[40.5] Konomi Takeshi interview
A partial translation. Some interesting thoughts one how he developed his storylines. =)
(Find out why Hyoutei's popularity knocked Vanilla Ice off the roster...)
-- First of all, can you tell us which tournament you had the most emotional attachment to in the nationals?
The Shitenhoji matches, I think. In the beginning, I wanted to do an East/West tournament before nationals. The champion of Kantou and the champion Kansai would fight, and after Shitenhoji was thus unveiled, we'd go into nationals. But by shear force, I just went straight into nationals. *laughs* Also, about the comedy tennis: I wanted to try doing the gag stories like bowling and beach volleyball, but in the tennis match. I wanted to make people laugh over tennis this time. *laughs*
-- Had you planned all the way ahead to Seigaku's finals qualifications?
To some extent, yes. I gathered all the nationals teams on a tournament chart. And in the end, I it was between Nagoya Seitoku and Rikkai. I was going to choose which one depending on the feeling at the time. Only, Nagoya Seitoku seemed cyborg like, and instead of entering characters that were hard to understand, I wanted to bring in the characters of Rikkai, which everyone knows well already, only this time I wanted to portray them as stronger than before.
Seigaku vs. Higa
-- So let's start with the with first round. What was the main point from Seigaku vs. Higa?
Of course, I wanted everyone to root for the main character's team, so I wanted to pit Seigaku up against a bad-guy team that they didn't get along with. I wanted Ryoma and team to defeat those despicable guys and have readers feel good about it. That Ryoma is dependable, after all.
-- So did you have them hit Rokkaku's Ojii with a ball to accentuate their badness?
Yes. I put Rokkaku against Higa in their first round because I wanted everyone to wish for Ryoma's team to defeat them. I wanted them to think that Seigaku's cool after all. Oh by the way - there's a secret episode on a Seigaku member that I haven't told anyone before.
-- What sort of episode is that?
Well....Fuji was going to transfer schools...
-- Eeeh!! That's huge!
I think it would've been fine if he did.
-- Which school would he transfer to?
Rikkai.
-- Rikkai?? At what point?
I thought about transferring him a long while ago. When he fought against Ryoma during the intra-team tournament. He was going to transfer away then, and face him again as his opponent and awaken to his will to play a serious match. So the preparation was always there. But ultimately it didn't work out...
-- Why Rikkai?
So he could go to a strong team and rise up a level.
Seigaku vs. Hyoutei
-- So what about the rematch with Hyoutei?
Hyoutei's popularity was a lot bigger than I'd expected after their initial match ended... At first when Atobe was trying to destroy Tezuka's arm to win, people didn't like him. But then when he approved of Tezuka and battled him, from then on the fans flocked to him. And now they've got so much momentum they're about to bowl over the main school. *laughs* Such a school can't be kept out of nationals, so I revived them. It's a severe world in sports where once you're defeated you can't move ahead, but this is a manga, and it's more important for the readers to have a good time.
-- You spent an entire chapter portraying their revival?
I wanted to rev up some enthusiasm, "here they come, here they come!" And since they've come up to nationals, I wanted them to battle Seigaku. It wouldn't be any fun if they easily got defeated by Shishigaku. *laughs* So Shishigaku was slated to lose, and so I had to switch Chitose from that team to Shitenhoji. Then Shitenhoji got one too many characters. *laughs*
-- What was the highlight of the Hyoutei match?
Highlight was Ryoma vs. Atobe. I had developed a connection from the beginning when they met, so that Ryoma would one day battle against the king of the monkeys. So this was a match that had to take place at some time. At the time, I didn't want them to just fight, but for each of them to put something on the stake, just to make it interesting. I thought that if Ryoma or Atobe lost their hair it would draw the reader's attention. Ultimately, I was met with incredible booing. *laughs* The other part was Tezuka's pinch. Because there was never a time before where he might lose in a battle of skills. By battling "himself" in Kabaji, he finds himself in a pinch - I wanted to portray some aspect of that.
-- The ultimate moves seem to have evolved as well...how did you think up Atobe's World of Ice?
It's the ultimate "Insight." And visually, it seemed like the quintessential shonen manga display.
-- It was a very dramatic introduction?
Yes...it was like pillars of ice falling down and piercing. *laughs*
[ They fanboy over World of Ice some more, then move on to Shitenhoji. They talk mostly about Tezuka playing doubles (because Konomi's assistants insisted on him doing doubles), and then yack about Hadoukyuu stuff.]
Seigaku vs. Rikkai
-- Please tell us about the rematch with Rikkai.
I had decided that Seigaku was going to lose the first match. If Seigaku won from the start, then readers would get the image that Rikkai was weak. And as for who was going to lose, it had to be either Tezuka or Fuji, so Rikkai's strength could be emphasized. That it would show exactly how strong this team was, led by Yukimura. But Fuji had lost in the previous match and I hesitated in making him lose again. I really struggled with the order. And when I finally came up with the most interesting order, Tezuka just had to lose. First Tezuka would lose, then they'll lose the next doubles. At that desperate point in time, Fuji - who lost in the Shitenhoji round - would snag a win for his team.
[ They talk a bit about D2 match, and how he wanted Kaidoh to show a "darker" side because of his injured teammate Inui. etc. etc. ]
--
Exhausted. Going to bed. G'nite!
