INDEX
Why the characters don’t laugh.
Takano: There’s another thing I’ve been wondering about. Many of the characters you draw are very cute and two-dimensional, but none of them are smiling. Are you particular about this?
Tanaka: I dislike my own smiling face so much that I can’t draw smiling faces. When I make goods for idols, I sometimes draw them with smiling faces, but I try not to make them smile in my original drawings. It is a reflection of my complex, so it does not help me in any way.
Takano: But I think that is one of the originalities of Kae’s characters. I don’t know what he is thinking, so I think it is a point that draws us in through our imagination.
Tanaka: Aren’t smiling pictures scary?
Celeina: When you say it like that, it looks different. It makes me want to take a closer look at the smiling pictures.
Tanaka: I think the smiling picture is definitely scary. I think it would be better without smiling.
Takano: It’s interesting because it led me to change the way I look at various works. Who are some of the artists who have influenced you?
Tanaka: I include them in my profile, but I think Osamu Tezuka and Hideo Agatsuma are my influences.
Takano: “Disappearance Diary”.
Tanaka: That’s right. I started with the non “Disappearance Diary” and there was a time when he drew more normal manga, so I like those manga better.
Celeina: That’s pretty old-school.
Tanaka: I was influenced by my parents, but I dug deeper on my own and ended up with Agatsuma and Tezuka.
Takano: But I feel the DNA in your style. I’d love to hear more, but let’s interrupt for a song. I asked Kae-san to choose a song that she would like to listen to with everyone on the radio at this time.
Tanaka: It’s a song called “CIRCUS MAXIMUS” by Travis Scott. It is on the album “Utopia”.
Celeina: So, you’ve been talking about various things, and you landed on Travis Scott.
Tanaka: I got hooked on Travis Scott because of his fashion. He has a great brand called “Cactus Jack,” and right now Cactus Jack is really at the forefront of my mind, and I also listen to a lot of music.
Takano: Let’s listen to it then.
