any Kaito fans out there want to send him a birthday present, feel free to leave it at my place… [Laughs]”
Q: So let’s talk about your capital-M MIracle: Yaiba. [Laughs] What was it like, hitting the weeklies?
A: I thought I’d never pull it off. To start with, I knew a weekly meant putting good ol’ Kaito on hiatus… but it felt like a golden chance, so I took it. Gave it all I had, and you know what? Every last week was Hell on Earth. [Laughs] I was only planning on nine chapters at first, but it was so popular it kept going and going and going…
Q: It got an anime, too.
A: Mm. That was a great show, and my heart still goes out to ‘em. I tuned in every single week, and I was always going, “Wow, it moves!” [Laughs] But to be honest, sometimes it was awkward seeing people go off my storyboards; whenever they were like, “I love you lots,” I was like “Please Stop,” y’know? [Laughs] Page dialogue is a different beast from dialogue dialogue. Speaking of which, the anime was a little more… open than my original concepts. My Yaiba yells and screams, but he never cries. Watching the anime, I couldn’t help but go, “Oh, he’s crying…” [Laughs] Really heart-on-his-sleeve. When you get down to it, I just don’t think boys should cry; you’ll never see any of my heroes crying, no matter what series. If there’s tears, either the hero’s a heroine or someone’s parents died. That’s the flipside to all this: girls cry a lot. [Laughs]
The Master’s work desk, side-by-side with his assistants’. He likes watching their faces as they read his latest manuscripts. By his account, the first-wave readers are always elementary and middle-school boys, and middle- and high-school girls.
(text by Hideki Satomi)
(shot by Aiko Yamaguchi）
Enter: Detective Conan! Still Onstage: The Same Old Heroine [Laughs]
Q: Now you’re running Detective Conan―a detective series that’s like Kaito flipped inside-out.
A: I like thieves, but I don’t like sleuths any less. Basically, I’m on Team Holmes and Team Lupin. I wanted to do something like Columbo―or Furuhata Ninzaburo, if you want to get more topical―but a straight take wouldn’t have been much fun, so I made my hero a pipsqueak. It would’ve been easier to steer him along as a high-schooler, but I felt it was more interesting to see him have to spell out deductions for adults as a little kid. At the start of it all, there’s a scene where the heroine tells Conan (Shinichi-as-a-kid) about her crush, without knowing it’s him. “I love you.” She’s always wanted to say it, but she’s stubborn as a rock so she never would’ve in normal circumstances. At heart, this is basically the story of the prince turning into a frog and back again. I just added a little Mystery to the mix.
Q: But isn’t it hard, coming up with a different mystery every week?
A: You couldn’t guess how hard! [Laughs] I can tell you that much. I’m always editing and wracking and just wringing out my brains. Every time we’re about done hammering out the plot, I’m dead on my feet. Yaiba never needed this many drafts. No wonder you’ve got all these people swearing off detective stuff. [Laughs]
Q: Why do all your heroines act so alike?”
A: Well, at first I always try to make them unique, but given enough time all of them go down the same track. [Laughs] I guess that’s the only kind of girl I can do: pretty in a wife or big sister-y kind of way, all feisty and stubborn. Really, it’s like there’s one actress behind all of them. These girls are that much of a feather.
Detective Conan
(Currently serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday)
“One of my younger brothers is a doctor, so I always call him up if I need to pinpoint a time of death or something like that… I owe him big time. [Laughs] His brain’s out of this world. One time I asked him for someone’s medical records, and he cut me off right there. [Laughs]”
Yaiba
(Serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday)
“I always liked the movie Makai Tensho, so I wanted to do something in that vein. Felt it’d be interesting to have a spunky little boy―your typical Shonen hero―going up against this veteran swordmaster. I used to do a lot of kendo myself, so I’m big into Chanbara―you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger Kurosawa fan than me.”
Magic Kaito
(Serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday Special Edition)
“Well, I’m in my Detective Period, aren’t I? So I’d like to do Conan vs. Kaito one of these days. It’d probably end in a no-score draw―even stuff like Mazinger Z vs. Devilman, it’s not really about them fighting, just a team-up against the real villain. Oh, and I really want to see Kaito animated someday.”
3rd Base Fourth
(Serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday Special Edition)
“I’m a baseball guy―even played on a team―so I thought I’d try a baseball thing. You know how all my stuff has a touch of Impossible, right? So it goes with this one―we’re not doing regular ol’ ball, we’re doing a Bat of Legend… or something. Shigeo Nagashima’s my favorite, so… I guess you could say this book’s mostly for Giants fans. [Laughs]”
Q: And last, but not least… any big plans for the future?
A: No points for originality, but… I want to keep hearts pounding and seats shaking with my manga. That’s all.
1997
Detective Conan's Mystery Museum Interview
Date: June 10, 1997
Raw:
Translation by: Yunniechan [1][2]
Aoyama Gosho-sensei talks about Conan passionately!!
The first person whom we’ll interview is the author of ‘Meitantei Conan’,
the one who creates Conan’s brilliant deduction, Aoyama Gosho-sensei!
He just saw Conan movie, [Meitantei Conan, The Time-Bombed Skyscraper], so he’ll surely speak about it!
(I loved the movie!! I was really moved by it)
I created the last scene when I was in middle school.
Thank you, it’s Aoyama. [Meitantei Conan] became a movie, and I have to share a word or two of my happiness. When it became an anime, I thought that someday it could became popular. I loved movies since the very childhood.
I love detectives, of course, but the works of Kurosawa Akira are my favourite. His samurai works, for example. He kind of influenced my previous work before [Meitantei Conan], [YAIBA]. When I think about manga compositing, I look at it from filming angle. I draw thinking about camera positioning.
The last scene of [The Time-Bombed Skyscraper] was my idea I came up when I was a child. Around middle school age, or something like this, I imagined it after seeing a scene like this with spies. I come up with a lot of scenes after watching movies or TV. Especially when I watch something boring, I think something like 'I would’ve made it like this’. Though recently I’m not quite free to watch movies :)
Try to find a cell I drew!
Right-right, I just saw this movie… Whole movie :) I want to talk about the last scene. Like I just said, I had this idea since the very childhood. Connected by a red string… I wanted to make something like this. I wanted to use it in [Magic Kaito], but I didn’t get a chance. And it was not an idea that’ll suit [YAIBA]. Thus I put it off, but now had a chance to use it in a movie. Well, I came up with it when I was a child, but to tie this to Shinichi’s birthday… and other small details I thought off after getting a chance to use it in a movie. I want you to search key frames I drew for the last scene. 9 key scenes at all. I drew line art and it was filled by the incredible anime staff.
That’s why I really wanted to see the last scene. I really couldn’t wait for it. And
I’m extremely grateful to anime staff!
Anime staff has incredible people… About seiyuus, Conan could only be Takayama Minami-san. She’s the best for him. I really love OP and ED themes. [Mune ga Doki-Doki] is my favourite. Utoku Keiko-san’s [Hikari to Kage no Roman] also differs from everything that were before and it’s a really nice feeling. I also really like [Happy Birthday].
I was a real fan of Kyoko-san’s husky voice since BARBEE BOYS :) Oono Katsu’s band’s music is also great. I loved them since they wrote the music to [Taiyou ni horoe!]. I always draw CD covers with all my might, as a way to say 'thank you’ to them :) Kodama director work was also cool. Anyway, I am really grateful to everyone if anime staff!
Anime’s benefit is that it has sound. Well, of course it is :) Especially it was great at Moonlight Sonata’s episode. When I drew the manga, I listened to 'Moonlight Sonata’, to be honest. Moonlight Sonata 2nd Movement is especially great! And it came up just like I thought.
Anime has a lot of benefits but… Manga will not surrender! Anime can’t show, for example, two-paged spread of Shinichi’s sudden appearance. Manga’s benefit is also that it helps reader to make their own deductions.
The anime became really good, so I’ll try my best for the manga not to be defeated!!
4 secrets of Aoyama Gosho!
