The origin of the ever-expanding worldview of the manga “Higanjima”…the origin of the ever-expanding worldview of “Higanjima”!　Manga “Higanjima”… The origin of the ever-expanding world view

It was unexpected!　The roots of the author, Koji Matsumoto: ……

The horror manga “Higanjima” by Kouji Matsumoto has been serialized in “Weekly Young Magazine” since 2002. Set on the island of Higanjima, which is also the title of the manga, the main character, Akira Miyamoto, and his brother Atsushi battle against the vampire forces led by the master vampire Masashi.

The title was changed to “Higanjima: The Last 47 Days” in 2010 and “Higanjima: 48 Days Later…” in 2002, and the story has been set on the mainland and is still going strong.

In April, the serialization of “48 Days Later…” surpassed 400 installments, and we interviewed the series’ creator, Kouji Matsumoto. In the second part of this interview, we take a closer look at his roots as a manga artist.

Part 1: “20 years in serialization, over 400 installments!　Horror?　Horror or Gag? 　Click here for the interview with the creator, Koji Matsumoto, about where the manga “Higanjima” is headed.

Something that has taken root in me …… is the Tezuka manga.

I have been drawing manga ever since I was a little kid. However, it is difficult for a child to actually draw up the artwork. When I was little, I couldn’t draw that well, so I would draw manga as well, but in order to produce what I wanted to produce, I would write novels and add illustrations and so on.

Then, when I was in the first or second year of junior high school, I came across the works of Osamu Tezuka, and it became clear to me that I wanted to become a manga artist.

Surprisingly, Matsumoto’s starting point as a manga artist was the works of Osamu Tezuka. So there was a time when you tried to draw manga like Tezuka’s?　When I asked him if there was a time when he tried to draw something like Tezuka’s works, he was asked in return with a blank stare.

No, no (laughs). I’m still trying to draw them (laughs).

(laughs).

I think my drawings are probably completely different, but there are many things in Tezuka’s manga as well.

He often draws characters who are inflected. I think I would never be able to tell a story on a huge scale like “The Firebird” or complete a complete story like “Black Jack,” but the things and feelings that are rooted in me are Tezuka manga.

Personally, when “Higanjima” started in ’02, already in the first episode, I thought it was a unique world that did not resemble anyone or anything else. I also wondered where the original worldview, like a mutation, came from. ……

What kind of input do you have on a daily basis when drawing manga?

When I’m stuck for material, the most useful thing I can do is to watch something I’ve always loved, whether it’s a movie, a comic book, or anything else. It reminds me of my passion. When I’m in a slump, my brain often shrinks as a result of worrying about various small things, and I can’t come up with anything.

At times like that, I go back to something I’ve always loved, most recently the manga “Kira Kira! (Tetsu Adachi). When I look back at something I love and am moved by it, it reminds me of my desire to draw manga. When you have passion, the little things don’t matter, and you can shake off the little problems that have been holding you back from doing anything as long as it’s fun.

“Although I thought it would be interesting if it worked, I thought, ‘How can I get to the mainland?’ ……”

In “48 Days Later…,” the story takes place in Tokyo after escaping from the island, but at what point did you start thinking about this development?

I didn’t think about it at all. I thought it would end after we left the island.

Then suddenly I was approached about making a TV drama and a movie, and I was told, ‘If possible, I would like to continue working on it for about two years until it’s finished, just to create a buzz. I was very grateful. It was unthinkable when I was not popular. So I wanted to get on board, but I was worried about what to do …….

Because the name that was ready at that time was the one that started the last day of the 47th day of “Higanjima: The Last 47 Days,” and the main character’s line was “Today I’m going to settle everything. It’s going to be the longest day ever.

My editor and I were both convinced that the manga would end in one more day of in-comic time. Spending two years drawing one day in the manga?　That’s impossible. Frankly, the timing was so bad that we all laughed.

When we decided to finish the battle on this island in about six months and then figure out what to do next, we had two main options.

One was to defeat the boss and settle the score on Higanjima, and then have a later story about the evil demons who escaped to another island and defeated them on their own island. 3 or 4 episodes would last 2 years.

