Re-animated "What's it like to be a female manga artist in a boy's magazine..." Inside Rumiko Takahashi's life during the serialization of Urusei Yatsura
Translation by: Dylan Acres
October 13th is the broadcast start date of the anime Urusei Yatsura.
Today, October 13th, Urusei Yatsura will begin broadcasting on Fuji TV's late-night anime slot ``Noitamina'' (excluding some areas). The original work is a manga of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi. In the series, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday, Ataru Moroboshi, a high school student who is hopelessly in love with women, engages in slapstick drama with many unique characters, including Lum, a beautiful girl from outer space, and becomes popular.
An animated version was broadcast on Fuji TV for five years starting in October 1981 while it was being serialized in Sunday, and it was also a hit. The new series is the first anime adaptation of Urusei Yatsura in 36 years. [1] It's also a special event as it will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Shogakukan's founding and will broadcast selected stories from the original work over four seasons (equivalent to one year). The voice actors are also amazing, including Hiroshi Kamiya, who plays the role of Ataru, and Sumire Uesaka, who plays the role of Lum.
The debut work became the prototype for Urusei Yatsura.
Rumiko Takahashi released the first chapter of Urusei Yatsura in September 1978, when she was a student at Japan Women's University. [2] Takahashi wrote a short story the previous year, Katte na Yatsura, which became the basis for this work. The story was awarded an honorable mention in the Shogakukan Newcomer Comic Award and was Takahashi's debut. At this time, she had already made a name for herself at Gekiga Sonjuku, which was established by author Kazuo Koike to train new talent, and Koike told her, ``You can make it as a professional.'' It's been said that she was by far the best among his students.
However, no work won the grand prize at this time. According to Shinobu Miyake, Takahashi's first editor, ``I thought it was interesting as soon as I read it, but since the art was unfinished, I decided not to put it up at the time. I had decided on it. However, the editor-in-chief discovered the manuscript I had hidden (laughs), so she was selected as an honorable mention.[3][4] Miyake also looked at her work and thought, "Maybe it would be better not to give her an award. I was convinced that this girl would definitely improve, and I felt that she would be even more amazing if she studied a little more and then debuted, rather than giving her an award and making her debut right away." [5]
In fact, right after her debut, Takahashi was approached by Kodansha's magazine Magazine Special. When she told Miyake about this, he said, "Do whatever you want, whether it's a short story or a longterm serialization, just start it right away!" so she started by doing a short-term intensive serialization. [6] Urusei Yatsura began like this, and after a repeated intensive serialization and irregular serialization, the finally transitioned to full-fledged weekly serialization in 1980.
Why does Lum-chan say “daccha” in an accent?
The fact that it took three years from the first publication to the weekly serialization shows the editor's commitment to carefully nurture the writer. Takahashi later recalled that "the first editor I worked with really took the time to look over my work" (Weekly Bunshun, March 3, 1983 issue). Lum's "-daccha" tone also came about from the editor's advice. Since the fishman in Katte ne Yatsura had an accent of "daccha," the editor suggested that Lum should use the same accent, so Lum adopted "daccha" from the Sendai dialect in the novel Aoba Shigereru (青葉繁れる) by Hisashi Inoue, which she loved reading. [7]
At Gekiga Sonjuku, it was thoroughly taught that "manga = characters," so a lot of effort was put into character creation. In particular, I think that Lum's cuteness comes first, and she is the character that had the most time invested in her creation. Incidentally, her name is taken from Agnes Lam, a model from Hawaii who captivated young people in the 1970s. In addition, the idea that Lum calls Ataru "Darling" is a reference to Kenji Sawada's hit song "Darling" when the short-term serialization began, reflecting the customs of the time. Takahashi also says that her slapstick developments were influenced by Yasutaka Tsutsui's novels, and her tempo and rhythm were influenced by Tatsuhiko Yamagami's manga such as Gaki Deka. [8]
According to the above-mentioned Shinobu Miyake, Takahashi brought in more and more works without being prompted, and her drawings quickly became better, so he rarely had to ask for a new story. Personally, Takahashi says, she was lucky that her editors let her do whatever she wanted. [9] Thanks to this, Takahashi was able to freely pour her talent and energy into Urusei Yatsura. Many readers were likely captivated by its power, and it became a huge hit around the time it was made into an anime.