According to Puppeteer-Detective, Yama-chan’s manga, Aoyama-sensei really enjoys staying at home. While investigating whether this is true, we found it that he doesn’t go outside except for convenient stores and family restaurants! He usually goes to the places that are in 50m radius around his home/studio. When we found out what was the longest distance he went for recently… It was a press-conference for [Meitantei Conan, The Time-Bombed Skyscraper]. Looks like it is a 'record length Aoyama Gosho went out for’. When we invaded Aoyama-sensei’s studio/home, it was a really a really nice mansion with an incredible night view! Of course you wouldn’t want to go outside of such a nice place!
He doesn’t play games?
Aoyama-sensei loved games since childhood… that was a rumour we heard, but turns out, according to Alco-Detective’s Tani Yutaka’s manga, he doesn’t play games at all recently. Is it true? After invading Studio/Home, we found it! A mountain of games, which weren’t even open! We also found a lot around his TV! The manga was true! According to the interview, Aoyama-sensei [Has to play everything since Dragon Quest VI~]. This game came out in 1995… That means he didn’t play his favourite game for a year?! That’s horrible…
You’re so busy, do you eat properly?
Aoyama-sensei is so busy he can’t even play his favourite games. If he’s that busy, we’re worrying is he eats properly. Fatty Detective’s yonkoma shows that he’s eating well… Aoyama-sensei’s daily schedule is to create a storyboard once in 4 days, and the next two days lining it down with assistants, and only one free day. What does he do at 5 days without the assistants? After a week investigation, we found out which family restaurants and convenient stores he uses. There’s a rumour that when his favourite convenient store was closed due to remodelling, he was about to starve…
He’s really serious when it comes to work?
And the last investigation was about his work! Bravo Detective’s yonkoma shows that he’s really strict at manga… looks like it, at least. But he doesn’t go anywhere, he can’t play his favourite games, eats in convenient stores and family restaurants… Didn’t he ever thought [I can’t stand [Meitantei Conan] anymore!] We decided to ask Aoyama-sensei himself!
[I still have a lot I want to draw in [Meitantei Conan]. It doesn’t seem like ending (TN: It was 1997. I’m translating it in 2016 AND STILL GOING). [Kaito Kid] just appeared in it too finally… Wonder if I’ll see it in anime soon <3 Besides, I want to use Heiji’s hometown, Osaka as a stage more often… And I want to draw a Woman in Black too!!]… looks like our worries were for nothing.
Well then, next people we’ll interview are people who created [Meitantei Conan] anime. Kodama Kenji director, Yomiuri TV producer Suwa Michihiko-san amd Tokyo Movie producer, Yoshioka Masahito-san. You have different opinions about [Conan]? But they are the same in one - everyone loves it and had a lot of fun creating it, that’s why anime [Conan] is so great!
(We put in film a lot of stuff we were not able to put in TV anime)
First: Kodama Kenji
Which anime did you wanted to create?
I wanted to create a piece that would be enjoyed by adults. But I also wanted children to enjoy it too.
What is special to anime?
Conan’s mystery solving is pretty easy to understand, I think. In manga it’s explained only by Conan himself, but in anime details are shown onscreen. Besides, characters can move.
This film is love romance?
[Conan]’s world’s love romance can be created only by Aoyama-sensei. If we’ll make something, we could break original manga’s world. That’s why we usually base everything on what was shown in manga. (TN: Cough. KaitoKid. Cough). In the film Aoyama-sensei planned a love romance subplot, so we started without second thoughts.
What do you want to note in this film?
It enjoys all your senses. You watch you hear, your brain works out deductions, and your heart is moved by love romance. At the 5 minutes after beginning my heart started to beat quickly. The screen is so wide, so we can drew even smallest details, and that, I think, leaves a different impact than TV anime. That was the greatest work and I doubt I’ll be able to create something like that… said I, but guess what I’ll do if there would be another movie adaptation :)
Three main points of anime [Meitantei Conan]?
Suwa: Maybe the fact that the anime is a big lie. It’s not real, but talks about reality a lot. And the deduction. That’s the best. TN: I didn’t get it. Maybe I’m wrong.
Yoshioka: Three, huh. First is the deduction that even adults can enjoy. Second one is slapstick action with the Detective Boys. And the third one is love romance, which Aoyama-sensei spoke about.
TV anime continues while using all three.
[Conan] movie had a lot of strong points
Yoshioka: The movie had those three main points I just spoke about.
Suwa: Felt like a big amusement park… With a jet coaster, beautiful night view and a lot of attractions. Of course we enjoyed creating TV anime too, but this movie was something extra special. We hope that viewers had a lot of good experience with it.
What you tried to achieve with this movie?
Yoshioka: We want to make a lot of action we can’t do because of usual TV episode time limit. And on familiar scenery. Conan didn’t went overseas, and incidents and crimes happens nearby, with Detective Boys dealing with it.
Suwa: I wanted to tell a long story. Since the movie is something you can dive into and it has a long running time. But I wanted to make it with breathtaking speed.
Yoshioka: I wanted to create a movie with compilation of action and deduction.
Suwa: That was a movie like a takoyaki with red pasta.
Yoshioka: That was really great till the very end. Like a jet coaster ride, where you can’t leave your seats.
We’re proud of our team work.
Seiyuu-san, devoting their lives to anime [Meitantei Conan]. What do they think about characters they are playing? What is the atmosphere in the studio? Afrec (after recording) just ended, let’s hear them live!
What is Conan’s charm?
Takayama: Conan has that self-devotion trait of his, you see. He’ll never cheat, and he will try to protect the one and only girl for his whole life. That’s his charm. I played a role of main character in Aoyama-sensei’s previous work, [YAIBA], and he’s such type.
I wonder if Aoyama-sensei himself is a man like this… Women should be very happy (TN: My heart melted, they married after, sadly divorced though ;v;)
What was like recording for the movie?
Takayama: Even if it was a movie, it wasn’t really different from the usual.
Kamiya: As usual, we acted according to the director.
Takayama: But the story really made me nervous. That was not random bombing? If you don’t solve it soon, everyone should be in danger!.. like this.
Director said that his heart was beating after first 5 minutes, and I felt the same.
Kamiya: But it was a nice story. Really. I was about to cry. Especially at the last scene.
Takayama: Looks like there was a person who really cried.
Horikawa: Who?
Takayama: Not here at the moment, but Megure-keibu.
Horikawa: Chafurin-san?
Kamiya: Yep
What is Ran’s good side?
Yamazaki: Ran is really strong, she’s doing karate, but when Shinichi is around, she becomes really worried.
Takayama: She always tells [Come back quickly, Shinichi!] at the phone..
Yamazaki: But she can’t say anything in front of a real Shinichi.
Kamiya: Yeah. Feels kind of off. Yamazaki-san plays her perfectly, but it is kind of strange.
Yamazaki: When it comes to Shinichi, shows a brilliant deduction, but…
Kamiya: …soft on the inside.
Yamazaki: That’s also Ran’s cute trait :)
Do you see Kogoro as father in this movie?
Kamiya: I really like Kogoro. He has human weaknesses, like he can usually go astray, loves to drink, runs away of his own wife, and his child had to care about him… But sometimes he can be really cool. At the Kogoro’s Class Reunion Murder Case, for example.
Takayama: He was really cool at that time. And strong too.
Kamiya: At the movie, he showed that he really cares about Ran.
Horikawa: Kamiya-san has children too, do you understand Kogoro at that point?..
Kamiya: You can say that too.
Is Ayumi a girl in love?
Kamiya: Ayumi feels like a boss.
Iwai: Usually she is, but when Conan drank sake and could’ve returned to Shinichi, when she saw Conan leaning, she thought [I feel like I’ll never see him again], right? When Shinichi was leaving Ran in the very first chapter, Ran thought exactly the same.
Kamiya: Do you have episodes you like?
Iwai: [Detective Boys Survival Case]. I really love such adventures.
What is the atmosphere in the studio after finishing recording lines?
Takayama: Conan and Heiji are really alike. They even act the same. Horikawa: They both love mysteries.
Takayama: After today’s recording (Holmes Freak Murder Case), I feel like Heiji was really cool. And Shinichi is in pinch?! :)
Horikawa: That’s my second Conan afrec (TN: No, third. You played an AO victim killed by chocolate), but it’s surprisingly easy to act.
