kishoutenketsu<\/a><\/i> narrative structure, but Ms. Mikawa has her own style when it comes to that structure. For example, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good to have two developments that could be call \u00e2\u20ac\u0153twists\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ((the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ten\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153kishoutenketsu\u00e2\u20ac\u009d)). You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see similar advice if you read books about Hollywood screenwriting, but they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the concept of kishoutenketsu<\/i> there. Those narratives are generally based on the three-act play, but at the same time, they say that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still important to have two plot twists.<\/p>\nAkamatsu<\/b>: Though, you could also blame script doctors for making every Hollywood story the same.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that problem, but I do think that there are some basic rules. If you look at it that way, then only the freelance editors who have a grasp on those rules and who have editorial skills will be able to stay around. For example, if an artist loses popularity, they lose their contract. But, the editor of the series doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get fired, right? The reason the editor stays is because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re company employees. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not easy to fire a company employee, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very easy to fire a freelancer. With a freelance system, the editor gets fired if the manga they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re editing loses popularity.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: So, in other words, free-market principles will make the quality of editors rise?<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: I think so. Am I being naive?<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Looking at the situation as a manga artist, there are a lot of manga artists who want to focus just on drawing. There are people who just want to draw thumbnails and get corrections back, and not deal with other people or listen to fans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 opinions beyond that. Artists like that really need someone to manage them, or someone to write a story for them, and I think that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room for a division of labor in that regard.<\/p>\n
Only, I think that people like that will appear less and less from now on. Now, people are going through the trouble of uploading their own works on pixiv, then hearing feedback from everyone who has an opinion through their blogs or on Twitter. I think that because of this process, artists with a sense for business production will become more common. If there are artists like me who are starting their own business, there should be at least be people out there creating a manga with an anime adaptation in mind from the outset. As a result, it seems to me that the people who will rise to the top are going to be the ones with producing skills.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When Manga Artists with Production Skills Fade Away, the Industry Will Snap\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Akamatsu)<\/b><\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re coming from different standpoints, and I think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying the same thing, just coming from different places. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said this on Twitter, too, but artists do also need producing skills. While I think this, though, if that really happens, then the distinction between artist and editor is going to disappear.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a polarization, where you have people who just want to draw, and then people with producing skills, and since new artists don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have producing skills to begin with, they end up only being able to draw, never having learned those skills. Writer\/editors can definitely develop alongside artists like that. However, those guys whose works have sold from the beginning and already have an audience, not to mention who draw and correct their own thumbnails, will have the run of the place for the next five or so years. I have a hypothesis that when these artists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 careers are up and they fade away, there will have been no place for young editors to learn, and the entire industry will snap, probably causing the Japanese manga industry to go extinct.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: I think that you say that because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re speaking from the position of an artist. As someone from an editorial background, I wonder if we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t develop a new way of creating manga. An editor could act as a producer, and like how anime is made, creates a project plan to gather funds to pay staff with.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no more money to go around. Also, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s risky to gather an entire staff up, like you would when making a movie. That means that you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow for the possibility of failure. One of the great things about manga is that even if a manga fails, there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much of an intial investment to begin with. I think that the moment you start involving a group of people, you make things a lot more dangerous.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: It is important to make a careful decision about how many people you start off with, but I do also think that you have to start with artists who have prior results.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Then what about young artists? You need money for them to be able to develop their skills, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no place to publish their work.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: What if we just say that there are plans to collect enough money. (laughter)<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m afraid of is that new artists won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to debut in the near future. With no correction abilities, editors won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to grow any longer. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be the same whether they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re freelance or employee editors. If the people who sell well now keep selling for the next five years, the Japanese manga industry will be over once they all retire after that. Of course, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want this to happen, but…<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: I understand what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying. I also think that the industry contracting is an inevitability. Only, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see manga just disappearing from the world entirely. If the industry shrinks, then small-scale manga publishers, including doujinshi authors, will survive, and I think that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s from there that the next generation of manga production methods will develop. Basically, I think that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible to operate like a small business, creating manga via moderate investments while making sure your financial losses are reasonably small at worst.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Looking at television dramas these days, you mostly see manga adaptations, so manga certainly still works as a primary industry. Manga might not be a bad industry to invest in.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: Although, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very difficult to raise funds domestically in Japan. I think that movie producers are having a difficult time, too. You have to create a production committee to split the risk.<\/p>\n
— How about finding a talented young artist, then getting a fund of 10 million yen or so together to hire some assistants and get something out there all at once?<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: But isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that exactly the kind of high-risk business I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried about?<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try that method, either. As you said, the cost to produce a manga is cheap. If you compare it to anime, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about being tens, or even hundreds of times cheaper. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it only costs 10 million yen to do a full-year weekly serialization of a series by a new artist.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: What happens if the manga is boring? You mentioned getting a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153talented young artist,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but just because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talented doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that their manga is going to sell. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen plenty of talented manga artists, but I also end up often having to wonder about them, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153why doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t someone this good sell?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right. Focusing on new artists means always taking gambles.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: And investors don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put their money on gambles.<\/p>\n
—Then how about doing it with people who already have fanbases, or giving popular creators at Comiket a chance to debut?<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: The artists who sell from spaces on the walls at Comiket might not fix their manuscripts when you give them corrections. After all, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been selling well without having to make any corrections, and lines form for them at these events to buy a manga of whatever the artist feels like drawing, so they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re flawless as it is. Even if an editor tells them to fix something because they say it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boring, the artist would just refuse. If that happens, then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no more use for editors.<\/p>\n