Chief Director Mamoru Oshii’s comeback.
For the first anime adaptation, up-and-coming staff members including chief director Mamoru Oshii, scriptwriter Kazunori Ito, and character designer Akemi Takada came together. All of them were people who would go on to lead the Japanese animation world. Many of the voice actors at the time were well-respected, including Toshio Furukawa, who played the role of Ataru, and Akira Kamiya, who played Shutaro Mendo. Fumi Hirano, who was gaining popularity as a radio DJ at the time, was selected as the voice actor for the role of Lum through an audition.
It seems that the production team took pains to capture the unique tempo and rhythm of the original work. However, according to the staff at the time, they began to feel that Mamoru Oshii viewpoint became apparent around the episode " After You've Gone", which aired in October 1982, one year after the broadcast started. [10] The story at this time was about Lum suddenly leaving Ataru one day. When Ataru loses her, he realizes how irreplaceable her presence is, and is devastated. In the anime, his feelings were depicted through images such as him wandering around the city at night while feeling dumbfounded. At the time, this author had not yet entered elementary school (I watched the anime every Wednesday night, along with the anime Dr. Slump Arale-chan at 7 pm), and I remember feeling a sense of sadness in my childish heart during this episode. .
Later, original episodes deviated from the manga. The pioneering episode "Goodbye Season" aired in March 1983 and was based on a chapter of the original series, "Ataru's Retires," but starred Ataru's classmate Megane, who was only a sub character in the original story. The storyline was developed in a way that shook the worldview of the series. This episode, which leaves a strong impression thanks to the superb performance of Shigeru Chiba, the voice actor who played Megane, may have been a milestone leading to Oshii's film Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, which was released the following year.
In the TV animation Urusei Yatsura, Oshii said, "I wanted to do something reckless, or rather, I wanted to try something novel. I gathered a group of young people and made them do what they wanted almost unconditionally. The "terrible ones were terrible, but we also created works with an overwhelming sense of power that would never have been possible if we had just done things the usual way." [11] It can be said that this was in keeping with the atmosphere of Fuji Television at the time.
At that time, Fuji Television was in the midst of a major reform to break free from the slump in ratings that had been occuring through the 1970s. To begin with, Urusei Yatsura was broadcast on Wednesday nights in the latter half of the 7:00 p.m. slot, which had long been occupied by A Thousand and One Nights of Stars, (スター千一夜) a quiz show that ran Monday through Friday during that time slot. These programs were the target of reforms because they were considered to be taking away programming freedom, and were terminated in September 1981. The following month, Urusei Yatsura was placed in the vacant slot, and along with the Saturday night variety Ore-tachi Hyokinzoku, (オレたちひょうきん族) which began regular broadcasts the same month, it was the catalyst for Fuji's rapid rise in the 1980s.
Why are Rumiko Takahashi's works loved for so long?
More than 40 years have passed since then. Fuji Television succeeded in reforming itself, but it has since been overtaken by other stations and is a shadow of its former self. What is the intention behind the revival of Urusei Yatsura? Of course, it can't be exactly the same as it was before. There are many depictions of Ataru's behavior toward women that would be problematic in light of today's compliance regulations. It's expected that the remake will probably have less expression than the original work and the previous animated films. However, Rumiko Takahashi's original work is not so weak as to waver in its essence.
Since Urusei Yatsura often featured sexy girls, including Lum in a tiger-print bikini, some people felt that the erotic part of the story is what made it gain popularity. However, according to Shinobu Miyake, this was merely a service to Takahashi, and "her essence is the core of Sunday," which is connected to Fujiko Fujio and Fujio Akatsuka. In other words, she depicts the joys and sorrows of the reader's daily life in a fun and funny way. Ms. Takahashi's affectionate portrayal of men as silly but cute creatures is what makes her stand out from the crowd. （This creates a great sense of distance and lengthens the life of the work.) [12]
Critic Go Sasakibara also noted that although at first glance Lum's swimsuit is inflammatory, when actually reading the manga, it hardly seems obscene, citing "the gaze and depiction that the female author Rumiko Takahashi has" as the reason. [13]
"After all, women in boys' magazines..."