Kamiya: Because everyone even breath in sync.Takayama: We’re on good terms here.
Kamiya: Every week I expect to meet everyone, that I work with pleasure and after that everyone goes eating. What a great work :)
Takayama: Today we’ll also go to eat after that <3
The magic of sound playing in the Mystery World.
And the last ones on the backstage are people who create Conan’s Sound, musicians with Music Life Show! They stir up [Meitantei Conan] famous scenes, and write songs and music!
Kyoko: Conan and Ran are always close, but they can’t say they love each other. That’s heartbreaking.
Thinking about people I miss… [Happy Birthday] is a song that tries to convey feelings for those who are dear to you but far away. When I was recording it in London, I thought about my friend and ex boyfriend… That is a song that will be played in the movie ending, after the incident is resolved. Last scene that makes you chuckle a bit (TN: after credits I believe) I saw at the cinema by myself.
They are below different skies and can’t tell ‘I love you’ to each other. It’s really sad not to be able to convey such feelings, but Conan-kun and Ran are always together, and yet they can’t tell their true feelings. I think that this is much more hard and sad situation. When I watched it, I thought [Why can’t you just understand he’s Shinichi?!] :) This song is sad, but it has optimistic subtext too. Goes well with Conan and Ran’s love.
Utoku Keiko: A singer of anime’s current (3/51 :D) ED [Hikari to Kage no Roman]. Warm, heartwarming sound and Keiko-san’s sweet singing voice is starting to sound after the incident. It has a like [I understand everything but still continue to love you]… Sound a lot like Ran’s loving heart!
Oono: It’s important to create music that goes with the story.
I created a lot of music for TV animes and movies, but that was my first time creating music for Conan. I was totally okay with that. I don’t care whether it’s drama or anime. Same with movies. I created it thinking about how it will suddenly change going in sync with story. Conan is really interesting, don’t you think? Even when adults are reading it, sometimes it’s hard for them. When I first read it, I read everything till the end in one breath.
So both adults and children can enjoy it, so I created a lot of different types of music.
Conan, Ran and Kogoro are a great team. He fits in. Always going after them when there’s an incident. They are starting to become a nice team. I guess it’s the same with music. It’s starting to be familiar to Conan series. I like Conan more than Shinichi. And Ran is cute too.
What music would you recommend?
I created a music for Conan movie in around 10 days. 2 days for recording. It’s usually 5 days for TV anime. Movie sound has a thing called Dolby Sound, so we had to record it in a unique way. Because of that we had to record not only new music, but also old music, changing it a bit. Movie’s melody is half-new, and I felt some kind of familiar while creating it. Besides, it was an action movie, right? So it was different from TV, with a more intense rhythm.
Music I can recommend? I don’t want to say it. I want you to listen to it and then decide.
[Time bombed skyscraper] has connections with Dolby Sound, so there were two different versions for CDs and for movies. Please listen to in in the cinema theater, you will be really excited.
Detective Conan's Mystery Academy Interview
Date: September 10, 1997
1999
Gosho Aoyama's Masterpiece Theatre (Favorite Movies)
Date: April 14, 1999
Published in: Weekly Shonen Sunday, Vol. 41, no. 21 (Cover date April 28, 1999)
Source: Raw and more info
Raw:
大好評！お楽しみ映画トーク、傑作特盛り特別編！
『青山剛昌先生・コダワリ名画館（Vol.10）』
（″コナン″を産んだ頭の中をノゾきたいと思ってた人、お待ち！青山先生の脳内では、こんな多くの映画たちが、年中上映されてるんです！GWはコナン映画と、こんなビデオで退屈なし！）
★館長あいさつ
アニメ映画の『長靴をはいた猫/ペロの大冒険』（’69年/宮崎駿原画）を、幼稚園生の時大画面で観て、ただひたすら〝スゴイな～〟って感動しまくった。以来、映画が大好きになって。今でも、だ～い好きっ！！ジャンルは問わず、なんでも観るよ。ただ、ここ数年は、仕事が忙しくて、映画館はおろかビデオ店へも行けずじまい。誰かオレ専用の映画館でも作ってくれ～！！
プログラム１・映画で解明！！オレの漫画に潜む謎
ジャンルは問わないんだけど、オレが好きになる作品って、キャラクターに〝ひねり〟が加えられているものが多いんだ。これって、オレの漫画に通じてる部分でもあるんだけど・・・・・・だから、と言うか、やっぱり、と言うか、映画からインスピレーションみたいなもの受けて、完成した漫画、けっこうあるんだよね。
例えば、40周年記念で今回描き上げた『まじっく快斗』は、大学生の頃に観た『マジック・ボーイ』（’82年/G・オニール主演）から始まってるって言ってもいいね。主人公は、16歳の天才マジシャンで、カッコいいなぁ・・・・・・って思ってて。映画の中の男のコはね、誰の力も借りずに、ひとりで悪い奴をやっつけて行くんだけど、それもまたカッコ良くてさ。〝こいつを怪盗にしたらどーだろう〟って思いを巡らせてたら、〝快斗〟の誕生となった訳。
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『マジック・ボーイ』（’82・米） |
デビュー作『ちょっとまって』は、あの大ヒット作『バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャー』（’85年/M・J・フォックス主演）から来てます。あっ！！ あえて言わせてもらうけど、これシリーズ3作物だけど、オレが認めてるのは〝パート１〟だけ！！他はダメ！！(笑)
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『バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャー』（’85・米） |
コナンもいたぞ！！映画の中に・・・・・・！？
さて、ここまで来ると、みんなが気になるのは『名探偵コナン』を生んだ、映画は！？でしょ。はっきり言うけど、ないよ (笑)。でも、1アイテムだけ頂いた映画がある。毎週かかさず〝コナン〟を読んでくれてるコは、もう気づいてるかな！？〝めがねを取ったあなたは、スーパーマンて訳！？〟って、場面が出てきたの覚えてる？そう、コナンのめがねは、『スーパーマン』（’78年/C・リーブ主演）から頂いたの。正体隠すためのアイテムは〝めがね！！〟これっきゃない！って、決めてたんだ。
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『スーパーマン』（’78・米） |
〝コナン〟の前の作品に、『YAIBA』があるんだけど、これは『魔界転生』（’81年/沢田研二主演）的かも！？
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『魔界転生』（’81・日） |
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ハミダシ名画館！！（迷っちゃうほど、どれも大好き！！） |
今後、漫画に活用したいのは、『レベッカ』（'40年/R・オリビエ主演）。あの、怖～い女召し使い、いつか描きてぇ～！！
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『レベッカ』（’40・米） |
プログラム２・いつかは越すぞ！！黑澤監督&三十郎
映画と〝オレの漫画人生〟！
|
―コナンのこのポーズは三十郎なのだ（笑） |
と、ここまではオレの漫画と密接な関係のある、映画の話ばかりしちゃったけど、最後に一本！！オレの人生〝最高の映画〟であり、オレの漫画の〝バイブル〟と呼ぶ傑作中の傑作を御紹介しま～す！！
それは、巨匠・黑澤明監督の『椿三十郎』（’62年/三船敏郎主演）です！！小学生の時に観て以来、今の今まで数十回てます。何度観ても、ちっとも飽きない。大迫力のチャンバラあり、笑いあり、感動ありで、もう最高！！最高！！
三船さん演じる〝三十郎〟が出てくる場面なんか、本当にスゴくてね。〝バァーン〟て扉を開いて、タンタンタンタンッて来るんですが、もう、それだけでひっくり返るほどカッコい～い。構図もライティング完璧だしね・・・・・・どにかく、何から、何まで完璧なのだ！！
究極な漫画を描きたいって思ってる。ハリウッドもかなわない、世界最強のエンターテイメント作品をね！！
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『椿三十郎』（’62・日） |
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❤このヒロインに、ラブをこめて！❤ |
Translated by: House of Mystery
[Watch This Space]
2003
Complete Color Works Interview Aoyama x Takayama
Date: May 1, 2003
Raw:
Translated by:
Conan Drill Official Book Interview
Date: May 1, 2003
Published in: Conan Drill Official Book
Raw:
Translated by: justwantanaccount
T/N: Interview in Conan Drill from 2003 translated! No spoiler on the plot here, though there are a lot of interesting tidbits.
