Quote:
Originally Posted by Freeter
Ah, thanks. I'm familiar with Amazon's layout so ordering was pretty easy.
I'd like to possess the bath posters also. The upcoming Lala one looks especially good.
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Unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible for us to get them, as I don't think we're eligible to receive them if we don't live in Japan. The other solution is to buy them on auction sites, but the prices are ridiculous... I checked again today and the Yui one was going for ~300$
As much as I'd love to possess it, I'm not wiling to blow that much money on a poster.
I finished reading the dababook. Nothing new in the character profiles. Only the "Data" bubble is interesting, and I had already posted a translation for those last year. The rest of the profiles contains analyses of the character's personalities and bodies, as well as comments about some scenes (I don't know who wrote these comments exactly, but he's a huge pervert
), nothing you wouldn't already know by simply reading the series. There are also compilations of each girls' hottest scenes.
The profiles that caught my eye are Sayaka Arai's and Koyomi Shirayuri's. The commentator says they might be "more than friends", and we see a panel where Koyomi is shown looking annoyed when Risa gropes Sayaka, and another from the first Valentine chapter where they were lezzing out. Make of that what you will.
The best part of the book were the interviews. There are four interviews: one with Masakazu Katsura, one with Takeshi Obata, one with Haruka Tomatsu, and finally one where Yabuki and Hasemi talk about the birth of the new series and comment on the characters. They're closer to discussions than interviews.
Spoiler for Obata:
The Obata interview was my favorite.
I learned a lot about Yabuki in that one. For starters, I didn't even know he had started out as Obata's assistant on Hikaru no Go and that he was the one who drew the L logos in Death Note (he resigned after a while since he was also working on his own manga). When he was introduced to Obata, he had no idea how a professional drew manga, and Obata was flabbergasted when his editor announced that to him. Yabuki reveals that he had even once sent a manuscript drawn... with a ball point pen!
Despite his complete lack of experience, he progressed incredibly fast and managed to get his own series in Jump a few years later. Obata reveals Eiji from Bakuman has a bit of Yabuki in him. He figures Eiji's professional background is the same as his, and asserts that Yabuki is also a prodigy in his eyes (now that's a compliment!).
I was surprised to find out Obata has a hard time drawing female characters. He has to put a lot more effort into drawing them and it drains him of energy; so the less girls he has to draw, the better for him. In that regard, he is the complete opposite of Yabuki: drawing girls is his #1 source of motivation, being able to draw them naked or in suggestive poses increases it even further. He said that if no female character were present in his series, his motivation would drop below zero
The rest of the interview is mostly the two of them talking about their drawing techniques. Final words:
Obata: "Please, do not ever stop drawing girls and erotic scenes! I beg of you!!"
Yabuki: "I'll keep drawing them until censors come to stop me! I'll do my absolute best to satisfy you. Thank you very much for this interview".
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention it: when he is in need of inspiration for an ero scene, Yabuki prays to the God of Perverts. He only draws them when he feels he has been touched by his Grace, otherwise he postpones it until later. He is convinced it is thanks to Him he is able to come up with original scenes. I... what...
Alright, moving on to the Tomatsu Haruka interview now. As you would expect, they are mostly talking about the anime.
Spoiler for Tomatsu Haruka:
- Yabuki thinks Tomatsu looks like a manga character. Both him and Hasemi agreed her voice was exactly the one they had in mind for Lala during the auditions and picked her right away.
- The anime has inspired Yabuki and Hasemi to some extent; for example, they decided to make "Gomeeen" Lala's catchphrase after hearing it in the anime.
- Yabuki's favorite episode is the one where Mikan and Yami exchange their body. He was very impressed by the voice actresses (Tomatsu mistakenly says Mikan is voiced by Ayako Kawasumi...). Hasemi's is the one where Lala attempts to seduce Rito using a book Risa lent her.
- The hardest scenes to play for Tomatsu are the ones where Lala's tail gets touched, since she has to moan and it's pretty embarrassing.
- One of Magical Koyoko's villains, Pierre Ogi, was designed by Sayuri Yahagi (Haruna). She showed Yabuki a drawing of him during a radio show and he accepted to include him in the manga. She couldn't wait to play him in the anime, but the anime staff, unaware of the whole story, had the sound engineer voice him. She had to explain the situation to them and beg to get the role. Tomatsu says she thinks Sayuri's in love with Pierre, and that she's certain she imagines doing things with him
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An anime adaptation of Darkness is already planned. No date mentioned. They're probably waiting until there is enough material to animate. Tomatsu declares she's looking forward to playing Lala again even if she doesn't have a big role.
