Interview with Usagi Tsuchiya, the unique 26-year-old manga artist who won the “Konomisu” Grand Prize

I was always guessing, even at my part-time job.

Takeru Kaido of “The Glory of Team Batista” and Hotei Shinkawa of “The Testament of My Ex” ……. Takarajimasha’s “This Mystery is Amazing! Grand Prize, but this year a new and unique Grand Prize winner was born. She is a 26-year-old female manga artist.

When I received the award, I felt a sense of relief that I was able to return the favor. When I saw my father crying, I realized for the first time that I had won a prize. I would like to thank my parents and friends for allowing me to do my creative work this far as I wanted.

says Usagi Tsuchiya, winner of the Grand Prize for “Mysterious Fragrance Comes from a Bakery. It is a collection of “everyday mysteries” in which an aspiring manga artist working part-time at a bakery uses her powers of deduction to unravel the secrets of the people around her and solve their troubles. The book was published by Takarajima-sha on January 10, 2013.

The combination of a bakery and a mystery is quite an unusual one. How did you come up with such a story?

I had a part-time job at a bakery myself when I was in college. I thought it would be more realistic to create my first novel from my own experience rather than forcing a particular setting. In fact, I was able to deduce many things from my part-time job. There is a scene in the novel where the mystery is solved based on the preparation of the egg filling, but that is a true story. It really is, ‘The cross section of the egg is coarse. This must have been prepared by a senior gal.

I entered the “KONOMISU” Grand Prize in an attempt to take a cue from my mentor.

The story is very fast-paced, and all the characters are unique, attractive, and lively. Once you open the page, you are drawn into the story and finish it in a flash. However, when he wrote the story, he was not so sure about it.

I wanted to win the Grand Prize! I was very anxious as much as I wanted to win the Grand Prize. On the contrary, I was very confident the first time I entered a manga award, but I failed three times in a row (laughs). But I was unsuccessful in three consecutive entries (laughs). (Laughs.) I was more anxious about winning the prize for my novel than for my manga, but I won. I think that’s how much I put my heart and soul into my work.

As mentioned earlier, Usagi Tsuchiya’s original title was manga artist and assistant. In 2011, his debut was a runner-up in the Shueisha Akatsuka Award, and he was also selected as an honorable mention in the Shogakukan “Sousaku Yuri” Manga Award. In 24, a young lady’s rap comedy called “ORB” was published in “JUMP SQ.RISE 2024 SPRING. With a good start as a manga artist, why did you decide to enter a novel for the “Kono Miss” Grand Prize?

My manga mentor, Mr. Oginuma X, also writes novels. He also submitted a novel to the “Kono Miss” Grand Prize and won the “Hidden Gem” (Editor’s Choice Award). When I saw that, I thought that being a manga artist was a full-time job, but I realized that I could do whatever I wanted!　I thought.

I was also aware that Mr. Oginuma had made it to the final round but had missed out on the Grand Prize, so I thought, “Let’s catch up to him! I was also thinking, “Let’s take the lead! He told me, ‘Thank you, I’m happy too.

He expressed his enthusiasm for his dual career as a manga artist and a novelist.

I have to give it my all so that no one will say that I am doing both as an escape route. …… I feel that pressure, but when I was writing “Mysterious Fragrance from the Bakery,” I enjoyed the stimulation of doing something different from manga.

Of course, making time is hard. When I was aiming for the “Kono Miss” Grand Prize, I had to cut down on eating time and didn’t sleep much. I cut my hair and reduced the amount of time I spent in the shower in order to make as much time as possible. But I am doing this for my own sake, so I don’t feel that it is hard at all. I’ve been given this opportunity, so I’d like to do my best at both.

No cartoons or novels will feature characters you don’t like.

Drawing manga and writing novels. Although they seem like completely different creative activities, they are surprisingly similar in many ways.

There are many technical similarities. For example, a sense of tempo is emphasized in gag manga, and this is something I am aware of in novels as well. The difference is that …… I have been a debut manga artist for a year now, and in the case of drawings, the improvement is visible. But with writing, I can’t really see the growth even after finishing a piece. Even in the latter half of the year, there was still a lot of unnecessary punctuation, and I wondered if I was getting any better.

I was not confident until the very end.” He said, “I am a manga artist, and I am a novelist. There is one thing in common between myself as a manga artist and myself as a novelist.

I tried not to have people I really disliked appear in the story. The main character in the novel is an aspiring manga artist, but at first he was a dark character, overlapping with myself. I’m a bit of a negative person. …… I had written a scene where he was brooding about ‘who am I,’ but I cut that out and replaced it with a character that says, ‘I’m going to do my best! I cut that out and replaced it with a character that says, “I’m going to do my best!

I also took the characters of the bakery’s senior staff, such as Rena and the store manager, and turned them into positive characters that were actually there. This is something I am particular about when drawing manga, and I don’t intentionally introduce characters I don’t sympathize with in order to enhance the story.

In my creative works, there are often scenes that make me say, “Why are you being such a jerk? In creative works, there are often scenes that make you say, “Why are you being such a jerk? But I want to create a work that everyone can enjoy without being disturbed. That is why I am conscious of setting up characters who all do their best with conviction, and I think that is the kind of work I can create because I am a manga and novelist.

Why Do So Many Manga Artists Write Novels?

Surprisingly few people are actually comic book artists who also write novels. What are the reasons for this? We asked Tsuchiya, a manga artist-turned-novelist.

In my case, I was influenced by the words of Osamu Tezuka, whom I heard at a manga award ceremony. He said, ‘Don’t study manga from manga. I think he meant that it is important to be exposed to various forms of entertainment in order to create your own unique worldview. I think one of the reasons why it is easier to become a novelist is because manga is written in the form of a plot when you start drawing, so those processes are common.

Of course, there are many differences in other work processes.

Of course, there are many differences in the other processes,” he said. “The same is true of entertainment, which is created to entertain readers, but manga production is a team effort. There are assistants, and everyone talks together to come up with ideas. Novels, on the other hand, are a one-person process. I feel that it is more solitary than being a manga artist.

I also felt that it is difficult to convey blurred scenes in a novel. I was more conscious of the rhythm and tempo of the scenes, because you can’t convey nuance through pictures as you can in a manga.

This made me wonder if he would ever be interested in adapting the Grand Prize-winning work into a manga himself. This work features many delicious-looking breads. I would love to read it in picture form at …….

I’d like to see it in other people’s drawings if I have the chance. If I were to draw it myself?　It should be a completely new story. Because I think the best part of comic books is the chemical reaction that occurs when someone different from the original author draws the story. If I could choose a person to draw it, I would be happy if someone from the shonen manga field would draw it, since I am active in shonen manga.

When asked if he had any ideas for his next work in mind, he replied , “After all, I am a manga artist, so I would like to write a mystery with a manga theme.

Finally, we asked him to give a message to readers who also aspire to become novelists.

When you are writing, you may wonder if it will be interesting, but I would like you to finish it first. I know it is hard to find the time, but there are quite a few people who manage to work as a company employee and a novelist at the same time. I would like to do the same and continue with a dual job, so let’s work together!

Mysterious Fragrance from a Bakery” (Usagi Tsuchiya, published by Takarajimasya)