It gets boring if it just goes how you might like it to.
When it doesn't go how you'd like,
and the drama starts moving on its own like an amoeba,
drawing it becomes more interesting.
You really do have to enjoy doing it yourself.
It's fine to meander around a bit.
Even if the goal appears different in the end,
that makes it interesting in its own way.
Challenges of a Weekly Series
Oh no, oh no...
Look, it's 5 in the morning.
That's when it starts to expand.
Struggling to Capture the “Real”
My head's in a state that's opened up.
This is when I'll start to get ideas and such.
Yeah, there's something kind of crazy about that.
Creator of numerous hit works, mangaka Urasawa Naoki.
The project he's currently working on is this show, “Manben.”
Mangaka create grand dramas from the tiny tips of their pens.
Usually entry is not allowed to where they work, but we've been granted full access to film there.
Full Access to the Place Where Manga Is Born
This is his currently serialized work, “Billy Bat.”
The main character is a mangaka that can predict the future.
It's an epic tale of how that power shapes human history.
His imaginative power has taken flight once again and created a drama that will surprise the reader.
When you're filling in a blank page with a drawing,
it's something that wasn't there a few hours ago.
So when it's taken shape,
it has to be something that amazes yourself too.
If we aren't amazed by it, then the reader certainly won't be.
For this episode we have another very imaginative mangaka. He's created many astonishing works through his career.
“I Am a Hero” (2009-Present)
It's Hanazawa Kengo-san.
His current work, “I am a Hero,” has become a huge sensation.
Hanazawa-san draws inspiration from human drama.
He depicts the mindset of male losers who struggle in life,
and his focus on these young people has struck a chord.
In 2009 he started his series “I am a Hero.”
The world is plagued by an infectious disease that makes people like zombies.
The story takes shocking turns, one after another.
The minds of characters pushed to the edge are portrayed.
There's an overwhelming terror drawn with a dry touch.
It's a huge hit and is even being adapted into a film this year.
“I will protect you!”
In this episode we filmed the area where the work is created closely over a span of four days.
The Pursuit of Reality
What we discovered there was a complete pursuit of reality, earnest effort built upon pen work,
and the spirit of a mangaka - uncompromising till the end, all while battling with his deadlines.
Spirit of a Mangaka
One month later, they meet to talk while watching the footage.
They'll Talk While Watching the Footage
My impression is that his approach to drawing is...
almost the complete opposite of what mine is.
It's the opposite, but it's absurdly interesting...
and that's frustrating.
To His Work Space
We've arrived at Hanazawa-san's work space.
Hello there.
Hello.
I know you're really busy.
No, not at all.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for having me.
You've got a really cool place here.
Well, you know...
It's a total gym here.
Do you want to lift?
He came out as a young author in the same magazine I did (Weekly Big Comic Spirits) and caught my eye,
so I regarded him a bit like a little brother.
Thank you very much.
They Talk in One of the Corners of His Work Space
By drawing massive fictions, Hanazawa Kengo-san has attracted a lot of attention.
The secrets behind his work will be revealed.
Infiltrating the Site of the Huge Suspense Work
Tokyo, Nerima
Staff on 1st Floor Own Space on 2nd
A spiral staircase.
That's what clinched this place for me.
It must be good exercise.
Yeah, that's true, since I'm actually walking around a lot.
We film him at work with fixed cameras, trying to disturb him as little as possible.
Filmed with Fixed Cameras to Not Get in the Way
Inking the Heroine
He draws Hiromi, the heroine of the work.
G pen
You draw like you're making little squeaks.
There are people who draw it out like *swish* and people who squeak.
It's all about whether the stroke is long or short.
Infiltrating the Site of the Huge Suspense Work
You're really doing it so gently.
Yeah, it always is like...
like I'm doing it while being really timid.
I'm always wondering to myself if this is the right line.
Layering short lines and drawing delicately is Hanazawa-san's way of doing things.
“I Am a Hero” - The world is overrun by the living dead, also known as the “ZQN.” If you get bit, you're infected.
In “I am a Hero” ordinary everyday life is turned on its head.
An infectious disease turning people into living corpses, just like zombies, is running rampant.
Hideo the Struggling Mangaka
Hideo is a struggling mangaka,
Hiromi, the Partially Infected ZQN
and Hiromi is a partially infected high school girl.
The two must fight in order to survive.
The story is about to reach its climax.
He's now drawing the turning point of this scene.
