A Talk with Beautiful Women that Makes My Heart Flutter

Rumiko "I'm Passionate About My Weekly Serialization" Takahashi vs Takako "I Want A Weekly Serialization" Takezawa

What? I'm Meeting Rumiko Takahashi-sensei! Wow, I can't do it. I'm so nervous, please don't do this. But I'll go. I want to meet her, I want to see her, I want to touch her...

Translated by: Harley Acres

Takahashi-sensei created a Rumiko boom with successive hits in shonen magazines, such as Dust Spot!! and Urusei Yatsura. She is a beautiful girl who looks like a white rabbit. Rumiko is approached by Takako Takezawa-sensei, who is gaining attention for her strong science fiction works. She is a handsome, boyish figure straight out of Peter Pan. Now, what about these supergirls' first meeting?

My Awakening Came Via Shonen Manga

Editorial Department: I understand that both of you were active in dojinshi circles.

Takahashi: I was part of the manga club at Japan Women's University and published a dojinshi called Vivid (びびっと/Bibitto) once a year. ^[1]

Editorial Department: Takezawa-sensei, how did your dojinshi, Meteor (めておーる/Meteooru) come about?

Takezawa: When I was in high school, some of my middle school classmates who were good at drawing all got together. For some reason, we barely knew each other when we were in middle school. ^[2]

Editorial Department: What's the most difficult thing about creating a dojinshi?

Takahashi: Primarily it's money issues... We would do about 1,000 copies at first, because the unit price wouldn't be low unless we printed that many. For some reason, they sold well. There seem to be some special fans of dojinshi. We also sold them at Comiket. ^[3]

Takezawa: When it comes to dojinshi... If you don't have a lot of work to collect, or if you publish works like we do only once we've gotten a lot of work, the publication becomes extremely irregular. Sometimes there are discrepancies in the content.

Editorial Department: How did you make your debut from dojinshi to a general magazine?

Takahashi: I submitted my work to Shonen Sunday.

Takezawa: For me it was a bit different... it was in Ribon (laughs)? I originally wanted to be in a shonen (magazine), but I made my debut in Ribon with a one-panel comic. But I didn't see eye-to-eye with Ribon and never went back to them (laughs). After that, I was a member of the dojinshi Aota Kari (青田刈り), or Magazine Special (マガジン・スペシャル), where I really started to emerge as a manga artist...

Editorial Department: Takahashi-sensei, you also wanted to be a shonen manga artist from the beginning, but what kind of manga did you read when you were little?

Takahashi: My brother was reading Shonen Sunday, and around that time I was reading things in Margaret (マーガレット), works by Hideko Mizuno-san and Shotaro Ishimori-san. ^[4] Mizuno-san's works such as Red-Headed Scarlet (赤毛のスカーレット/Akage no Sukaaretto) and Dream of Venus (ビーナスの夢/Biinasu no Yume) left an impression on me. So I also read shojo manga.

Takezawa: I didn't read any shojo manga until my second year of junior high school. Even before I entered kindergarten, people bought me a lot of magazines, such as Shonen Magazine, Shonen King, Shonen Sunday, Shonen Champion, Shonen Jump, Boukenou, Bokura, and Shonen Gaho. Just all the time (laughs). I really loved Go Nagai's Shameless School (ハレンチ学園/Harenchi Gakuen) (laughs). ^[5]

Takahashi: Shonen Sunday was the reason I started reading shonen magazines, that and I liked Ryoichi Ikegami-san. When I was in my first year of junior high school, I read a work called I Don't Need Anything! (なんにもいらない!/Nannimo Iranai!) and thought it was amazing, and then a series called Youthful Ardor (青春徒博/Seishun Tobaku) was started and I thought it was amazing! ^[6] When it comes to his work on Spider-Man, I completely imitated Ikegami-san (laughs)! I'd been copying Fujio Akatsuka-san's Osomatsu-kun (おそ松くん) just for fun, and then I'd practice drawing by copying as many characters as I could get my hands on, but the manga I was making then was quiet simple, just four-panel pieces. But after seeing Ikegami-san's work, I started doing panel layouts.

