The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You - Vol. 15 Ch. 128 - A Very Small and Very Cute Chapter
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The interview in text form (from https://youngjump.jp/comic_award/interview/008/):
Just starting out
When you first decided to become a mangaka, how did you work towards that goal? How did you practice drawing manga, and what was your career strategy?
Nakamura: Ultimately my practice came down to drawing manga nonstop. I did spend a lot of time watching movies to study them, but nothing is more important than practical experience.
Nozawa: I think drawing a lot is very important, too. As far as the specifics of how I practiced, I was very intent on being able to draw characters’ bodies well. I paid a lot of attention to drawing hands, drawing bodies from numerous angles, and drawing by copying photos of human anatomy. I have books filled with pictures of human anatomy I use. Sometimes I’ll want to draw in the dead of night, so I’ll sketch on my sketchpad until I’m satisfied. Even working on a serialized title now, I’ll draw five or six sketches at a time. If I don’t have time, I’ll try to do at least two. I haven’t been able to as much recently, so it’ll take thirty minutes to an hour to do this.
Did you run into any hurdles or other difficulties when you debuted with a series?
Nakamura: I struggled initially because I was gripped with the feeling I had to create in a way that would amuse readers. When I was just drawing for myself, I was comfortable doing whatever I wanted. Ultimately, the process wasn’t very different from before I debuted. I just continued to draw and submit works, on and on and on. It came to a point where I doubted I was even going anywhere, and that’s a difficult thought to struggle with. However, I knew manga was the only thing I really wanted to do, so I kept at it.
Nozawa: I won a Rookie of the Year award and the work I submitted was serialized, but I don’t think I was cut out for it at the time. I didn’t understand how to put the finishing touches on a manga, and I didn’t understand how to really draft a storyboard to begin with. I don’t think I had a good foundation. I felt that I needed to figure out what it was I lacked, because I wouldn’t be able to match up to the creators serialized in commercial magazines otherwise. In particular, the editor at the time told me that Mori Taishi-sensei’s “Kyou no Asuka Show” had illustrations most suitable for the work I was creating. I spent a lot of time copying and drawing the girls I liked in the series.
Was there anything particularly difficult you dealt with before winning Rookie of the Year?
Nozawa: I struggled to complete a manga, and had to figure out why that was. I’m not very good at writing dialogue, so I ultimately made a 20 page manga without any dialogue at all. Finishing that helped me feel a lot more confident, and I started an irregularly serialized series from there. Gradually, my editor helped me learn more about the process of creating manga, and that whole experience is why I’m here now.
Do you have any tips for overcoming those kinds of hurdles?
Nakamura: Just keep drawing, keep creating. There is no advice I can give with any more substance than that. It can be easy to let anxieties and doubts trap you, but just thinking won’t be enough to get through that. At the very least, just thinking isn’t enough for me, even now that I’m doing this professionally. I still discover new things during the creative process. Going around in circles, fretting about the minute details doesn’t help. Instead, when I run into a block and can’t work, I zoom out and think about the larger picture: Am I going to live by creating manga, or by doing something else? As long as I decide I’ll live by manga, everything else feels so much smaller in comparison.
Nozawa: I think it depends on the person, but I’m someone who becomes very discouraged thinking about “rivals.” It’s discouraging for me to think about people who are working harder and doing better than me. I know that can push some people to work harder and improve themselves, but that’s not how it is for me. Instead, I try to create at my own pace. Other than that, I try to draw the kinds of things I like and that keep me motivated. I think the reason I could draw so much before my debut is I had a character I loved and wanted to draw. I was drawing not out of obligation, but out of purpose. If you’re curious, that character is Mikasa from Attack on Titan (laughs). I think it was Mikasa that influenced me to want to draw cute girls, which had a great effect on the trajectory of my work.
Has anything from meetings with editors left an impression on you?
Nakamura: I see every piece of feedback I receive from editors to be words to live by, so I don’t think I could single anything out even if I wanted to. Still, I’m always very happy when I receive compliments (laughs).
Nozawa: When I started working on 100 Girlfriends, I told my editor, who had been my editor for Eguchi-kun, that I didn’t believe I could draw so many different girls. My editor told me not to worry, as I’d already drawn plenty of girls already. In that series, each chapter functioned as a self-contained story, so each one needed a different girl. That was five volumes filled with four page stories, so when I looked at it that way, I felt like drawing 100 different characters wouldn’t be so hard after all.