I took a lot of liberty with the English this time, since I wanted to focus more on making the English sound natural and readable. I usually try to translate as directly as possible, but I realize that the weird English probably turns off a lot of people – let me know if I've taken too much liberty, though.
Also, Gosho says a lot of things here that he mentions in future interviews, like how he was told to change Conan's name to Doyle since there was a work called Future Boy Conan, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. You kinda realize that interviewers keep asking the same questions, maybe because they don't bother looking over past interviews, ha ha.
Highlights:
The plot for Conan was planned in two weeks
Gosho is not "high-strung / neurotic" - he seems pretty laid back
Apparently, in File 125~, the dude pays the gal to be his lover
Gosho has an editor who is from Kansai, and looks at DC's Kansai-ben – this makes sense, I've read people on 2chan talk about how young Kansai people these days don't say "ame-chan" (Files 778-780), but since Gosho gets coached on Kansai-ben by an older guy, the Kansai-ben in DC is rather dated.
Gosho has two younger brothers, one who's an engineer and another who's a doctor. The engineer helps Gosho with tricks related to cars, and the doctor helps Gosho with medicine-related topics, like APTX. The doctor is also an anime otaku who advices Gosho about which voice actor should voice whom.
Gosho also seems to have connections who are former police detectives, people working at banks, CSIs, etc.
Gosho decided when he started that Conan won't cry
Gosho only draws characters with names, leave backgrounds and characters without names to assistants - does that mean that the forensics dude who wasn't Tomo-san in File 756-758 will become important someday?! Lol I dunno.
Maybe you guys knew this already, but apparently Paikaru/Baiganer isn't a real brand of alcohol – the name comes from a character in Lupin III.
Interview
Q: Aoyama-sensei became a manga artist after graduating from college, right? Have you decided to be a manga artist from your student days?
A: I was studying manga since my college days, but I entered the university while vaguely thinking that I will become an art teacher someday. Apparently I wrote "I will become a manga artist in the future" in my elementary school's graduation anthology, but I don't remember it. Although, I did like drawing pictures and manga and such from childhood, and I drew flip books and such into my textbook. My parents scolded me when I drew manga, though, so there was a sneaky quality to it. I submitted manga for the first time when I was a fourth year university student, but when I told my parents that I will become a manga artist after graduation, my parents opposed me. Being a school teachers is fine, but being a manga artist is, after all, an unpredictable, Yakuza-like business. Of course you would worry if you were a parent.The direct cause behind becoming a manga artist for me was when a senpai, who was already a manga artist, asked me, "Hey, Aoyama, do you want to try submitting?" Then, I sent one to a certain shonen magazine, and the work received a kasaku*. This wasn't at Sunday, though. After this, I thought that maybe I could possibly be good. This was when I was a fourth year university student.
[T/N: *佳作 (kasaku) directly translates to 1. well executed work or 2. second best work at something like an art/literature contest (source); however, given the context, it seems that if you receive this then you debut as a manga artist, so I left the original Japanese term since I'm not sure how to translate it. Some people translate it as an "honorable mention", but I don't know how accurate that is.]
Q: Back then, were the people around you already searching for permanent jobs?
A: Yes. For me, I trained to be a teacher, just in case, since I still had the option to become an art teacher at my hometown's high school. Although, when I received the kasaku, I think I lost the urge to continue down that path. I drew the background for Ponkikki and such for part time jobs, so I wasn't searching for a permanent job at all.
Q: How did you live as a university student? The characters in the manga that sensei draws are all unique - I suspect this might be due to influence from human relationships during student days.
A: Yes, though I think I was influenced not only during my university years but throughout my life, accumulating from my childhood. As for my university years, I did Mahjong - a lot of Mahjong (laughs). I used to live first in Egoda, which is along the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, then in Senkawa. The distance was the longest here, but it was close to the university so we met up for Mahjong and such. We met up at someone's house many times, since we didn't have money. I was pretty strong back then. Right now, not so much - I don't have time to play, and even when I do play I think that we should just have fun, so I aim for a high hand. If you do that, you lose. If you play thinking that you'll lose, then you really will, as you'd expect (laughs).
Q: Even if you say you didn't have money, it wasn't such a period back when sensei was a student, right?
A: Nah, I was pretty poor. I couldn't put in meat into curry. I would eat such an indigent curry for five days straight. Curry day after day. But I was sent rice from my hometown, so I did always have something to eat. If you have rice, you manage, don't you? I ate nothing but curry everyday and I played Mahjong at someone's house - I think I was the very picture of a poor college student.
December 31, 2002, nighttime. The interview took place, since sensei's schedule was apparently only open on this day. I could imagine that sensei was considerably tired; I thought that it couldn't be helped that sensei might be ill-humored. However, you couldn't tell that he was tired, even though he must have been. My impression was that he was upright as a human being and as an adult, though he was of course aware that he was first-class as an artist.
Q: In truth, I thought that it couldn't be helped if Aoyama-sensei had a difficult temper, until I met you like this. It is the truth that mystery writers often have complicated personalities, to say nothing of their difficult schedules. I'm surprised that you are far more cheerful than I've imagined you to be.
A: Did you imagine someone who was stress personified? I have stress, of course, but I've never been the type to be highly strung. I think that that's why I can endure difficult schedules. I, too, think sometimes that some writers are highly strung when I read their work – the type who are good at searching people from scratch, and such. For me, I'm not that type of person at all. I haven't inconvenienced the editor* much, either . . . or at least, I'd like to think so (laughs).I haven't quarreled with the editor, either. Even if there's a quarrel, it's not about manga, it's about something really trivial. The editor is a Hanshin fan, and I'm a Giants fan; when Hanshin won consecutively against the Giants in the match where the Giants' championship was at stake, I happened to have promised to draw the illustration for the movie poster. But I was in a bad mood, so I said, "I'm not drawing!" (laughs) Since the editor was understanding, he didn't contact me anymore that day (laughs). This isn't really a quarrel, is it?
[T/N: *Strictly speaking, the term could be plural, but I've left it as singular here since Aoyama seems to be talking about his editor.]
Q: You got an kasaku with a submission to a magazine other than Shonen Sunday, right? Did you not want to continue at that magazine? Why the move to Shonen Sunday?
A: At the manga magazine where I was kindly given the kasaku, the editor kindly advised me, "I personally like your art, but you'll probably be told to change your style sometime soon, so it'll be better for you if you went elsewhere." If so, I like Mitsuru Adachi, and the picture is cute overall, so I thought about moving to Sunday. Then, I was told that I could go sooner than I'd thought, and things went smoothly after that.But then, a senior manga artist told me, "You should visit the editorial department many times until they memorize your name," so I visited the editorial department whenever I could. When I received the Newcomer Award with Wait a Minute, I already had an editor, in my case. There are many newcomers just like you, so to stand out you must bring in the name (roughly sketched manuscript) often. I did that intentionally. For about half a year, I visited quite insistently, saying "I fixed the name again!" Almost everyday. It's not like I had anything else to do, and I wanted to serialize as soon as possible.
Q: Magic Kaito's serialization started in that environment, didn't it? In Sunday's Special Edition?
A: Yes. I was allowed to draw from time to time, but you're basically jobless during that time, aren't you? You can't eat as a manga artist, yet. I was eating with the money I saved through part-time jobs as a student, and with the prize money from the Newcomer Award. Although, you might think that this was a difficult time period the way I talk, but those days were actually really fun for me (laughs). In the end, I was doing what I liked, since I like manga. I also had a lot of time when I was a newcomer, so I could play my favorite games. Back when I used to draw manga while playing Dragon Quest, I had a promise to meet with the editor. Then, when the editor called since he was at a cafe near Egoda's train station, I replied, half asleep, "Uuuum, I can't gooo, since I don't have the gold yeeet" (laughs). Then I hanged up, and when I got a call again after thirty minutes, I vaguely thought, "I said something weird, didn't I?" (laughs).The editor back then was a good person, too. Things were fun back then, in many aspects. Now, I don't quite have the time to play games as I used to.
Q: Did you realize that you could continue as a manga artist, that you could eat as one with Magic Kaito?