Takezawa: I also like Ikegami-san. I like his style. I read Spider-Man because I really like Kazumasa Hirai. ^[7]

Editorial Department: Since you both have published in shonen magazines, what kind of people do you get the most fan letters from?

Takahashi: As you'd expect, most of it is from high school aged boys. The rest range from elementary school students to salary men (laughs).

Takezawa: ...Someone please send me a fan letter once in a while (laughs).

Editorial Department: Do you find it difficult to draw for a shonen magazine?

Takahashi: I always have anxiety. Because I'm a woman, I can only imagine what a real man's heart is like. So I have no choice but to distort and exaggerate their portrayal and show things like men lusting after women to an extreme degree.

Takezawa: I've never drawn a story in a shonen magazine, so I can't say much about how my work compares to other works in shonen magazines. Though people do say they can't believe my work is drawn by a woman (laughs).

Editorial Department: The work you're currently working on has a comedic touch, but was that what you were aiming for from the beginning?

Takahashi: The first story I drew was a slapstick story with a touch of science fiction, and I've wanted to do something like that for a long time. I'm a big fan of Yasutaka Tsutsui-san, so I think I was influenced by him. ^[8] I'm embarrassed to say that I can't draw a serious story. I have to joke around.

I started reading science fiction with Tsutsui-san, and I think it's interesting, but I'm not what you would call a legitimate fanatic. ^[9]

Rumiko Takahashi:


·Born: October 10, 1957
·Blood Type: A, Libra
·School: Japan Women's University graduate
·Debut Work: Katte na Yatsura (Shonen Sunday)
·Favorite Work: Dust Spot!! final chapter (Shonen Sunday)
·Hobby: Drawing and doodling
·Special Skill: Making jokes without smiling
·Favorite Book: Kojien Dictionary
·Ideal Man: Distinguished, strong, funny
·Nickname: Kemo

Takako Takezawa:


·Born: October 25, 1959
·Blood Type: B, Scorpio
·Debut Work: Kou's Laughing Time (コウの笑タイム) (Ribon Special Edition)
·Favorite Work: Kaleidoscope (万華鏡) (Shonen / Shojo SF Manga Competition Complete Collection Part 6)
·Hobby: Music
·Special Skill: Art, parlor tricks
·Ideal Man: Blutarsky from Animal House
·Nickname: Evangelist in the Wilderness

Learn from Komawari-kun

Editorial Department: What kind of sci-fi do you like?

Takahashi: I haven't read any space operas at all. Pretty much only Yasutaka Tsutsui, Kazumasa Hirai, and a few Japanese SF writers. If anything, even if it is science fiction, it is easier for me to get into works that are more occult/comedy-like and don't involve anything about the universe. I'm more at ease with the absurdities of everyday life, and I can get into those easily.

Editorial Department: So the science fiction in your works is based on that. Who were your influences in terms of the tempo of your gags?

Takahashi: I still think I'd say Tsutsui-san. And Tatsuhiko Yamagami-san for the dialog and the timing of lines. I think he was really great at the beginning with Komawari-kun in the way he delivered his lines. ^[10] There were many instances where he would say something, but in this scene, it would sound strange. Also, I think it was really useful to see how the exchanges were not really conversations.

Editorial Department: Takezawa-sensei, who do you emulate when it comes to gags?

Takezawa: It's not a manga, but I like John Belushi, who appeared in the movie Animal House. Also, I liked the tempo of the gags of Monkey Punch-sensei, who I read a long time ago when I was in middle school. ^[11] If I have a style of gags, I guess that's where my roots lie. I also like the Pink Panther films.

Takahashi: Yeah, Pink Panther! In the end, the repeated bits of Cato and Clouseau's big fights are absurd. No matter what Clouseau's is doing, Cato is always behind him, and even though Clouseau's doing such clever things, where does Cato come from? Those are really great.

Editorial Department: Which manga artist do you think has a good taste in gag comedy lately?

Takezawa: Akira Toriyama from Dr. Slump (ドクター・スランプ)!

Takahashi: Ditto.

Takezawa: The drawings are a bit nostalgic... Anyway, the humor is good, and his crisp drawings and taste are really amazing.

