The Eastern Edge

Wow, a week goes by quickly when all you have are 10-15 minutes a day of furious thumbing on-the-fly translations into a cell phone while standing on a crowded train (and trying to keep your balance when the train wobbles!).
This installment is bigger than the first one, but not as much as I'd hope to have done. It's been a busy week.
However this time I have annotated a little with wiki links for those of you not familiar with some of the names and titles Urasawa mentions (except "Samurai Giants" becasue there was no English wiki entry).

This weekend I'll try and squeeze in a little time to sit down in front of the computer and blast though a couple pages in one sitting for a big part 3, including pics of the illustrations scattered throughout the interview.

But until then, here's what I have so far. This is all of page two.
For those of you who here for the first time; part 1 is here

Enjoy.

“Drawing can be done alone”

Q：There's what you just said but, I get the feeling that when it comes to manga, you look at your work from a more objective point of view.

Urasawa： That's because I didn't originally set out to become a mangaka. When I was job hunting I had an interview with Shogakukan. I brought some of my work to show them at the interview, one thing lead to another, and I ended up becoming a mangaka. That's how my career began. I don't want to be poor (laughs) I have to put food on the table, but I also don't want to sell my soul. Because of that I have to balance it out as a profession somewhere, don't I? That goes for the first time I was published in a magazine, too, because while I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy, I honestly didn't feel like, "My aspirations have been fulfilled!"
When my comic was published right beside Tezuka Osamu sensei's "Hidamari no Ki" I thought that was awesome, though.
This might sound a little snide, but for me it was simply that I was good at drawing. So, because manga is my job, up to now I have been doing it thinking, "How can I use my drawing skills as a tool?"

Q： Do you mean that from the start of your career you've looked at it from the standpoint of a "producer"?

Urasawa： That might be a close description. When it comes to graphics, I've had an abnormal sensitivity for it since I was a kid. For example when I was in elementary school and I watched the “Star of the Giants” cartoon, I somehow knew it was done by four or five teams. I'd worry about stuff like, "If I consider the rotation, next week's work will be by that team. Next week's going to have some good scenes, but can that team handle it?" I was an annoying kid (laughs).
Other ones, too, like, "Samurai Giants" and "Heidi, Girl of the Alps" I knew at first glance were drawn by the same animator.
Mr. Toshio Suzuki of Ghibli was pretty surprised when I told him the other day about how as a kid I used to wonder why the same people would animate for different companies' productions.
Anyway, while I was studying credits like that, I was also unconsciously remembering master animator’s names like Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Yasuo Otsuka.

Q: By the way, of cartoons based on a manga, what do you consider the cream of the crop?

Urasawa: Cartoons from manga... That's a tough one...
I liked "Dokonjo Gaeru" - the characters and backdrops. Also "Lupin the 3rd". That explosion scene was revolutionary.

Q: The more I listen the more I have a feeling that there was never going to be a life other than drawing for a kid like that (laughs). Did you ever consider going to an art college to further your skills?

Urasawa： It never crossed my mind. I could draw without being taught (laughs). I wondered, "What would a bunch of artists together even talk about?" (laughs).
To make animation, or play in a band, you need other people. But drawing pictures can be done alone. That's why in university I entered the faculty of economics, a field that I knew I wouldn't study on my own.

Q： So, what profession was it that you wanted to get into?

Urasawa： Let's see... I went for an interview at Shogakukan, maybe I was thinking of a job as an editor at a publishing company. But, I think I probably would have been fine with doing sales or any other job.

Q: Even now can you still imagine yourself running around doing sales?

Urasawa： Yeah. It's still weird for me when I think about when and how I got to where I am now.

Part 3 is coming soon!

2/16 Update:
Part 3 is now online