The Expression of the Heroine as She Parts with the Main Character
He draws the sad expression of the heroine, Hiromi, saying goodbye to the main character, Hideo.
G pen
Maru Pen
Hanazawa-san draws in the parts of the face in great detail, using the G pen and Maru pen for different things.
The eyelashes, the brows, the insides of the eyes...
As you draw the details in, it becomes more expressive.
If the expression is conveyed by the art and not the words, then it means that you've succeeded.
Next he uses a technical pen.
Tech- nical Pen
Conveying the Expression through the Details
How many millimeters is the technical pen you're using for the hair?
This one's .05 millimeters.
.05, huh?
It looks like it's actually turning into hair. It's like magic.
I like the work of drawing hair quite a bit. Just by doing it...
Just through the hair alone, you can give it expression.
He's particular about how he draws, right down to single strands of hair.
He wants to express emotions through art, not spoken lines.
To do that, Hanazawa-san painstakingly pursues depictions of the details that make us human.
Pursuit of the Depiction of Detail
There's a joy when you get something that's not just autopiloted, right?
Yeah, there totally is.
With the shine on the hair that Otomo-san drew in “Akira,”
first he would draw the sheen, then the blacks would get filled in,
finally he'd add those squeaks, and you could see the hair flow.
I was like, “So that's how he does it!”
Pursuit of the Depiction of Detail
That's how it is with wrinkles.
With your works the wrinkles that I always notice...
are the ones that squeak in here.
Ah! Right, right.
Usually you'd have the wrinkles of the brow here,
Yeah, they're over here.
but you draw them in over here.
That made me think, “Hey, that's a pretty good idea.”
The features need to be prominent.
For Japanese people the wrinkle here doesn't actually stand out.
So what we end up with is a dimple over here.
Pursuit of the Depiction of Detail
I think that's something pretty amazing you picked up on.
Thank you very much.
That makes me really happy to hear.
The Heroine, Hiromi, Is Becoming Partially Infected
A human expression mixed with the ghastliness of the living dead is drawn.
There's a depth, even in those sad eyes of hers.
Pursuit of the Depiction of Detail
You're getting really detailed.
These are quite realistic details here.
If the humans aren't realistic, then when they turn into zombies,
Pursuit of the Depiction of Detail
I guess it wouldn't be like as shocking as it is, right?
That's the whole goal of making them so well composed.
Horror That Shatters Everyday Normalcy
I wanted to draw what was everyday first.
It'd start from there and then crumble.
That's where the big lie would begin from.
If you didn't introduce and depict the scenery of the everyday,
then you wouldn't be able to represent the breakdown of normalcy.
Yes, that's right.
Because human expressions and lives are drawn so realistically, it's more terrifying when they break down.
He's spent 40 minutes adding fine details to various parts.
The expression of the heroine, Hiromi, finally seems to be done.
With a distinct ghastliness from drawing such lifelike humans
and the sad, deep expression of the heroine,
a panel he's put everything into is completed.
Second Day of Filming
It's the second day of filming.
Name (Plan for Manga)
A Scene Where an Arm Is Bit While the Head Is Covered by a Bag
It's a scene where an arm is bit while the head is covered by a bag.
He tries it out for real.
Chief Assistant Okamoto Jurii-san
Can you see the mouth?
Not really.
You can't?
You can't tell that you're biting.
You can't tell that I'm biting?
You can't.
Let me take a look.
You can't tell at all.
It doesn't look like the mouth is biting.
Try pulling this part a bit.
Pull it tight?
Yeah.
You can somewhat tell from it.
Hanazawa-san always tries the ideas that he comes up with himself.
Okay, done.
It's so hot.
That was dangerous.
That was close.
It can't be fabricated, he wants to create a work the reader feels could actually happen.
That is Hanazawa-san's desire.
He draws the face of the Hero, Hideo.
Hanazawa-san makes great use of photographs in this work.
He Uses Photos of Himself for the Main Character, Hideo
He even uses photos of himself for the main character.
He puts the photo underneath and makes a sketch.
Sketching with a Photo Underneath
Seeking Realism by Using Photos
Is it based on the name?
Do you have the name first, and then take photographs from that?
Yeah, that's basically the way it goes.
The work is all about building the huge fiction that is zombies,
so I do want a degree of realism as far as the drawings go.
I think that's probably fitting for this work.
You mainly want that sensation of hair, don't you?
There's that, and also the balance between the face and body.
There was some controversy about it, wasn't there?
Opinions among Mangaka Were Split on Techniques Using Photographs
Like, “What's up with this way of drawing?”