Alright, that's about it for Tomatsu.
And finally, the final interview.
Spoiler for Hasemi and Yabuki about Darkness:
When Mayoi Neko was about to end (sounds like he got the news a lot earlier than us), SQ asked Yabuki if he was interested in drawing a new manga for their magazine. He had anticipated he'd have a lot more freedom in SQ and that he could include new elements he had mastered while drawing Mayoi Neko. He then contacted Hasemi to ask him if he was willing to continue TLR.
Hasemi accepted and the two started brainstorming. They pondered whether to make a simple sequel or try something different, and eventually decided it was better to come up with a new concept. Their initial idea was to make a spin-off focusing on a character from TLR, like a TLR Special Yami or TLR special Momo. Making a Yui spin-off tempted them, but they feared it would quickly turn into a regular romance manga. They asked several people for advice and the majority of them thought a Yami spin-off was the best option. However, they wanted to keep the romantic comedy aspect of the series, and after thinking on the way they could do that, they realized they had the perfect character for the job: Momo. They had two potential storylines: one dealing with Yami's past and her fate as a killer; and one about Momo's attempt to build a harem. In the end, instead of only choosing one of them, they combined the two, and that gave birth to Darkness.
Darkness refers to both Yami and her past catching up to her and the dark side of Momo. They had considered naming it To Love Twins, but the title was already taken by a video game.
Hasemi and Yabuki wrote the first two chapters together, all of the others were written by Hasemi alone, at least the ones up until when the databook was released. Hasemi was stumped Yabuki made Momo so sadistic and dominating in the finalized chapters (it shouldn't have come off as such a surprise though).
Yabuki gave the answer to the question Kenjiharima asked last time: the characters he enjoys drawing the most are Momo and Nana. He loves Momo's "dual personality" and he's having a lot of fun with her large range of facial expressions. It's a treat for him to draw such a character.
Hasemi's favorite character is Mea. She inspires him a lot. After her come Momo, Yami, and Nana.
Spoiler for Comments about the characters:
Mea: she was originally innocent and completely megalomaniac. They later turned her into a yandere. Her name comes from "Nightmare", Hasemi joked about naming her Mea Naito. She was created because they needed a character who knew about Yami's past and her true nature as an assassin. Yabuki had already planned out every details of Yami's past when the series was still running in Jump. They just didn't get the opportunity to tell that story until now.
Her hair ornament is supposed to be a bolt in reference to Frankenstein's monster (it was Frankenstein who gave Yabuki the idea of "human weapons").
Hasemi is the one who notice she said "wonderful" often and made it her catchphrase.
Yami: nothing. Just talk about Mea.
Momo: not much is said about her even though she's the main character. She's a character easy to write and who came make the plot progress. Yabuki straightened her hair out because her old hair style didn't fit her new stature according to him. He can't really explain why.
Nana: She is a character they both like a lot. They haven't decided what to with her exactly yet, but they're aware readers want to see her personality as well as her feelings for Rito evolve.
Lala: she is not the heroine anymore, and only plays a supporting role as Momo and Nana's big sister.
Haruna: Yabuki: "I'm going to pass on that one (laugh)" <-
(he does eventually comment)
She will not appear much in the series. She has no place in the story right now. I haven't noticed anything but Yabuki says he's changed her hairstyle a little bit.
Yui: she's been promoted to major character status. She's a very popular character loved by everybody and who has been constantly evolving, so they believe it would have been a mistake to leave her aside.
According to Yabuki, she's a perfect candidate for the harem plan. It's the best way to make her love come true.
Mikan: her bond with Yami will grow stronger. Among all the characters in the series, she is the one who has changed the least. She's a familiar and reassuring character to the readers.
Run: she will only appear from time to time. She's a part-time heroine.
Saki: she was included in the harem picture because she's hot but she actually has no place in the harem. She is still in love with Zastin. Yabuki mentions he's more interested in writing about Rin.
Mikado: she plays more or less the same role as in the original series. Her vast knowledge makes her an indispensable character. They needed her to baby-sit Celine too
Oshizu: she is a very minor character who won't have much of a role in the story.
Celine: Hasemi loves her, that's why they're including her in so many panels. He particularly loves her portrayal in the anime.
Aaaand, that's it. Phew. It's pretty disjointed. Sorry about that.