A: Yes, I think so. The editor-in-chief back then didn't like Magic Kaito very much, and he said, "I'll treat you something if this gets sold as volumes and sells 100,000 copies." Then the number was passed in the blink of time - I thought, it's profitable to sell volumes, isn't it? After that, YAIBA started at the magazine, and since the magazine is weekly, volumes came out quickly, too. Things became much easier after that, not only in terms of livelihood but psychologically, too. I did become busy and lost time to have some fun, though. Conan was decided when I met up with the editor to discuss what to do next after YAIBA ended. At the time, Kindaichi (from Kindaichi Case Files) started at Shonen Magazine, and since I like mysteries and it seemed interesting, I wanted to have a go at it. At first, I/we thought about a hardboiled-esque comedy with a title like "Tale of a Detective" or something similar. But Conan is the royal road to shonen manga, isn't it? Becoming small, and then getting threatened by bad guys. The plot was finished in about two weeks, but it's not something I/we thought neurotically about. Conan turned back to a first grader, since Shinichi is 17, so I thought that turning back exactly ten years would be easy to understand. I get asked if why I chose first grade, but that's pretty much all the reason (laughs). Although, there also was a bit of an aspect that, since first graders are completely children, someone that age will be laughed at and then forgiven for doing anything.
Q: Did you decide the characters' appearances along with the plot?
A: Almost at the same time. I don't think that the pictures took more than a minute.
Q: The idea for Conan's glasses was decided at the time, too?
A: I like Superman, you see. Superman wore glasses as Clark Kent, right? That was what was in my head at the time. No glasses when he's Shinichi, but glasses once he turns into Conan. I just remembered, I wanted to make a rule-breaking manga. In shonen, Arare-chan is about the only one who is a protagonist and who also has glasses. Strictly speaking, Nobita-kun isn't a protagonist. Also, names (characters/letters). In shonen, there was a rule that manga with a lot of names in it don't become popular. There was another rule I tried to break – hmm, what was it? Was it about the name, Conan? Since it was the same as Future Boy Conan, the editor-in-chief didn't make a very good face. I think I was told to change the name to Doyle-kun (laughs). My editor was excited about breaking the rules, though.
Q: Going back to what you have just said about shonen manga's royal path – your work also has an element of love comedy; childhood friends are also royal-path material, aren't they?
A: That's true. You could say that it's my preference to use childhood friends, though (laughs). The setup becomes really easy. It's easy to develop the story when the characters are childhood friends who have known each other for a long time. I liked Mitsuru Adachi-san's Touch, after all. As for dramas, I like The Tale of Seven Men and Women*. Though most young readers now probably don't know about this drama, I think that this is the masterpiece of love comedy. I wanted to bring out such an atmosphere in my work. Although, despite the presence of love, neither Shinichi nor Hattori chases after women, do they? They're a little different from a normal high school boy. In the end, detectives are fairly different, whether you're talking about Holmes or Seishi Yokomizo's Kindaichi. That's the appeal of detective-type people, though. *There's a Japanese Wikipedia page for it, but that's about it. Apparently it ran from July 25 to September 26, 1986 on TBS, and was so popular that its ratings exceeded 31% at one time.
Q: Have your names ever been disgarded before?
A: In the case where the female illustrator gets killed by her lover, who is an artist (File 125~ "Falling Corpse"), I wrote, "I give you money. You give me satisfaction. That sounds like a fair deal to me," and they told me that this was not good. I do agree that it was too raw for Sunday (laughs). In the end, I changed it to something light like "I'll do my job so don't meddle with the family." That's about it.
Q: What about collecting data? I'm often surprised about how firm the factual areas on police relations, crime knowledge, and such are.
A: The editor has friends who does CSI or are working at a bank, and the assistants' relatives turn out to be former police detectives, so I ask them. For example, what do you need if you want to open a safe at night? I get to use some police terminology, too, though of course there are secret ones that I can't use. On car-related subjects, I ask my brother, who is one year younger than me. He's an engineer. I ask him things like, if you insert ice between the front wheels and the ice melts, what will happen? The radiator's water will probably drip if the cooler was kept open – then, where would the water drip from? Things like that. (File 221) On medicine-related subjects, I have another younger brother, who is a doctor. He and I came up with the APTX. To be rejuvenated . . . you can't get your bones back to the way it was, so that aspect is fictional, but maybe it's possible to rejuvenate cells, and such. This younger brother is also knowlegeable about anime, so he advised me on who to pick for voice actors. Also, on Hattori and Kazuha's Kansai dialect, the editor, who is from Kansai, looks over them carefully for me. On site research, I've rode the sleeping car train Hokutosei with the editor before. We had a meeting around dusk once, and suddenly decided to make this case center on Hokutosei. By chance, I/we managed to obtain the ticket(s) for next morning. Unfortunately, we didn't go up to Hokkaido and got off at Utsunomiya, so it was a bit of a waste. The train conductor surprised me. I said, "I have to get off in the middle?"
Q: What do you struggle with the most in Conan's story?
A: The culprit's motives. People often think that coming up with tricks is troublesome, but for me, I always struggle with the motives. Grudges pop up a lot, but if it happens too often, then it's not interesting anymore. But then, I don't like indiscriminate murder, either. For example, someone kills people because it was hot outside – that leaves a bad taste, doesn't it? I don't want to do things like that. I also don't let the culprit die. The culprit commits suicide in the end only in the Tsukikage (Moon Shadow) Island story, right?
Q: On the characters, is there something you decided the characters won't do?
A: Conan doesn't cry, but that's about it. He might have tears in his eyes from yawning, but he won't wail, he won't cry from empathy. I decided this at the beginning. There are other things I decided, but it's better not to say them, isn't it? It'll be more fun for the readers to search for themselves.
Q: Do you decide the story with the editor?
A: Yes, I first discuss with the editor and decide. When the previous case ends, I take a nap, then I discuss within that day. With a free-talk-like style, we discuss from the trick, the flow of the story, to the conclusion, and we decide one case at once – in another words, we decide what will happen for the next 3~4 weeks. So the overall schedule goes like this: one case ends, I take a nap, I meet with the editor within that day, then I finish the name (pre-manuscript) in three days, then I meet up with the editor again, and then I ink it, then I add the finishing touches in the next four days. This is my week.
Q: You can't rest at all, can you? You must have other things to do within that period, too.
A: No, I can't rest. I rest only about the time when I sleep after finishing the manuscript. I might travel when Conan doesn't print, but even then I think about Conan so it's not truly a rest at all. I relax only about when I watch baseball.
Q: Everyone is curious about how Conan will develop in the future.
A: It's probably more fun to not say much about that (laughs). I am thinking about a development that will surprise the readers, but for now there are more things that I can't say.
Even if sensei does take a few weeks of vacation, no one forgets about Conan, and the popularity doesn't go down, either (though this will trouble the editorial department). Even though sensei climbed up to that point, he continues writing Conan amid an even more difficult schedule. I wonder about where such an energy come from. One more thing, sensei never said the word "job". Though writing manga is undoubtedly a job for sensei, it seems to be completely different from the what is called "labor".
Q: What is important for a manga artist? What would you advise people who want to become manga artists, for example?
A: I wonder . . . I never had a moment where I had a strong sense that I am a manga artist.You might say that, at the core, you have to like it. You can't continue if you don't like it. Also, you must have a sense of inquisitiveness. These might be common, but that's all that I can think of. On inquisitiveness, say you see a boring movie. Don't say "Boooring!" and be done with it, for me I would think about how this part should be like this, how if this is done then it will be come more and more interesting – things like that. Interesting movies are fine the way they are, but what are you doing to think when you see a boring one? That's why boring movies are surprisingly better for me results-wise (laughs). Also, there are a lot of things that you don't know about in this world, right? In a story related to anime, when I heard of the terminologies "F1, F2" for ratings, I end up thinking if I could make something out of them or not.* It's important to think about what you can do with things you've never heard of before.
[*Symbols representing TV viewers' age groups. F1 = female, 20~34; F2 = female, 35~49; others are as follows:
F3 = females 50 and above; M1 = male, 20~34; M2 = male, 35~49; M3 = males 50 and above; C1 = children, 4~12; C2 = children, 13~19.]