Have there been any other significant turning points for you? Realizing you could create manga, winning an award, having something published?
Nakamura: Three major turning points: Writing straight-man style comedy, noticing I was trying to draw characters so that they would look cute, and noticing I was trying to use less dialogue. These are all moments that were disconnected from each other.
Nozawa: What’s important, possibly more than anything else, is recognizing your own shortcomings. For example, I think I’m poor at writing dialogue, and there are times I will draw too many hard-to-see details in my artwork. When I recognize my weaknesses, it makes it easier to think about trying to improve on that consciously. I can look at other manga to learn more about drawing and to see how I can improve on that, but I really am just hopeless at writing. I think it can take a lot of time and a lot of work to bring your weak areas up to par.
The creative process
Is there anything you think about when creating characters that you want to be charming or attractive?
Nakamura: I do spend a lot of time looking at a character’s words and actions in the light of, could this make a reader feel uncomfortable?
Nozawa: I mostly just pay attention to art, photography, and modern trends so I can keep such things in mind when it comes to a character’s visual design.
100 Girlfriends is a series with many, many heroines. Is there anything specific you pay attention to when creating these characters, internally or externally?
Nakamura: Nothing that I think about consciously, but once I’ve created a character, I very quickly come to adore them. That helps a lot, I think. You should want to cherish the characters you create.
Nozawa: I look for girls in magazines, or sites like instagram, twitter, pinterest, and youtube. When I use idols with strong personalities, or very stylized girls on pinterest for inspiration, I believe they get a better reaction from readers. I want to base ideas on 3D things, rather than other manga, so that they can accurately reflect the times.
Do you have any personal rules when creating a new character?
Nakamura: I think about the appeal of the character’s disposition, how their gender factors in, and I try to make the character someone that won’t be too disliked by most people, I guess.
Nozawa: Again, this relates mainly to character design. I want characters to be fashionable in a striking way. I like to think the readers appreciate fashion, too, so I try to maintain an understanding of what’s in fashion among young girls today.
Is there anything you pay attention to when wanting to make your work easy to read and understand?
Nakamura: I read it over, again and again. Other than that, I try to write in a way such that men and women of all ages and stripes can, at the very least, “grasp” what’s going on.
Nozawa: The storyboard I receive from Nakamura-sensei is very easy to grasp already, so I see my role as trying to balance it. For example, altering panel size to help make things easier to understand, give it impact, or to communicate when something is meant to be funny. And on that note, when I want something to stick out as funny, I’ll draw it in a quirky way.
Nakamura-sensei, Nozawa-sensei, is there anything about the others’ work that sticks out to you as amazing? Can you tell us why?
Nakamura: I don’t think there’s enough time in the day for me to list everything, but I guess the top one would be her love for the characters. She puts every ounce of her heart into drawing Rentarou’s Family, and it makes me feel very reassured and able to trust her. It also makes me want to live up to those expectations, and draw out the full charm of each and every character.
Nozawa: There are so many, I wouldn’t know where to start. They’re all things I could never do, at that. I think his ability to continue working and creating relentlessly is amazing, for one. I’m also always impressed by how he never compromises on anything. I can tell he has a strong desire to create stories that are far from ordinary. If there’s ever anything a reader looks at and thinks, “I want to take this out,” he instead takes the approach of trying to make it interesting, and I respect that a lot. Also, the way logic factors into creating a manga. Logic is usually there to keep things consistent and uncomplicated. But the way Nakamura-sensei diverges from that creates a work that nobody else could make. As a mangaka, I’m actually jealous of him, but as a partner, he’s very reliable.
Regarding the Young Jump newcomer manga contest
Do you have any words or encouragement for the applicants?
Nakamura: Let’s make the world of manga even more exciting! Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone, everywhere said their hobby was manga? I think you have the potential to make that happen, so let’s work hard!
Nozawa: Whether it’s more autobiographical or completely silent, please just try to make it. I think just creating a manga can be an eye-opening experience. The feeling of creating something itself is a lot.
Just starting out
When you first decided to become a mangaka, how did you work towards that goal? How did you practice drawing manga, and what was your career strategy?
Nakamura: Ultimately my practice came down to drawing manga nonstop. I did spend a lot of time watching movies to study them, but nothing is more important than practical experience.
