Shiina and Takahashi (Part 1)

Translated by: Dylan Acres
Special Thanks to: Weekly Shogakukan Edition for providing the interview early.

This is a legendary dialogue between Rumiko Takahashi who wrote Inuyasha and Takashi Shiina who is writing and illustrating Yashahime.

Regarding the background of this manga, Shiina-sensei said at the time it was first announced that it was something he “just hoped” to do?

Shiina: Before I began the serialization of Zettai Karen Children I was doing a serial of Ultraman Nexus. It was popular and got some attention. At the same time there was also talk about doing a serialization of Moeyo Ken which was a video game Takahashi-sensei did the character designs for. ^[1]

Is that so?

Shiina: I really wanted to do it but I was about to start working on Zettai Karen Children so I couldn’t. I had no choice but to turn it down. But I’ve always been interested in doing something like that, and I always thought “Wouldn’t it be fun to draw a manga with Takahashi’s characters?” I was thinking, “I was the governor.” That’s when I heard the plan for Yashahime around the end of Zettai Karen Children’s run, so I thought “Please let the timing be right!” The dream of drawing sensei’s characters in a manga came true after 17 years.

Takahashi: I think I heard about Shiina-san’s hopes shortly after the anime started, but I thought “he’s just joking again.” However I heard it three more times, so I thought “Is he really serious?” I thought it would be great if he did do it and so I said “thank you very much.”

What were your impressions when you read Yashahime drawn by Shiina-sensei?

Takahashi: It was really interesting. I really enjoyed it. I like the way the characters stands out. I'd like to know what you think of it. Also, Towa and the fact that Setsuna’s face is a little longer than the rest of the girls fits her perfectly. I was impressed. I also enjoyed the way the characters reacted to each other and the various things they did. It was really fun to read.

Shiina: I'm kind of a disciple of Takahashi-sensei’s... though I've never studied under her (laughs).

You mentioned drawing. How do you view one another’s drawings?

Shiina: I think Takahashi's drawings are a little difficult for others to imitate. I think it is possible to imitate her, but in the end it would be a fake. So, I try to be conscious of "what would happen if a Takahashi character came to my world? So I try to draw Takahashi characters with an awareness of how their faces would change if they were to come into my world. In the case of Towa-chan, Takahashi's design makes her look very cute and young. In my case, however, I wanted the characters to have different gestures, such as a downcast look, in order to convey emotion. To make it easier to hide the face, I increased the volume of hair in the front. I'm still trying to find the right balance so that the original character can be recognized.

Takahashi: On the contrary, I think it’s good that you do it in your own style. As a reader, I can see that it isn’t a caricature. There are drawings of Inuyasha and Kagome and they have great faces. Like there’s a photo of Kagome in one of the chapters and its really nice. It feels a little like Tron.

Shiina: (laughs)

Takahashi: As long as you can read the work objectively you can enjoy it.

When the series was announced, Takahashi-sensei said “I expect a beautiful Sesshomaru.” Was there any specific instructions from Takahashi-sensei to Shiina-sensei regarding Sesshomaru?

Takahashi: The only thing I asked for was that “Sesshomaru never gets cold sweats.” Because he’s a solitary character. I thought that had to be protected. Because often mangaka draw characters having cold sweats as sort of a habit.

Shiina: Yes, yes, I even mentioned that to Takahashi-san…

Takahashi: But how to express that is the difficult part. It depends on how close I can get to the heart of the character. I thought about that. Speaking of beauty, his drawing is beautiful.

Shiina: (laughs)

And how do you think it turned out?

Takahashi: It was exactly what I expected, or rather, it was exactly what I was expecting, because it was a drawing by Shiina-san. It was good.

Shiina: Thank you.

How does it feel for you to draw Sesshomaru, Shiina-san?

Shiina: I was more worried about his interplay with others. He never talks about himself, but if he doesn’t talk about himself it's hard to show his character. So even though he doesn’t speak about them, I’m sure he has his own worries, beliefs and aesthetics. I think he has things like that, and the struggles he deals with. However, it's different if you can say it out loud or not. So I wondered how I could express this in my actions and lines.

Unlike Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Zettai Karen Children, is it difficult to draw something other than your own characters and illustrate their behaviors?

