Interview: Naoki Urasawa

Of all of the people I expected to have heard of my home state, manga master Hemenway, singing and playing his guitar. All in all, Urasawa projects a very human air, like he could be just an ordinary fellow you ed on the street or struck up a conversation with in the grocery store. Perhaps this is in part what enables him to write stories about people that we as readers (or viewers) can really care about - because he appears to understand how to be completely ordinary and to put others at their ease.

[translator introduces me by mentioning that I am from Maine]

Ah, Maine! Stephan King, Castle Rock! I've always thought that it must be a scary place. [laughs]

ANN: Can you explain your request to delay 20th Century Boys' English edition until after Monster finished its run in that language? What were your concerns?

[visibly surprised] Is that what happened? I didn't know. Viz in America had Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto, and I think they were unsure about what order they should publish them in.

ANN: You have a few times gone back and revisited characters from earlier works and given them their own stories – Jigoro! came from Yawara!, for example. Can you talk a bit about this? Are they always your favorite characters, or just ones you feel have more to say?

The story of Yawara! is very rich. Jigoro! is her grandfather, and I found him so interesting that he essentially, in movie , earned his own spin-off. He has so much fantasy in him that he could have many more stories than I wrote. There's so much to tell. Jigoro! ended up with only the one book, but it's one of my favorites.

ANN: What made you decide to revisit Master Keaton after so many years?

There are a couple of reasons. When I first wrote the story, contractual obligations made it difficult to tell the story the way I wanted to. Then after last year's earthquake and tsunami I went to visit the afflicted areas. People I met, victims of the disaster, told me how much they had always liked Master Keaton as a character. I wanted to do something for them, to cheer them up, so I decided to bring him back.

ANN: Pineapple Army has a very unusual premise. Could you speak a little about how you came up with it?

Actually my editor Nagasaki Takahashi came up with it. I thought it was a difficult one, so I tried to add some humor.

ANN: How do you feel about the anime adaptations of your books? I know of several English-language authors who are not pleased when their books are made into films – have you been pleased with the results of yours?

After the Yawara! anime, I requested that I be able to check all of the scripts whenever they made an adaptations. In of the films of 20th Century Boys, I checked over the scripts, but they're the property of the director, so there's not much I can do.

ANN: I have to it that I can still sing the theme song to Yawara!.

[face lights up] Ah! Miracle Girl! [big grin]

ANN:What are your thoughts on the legal digital distribution of manga?

None of my works are [legally] available digitally. I prefer physical books.

ANN: Thank you so much for your time.

You're welcome. (Aside to translator: She's using a cute pen.)