Takahashi: Ditto (laughs).

Takezawa: His manga has a friendly design. The drawings of popular mangaka these days, such as Takahashi-sensei, Hideo Azuma-sensei, Akira Toriyama-sensei, etc., don't have characters that will cause a negative reaction in the reader. They make really friendly illustrations.

Editorial Department: Has your drawing style changed?

Takahashi: It has changed. At first, it was dark, muddy, and sweaty (laughs). Dirty pictures. I used to like drawing boys like that, and I used to draw only those kinds of pictures. Gradually, I became a fan of Yasuo Otsuka, and around that time, a friend invited me to watch a feature-length anime film from Toei, and I noticed that the girl character was very plump. I admired girls with round faces like Rosalie in The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots (長靴をはいたねこ/Nagagutsu o Haita Neko). ^[12] The story and the picture have to match, and I think the influence of seeing such girls in anime has influenced the characters in my works.

Takezawa: I understand that you like the Kamui anime. Takahashi: I used to admire the simple life of Sasuke, or was it Onihime? I used to watch a lot of anime when I was a kid, and there were some masterpieces in the old Toei animated cartoons. I remember Journey to the West (西遊記/Saiyuki), The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険, Taiyou no Ouji Horusu no Daibouken), The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots, and The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (わんぱく王子の大蛇退治/Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji). Disney's works are also amazing even to this day. In fact, I can still see the parts I didn't understand when I was a child, even down to the last detail (laughs). Then, when I entered university, I watched Toei anime again and confirmed how blessed the girls were (laugh).

Editorial Department: Do you have any thoughts on turning your work into an anime?

Takahashi: No, I don't. It's kind of a hassle (laughs). Besides, I think it's a lot of work, anime I mean. I think it's fine if you just enjoy watching the results, and not get involved. I think it's fine if I just stick to manga.

Takezawa: I like your work in its own way, so I'm not sure if the anime will be able to capture the flavor of the original manga. I'm not sure if it can bring out the best of the original in the anime. But it seems like it would be easy to animate. ^[13]

Editorial Department: You made your debut in Shonen Sunday, but how did you feel about your work?

Takahashi: I was a bit skeptical, so I had to wait until I saw whether it's going to be published or not (laughs). I was lucky that it was included in the magazine. It was supposed to be published in Special Edition Sunday, but suddenly it was published in this magazine. Until then, I had assumed that there would be no honorable mentions that actually got published, so the day the magazine was released, I was incredibly moved. There was a manga research group meeting on that day at the university, and when I got there, everyone was reading Sunday and I was so happy (laughs). ^[14]

Takezawa: With a weekly series, what is the basis of your work?

Takahashi: First, we have a meeting, where we decide on most of the details. During the week, I can spend two days just relaxing. During that time, I would think about various ideas, and then I would spend one night writing the storyboards overnight, and then I just made it look cool, did a rough draft, and put in the background, which took about a week.

Editorial Department: What part of the process do you agonize over?

Takahashi: The storyboards. It's more difficult to create a frame than an idea, or rather, a sequence of frames.

Editorial Department: And do you have assistants?

Takahashi: Just recently, I found two new members. They're good kids. ^[15]

Takezawa: Come to think of it, they were recruiting assistants for Sunday, so I thought I'd go with a friend and even drew a piece. So, I asked the editorial department if I could be a short-term assistant, but starting with the following week's Sunday edition, they were only recruiting long-term assistants, not short-term assistants (laughs).

Editorial Department: Do you have any experience as an assistant?

Takahashi: No. ^[16]

Editorial Department: What do you think as someone who has failed to become an assistant?

Takezawa: I wanted to experience working as an assistant somewhere (laughs). I also wanted to see how professionals draw their manuscripts.

Editorial Department: Are you aiming for weekly serialization someday?

Takezawa: Yes. I'm going to get scolded for saying this, but I'm thinking that I will be more active in a couple of years, so I'm currently publishing quarterly at a slower pace... I'm sorry (laughs).

Editorial Department: Do you find it difficult to write a one-shot series?

Takahashi: Compared to when I made my debut, I no longer tend to drop the story in the last paragraph. I think it is very difficult to make people want to read the next installment of a serial story. I think other sensei must be having a hard time with this sort of thing too.