(Find out why Hyoutei's popularity knocked Vanilla Ice off the roster...)
-- First of all, can you tell us which tournament you had the most emotional attachment to in the nationals?
The Shitenhoji matches, I think. In the beginning, I wanted to do an East/West tournament before nationals. The champion of Kantou and the champion Kansai would fight, and after Shitenhoji was thus unveiled, we'd go into nationals. But by shear force, I just went straight into nationals. *laughs* Also, about the comedy tennis: I wanted to try doing the gag stories like bowling and beach volleyball, but in the tennis match. I wanted to make people laugh over tennis this time. *laughs*
-- Had you planned all the way ahead to Seigaku's finals qualifications?
To some extent, yes. I gathered all the nationals teams on a tournament chart. And in the end, I it was between Nagoya Seitoku and Rikkai. I was going to choose which one depending on the feeling at the time. Only, Nagoya Seitoku seemed cyborg like, and instead of entering characters that were hard to understand, I wanted to bring in the characters of Rikkai, which everyone knows well already, only this time I wanted to portray them as stronger than before.
Seigaku vs. Higa
-- So let's start with the with first round. What was the main point from Seigaku vs. Higa?
Of course, I wanted everyone to root for the main character's team, so I wanted to pit Seigaku up against a bad-guy team that they didn't get along with. I wanted Ryoma and team to defeat those despicable guys and have readers feel good about it. That Ryoma is dependable, after all.
-- So did you have them hit Rokkaku's Ojii with a ball to accentuate their badness?
Yes. I put Rokkaku against Higa in their first round because I wanted everyone to wish for Ryoma's team to defeat them. I wanted them to think that Seigaku's cool after all. Oh by the way - there's a secret episode on a Seigaku member that I haven't told anyone before.
-- What sort of episode is that?
Well....Fuji was going to transfer schools...
-- Eeeh!! That's huge!
I think it would've been fine if he did.
-- Which school would he transfer to?
Rikkai.
-- Rikkai?? At what point?
I thought about transferring him a long while ago. When he fought against Ryoma during the intra-team tournament. He was going to transfer away then, and face him again as his opponent and awaken to his will to play a serious match. So the preparation was always there. But ultimately it didn't work out...
-- Why Rikkai?
So he could go to a strong team and rise up a level.
Seigaku vs. Hyoutei
-- So what about the rematch with Hyoutei?
Hyoutei's popularity was a lot bigger than I'd expected after their initial match ended... At first when Atobe was trying to destroy Tezuka's arm to win, people didn't like him. But then when he approved of Tezuka and battled him, from then on the fans flocked to him. And now they've got so much momentum they're about to bowl over the main school. *laughs* Such a school can't be kept out of nationals, so I revived them. It's a severe world in sports where once you're defeated you can't move ahead, but this is a manga, and it's more important for the readers to have a good time.
-- You spent an entire chapter portraying their revival?
I wanted to rev up some enthusiasm, "here they come, here they come!" And since they've come up to nationals, I wanted them to battle Seigaku. It wouldn't be any fun if they easily got defeated by Shishigaku. *laughs* So Shishigaku was slated to lose, and so I had to switch Chitose from that team to Shitenhoji. Then Shitenhoji got one too many characters. *laughs*
-- What was the highlight of the Hyoutei match?
Highlight was Ryoma vs. Atobe. I had developed a connection from the beginning when they met, so that Ryoma would one day battle against the king of the monkeys. So this was a match that had to take place at some time. At the time, I didn't want them to just fight, but for each of them to put something on the stake, just to make it interesting. I thought that if Ryoma or Atobe lost their hair it would draw the reader's attention. Ultimately, I was met with incredible booing. *laughs* The other part was Tezuka's pinch. Because there was never a time before where he might lose in a battle of skills. By battling "himself" in Kabaji, he finds himself in a pinch - I wanted to portray some aspect of that.
-- The ultimate moves seem to have evolved as well...how did you think up Atobe's World of Ice?
It's the ultimate "Insight." And visually, it seemed like the quintessential shonen manga display.
-- It was a very dramatic introduction?
Yes...it was like pillars of ice falling down and piercing. *laughs*
[ They fanboy over World of Ice some more, then move on to Shitenhoji. They talk mostly about Tezuka playing doubles (because Konomi's assistants insisted on him doing doubles), and then yack about Hadoukyuu stuff.]
Seigaku vs. Rikkai
-- Please tell us about the rematch with Rikkai.
I had decided that Seigaku was going to lose the first match. If Seigaku won from the start, then readers would get the image that Rikkai was weak. And as for who was going to lose, it had to be either Tezuka or Fuji, so Rikkai's strength could be emphasized. That it would show exactly how strong this team was, led by Yukimura. But Fuji had lost in the previous match and I hesitated in making him lose again. I really struggled with the order. And when I finally came up with the most interesting order, Tezuka just had to lose. First Tezuka would lose, then they'll lose the next doubles. At that desperate point in time, Fuji - who lost in the Shitenhoji round - would snag a win for his team.
[ They talk a bit about D2 match, and how he wanted Kaidoh to show a "darker" side because of his injured teammate Inui. etc. etc. ]
--
Exhausted. Going to bed. G'nite!