Q: Your head constantly turns toward creative work, doesn't it? Creative brain, perhaps.
A: That's true. That's why you have to like it, in the end. You're usually carefree without any thoughts if you travel, and I try to do that, too, but I end up thinking about if I can find material to work with out of habit. At the core, there's an aspect of diligence (laughs). You shouldn't strain your nerves too much, though.
Q: Are you all right from tendonitis? They say that being a manga artist means a fight against tendonitis.
A: There was one time when I almost got it. I always had strong pressure on the pen, so I'm the type who easily gets tendonitis. I've changed my drawing style since then. I use a thin marker and trace over the same line many times to make it thicker. I use the PIGMA 0.1mm pen. That way, I don't have to put much pressure on the arms. Except for background and unimportant characters, I draw everything. Meaning, I leave things like backgrounds with cars, CSI's and police people without names to assistants, then draw the characters who have names myself.<
Q: On the art, which manga artist did you receive influence from?
A: Monkey Punch, of Lupin III. There's a time when Conan drinks some alcohol and reverts back to his former body, right? The alcohol called Paikaru comes from the name of a magician that appears in Lupin III. I would also say Mitsuru Adachi-san, and surprisingly a shojo manga artist named Akemi Matsunae-san, I think. And people my age all received influence to some degree from Katsuhiro Otomo-san, I think. (Ha ha, I wonder if Miyano Akemi's name comes from Matsunae Akemi's . . . it sounds like it does, doesn't it?)
Q: Sensei is single, but if you marry you can't continue living like this, can you?
A: No, I can't. If my lifestyle changes, I can't continue the current pace anymore.* When I started Conan, I thought that this would be a lot of work. When I actually started, it was truly so much work that I don't do what my superiors say. I even said that I won't do anything unless they let me do whatever I want to do. This way, I can continue because I'm doing whatever I want in life and in my work. I was told to change the name from Conan to Doyle, to make Hattori into an absolute rival, things like that, but that's different from what I'm thinking. In that aspect, I insisted on my way as the artist. So I've been doing whatever I want. You should do what you like, as you like . . . This may be quite troublesome to both mind and body, but in the end I think that I want to be consumed there. Therefore, I'm happy, after all, because I'm living this way. I think I want to continue being a manga artist until ideas run dry, or readers tell me that they don't need me anymore. Though I might say "Aaaah, stooop!" from time to time.
[T/N: *There seems to be a typo here - I can't find the meaning of 維待anywhere – so I guessed at what it meant.]
2004
Love Conan Interview
Date: March 31, 2004
Source: https://conan-4869.net/post-19909
Raw:
Translation by: Yunniechan[3]
Our magazine is for women, so forgive us for such a sudden question, but can we ask what is sensei’s favourite girl type?
What?! (laughs) Okay.
Judging from the characters that are appearing in your work, which one is your favourite?
If I have to chose from girls, it’s Ran. And Conan’s mother, Yukiko. Yukiko was modelled after Fujiko Mine, and, to be honest, I borrowed her hair style.
That’s why her chest is so big.
Hahaha. Her chest is big, yeah, and she also can disguise herself. She also rides Harley and wears leather jackets. The whole disguising technique came from Lupin the Third.
Do you have any favourite actresses?
Right… Some time ago it was Kikuchi Momoko. Now… Hirosue :) And Yūka, I guess.
Looks like you like women with sweet and comforting personality.
I like women most people like.
All girls appearing in sensei’s works have a great sense of style.
Right. Nakamori Aoko, a character from the manga [Magic Kaito], where Kaito Kid first appeared, has a small chest, and she’s the only one. And she’s not [Momoko], but [Aoko].
I see. By color. You drew her when you were a fan of Momoko-chan?
Yes-yes. At that time. And she is Nakamori, because I liked Nakamori Akina. I liked her more than Matsuda Seiko.
There were Seiko-chan fraction and Akina-chan fraction, yeah…
You have a lot of childhood friends sweethearts in your works, is it because you had one?
Nope. I didn’t.
Really? You played detective a lot when you were a child, you didn’t have girls as friends?
Yeah. Nope. I didn’t have, but at the elementary school I was taken camping to the mountains, it was a lesson, so I had to, I was the last and I lost… And came to girls’ group. When we met, I left the cave with them.
There was a girl I liked in there :)
Sounds really funny! How old were you?
Elementary school student. So I were able to get the direction from tree stump… But still I really was lost, and girls started to cry. We kind of made a long way around, and returned. We thought everyone would be angry at us, so everyone started crying before we reached the meeting point. I called it fake tears :)
That’s cheating :) And? Everyone were angry?
They weren’t. We said [it was scary], but it wasn’t scary at all. It was really fun.
Which couple sensei wants to support?
Of course Shinichi and Ran. Shinichi became small, so it doesn’t go well for him.
Readers should also love not just Shinichi, but also Ran, and I want them to support them both! Right?
Yeah. It was like that at the beginning, see? It’s because you understand it’s mutual feeling, right? It’s not like when characters pretend to hate each other and then, at vol. 8 or something you just [oh, so they loved each other?]. You know it from the very beginning. But since he turned small, it’s a bit hard for them.
It’s even sadder because of that, I think everyone will support them. Every character is, so to speak, slow.
Ah, yeah-yeah. Seiyuu Hayashibara Megumi-san said that too! [Kind of too slow] :) I believe she thought [It’s because they think about themself].
That’s a really irritating feeling, but I bet readers find it amazing.
Yes-yes. So I’ll probably make them more irritated :)
A lot of people say [We want Conan-kun and Ai-chan to have something]
Yes-yes. A-a… Impossible, just impossible :)
Impossible after all? Which one Ai-chan prefer - Kudo-kun or Edogawa-kun?
Smaller one, I think? Conan. Hayashibara-san also said that [big one is nice, but give me a smaller one] :)
Speaking about adults, Satou-keiji and Takagi-keiji are also leading? They have a lot of fans. Saying things like [Please let them marry!]
Hahaha. So they want them to marry… Wonder what should I do…
Don’t you think it’s time? Their relationships developed a lot… (TN: COUGH 2004 year COUGH)
Right-right (big laughter) I look forward to drawing it. Comparing to Shinichi and the others, Satou and Takagi didn’t have much obstacles.
If only there wasn’t Shiratori-keibu.
Aa. Shiratori :) Right-right.
Ah, that tailing at Tropical Marine Land was so funny. All their hearing errors…
[Heroin]’s became [hirouen (reception)] and blood’s [kekkon (stain)] - [kekkon (marriage)], that? To be honest, I really liked drawing it.
And Satou-keiji is really popular, right? Everyone but Megure-keibu and Chiba-keibu love her!
Right. She’s great :) When a woman takes a job full of male workers, of course she’ll be popular.
Is Satou-san the only one woman in the first division of Criminal Investigation Bureau?
Right… I never drew it, but I guess there are others? If they are there, I bet they are quite pitiable. Hahaha.
Sensei, you said earlier [I see Kogoro-san as Jinnai Takanori], if you were to make a live action, what would you do? There are a lot of fans who are against life action, you see…
I would like to see Matuda Yuusaku as Shinichi’s dad. I really like him. I would’ve wrote Takizawa-kun as Kudo Shinichi, but even if I’ll say saw, fangirls will go like [no waay~ not Takki!], you see :)
In the survey, we thought there would be more Heiji-playing candidates, but, surprisingly, there weren’t.
Weren’t? Not much dark-skinned, you see.
When sensei just started to draw the very first chapter of [Meitantei Conan], did he expected a lot of fangirls?
Yeah… But I didn’t expect that many. The love comedy aspect wasn’t really strong. When I look through fan letters, all male fans are around middle school, and everyone older are all female fans. Looks like I’m popular among housewives :)
Especially a lot of cases where a mother watches it with her child and becomes interested herself. When I go to cinemas, there a lot of women of mother-like age. I don’t think children and mothers number is equal.
:) [When I started reading it, I was a high school student, but now I am a mother] - fan letters like this came to me. That’s going pretty wild.
What criminal left the most big impression on you, sensei? Like, even if they committed a crime, you really liked them.
Of course Tsukishima Island’s Asou Seiji. But he died. A criminal who can’t kill people easily. That’s the impression left of him.