Editorial Department: When we previously asked you to fill out a questionnaire, you answered that your hobby was doodling (in part 7 of this magazine).

Takahashi: I really don't have any special hobbies. In fact, it would be better if I did. After all, if you're good at something, you can say, "I'm really into this, so I can draw that in my manga." In my case, I don't have such a specialty, so I have no choice but to just go with my imagination. I don't think it's a good thing, but it's not something you can create just by wanting to...

Editorial Department: Well, you said you've got two free days of the week that are spent lazing around at home.

Takahashi: Yes, I watch TV.

Editorial Department: What kind of programs do you like?

Takahashi: News and sumo. Also, I like strange things. If I saw a Television Three Page Article on Weekender or something like that in the morning, I burst out laughing (laughs). I also try to look at things that catch my eye, oh, like Pink Lady (laughs). ^[17]

Editorial Department: Who is your favorite sumo wrestler?

Takahashi: I really like Kitanoumi (laughs). ^[18]

Editorial Department: What TV programs do you like, Takezawa-sensei?

Takezawa: Honestly? Lately, I've been watching Doraemon every day (laughs).

Editorial Department: By the way, Takahashi-sensei you said you like Keiko Matsuzaka, but what other celebrities do you like? ^[19]

Takahashi: It changes depending on the day. Today it's Momoe Yamaguchi, for example (laughs). ^[20] I also like... well, I can't think of many. I can't think of anything that I would watch just because a particular person was in it.

Editorial Department: Do you still read other people's works even after becoming a professional?

Takahashi: I actually started reading a lot more after I became a professional. I read a lot of single-volume books. My current favorites are Cotton's Country Star (綿の国星/Wata no Kunihoshi) and Mineo Mayo's Patalliro! (パタリロ!) and Russian! (ラシャーヌ!). It has that amazing sense of being a little off. And Kuro-mon-mon-gumi (黒のもんもん組). ^[21]

Editorial Department: Do you find that your male readers find different things funny compared to your female readers?

Takahashi: Since I draw for Sunday, I think about boys first. I don't think about what makes people laugh in particular, but more in terms of the setting itself, male readers overwhelmingly respond that they are envious of Ataru, or that his personality is just like theirs. It seems that the readers are emotionally involved with the main character, Ataru, or they identify themselves with him. When it comes to female readers, it's difficult to grasp a general trend. It seems that there are a thousand different ways to feel. Fan letters from male readers are quite informative about how boys feel. When they write things like, "This is how men look at girls," I feel like it makes a lot of sense. ^[22]

Editorial Department: Takezawa-sensei, what do you think when drawing boys?

Takezawa: In my case, for some reason, I can only draw men as the main characters. I can't draw a woman, and when I try to draw a human being, I end up drawing a man. I used to worry a lot about my sensibility when I tried to draw a man since I'm a woman, but recently I've changed my mind and just draw men (laughs).

Editorial Department: How do male readers react to female characters?

Takahashi: It's strange to say that boys see Lum as an idol, but that seems to be the way they see her. I think that's beneficial to have that in a shonen manga. The girl characters pull in the male readers. In shonen manga, I think it is quite difficult for a woman to draw a male character and be successful. Speaking as a woman, I think there are parts of a girl that boys don't know about and that boys want to know about, so I try to depict what girls do in those situations.

Sakura-san, you're so sexy!

Editorial Department: Do you limit the main characters in your works?

Takahashi: I haven't really thought about it. However, I think it's better to decide on the person who will lead the story. Everything should start with this person. This character will be the one who stirs things up. Lum is a person who must have a certain role in triggering the story, even though she seems to be more quiet these days.

Editorial Department: Who is your favorite character?

Takahashi: There's an adult woman named Sakura, and she's easy to like.

Takezawa: Sakura, is sexy, and your Cherry is great too. That gag really shines through. Each character has their own beauty and I can't say which one is better (laughs). And then there's the design and personalities of the amazing supporting cast, and the... language! I love the dialects and the use of words.