Yeah, but really...
I think you're free to do what you want.
Seeking Realism by Using Photos
So having all these techniques you can use is something good.
Starting to Ink
Because that's what manga is about.
With the finished work,
it's about what kind of mood it has or how people think of it,
so it's like the techniques used for it don't really matter, right?
Yeah, that's right.
Mangaka gradually feel freer to do as they please,
and that's furthering manga and making everything more interesting.
Hanazawa Kengo-san was born in 1974 in Aomori Prefecture.
Origins of the Mangaka Hanazawa Kengo
Born 1974 in Aomori Prefecture
He loved shounen manga, and he's drawn down his crazy ideas ever since childhood.
I didn't show any of it to anyone,
and I was always drawing naked faeries and such.
Those were my dark days as a middle schooler.
If I could've gotten a girlfriend at the time,
I probably wouldn't have ever become a mangaka.
Origins of the Mangaka Hanazawa Kengo
In Elementary School
Hanazawa-san was a quiet young boy who didn't stand out.
He started reading seinen manga in middle school and found his dream.
I was reading “Be Free!” and “Maison Ikkoku” in the seinen magazines.
“Be Free!” Egawa Tatsuya
“Maison Ikkoku” Takahashi Rumiko
I see the influences of Harold Sakuishi-san and Arai Hideki-san in you.
Yes, that's totally the case.
I loved their works like “Gorillaman” and “Miyamoto kara Kimi he.”
“Gorillaman” Harold Sakuishi
“Miyamoto kara Kimi he” Arai Hideki
And I also read “Pineapple Army,” which you wrote, and such.
“Pineapple Army” Urasawa Naoki & Kudou Kazuya
I thought, “There's so much more freedom here.”
It's like, “Look at what you're allowed to draw,” right?
Yeah, that's true.
When you draw all that, it's like the characters are actually alive.
It felt like a completely different world than shounen magazines.
Despite how meek he is, with manga he can face the world and speak his mind freely.
He Was about to Become an Office Worker but Decided on the Path of Manga
Hoping to achieve his dream, he made his debut at 30.
The manga he drew was about the daily struggles of ordinary awkward men.
He drew life-sized protagonists fighting with reality
and struck a chord with readers that were just like him.
The protagonist this time is another weak, cowardly young man.
Main Character Hideo
He's never portrayed as a hero
and is drawn as a regular character you can find anywhere.
Drawing a Life-Sized Protagonist
I think of Hideo as more of a mob character than anything else.
Mob Characters - Nameless Extras in the Background and Crowds
He's a mob character, and in this manga,
the spotlight just happens to be shining on him a bit.
There's this fundamental rule of manga...
about making the characters stand out from the background.
Hideo
I actually want him to blend into the background.
In the part where they're in the Aokigahara sea of trees,
he's so far back that he's incredibly hard to see.
I kept thinking, “He must be doing this on purpose, right?”
When you make a character stand out,
you like shine a spotlight on them, so they seem important.
Drawing a Life-Sized Protagonist
That's the sort of thing you do.
But if you do that, then it seems less realistic to me.
So if he's hard to see, then that's fine.
When you do it that way, there's way more realism to it for me.
People have said to me, “You never draw sweat in your manga.”
“For the climaxes you always make it rain, instead of using sweat.”
And when I do that the hair gets soaked and messy.
I was like, “That's so true!”
Drawing a Life-Sized Protagonist
Do you ever make use of weather?
I don't think I'm capable of doing that.
You're a bit shy about it, huh?
If it were raining, it'd make the scene even better,
but it's always just clear skies for Hideo-kun, huh?
Yeah, that sort of movie magic would never happen for him.
He's someone you can find anywhere. That's exactly what makes him relatable.
That's the realism of the protagonist that Hanazawa-san hopes to achieve.
Third Day of Filming
It's the third day of filming.
It's late into the night...
Adding More to Manuscript That's Already Been Finished
but Hanazawa-san begins adding lines to the manuscript that's been completed.
The infected that turned into the living dead merged together and became a giant creature.
The ZQN Merged in- to a Giant Creature
It's walking on top of the bridge.
It seems like he isn't satisfied with the panel he drew of the closeup showing the leg taking a step.
He begins erasing the monster's left front leg.
He's brought out a human model.
How should he draw the legs when the monster is on all fours so it looks realistic?
He uses the musculature of the human body as reference and adds revisions.
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Before
After
It's more grotesque now, isn't it?