Did you decide to kill him in the end of the story right from the beginning?
Yes. That has been decided. And there was a foreigner… what’s his name, Harold. At the Karakuri Spider Mansion. I pitied him too…
[SHINE] that was read as [die]?
Yes, that was pitiful too. After I drew that, I thought that he really is pitiful… :) If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve probably made him commit suicide, murdering someone just for that… Assistant also asked me [why? why did you drew that?]
Your assistants can say such things?
They can. If something’s boring, they’ll say it’s boring. And they can say something like [That was kind of great that time].
Kaito Kid is a guest from another manga, but he’s becoming famous. Sensei, what do you think about it?
When I was about to enter Kaito Kid, I thought [Should I make that egoistic thing?] :) Matsumoto Reiji-sensei makes that a lot, don’t you think? In 999, Harlock and Queen Emeralds appear, for example. I liked that feeling. I always wait eagerly for the pain plot, but when a guest appears, I think it’s nice.
Recently, when Kaito Kid appeared, when I read internet, Magic Kaito fans went nuts. [He won’t lose to Conan!], a lot of comments like that :) That became kind of fuss. But, different from [Magic Kaito], I drew only Kaito Kid himself. Not Kuroba Kaito. And I don’t show what Kid thinks, only Conan’s POV. And Kid uses really pompous phrases….
Really pompous. He’s a good rival to Shinichi-kun.
Yeah… He really became kind of pretentious. :) My main character. It’s hard to think of his lines.
Have you taken some cool lines from books or films?
No… They just come to me, while I’m relaxing.
To be honest, in readers survey the most popular opinion is [we want complete profiles for characters]. Like, a lot want to know Heiji’s birthdate.
Heeh. When Heiji born, huh… I want to know it myself, but he acts like a Leo.
Yes, and him being dark-skinned… That’s an August kind of thing. You’re planning to reveal it eventually?
Hm. I really want to think of birthdays. I did Agasa-hakase’s birthday. That took me 10 years :) 53 years… When I started drawing it, I thought [That’s quite a grandpa], but when I think about it right now, he’s not that old. Maybe I should’ve made him 63? Fail~
Everyone call him [jii-san], and he looks like a ojiisan.
Yep. I failed :)
He looks like a professor from Ocha no Mizu.
Right. It even looks like I’ve stolen Ocha no Mizu’s professor :)
Speaking of birthdays and blood types, people really [want to know about their loved one]. Especially blood types, Ran said [My blood type is the same as this child’s], and everyone got curious.
If I’ll say it, I think girls with other blood type would be sad. Just think of it as anyone you like. That’s why I probably won’t reveal it.
What is Sharon Vineyard’s age? Chris is 29, so being her mother… Have you thought about it?
Hee. Hehehe.
Gin knows her age? We’re worried :) At least relatively?
Hehehe. Right. That’s pretty much a core question.
A lot of people want to know how it’ll end. I won’t ask about that, so I’ll make another question. Shinichi lived alone 3 years, right? How did he managed his housework?
He made his meals my himself, sometimes Ran made it for him, professor too. I don’t think he’s skilled at cooking.
When he was back, he had only a toast for breakfast, so I guess he didn’t cook anything?
Hahaha. Yeah, that’s true.
Ran standed in line for Fusae Campbell’s branded goods, so what did she buy in the end? Because it is Ran-chan, maybe it was a purse?
What did she buy hmm… Well, let’s think she did buy a purse. When I’ll draw her purse next time, I’ll tell assistant [here, ass some leaf pattern]. And readers would be like [a-a, so that is what she bought]. Hahaha.
It doesn’t look like she bought a big bag. Ran doesn’t have that much of allowance.
Aa, right. Right. That was not expensive. Nice good with reasonable price.
You really need to draw after making a big research. At that sphere there are a lot of things you can’t draw without understanding technical details, I guess it’s hard to research?
That’s more of [please ask about…] and searching in internet kind of thing. When I drew a story about fishing, I became really knowledgeable in fishing sphere. And when I drew the story about bears, I learned a lot of details of bear behaviour.
I also know a lot about dogs.
That’s interesting :)
Like, about dog breeds. But I’m starting to forget by now.
You have a lot of animals appearing. Sensei, do you like animals?
Hmm… I guess? Haibara loves animals. I had a dog when I was a child, and was really sad when it died…
I can’t get another one because I think it’ll die someday too. I bought a robot dog once…
But you lost interest in it?
Yep. I gave it to a friend :) Robot dogs really grow. By stages. At first it starts walking around the house slowly… So when I thought [it’ll start to walk soon], it tried to stand but couldn’t. That was a bit revolting. It was too much ‘real’. I was scared.
A lot of places appear in series. When you want to draw it, do you go there to gather material?
The story that’s going on right now is in Okinawa, but I never been there. Camera people made photos of Naha airport for me.
I see. You can’t go, right? Having no time…
I went to NY. There’s [author takes a break in order to gather materials] message a lot, but that time it was not a non appearance because I missed deadline, I actually went to gather material :) Other than NY, just being in Tokyo is boring, so Conan and others travel a lot.
Would you be happy if another prefectural police officer appears?
?! Yes. Totally. I thought about it a lot. Gunma, Shizuoka, Kanagawa… And Saitama’s Yokomizo-keiji stopped appearing. To be honest, police officers don’t actually transfer. At the beginning, I made him being transferred a lot to whole of different places, and had him said [you too have come here!], but then I was told that [there’s no thing as job transfer in police]
You were scolded by a police-related person?
Not exactly, I have a fan who’s really fluent in police relations. [In WEB Sunday’s next preview there was [Takagi-keiji is going to transfer to Tottori?] written, so I thought [there’s no transferring!], went to inquire about to Joint Security Investigation Center, and there is actually, so good job, Aoyama-sensei!]
That was close~ :)
How much people are inside the BO?
Aa… I guess a lot.
A lot of people want to know who is [Anokata]. They wrote an e-mail/text message in Japanese, is they Japanese?
Well… I wonder. Everyone see even smallest details, huh.
If you’ll come up with it, will Gin’s or someone else’s nationality be shown?
Heh, Gin’s concept name was [Kurosawa Jin] :) Hahaha
Ehhhhh! Gin has a name?! Then Vodka’s is [Uokka Saburou]? That name was in registry book!
Aa~ I drew a registry book! You can’t see it, but there’s [Kurosawa Jin] written next to Uokka Saburou. Really! Hahaha. :)
It can’t be that they came up with their code names because of that puns! I think :)
Before vol. 42 people thought that Akai Shuichi is suspicious. And because of that everyone went [eeeeh?!]
He’s a good man. Hahaha :) He is a little gloomy. But this has a reason. Hehehe. :)
We was like [He’s too suspicious!] Because of his cold eyes.
He was the only one character of mine whom I added a slant line to the eyes :) I usually do that only to dead people. I really like this character. His voice is Ikeda Shuichi-san after all.
There is a rumour that sensei requested this seiyuu-san by himself.
Right-right. When NY special was out, I said [he’s cool. too cool]. That was great.
What was Araide-sensei doing in America?
Hm. He was a doctor, right? I don’t know. Maybe something different? You see, when everyone saw that Araide-sensei was Vermouth, Araide-sensei’s fans became really sad about it.
I thought he won’t appear again, I’m really happy he returned.
He’s back~! I think he is pretty interesting character.
He’s a tender person and everyone understand it.
Araide-sensei is going to have a bad time after all of that… kind of.
Eehhh?! Why? I don’t want to hear it, to be honest :)
Because of the place Vermouth lived in. Maybe she left a lot of stuff, don’t you think? It would be bad if he’ll find some.
Conan-kun wears Shinichi’s old clothes, and Ai-chan buys her by herself?
Ha~ Yes. Hakase can’t buy it after all.
She is really like a small adult. Her clothes feels like one onee-san would wear.
Right-right. Haibara reads magazines like CanCam. Such magazines are brought to me too. Sometime ago I went to buy by myself, but people in store made strange faced. Because I was buying a lot of women magazines. Thus I stopped buying it by myself.
You draw their clothes by looking at such magazines?