Nozawa: I think drawing a lot is very important, too. As far as the specifics of how I practiced, I was very intent on being able to draw characters’ bodies well. I paid a lot of attention to drawing hands, drawing bodies from numerous angles, and drawing by copying photos of human anatomy. I have books filled with pictures of human anatomy I use. Sometimes I’ll want to draw in the dead of night, so I’ll sketch on my sketchpad until I’m satisfied. Even working on a serialized title now, I’ll draw five or six sketches at a time. If I don’t have time, I’ll try to do at least two. I haven’t been able to as much recently, so it’ll take thirty minutes to an hour to do this.
Did you run into any hurdles or other difficulties when you debuted with a series?
Nakamura: I struggled initially because I was gripped with the feeling I had to create in a way that would amuse readers. When I was just drawing for myself, I was comfortable doing whatever I wanted. Ultimately, the process wasn’t very different from before I debuted. I just continued to draw and submit works, on and on and on. It came to a point where I doubted I was even going anywhere, and that’s a difficult thought to struggle with. However, I knew manga was the only thing I really wanted to do, so I kept at it.
Nozawa: I won a Rookie of the Year award and the work I submitted was serialized, but I don’t think I was cut out for it at the time. I didn’t understand how to put the finishing touches on a manga, and I didn’t understand how to really draft a storyboard to begin with. I don’t think I had a good foundation. I felt that I needed to figure out what it was I lacked, because I wouldn’t be able to match up to the creators serialized in commercial magazines otherwise. In particular, the editor at the time told me that Mori Taishi-sensei’s “Kyou no Asuka Show” had illustrations most suitable for the work I was creating. I spent a lot of time copying and drawing the girls I liked in the series.
Was there anything particularly difficult you dealt with before winning Rookie of the Year?
Nozawa: I struggled to complete a manga, and had to figure out why that was. I’m not very good at writing dialogue, so I ultimately made a 20 page manga without any dialogue at all. Finishing that helped me feel a lot more confident, and I started an irregularly serialized series from there. Gradually, my editor helped me learn more about the process of creating manga, and that whole experience is why I’m here now.
Do you have any tips for overcoming those kinds of hurdles?
Nakamura: Just keep drawing, keep creating. There is no advice I can give with any more substance than that. It can be easy to let anxieties and doubts trap you, but just thinking won’t be enough to get through that. At the very least, just thinking isn’t enough for me, even now that I’m doing this professionally. I still discover new things during the creative process. Going around in circles, fretting about the minute details doesn’t help. Instead, when I run into a block and can’t work, I zoom out and think about the larger picture: Am I going to live by creating manga, or by doing something else? As long as I decide I’ll live by manga, everything else feels so much smaller in comparison.
Nozawa: I think it depends on the person, but I’m someone who becomes very discouraged thinking about “rivals.” It’s discouraging for me to think about people who are working harder and doing better than me. I know that can push some people to work harder and improve themselves, but that’s not how it is for me. Instead, I try to create at my own pace. Other than that, I try to draw the kinds of things I like and that keep me motivated. I think the reason I could draw so much before my debut is I had a character I loved and wanted to draw. I was drawing not out of obligation, but out of purpose. If you’re curious, that character is Mikasa from Attack on Titan (laughs). I think it was Mikasa that influenced me to want to draw cute girls, which had a great effect on the trajectory of my work.
Has anything from meetings with editors left an impression on you?
Nakamura: I see every piece of feedback I receive from editors to be words to live by, so I don’t think I could single anything out even if I wanted to. Still, I’m always very happy when I receive compliments (laughs).
Nozawa: When I started working on 100 Girlfriends, I told my editor, who had been my editor for Eguchi-kun, that I didn’t believe I could draw so many different girls. My editor told me not to worry, as I’d already drawn plenty of girls already. In that series, each chapter functioned as a self-contained story, so each one needed a different girl. That was five volumes filled with four page stories, so when I looked at it that way, I felt like drawing 100 different characters wouldn’t be so hard after all.
Have there been any other significant turning points for you? Realizing you could create manga, winning an award, having something published?
Nakamura: Three major turning points: Writing straight-man style comedy, noticing I was trying to draw characters so that they would look cute, and noticing I was trying to use less dialogue. These are all moments that were disconnected from each other.