He does similar revisions to the other legs as well.
It sure looks like tough work.
Drawing the Weird
When you're delving into what makes something gross or weird,
if it's drawn without much thought, it won't be all that disturbing.
I totally understand what you mean.
There's that concept of the “Uncanny Valley.”
Yeah, yeah.
“The Uncanny Valley” - When robots and such are too humanlike and instead cause revulsion.
Something subtle making it really unpleasant. That's what I'm after.
When something is incredibly close to being human,
that small thing that's off is what feels or looks most creepy.
Drawing the Weird
If I just made it a monster, then it wouldn't be scary anymore.
When I think about how the muscles would support that huge thing,
I want there to be a real explanation for how it's moving.
I'd hate for it to be just some arbitrary monster, like...
Like if it were contrived.
Yeah, that happens with me, if I'm not being that careful,
so I want to keep it at a minimum.
I spend a lot of time worrying about how to make it look natural.
He steadily continues to add lines to give the products of his imagination realism and force.
Next comes revisions for the large feet.
He uses tree roots as references for the feet.
Using Tree Roots for Reference
One hour has passed since he started revising.
12:30 at Night
I think the act of drawing the fake in a way that's real...
is like the real thrill of manga or what makes it interesting.
If you compromise on that too much,
it'll end up becoming something that's not realistic,
and then the reader might not come along for the ride anymore.
♪♪～
Before
It's 1 am and it looks like it's finally done.
The intense desire to convey the magnitude of the creature to the reader has been packed into it.
The musculature and the fine details of the feet -
it's so realistic that it just might start moving.
The Fourth Day, Deadline Day
It's the fourth day of filming. Today is the deadline day.
Hmm, I guess we're about 60% done.
I can't see the end quite yet,
so I'm a bit anxious...
Only 60% done? Hang in there, Hanazawa-san!
Now he's drawing the climax of the chapter.
Name - a Plan Drawn for the Story
The Heroine, Hiromi, Steels Her Determination to Reveal a Sad Confession
It's a scene where Hiromi makes a major confession.
She reveals to Hideo that she caused her friend to die.
He uses 3 panels and shows the development of Hiromi's feelings.
Inking the First Panel
This is the first panel.
It's Hiromi's profile, gathering her determination as she begins to speak.
It's a difficult scene that requires detailed emotional portrayal.
He searches carefully for the expression.
The Difficulty of Drawing Emotions
When you really try to draw it realistically,
there's no such thing as a routine expression anymore.
They become subtle expressions for the situation at hand.
Capturing that is incredibly difficult work, isn't it?
In your works, it feels like...
the dialogue is made simple,
and things are loosely depicted by backgrounds and actions.
Instead of writing down how his characters feel, he tries to convey it using their expressions and the layering of panels.
He cuts down on the spoken lines and doesn't use monologue.
He Does Not Use Monologue
Capturing Heartfelt Emotions in the Art
“Miyamoto kara Kimi he” never had any inner dialogue either.
The fact that you could have manga without putting that into words
had a huge impact on me.
I pretty much avoid using monologues too.
Oh, is that so?
I draw the expressions and have the characters show what's going on.
You can't just have them thinking, “Oh, this is heartbreaking.”
Yeah, that's right.
And besides, with women...
they're more impossible to understand than zombies in a sense,
If I were to just carelessly write a girl saying, “Anon-kun, I love you!”
that would just seem fake to a degree.
Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to draw that.
It's difficult work to convey heartfelt emotions using art without any words.
First Panel Complete
The first panel is complete.
Hiromi's expression looks like she's holding back her feelings.
Drawing the Second Panel
Next, the second panel.
The first panel is a profile of her speaking,
Profile
Mouth
Front
and in the third panel she's confessing, facing forward.
This is in between.
Huh? In the name this panel is a picture of her mouth,
The Mouth Changed into Hands
but now it's a drawing of her hands.
Capturing Heartfelt Emotions in the Art
You step away from the facial expression and then bring it around.
Profile
Hands
Front
Oh, I see.
You didn't notice it yourself?
No, I didn't.
Instead of it being continuous,
Profile
you turn away once, then snap it to the front. It's a nice technique.
Hands
Front
So that's what I did...
And that's what really makes manga so mysterious.
I do that sort of thing completely unconsciously too.
I look at it later, and then I'm like, “Oh, that's what's going on.”
It means you're doing it naturally.
By pulling away from the face for a moment, it makes the impression of the third panel stronger.
Second Panel Complete
And now for the third panel.