— I see. So they consider what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing to be final drafts.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re done with the work as it is. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll sell 20,000 copies in one day, and even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never sell more copies of a work than that, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re happy that so many people will line up to buy something that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re drawing for fun, and since they can make a few million yen an event, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fine financially. And well, if they go sell through a doujinshi store after that, they can make even more.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Present-Day Japan Doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Have the Time or Money to Read Manga That Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Guaranteed to be Interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Akamatsu)<\/b><\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: Are there no plans for you to serialize a new work of your own on J-Comi?<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: No, there aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been raised by Kodansha, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any intentions of betraying them. Mr. Ryu Murakami created G2010, but since titles going up there are new ones, publishers can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be happy. The reason that publishers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind me is because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only dealing in out-of-print books. I absolutely want to get along with publishers, because we need publishers in order for new talent to mature. Only, I think that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a problem, where their ability to actually do that is growing weaker.<\/p>\n
— What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s needed in order for publishers to continue acting as development facilities for new artists? If they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep doing that, it seems like their futures are going to be very grim.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: The problem is that readers have less and less spare time and money. Present-day Japan doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the time or the money to read manga that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t guaranteed to be interesting. Who does have those things are foreign readers. Foreign readers might have the spare time to read manga that might end up not being interesting. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no choice but to expand overseas. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I want to make it so that a reader in China could go on J-Comi and immediately click through a translation of a manga.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: I completely agree with you. At the same time, you also hear people talking about payment systems, where a chapter is only something like ten yen, so you can collect a lot of small payments from many readers around the world.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Only, if you charge money for a new artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work, people won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy it unless they know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different story if the manga is free. People might think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give it a little try, just to see. Asking people to pay without letting them try first doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work anymore.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: So what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying is that if you give the content away for free, using an advertising model, you have a chance as long as you can expand globally. In that case, there might be a future for works by new authors.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: You could also release titles by famous authors on an advertising model, then add a newcomer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manga on at the end of the volume. That way, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the possibility that a reader will continue to read the newcomer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manga after the big-name title.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a possibility. I mentioned it earlier, but I think that manga production companies that own the rights to a certain character might start appearing, like how some American companies work. Those companies have producers, and a pool of talent, including newcomers, at their disposal. For example, you never know who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drawing an issue of Batman or Superman, but the characters are incredibly famous. What about a system like that?<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same line of thought as anime production. Though, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much to dream about if a lone artist can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get rich quick with one huge hit.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: The reason I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m talking about this system is because of my job teaching at a university, basically passing myself off as someone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s training manga artists. If there was a system like this, there are lots of students out there who might not have the skill to make it as an author, but could be a good assistant. Because of that, I think about how if there were lots of American-style manga production studios, those students could work as staff, helping to create popular titles or popular characters, just thinking about employment for these students.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Will the students be happy with that? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re basically like animators at that point.<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: It might not be easy to convince them, but there are a lot of students who become seniors and realize that even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been learning manga-creation skills, using those skills to debut as an author is a whole different question, and become terrified. But, all they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been learning about for the past four years is manga, so they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to waste what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been taught. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s currently a strong image of assistants as apprentices, training to become an creator in the future, but if you could change this to more of an image of a career path, I think it would be good. After all, there are some veteran assistants (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153pro assistants\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) who keep doing it into their 40s or 50s. Take Koike Yes. He was the chief assistant on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Haguregumo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for thirty years, and could easily consider himself as an accomplished professional background artist, but instead he humbly says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still a long way from being a true artist.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a problem with the manga industry.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Except you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sustain that system unless your titles sell. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bad idea to think about manga systems like that. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same with movies, where you can think of all sorts of systems, like getting a talented director, or making sure to use a beautiful actress, but if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hit the mark, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in a lot of trouble. Manga is really the best. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a large market, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need an initial investment, and you can fail over and over again. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it a bad idea to destroy a system like that?<\/p>\n
Takekuma<\/b>: Listening to you, it sounds like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying that whether a title sells or doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell is basically up to luck, and that know-how or any sort of methods to success can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be inherited by others.<\/p>\n
Akamatsu<\/b>: Right. You really can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help it. Even if I have an established \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Akamatsu Method\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no way of knowing if one of my assistants will also succeed by using it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Translator\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Introduction: This is part three of the five-part conversation between manga artist and J-Comi founder Ken Akamatsu and manga editor, writer, and professor Takekuma Kentaro. Previous parts, as well as a more detailed introduction, can be found via links on the index below. Part 1: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153People are Noticing the Possibilities of Viewers Featuring Dynamic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,10,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internet","category-manga","category-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1881,"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions\/1881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2chan.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}