Nozawa: What’s important, possibly more than anything else, is recognizing your own shortcomings. For example, I think I’m poor at writing dialogue, and there are times I will draw too many hard-to-see details in my artwork. When I recognize my weaknesses, it makes it easier to think about trying to improve on that consciously. I can look at other manga to learn more about drawing and to see how I can improve on that, but I really am just hopeless at writing. I think it can take a lot of time and a lot of work to bring your weak areas up to par.
The creative process
Is there anything you think about when creating characters that you want to be charming or attractive?
Nakamura: I do spend a lot of time looking at a character’s words and actions in the light of, could this make a reader feel uncomfortable?
Nozawa: I mostly just pay attention to art, photography, and modern trends so I can keep such things in mind when it comes to a character’s visual design.
100 Girlfriends is a series with many, many heroines. Is there anything specific you pay attention to when creating these characters, internally or externally?
Nakamura: Nothing that I think about consciously, but once I’ve created a character, I very quickly come to adore them. That helps a lot, I think. You should want to cherish the characters you create.
Nozawa: I look for girls in magazines, or sites like instagram, twitter, pinterest, and youtube. When I use idols with strong personalities, or very stylized girls on pinterest for inspiration, I believe they get a better reaction from readers. I want to base ideas on 3D things, rather than other manga, so that they can accurately reflect the times.
Do you have any personal rules when creating a new character?
Nakamura: I think about the appeal of the character’s disposition, how their gender factors in, and I try to make the character someone that won’t be too disliked by most people, I guess.
Nozawa: Again, this relates mainly to character design. I want characters to be fashionable in a striking way. I like to think the readers appreciate fashion, too, so I try to maintain an understanding of what’s in fashion among young girls today.
Is there anything you pay attention to when wanting to make your work easy to read and understand?
Nakamura: I read it over, again and again. Other than that, I try to write in a way such that men and women of all ages and stripes can, at the very least, “grasp” what’s going on.
Nozawa: The storyboard I receive from Nakamura-sensei is very easy to grasp already, so I see my role as trying to balance it. For example, altering panel size to help make things easier to understand, give it impact, or to communicate when something is meant to be funny. And on that note, when I want something to stick out as funny, I’ll draw it in a quirky way.
Nakamura-sensei, Nozawa-sensei, is there anything about the others’ work that sticks out to you as amazing? Can you tell us why?
Nakamura: I don’t think there’s enough time in the day for me to list everything, but I guess the top one would be her love for the characters. She puts every ounce of her heart into drawing Rentarou’s Family, and it makes me feel very reassured and able to trust her. It also makes me want to live up to those expectations, and draw out the full charm of each and every character.
Nozawa: There are so many, I wouldn’t know where to start. They’re all things I could never do, at that. I think his ability to continue working and creating relentlessly is amazing, for one. I’m also always impressed by how he never compromises on anything. I can tell he has a strong desire to create stories that are far from ordinary. If there’s ever anything a reader looks at and thinks, “I want to take this out,” he instead takes the approach of trying to make it interesting, and I respect that a lot. Also, the way logic factors into creating a manga. Logic is usually there to keep things consistent and uncomplicated. But the way Nakamura-sensei diverges from that creates a work that nobody else could make. As a mangaka, I’m actually jealous of him, but as a partner, he’s very reliable.
Regarding the Young Jump newcomer manga contest
Do you have any words or encouragement for the applicants?
Nakamura: Let’s make the world of manga even more exciting! Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone, everywhere said their hobby was manga? I think you have the potential to make that happen, so let’s work hard!
Nozawa: Whether it’s more autobiographical or completely silent, please just try to make it. I think just creating a manga can be an eye-opening experience. The feeling of creating something itself is a lot.
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Hol up. Was Suu supposed to be seen as short? The others I can see.
We got a full body length shot of Suu at her introduction chapter and the word 'short' never even crossed my mind.
We got a full body length shot of Suu at her introduction chapter and the word 'short' never even crossed my mind.
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Rentarou and Hahari died, and instead of having Ahko drag their corpses along everywhere, they were drawn as an amorphous blob.
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As the Volume 9 extras showed, Hakari's father is at the pearly gates to guard against premature passings.
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The shorties is cuute
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Ahko has the strongest mental fortitude... Btw between nakamura and nozaka sensei who is the artist and who is the author cause look like both did draw so...
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