INDEX
Cherishing the Support of Writer Friends
Gao: No, no. Like today, I am very happy to meet with the manga artists of “Comic Beam” (*). I consider everyone in the editorial department and the manga artists who work on the series to be my “friends. Before the serialization of “Green Song,” I had been drawing manga by myself for a long time and didn’t have any friends like that, so now I am very happy.
*The monthly manga magazine published by KADOKAWA, in which the two manga artists are serializing their work.
Okaya: Being a manga artist is a personal battle. Basically, you are home alone. Drawing manga is like being asked all the time, “What do you think? Also, I feel that in the world of novels, there is a certain “scene” like a literary circle, but in the world of manga, there is not much of a community. There might be loneliness in the sense of how to fight criticism or something like that.
Gao: Yes. I consult with my editor whenever I have any problems, and he always solves my problems and concerns, and I feel reassured that he is working hard with me.
Okaya: That is reassuring. But I think Mr. Gao has the ability to cut through it as well. I think you also have the ability to open up. I guess you are solving things like, “They don’t understand me!
Gao: I am not Japanese, and I was worried that I would not be able to convey what I wanted to say clearly to the other person at the meeting, but the editor in charge was so amazing. Now I can tell what they are thinking even when they are not saying anything to each other.
Okaya: Sounds like a love song (laughs). Also, you should be careful because many manga artists suddenly fall down with a bang. I’ve been afraid of sudden death lately.
Gao: Speaking of that, I once went to a hot spring after finishing a manuscript and thought, “Okay, I’m going to relax! I went to a hot spring and immediately collapsed.
Okaya: Yes! That’s dangerous!
Gao: You work too much. I hadn’t eaten at that time, and I was overconfident about my body. I would take on jobs that I wanted to do, and it was destroying my body, but recently I’ve come to think that if the timing isn’t right, I should properly decline even if I want to do it.
Okaya: Yes. Dinner, eat properly. Let’s all go out to eat together.