Editorial Department: Takahashi-sensei, you're a graduate of Gekiga Sonjuku. ^[23]

Takahashi: Kazuo Koike-sensei taught me the key points, or rather the techniques, of what to do in an original work, but what left an impression on me was that he taught me what not to do. One of the things that left a strong impression on me was that we should not be too particular about the composition of a picture and destroy the positioning of the figures. It was very helpful that I was able to understand with my mind at the beginning what most people have to learn through trial and error.

When I was in my second year of university, I took a two-hour lecture class starting at 6:30 in the evening. This was before my debut, I saw an advertisement for Gekiga Sonjuku in a weekly magazine, so my friend and I decided to give it a try.

Hideo Azuma is amazing!

Editorial Department: What are your thoughts on Kazuo Koike's original work? ^[24]

Takahashi: That's interesting. His work was so good, I was like, oh, I'm going to have to read this, and I learned a lot from them.

Editorial Department: Are gags based on careful calculations?

Takahashi: Gags are something that cannot be taught, nor can it be learned. But first of all, there are the real basics of storytelling that Koike-sensei taught me, and whatever I draw is based on that, and then I add what I want to do. In my case, I don't comes up with gag after gag, but I think slowly and thoughtfully, and then I string the lines together.

Takezawa: Now that I think about it, when I read your works, I get the sense that you put a lot of effort into the arrangement of the gags. I personally like directing, and I often study directing by watching videos of TV dramas, but I end up watching them over and over again. I think Takahashi-sensei's sense of producing gags is amazing. You really can't learn gags from others; you have to hone your own sense of style, so I respect people who can do gags (laughs).

However, I think such works will eventually become obsolete if they are just gags. I think it will become a good work only if there is some warmth or humanity added to it. In that sense, I think Takahashi-sensei's work is really good. So, I've decided to apply to be an assistant (laughs).

Editorial Department: Come to think of it, both of you are big fans of Hideo Azuma, so how did you first come into contact with Azuma's works?

Takahashi: I saw Za Iroppuru (ざ・いろっぷる) for the first time when I was in the fourth grade in elementary school. I thought it had a great sense of style. I had never seen anything like that before, with that kind of design and the way the gags were done. Even as a child, I was terribly impressed (laughs). First of all, no matter what he does, his work is always elegant and cute. Just recently, I bought and read his book of Gansaku Hideo Hakkenden (贋作ひでお八犬伝), and I really enjoyed reading it because it made me laugh. That work is really a naughty thing (laughs), but it's not at all obscene. I think this is essentially due to the greatness of his drawings. And the gags are also unusual. People who have lost their senses of humor are saying things to each other with a straight face; it's hard to believe that they're human (laughs).

Takezawa: He has a really good way of manipulating his images or maybe Azuma-san is just a lolicon after all (laughs). I like the way his work combines dreams and fantasies.

Editorial Department: Have you ever met any professional manga artists?

Takahashi: Before my debut, I once went to help Kazuo Umezu-sensei for three days. When I saw his finished manuscript, I thought, "Oh, it really is a professional manuscript!" (laughs). I was especially impressed by the use of white-out, how the white was put in like a string of glass. I didn't know those techniques, so I learned by watching him.

Editorial Department: What kind of work would you like to create in the future?

Takahashi: I think I may be getting away from science fiction. There is a part of me that would like to try to draw more and more characters, such as in a simple home drama. I hope to be able to do that gradually. Please praise me if I can do it. Anyway, I will do my best in my own way, so if you were attracted by the science fiction part, please don't give up on me and read my work. ^[25]

Takezawa: As a fan I'm looking forward to seeing what you create in the future!

Takezawa, who has long considered herself a fan of Rumiko Takahashi, kept saying "I'm so excited" when they met for the first time. Nevertheless, the conversation went smoothly, and both of them revealed the roots of their own works... Coincidentally, Takahashi-sensei and Takezawa-sensei both found out that they were fans of Ryoichi Ikegami, and they hit it off. They also laughed a lot at topics such as Dr. Slump and Hideo Azuma. Rumiko-sensei, who is on a smooth-sailing journey, and Takezawa-sensei, who is a late bloomer, are looking forward to tomorrow's manga world. I am simply in awe of the talent of these beautiful girls.