The other is that the protagonist loses and the enemy crosses over to the mainland, turning all of Japan into a vampire island, and the protagonist becomes a vengeful demon and heads to Tokyo in a road movie style.

Personally, I thought that the latter story would be more interesting, but since it would be on a large scale, I was very worried about whether I would be able to depict it, and for a while I could not decide.

Every day since then, somewhere in my head, I have been mulling over what to do, but I decided on the latter because I came up with two scenes.

The latter two scenes came to mind: the scene at the end of “The Last 47 Days” where the enemy boss, Masashi, lands at the Kaminarimon gate in Asakusa, and the scene in “48 Days Later…” where the main character, Akira, has his right hand turned into a sword. I came up with an ending that I wanted to draw and a beginning that I wanted to draw, so I thought it would work.

You have continued to paint for a long period of time, almost without a break, over the course of three works in the series and more than 20 years.

I have never stopped drawing in earnest, but since I have to continue drawing every week for the weekly serialization, the most difficult thing for me is after I finish an episode that I thought was super interesting and put all my heart into drawing. I get burned out and suddenly nothing comes out (laughs). (laughs).

I still have a deadline, so I pull out my notes and other things I’ve kept in stock and struggle to entertain the readers until I find the next “thing I really want to draw.

I’m anxious to see what happens next and how it all ends… …

It is said that when you cannot see what you want to draw, you “struggle,” but on the other hand, when you have something you want to draw and you cannot express it or wonder how to express it, “struggle” opens up new possibilities.

You mentioned the recent development of the brothels. My wife happened to be reading something like a girls’ manga about a brothel in the countryside somewhere, and as we talked about it, the first thing that came to me was the feeling that I wanted to include a sense that these women were unhappy, but they were living hard because of it.

When I thought, “What should I do with that feeling in “Higanjima,” since it’s a totally unrelated story?

To be more specific, I thought that if Yukapon was kidnapped and forced to work in the brothel, it would be natural to depict the inner workings of the brothel and the women who work there, and it would also be natural for the main characters to go there to help them.

Matsumoto says that if readers want him to continue, and if he wants to continue, and if he can keep coming up with new stories, he would like to continue drawing for the rest of his life.

By the way, do you ever have an ending in mind?

I don’t know. I’ve thought about it a few times, but I don’t know if it will turn out the way I want it to.

When I ask him if, after more than 20 years of drawing the same characters and the same settings, he ever feels the urge to draw a new manga with a completely different idea, he replies …….

He replied, “No, I don’t get to do that very often (chuckles & puzzled). I’m not really interested in drawing a new manga, because when I have an idea, I think about how to put it into “Higanjima,” as I did with the brothel story.

I feel like “Higanjima” is like a box into which I can put any element, even if it is from a completely different world.

For example, if I wanted to depict the history of an actual brothel, that would be impossible, but I am not interested in that part of the world, and I extract only the nuances and sensations that I want to depict.

Matsumoto further analyzes the root of this process with a straight and clean eye.

I think I have a different sensibility than most people.

When I was talking about zombies with my assistant, he said, ‘The key to a zombie movie is to eat human flesh with all your might, but if you draw it in a comic book, you’ll get angry. But if I drew that in a comic book, he would get angry, so I couldn’t draw zombies.

Maybe that’s the way zombie movies are supposed to be. What I am interested in is human emotions, such as what people do when they are trapped, or what they do when their relatives are changed by the infection.

If I wanted to depict specific scenes, I would probably have to change genres, but if I want to depict human emotions, I can replace the specifics with anything. That’s why I can bring almost anything to this place (“Higanjima”).

When I find a new theme, I put it into “Higanjima” as if I were drawing a new manga.

When I first started serializing the story, I was repeatedly told that the main characters, such as Akira, were just bizarre murderers from the enemy’s point of view, and that it would confuse the readers.

However, after continuing the series for such a long time, the worldview has become firmly established, and even if the storyline turns the worldview on its head, the readers can understand it as a new perspective. There are things that I can do now that I have continued this long.

I feel that I will be able to continue drawing as long as the things I want to draw keep coming up inside me.

Higanjima” is like a black hole that continues to expand endlessly, swallowing up any element, any setting, and any worldview.