Sketching the Third Panel
This is the moment she firmly declares that she was the one who caused her friend to die.
He draws it with her facing forward.
He's erased it.
He's made her eyes cast downward.
Hanazawa-san is having trouble with the expression.
Facing the Emotions of the Characters on the Page
This one's pretty good. Are you going to erase it?
Aww, you erased it.
There's just no right answer for these.
Yeah, that's so true.
You've made her crack a smile.
Sketching Complete
The expression he chose in the end was one with a bit of a smile.
Inking
I thought about whether it would be better if she had a sad face,
Facing the Emotions of the Characters on the Page
but then I guess I don't understand the feeling that well myself.
It's a face that you can't exactly tell if she's crying or laughing.
I always really want to do a good job drawing those.
You can impose how you feel on it, right?
Like, there's a wider range of emotions with it.
Yeah, that's true.
And you feel something for characters you've drawn for so long.
All sorts of different kinds of emotions, right?
That makes it so you don't want to express how they feel simply.
Yeah, I don't want to lie about how I don't quite understand it.
Drawing it like I know what it feels like would really be...
distorting it a bit too much. I don't think I can do it.
But the emotions are bursting out.
Ah... Yeah, that's true.
That's a face that's breaking down with some sort of emotion.
Lastly, he makes small adjustments to the expression.
The scene is finally complete.
The heroine, Hiromi, has been drawn with great care.
Her thoughts are addressed earnestly,
and the complicated emotions that spill out have been confided in this expression.
2 AM at Night
It's now late at night on deadline day.
Battling the Deadlines
It's two in the middle of night now.
It's going to take a bit longer.
It's about 70 to 80% done.
Ugh, only 70 to 80% done at 2 AM.
There's still quite a bit...
This is pretty bad.
Yeah, it is!
But it's around this time that my pen really starts to move,
when I'm getting cornered.
Oh, that's true. This is where it starts.
This is where it starts to get fun.
It's like my head's in a state that's opened up or something.
This is when I'll start to get ideas and such.
Yeah, there's something kind of crazy about that.
Battling the Deadlines
Ah, this is awful.
I hate watching this.
Man, this is bad.
I guess I'll be done around 8?
What?
What was that?
The timing for that was way too good.
Ahh, oh man, oh no...
Yeah, you're in trouble.
So this is the sort of thing I say.
Hanazawa-san is beginning to talk to himself a lot more.
My body won't move.
I'm sleepy.
5 AM
It's past 5 in the morning. Now he's really cornered.
In pursuit of a realism that will resonate with the reader, he never cuts corners or compromises.
With manga he can freely express himself in a way that will reach others, despite his own meekness.
That dream, which he's held on to since his childhood, keeps him going.
It's not really like manga anymore.
It's 18 pages that you get as an individual -
a space where you can express things freely.
It's like what Hideo was babbling about in the first volume.
There are works that stay with us for 100 years.
If there's a slim chance that I happen to make one, that'd be great.
♪♪～
Finished at 7 AM
It's seven in the morning.
At last, it seems like the manuscript is all set.
But although he finally finished drawing it, he doesn't look too happy about it.
Yeah, this is sort of like...
when I get the most down or something.
It's the part when all the issues start to appear.
It gets me pretty depressed.
I wonder why that is.
I think it's the moment when they're most glaring.
There may be differences in the way it looks when you're drawing it
and when you're taking the point of view of the reader.
Yes, there really are.
Once he is done drawing, he has to face what he's created.
The days he spends agonizing never end.
The Manuscript Is Sent as Data on a Disc
But the manuscript is finished successfully.
Realism that seeks to resonate with the reader, layers of uncompromising detail,
and expressions drawn from earnestly addressing the characters in the work...
A piece full of Hanazawa-san's desires has been completed.
♪♪～
Man, that was sort of tiring.
I've got work to do the day after tomorrow,
but it feels like I've already done it once.
It was a simulation of it.
It's like you finished a chapter already.
It's all about how much the finished manga will excite the readers,
so it's extremely interesting when it's anything goes.
That's the kind of way of thinking of it that comes from manga.
In the world of manga there are really...
there are really people that are on another level in technique.
Urasawa-sensei being one of them.
So to make up for those differences...
I just want to use whatever tool I can get my hands on.
It's pretty tough having to look at real geniuses.
You were saying it's the most fun when you feel like you're in trouble,
so I'm sure you'll continue to draw good stuff in the future.
I wonder about that...
For More Visit http://nhk.jp/manben
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