Rumiko Takahashi is currently serializing Urusei Yatsura in Shonen Sunday. She also plans to start a new series in a new magazine aimed at young adults soon. Meanwhile, Takako Takezawa will draw her first major work in a while for Part 10 of this magazine. Look forward to it!!!

About Rumiko-senpai
From the Japan Women's University Manga Research Group

Rumiko Takahashi's face is fair and plump, and her eyes have a naughty look to them. Some people say she looks exactly like the Mona Lisa.

She's also known for her many anecdotes and quotes. Her words that made the manga research group's members furious, saying things like "four and a half tatami rooms are not a place for people to live!" and that she caused mold to grow in the bathroom have already become legends. You can't see the tatami mats in her boarding house room, and you have to dig the phone out of a pile to find it, melon seeds are sprouting that she has tossed in the kitchen sink, she puts mentholatum in her eyes, the list goes on and on.

Writing this way may give the impression that she is inhuman. However, it is also true that she is separate from humans.

After her debut, she didn't show up much at the manga research group much anymore. However, at the party, she danced to Pink Lady and Star of the Giants (巨人の星/Kyojin no Hoshi), and when we talked, she was more serious than anyone else. There was so much to learn from her, especially her very serious attitude toward manga. Her argument is that "manga is entertainment," and her primary goal is to entertain people. That's why her work is so interesting. We love her very much. ^[26]