I took one I like and that look easy to draw. If there’re swimsuits, I look through fashionable swimsuits. Usually when it becomes an anime episode, a year passed and by the time it comes on screens, that clothes are not fashionable. I managed to catch a moment when ganguros were trending. Hahaha :)
At the time anime episode was out they nearly stopped trending at all. When I drew the case, they were really popular and by the anime episode time only village girls were doing that.
Time difference is harsh for fashion.
It is. That’s why I didn’t draw things like loose socks. I didn’t draw it because I thought they’ll go out of fashion, but. Until this very day (2004) they are remaining. [What. I should’ve drawn them].
Are there towns that became models for Beika and Haido?
Names come out from Baker street and Hyde park but I wonder where town structure came~
PAPCO surroundings really look like Shibuya Park’s PARCO, is it somewhere in Shibuya?
Hmm… I never thought of it :) That’s random. I drew the atmosphere of the place I live in. Like, when I lived at Kita Senju, I drew surroundings having it in mind. A place that’s just of some distance from the city centre.
But it has a lot of stuff. An amusement park, a cinema, a shopping centre…
It grew bigger, huh.
You had to have that in town :) Beika-city has only 5 town blocks?
Maybe? You ask even about this… :) You see, at the case with a series of arson I had to say which town block had it. I was asked [How about making it in 5 block?] So I did.
In a previous book I was asked to draw a map, but I can’t. It doesn’t come together.
Like… You draw that street, you draw another street… And those two are connected?-feeling?
They don’t. Tohto tower is Tokyo tower. It’s like a mix of fiction and reality.
That would be the least question. What is the future place you want to make a case in? Is there a place you want to go to?
That’s of course London. Although I heard the food there is really bad. I need to make cool incident in London.
Then please go there to gather material. But speaking of London, that’s a place where Holmes lived, maybe that’ll become a place for [final battle]?
Hahaha :) Noo. London would be served for love comedy. Ran and Shinichi’s. Love comedy’s final battle.
Love comedy’s final battle! What will be there? I really want to read it! I’ll be waiting!
EXTRA:
I want to ask about Ayumi-chan’s house and family!
At first, Mitsuhiko was the one who looked like 'a young master’, but in the movie [The Last Wizard of the Century] Kid stopped by at Ayumi-chan’s place. That’s why I quickly made Ayumi-chan living in multi-stored condominium .
I never even dreamt about it. And then I suddenly realized that Ayumi-chan is the richest! I think it’s because Ayumi-chan’s father is a pilot. Like Himitsu no Akko-chan’s father, who is a captain, you see.
Conan Vs Kaitou Kid Perfect Edition
Date: April 2, 2004
Published in: Detective Conan vs. Kaitou Kid: Perfect Edition (p. 169)
Raw:
Translation by: Yunniechan [4]
Hello, it’s Aoyama Gosho. Speaking about a book that’ll have Conan VS Kid battles, I was unsure, whether would people actually buy it, but at least people who are reading it right now have bought it. Thank you.
When Kid first appeared, I drew him thinking of him like special guest for one time, I never thought he’ll appear enough to compile a book, what a shock :) At first I only wanted Conan to have a strong rival. Hattori Heiji is his deduction rival and detective pal. But I wanted a rival that was an arch nemesis to detectives, natural enemy, to appear. Then how about an elusive daredevil thief, like Arsen Lupin and Lupin III? I was their fan since the very childhood. So, I thought a lot about a rival, who’s smart as Conan and can oppose him….
Wait a second! I knew someone who is exactly fit for this… And he’s right next to me! :)
I was unsure about a main character from my other work appearing, so I went to consult with that time Shounen Sunday’s Editor in Chief. He readily said me that it’s okay. So I happily created a showdown between Conan and Kaito Kid.
They even have a beginning, in [Magic Kaito]’s [Black Star chapter] Shinichi appears, which of course wasn’t an original thought :) Of course right now I think a lot about Conan and Kid connections.
But the reason of Shinichi’s appearance in [Magic Kaito] is that I wanted to draw him acting in his Shinichi form, it doesn’t have any deep meaning. Kid/Kaito’s rivals are Nakamori-keibu and Hakuba-kun. Shinichi is, so called, special guest.
So you can expect to read Shinichi’s important activity before he became Conan in this book. And I’ll comment it for [Magic Kaito] fans, Nakamori-keibu wasn’t assigned to police HQ at that time, that was back in time where he worked at Minato Police Station.
I think that Conan and Kid relation as ‘the one who chases’ and 'the one who runs’ will continue in [Meitantei Conan]. Well, I don’t know who’ll win in the end though :)
I will draw it with great pleasure, so please wait for it!!
2005
Unknown Fan Gathering
Note: In a later interview (Gosho Aoyama Interview about the Boss 2017), Gosho denied ever saying this and his editor too said that such an interview never happened. This turned out to be a hoax.
Translated by: justwantanaccount
From Q&A in a gathering between Aoyama Gosho and Conan fans in 2005
Q. On the Black Syndicate/Organization?
A. A formal name exists. If mentioned, the boss' name will be exposed so I can't say.
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2015
Gosho Aoyama's Surgery
Date: March 18, 2015
Published in: Weekly Shonen Sunday Issue 16/2015
Source: https://meitanteikonanplot.blogspot.com/2015/03/special-post-3-gosho-aoyamas-surgery.html
Raw:
どーも 青山です！
突然ですが、この度 手術して 入院する事になりやした！
まぁ、手術は無事 終わったんですが、 しばらく入院しなきゃならねぇようなので、
その間、掲載が不定期になると思いますけど、夏頃に退院して これまで通りに戻る予定だよん！
それまで「ちょっと待ってて」ね（笑）
入院中は「艦これ」やりまくりだー♪の
青山剛昌でした。
コナン＞＞ゲームばっかやってねーで
早く治せよね！
Translation by: (Game Shikumi)
Edited by: Manvel
Hello, Aoyama here!
I know it's sudden, but I had surgery and am in the hospital!
So, the surgery went fine, but it seems I'll need to be in the hospital for a little while.
So, for the time being, Conan will be on a little break, but sometime around summer I'll be out of the hospital, and things'll get back to normal!
Until then just "wait a minute" (laughs)
-Gosho Aoyama-
The man playing "Kantai Collection**" all the time in the hospital.
(A word from Conan) Stop just playing games and get better already!
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2026
Gosho Aoyama in Yomiuri Shimbun Interview After “Let’s Talk Day” Event
Date: January 13, 2026
Published in: Yomiuri Shimbun
Source: (Link)
Raw:
Q1: 今年の目標は？
A1:「アニメ３０周年を盛り上げていきたいと思います。漫画でも色々大変な話もあるかもしれないので。それはちょっと言えませんけど、楽しみにしてください」
Q2: アニメの人気をどう思いますか。
A2:「漫画にいい影響を及ぼしていると思います。声優さんのイメージに合わせてキャラを変えますからね。だから、かなり刺激を受けていますよ。ありがたいです」
Newspaper
After the event concluded, Gosho Aoyama responded to an interview (on the 3rd, in Hokuei Town, Tottori Prefecture).
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Translation edited by: Manvel
Q1: What are your goals for this year?
Aoyama: “I want to help build excitement for the anime’s 30th anniversary. There may also be some challenging developments in the manga as well. I can’t really say much about that yet, but please look forward to it.”
Q2: What do you think about the anime’s popularity?
Aoyama: “I think it has a positive effect on the manga. I adjust the characters to match the voice actors’ images, you see. So I receive a great deal of inspiration from it. I’m very grateful.”
See also
- https://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/
- https://conan-4869.net/post-5361
- https://www.detectiveconanworld.com/wiki/User:Jimmy-kud0-tv2/Interviews_Archive_May_11_2018
References
- ^ https://yesyunniechan.tumblr.com/post/149893527591/mystery-museum-interview-97-english-123 Part 1
- ^ https://yesyunniechan.tumblr.com/post/149940982821/end-mystery-museum-interview-97-english-4-5
- ^ https://yesyunniechan.tumblr.com/post/150147160606/love-conan-interview-2004-english
- ^ https://yesyunniechan.tumblr.com/post/150232943761/conan-vs-kaito-kid-perfect-edition-interview