Shiina: Yes, that's right. I enjoyed drawing the three girls as my own daughters, and I was able to put my own feelings into what they said and did. ^[2] Also, Inuyasha and Kagome-chan are very straightforward, so it's easy to guess what they will say or think. However, when it comes to Sesshomaru, it isn’t easy to guess what he will think. But how to express that is the difficult part. It depends on how close I can get to the heart of the man.

What were some of the points that Shiina-sensei was concerned about when changing to the new format?

Shiina: It's not uncommon for an adaptation of a manga to change from the original anime, and I think it has to be done in order to make it into a proper manga. When I do that, I hope that my interpretation of the work and the artist's style will fit in well with the theme of the work. I don't try to covey the original works, but rather look for common ground with myself in the works that were the basis of Takahashi-san's creation and in her tastes... I guess you could say. At the same time, I try to find a common ground where I don't deviate too much from the anime.

What do you mean by “common ground?”

Shiina: For example, Takahashi-san loved to read the works of Mr. Kazumasa Hiraii before she became a manga creator. ^[3] I also like such things, so I wondered how these similarities would connect to my works. This is what I try to simulate in my mind, "what was Takahashi's intention when she brought these things into the world?

Please tell us what the two of you are focusing on when you draw yokai.

Shiina: I'm a male otaku, so I tend to try to draw yokai in a cool way. However, when I read various books such as Inuyasha by Takahashi-san, I was more interested in her impressions of yokai and Kagome’s feelings toward them. And the designs of the yokai are not cartoony and cool, but more like folklore, as if they came out of a cabinet.

Takahashi: My pictures are not scary at all...

Shiina: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Takahashi: I'm trying to make it look scary... I'm trying not to make it look dumb... In that sense, I'm trying to make it look scary by using the reactions of the people facing the monsters. In that sense, it's a collaborative work with the reactions of the humans facing the creatures (to make them look scary). After that, I think it's just a matter of creating the scene with pauses, unpleasant smells, and other things like that. But I don't usually think about it that deeply when I draw... But I think yokai are fun to draw.

Shiina: When I was drawing 'the Nothing Woman' the other day, I also drew the 'Binding Creatures' from Inuyasha, which were really fun to draw. The dotted tones on the body, the furrowed eyebrows, the eyes that I couldn't tell what they were thinking... and yet he had his costume around his waist and shoulders. I wondered what they were thinking when they wore these clothes, or what they were thinking when they moved, and it made me very nervous.

Takahashi: That's right. They are small animals or demons that look like they belong in hell. It's pretty creepy looking at it that way.

Shiina: But if they're around a Nothing Woman when she's appears, the scene looks really cute and different, so I felt that I had to show her with them. In my mind, I thought, "at first, they were hired as a pair so that Sesshomaru could bring down Inuyasha, but after that, they became good business partners, and I think they still work together from time to time" (laughs).

Takahashi: That’s interesting.

How do the two of you decide on the design of your creations?

Shiina: When you think about it in your head, it's hard to know what to do. I want it to be flashy, but what is flashy? "Isn't it too flashy and difficult to understand? The only thing I can do is to create the content first, and then make it look appropriate. The only thing I can do is to create the content first and then make it look appropriate.

Takahashi: The first thing I think about is the setting of the story, and then I think about the characters in the setting. Then I begin to draw and the images just come. He said that he would draw this picture again and again.

Shiina: (laughs) A little part of Takahashi's design I that I’ve always, liked is the hair, eyes, glasses, etc. I just had to keep drawing and drawing until that became second nature to me.

How did you go about designing the three leads of Yashahime?

Takahashi: I was told by (Katsuyuki) Sumisawa-san, the author of the Yashahime scenario, that Towa would look like a "white Sesshomaru" and Setsuna would look like a "black Sesshomaru". Moroha is the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome, so I didn't think much about it and drew her and thought “This is the way she has to be.”

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Footnotes

• [1] Moeyo Ken (機動新撰組 萌えよ剣/Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken) began as a Playstation 2 visual novel style game and then quickly became a series of OVAs followed by a television series. The series was created by Sakura Wars writer Oji Hiroi (広井王子) and Rumiko Takahashi was brought on to provide character designs and consequently each following media incarnation kept her designs as their template.
• [2] Shiina uses this phrase, "thinking of them as my own daughters," in his blog when discussing chapter 18 in 2023.
• [3] 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.

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