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Footnotes

• [1] Rumiko Takahashi graduated from Japan Women's University (日本女子大学/Nihon Joshi Daigaku) after the beginning of Urusei Yatsura. While in college she published some of her work in Vivid (びびっと/Bibitto) which includes Thus, Half of Them Are Gone (そして半分いなくなった/Soshite hanbun inakunatta), Bye-Bye Road (バイバイロード/Baibai Roodo) and A Band of Young Ruffians (不良青年団/Furyou seinendan).
• [2] Takako Takezawa (竹沢タカ子) must have seemed on a similar career trajectory when this interview took place, however she has very little information available about her online and ultimately never had a significant breakout hit manga.
• [3] Yoshihiro Yonezawa (米澤 嘉博), the founder of Comiket, was also a noted manga critic. For more discussion on manga criticism please see our discussion on the work of Jun Ishikawa. Yonezawa founded Comiket after the avant garde manga magazine COM closed its doors in 1972. Yonezawa was posthumously awarded the Seiun Award and in 2007 the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize in 2010 for his contributions to manga culture. For more on the dojinshi experience, especially via erotic manga, please read The Power of the 'Underground Manga' Circulating in the Shadows!
• [4] Hideko Mizuno (水野英子) is one of the early major shojo artists. She lived at Tokiwa-so, the iconic apartment building that housed a number of iconic mangaka. Her most noted work is likely Fire! (ファイヤー!) which broke the mold of what had been considered traditional subject matter in shojo manga when it was published in 1969. Her manga Red-Headed Scarlet (赤毛のスカーレット/Akage no Sukaaretto) is an adaptation of the John Ford film The Quiet Man. Dream of Venus (ビーナスの夢/Biinasu no Yume) is the story of Liz who accidentally ruins a dress in a high-class department store and has to work there to repay the damage and gets into unusual adventures via her work at the store. Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎, known as Shotaro Ishimori/石森章太郎 prior to 1986) is the creator of Cyborg 009 (サイボーグ009), Kikaider (キカイダー) and Kamen Rider (仮面ライダー).
• [5] Shameless School (ハレンチ学園/Harenchi Gakuen) by Go Nagai (永井豪) was published in Shonen Jump from 1968 to 1972 and was one of the most controversial manga of its day. It is often considered the first ecchi manga and was frequently the target of protests by parent/teacher groups in Japan. Takahashi has also cited Nagai's work on Shameless School as being particularly influential to her work as well.
• [6] Ryoichi Ikegami (池上遼一) is by far Takahashi's biggest influence and favorite artist as she has professed many times. His work includes Crying Freeman (クライング フリーマン), Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ) and Wounded Man (傷追い人). Kazumasa Hirai (平井和正) is the creator of 8 Man and Genma Taisen and a mutual fan of Rumiko Takahashi. Takahashi has frequently mentioned Ikegami as her favorite and most influential mangaka. She particularly mentions these two series, I Don't Need Anything! (なんにもいらない!/Nannimo Iranai!) and Youthful Ardor (青春徒博/Seishun Tobaku) in her lengthy interview regarding Ikegami.
• [7] Kazumasa Hirai (平井和正) was a science fiction novelist best known for 8 Man (8マン), Genma Wars (幻魔大戦) and Wolf Guy (ウルフガイ). Takahashi illustrated a number of his Wolf Guy novels in the early 1980s. He published two interview books of discussions he had with Takahashi entitled The Time We Spoke Endlessly About the Things We Loved (語り尽せ熱愛時代/Kataretsuse netsuai jidai) and The Gentle World of Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子の優しい世界/Takahashi Rumiko no Yasashii Sekai) which is his analysis of Maison Ikkoku and Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer.
• [8] Yasutaka Tsutsui (筒井康隆) is a novelist perhaps best known to western audiences as the writer of Paprika which was turned into a film by Satoshi Kon. The Girl Who Lept Through Time (時をかける少女) is another well-known novel by Tsutsui.
• [9] Takahashi discusses her perception of herself as a science fiction fan in an article she wrote around the same time as this interview was published entitled SF Pillow Book (Female Writer Essay Series) Part 4.
• [10] Komawari is the main character from Tatsuhiko Yamagami's manga Brat Cop (がきデカ/Gakideka). Takahashi has often spoken of her fondness for the series and did a tribute to it as well.
• [11] Monkey Punch (モンキー・パンチ) is the author of the iconic Lupin III (ルパン三世) manga series.
• [12] Yasuo Otsuka (大塚康生) was a mentor to Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿) and Isao Takahata (高畑勲) of Studio Ghibli fame. Otsuka was a key animator on The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots (長靴をはいたねこ/Nagagutsu o Haita Neko). Pero, the cat from The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots, would go on to become the mascot for Toei animation.
• [13] The statements regarding the suitability of Takahashi's work for an anime adaptation is fairly humorous now. At the time this article was written she was at the very beginning of her career. In the decades since this interview nearly everything she has written has been adapted into very successful anime adaptations.