Takahashi has many accomplishments, but one of them is that she brought a female perspective to boys' magazines. To begin with, Takahashi is a pioneer in the sense that she made her debut in a boys' magazine rather than a girls' manga magazine, and has continued to mainly draw boys' manga ever since. After her, female authors often appeared who produced hit works from boys' magazines, such as Fumi Sato, who wrote Kindaichi Case Files, and Hiromu Arakawa, who wrote Fullmetal Alchemist. However, the fact that both of their pen names are male-sounding names seems to reflect the difficult position of female writers in the world of boys' manga.
Regarding the position of female writers, Takahashi also said in an interview during the serialization of Urusei Yatsura, ``I also had the spirit of never letting an opportunity pass me by, and I think I put in a lot of effort. In any case, it's about instilling trust in my work, and if I decided to do something, then I must do it by that day, and if I'm criticized, I'll only improve as much as I'm criticized. After all, being a woman in a boy's magazine is hard, and once your readers lose trust in you, you're no good," she said. [14] However, whenever she is asked why she has continued to draw for boys' magazines, she always answers that it is because she likes boys' manga and it suits her.
Takahashi says that her favorite character in Urusei Yatsura is Ryunosuke Fujinami. Although Ryunosuke is a woman, she was raised as a man by her father, and while she complains about this and repeatedly fights with her father over being called his son, she's also popular with the girls in her class. Her first appearance was at a time when the weekly serialization was entering its third year and was at a standstill, and "she brought new energy. Her gender is ambiguous, and that was fun to draw as well." [15] It is currently unknown whether Ryunosuke will appear in this anime as well, but in a sense she is a character that was ahead of her time, so if she does appear, I'm curious to see how she will be portrayed.
Footnotes
- [1] This is technically incorrect as a new OVA special entitled The Obstacle Course Swim Meet was created at the end of 2008 as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Rumiko Takahashi's career.
- [2] Takahashi, Rumiko. "Young Love on the Run." Urusei Yatsura, Volume 1 Chapter 1, 1. Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1978. https://www.furinkan.com/uy/manga/01.html#1.
- [3] Mori, Naoto. "What a Wonderful Rumic World!" Quick Japan Vol. 71, April 19, 2007, 81.
- [4] Shinobu Miyake (三宅克) was Rumiko Takahashi's first ever editor and is the namesake of the character from Urusei Yatsura. After departing the manga magazine Heroes Miyake ran Parsola. In addition to editing Urusei Yatsura and Makoto-chan (まことちゃん) he also edited Pro-Golfer Saru (プロゴルファー猿).
- [5] "Shinobu Miyake" Book Window March/April, 2000.
- [6] Shimada, Kazushi. "Rumiko Takahashi - Long Interview." Mangakabon Vol. 14 Rumiko Takahashi Book. November 29, 2019, 18-89. https://www.furinkan.com/features/interviews/ takahashi77.html
- [7] "Rumiko Takahashi: Exclusive Interview & Disassembly Treatise." Da Vinci. Vol. 236, December, 2013. https://www.furinkan.com/features/interviews/ takahashi101.html
- [8] "Pop Culture Interview." Takarajima. February, 1982.
- [9] "Shinobu Miyake" Book Window March/April, 2000.
- [10] Animage June, 1986.
- [10] Weekly SPA! Vol. 2403, July 27, 1994.
- [12] "Shinobu Miyake" Book Window March/April, 2000.
- [13] Sasakibara, Go. Modern History of “Beautiful Girls”. Tokyo: Kodansha Gendai Shinso, May 24, 2004.
- [14] Weekly Bunshun. March 3, 1983.
- [15] "Rumiko Takahashi: Exclusive Interview & Disassembly Treatise." Da Vinci. Vol. 236, December, 2013.
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