• [14] Takahashi won honorable mention for the 2nd Shogakukan Newcomers Manga Award (第2回小学館新人コミック大賞) in the shonen category. The way the Newcomer Manga Award is structured is there is a single winner and then two to three honorable mentions that are unranked. In 1978 the winner in the shonen category was Yoshimi Yoshimaro (吉見嘉麿) for D-1 which was published in Shonen Sunday 1978 Vol. 26. The other honorable mentions in addition to Rumiko Takahashi were Masao Kunitoshi (国俊昌生) for The Memoirs of Dr. Watson (ワトソン博士回顧録) which was published in Shonen Sunday 1978 Vol. 27 and Hiroaki Oka (岡広秋) for Confrontation on the Snowy Mountains (雪山の対決) which was published in a special edition of Shonen Sunday (週刊少年サンデー増刊号). Oka would also publish later under the name Jun Hayami (早見純). Other winners in various Newcomers categories include Gosho Aoyama, Koji Kumeta, Yuu Watase, Kazuhiko Shimamoto, Naoki Urasawa, Kazuhiro Fujita and Ryoji Minagawa, Yellow Tanabe and Takashi Iwashige.
• [15] Though she does not say it here, Takahashi is likely referring to Makiko Nakano (中野真紀子) and Kuniko Saito (斎藤邦子) who stayed on as assistants to Takahashi until 1986 and 1988 respectively. Both appear as characters in her Diary of Kemo Kobiru series of autobiographical manga.
• [16] Kazuo Umezu is a well-respected horror manga artist known for The Drifting Classroom (漂流教室), Orochi (おろち), Cat Eyed Boy (猫目小僧), Makoto-chan (まことちゃん) and My Name is Shingo (わたしは真悟). Rumiko Takahashi is often stated to have been one of Kazuo Umezu's assistants, though in truth this was an arrangement by their shared editor, Shinobu Miyake, who wanted the novice Takahashi to see how a professional studio was set up. Takahashi explains that she only visited Umezu's studio three times and filled in the ink on Makoto's mouth. Umezu is a noted eccentric, always shown wearing red and white striped shirts and living in a red and white striped house.
• [17] Weekender (ウィークエンダー) had the popular segment Television Three Page Article (テレビ三面記事/Terebi Sanmenkiji) that recreated trivial news headlines using flipboards and comedic illustrations. It was a popular show running from 1975 to 1984. Pink Lady were a popular Japanese idol duo in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were popular enough to have a short-lived variety show in the United States, Pink Lady and Jeff.
• [18] Toshimitsu Kitanoumi (北の湖敏満) was one of the most dominant sumo wrestlers of the 1970s and the youngest to achieve the rank of yokozuna.
• [19] Keiko Matsuzaka (松坂慶子) is a famous Japanese actress. She played one of the Madonna roles of women that Tora-san was attracted to in the long-running It's Tough Being a Man (男はつらいよ/Otoko wa Tsurai yo) film series, appearing in It's Tough Being a Man: Tora-san's Love in Osaka (男はつらいよ 浪花の恋の寅次郎/Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Naniwa no Koi no Torajiro). Her other film roles include Takashi Miike's The Happiness of the Katakuris (カタクリ家の幸福/Katakuri-ke no Kofuku) and Kon Ichikawa's The Inugamis (犬神家の一族/Inugami-ke no Ichizoku).
• [20] Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百恵) was a popular singer and actress from 1972 until 1980 when she retired at the age of 21 and married her frequent co-star Tomokazu Miura. After her retirement she never made another public appearance lending to something of a legendary mystique around her. Her name is occasionally referenced by the boys in Urusei Yatsura.
• [21] Each of these are shojo series. Cotton's Country Star (綿の国星/Wata no Kunihoshi) by Yumiko Oshima (大島弓子), who is often credited with creating the concept of the "cat-girl". It was serialized in Lala. Patalliro! (パタリロ!) and Russian! (ラシャーヌ!) are both by Mineo Masao (魔夜峰央) and were serialized in Hana to Yume while Kuro-mon-mon-gumi (黒のもんもん組) by Nekojujisha (猫十字社) ran in the magazine Lala from 1978 to 1984.
• [22] Takahashi speaks about writing for a male audience here, however in later decades she discusses her popularity with female readers as well. In this interview she speaks of Urusei Yatsura being popular with boys, but Ranma 1/2 gaining an increasingly female audience which she says she did intentionally. In another interview decades later she stated it was important to her to expand her audience to more women as well and felt that began to happen after Urusei Yatsura was adapted as an anime. She also mentions the importance of finding a new audience with each work here. When Inuyasha ended she spoke of it and Ranma 1/2 having a large number of female readers and hoping that her next work (which would be Kyokai no RINNE though that had not yet been decided at the time) would be more popular among male readers.
• [23] Gekiga Sonjuku was a manga "cram school" where Kazuo Koike, the writer of such iconic manga as Lone Wolf and Cub, Crying Freeman and Lady Snowblood helped train a number of manga luminaries before their debuts. Besides Rumiko Takahashi, other Gekiga Sonjuku alumni include Tetsuo Hara (Fist of the North Star), Yuji Hori (Dragon Quest), Hideyuki Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D), Keisuke Itagaki (Grappler Baki) and Marley Caribu (Old Boy).
• [24] Kazuo Koike (小池一夫) is a "genshakusha" (原作者), a writer of manga (rather than an illustrator). His most famous works are Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼/Kozure Okami), Crying Freeman (クライング フリーマン) and Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫/Shurayuki-hime), Hanappe Bazooka (花平バズーカ) and Wounded Man (傷追い人/Kizuoibito).
• [25] Takahashi is about to do just that and create one of the most beloved slice-of-life series in manga history shortly after this interview when she begins Maison Ikkoku in 1980 in the newly launched Big Comic Spirits.
• [26] The manga research group at Takahashi's university is still active and still publishes Vivid (びびっと/Bibitto) the dojinshi magazine founded by Rumiko Takahashi in the late 1970s. You can find their social media account here.

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