Discussion Hiatus X Hiatus

ProGoddess · Oct 28, 2016

Hunter x Hunter's Togashi Makes Appearance at Kochikame 40th Anniversary Bash

Manga creators of all stripes came out to celebrate the 40th anniversary and conclusion of Osamu Akimoto's Kochira Katsushika-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo ("Kochikame") police comedy manga. In attendance was Hisashi Eguchi (Stop! Hibari-kun), Kyosuke Usuta (Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san), Yudetamago (Kinnikuman), Yoshihiro Togashi (Hunter X Hunter), Masanori Morita (Rookies), Shinji Hiramatsu (Black Angels), and Kontarō (Kaze ni Kiite Kure).

Togashi's actions are regularly under scrutiny with any work unrelated to his manga used as evidence against his medical issues claim.

Comments from fans:
"Yoshihiro Togashi-sensei seems healthy overall. I humbly look forward to Hunter X Hunter's serialization restarting."

How can these kohai mangaka miss their sensei's 40 years of anniversary of Kochikame's serialisation? Hopefully Togashi gets better and get back to work soon.

All the best to recovery and good health! :^_^

Msan28 · Nov 4, 2016

Take a look at this screenshots from the Jump Ryu DVD. There's a page for every Prince. Look at that characters, everyone have names and roles. Almost all are new and related to each Prince. You can see Prince Tsubeppa and Prince Benjamin pages. And in the back Prince Kachou. There a few that look promising, like that kid with short eyebrows and the top middle in Benjamin's page.

shionoro · Nov 4, 2016

Well, it's a nice dream to think someone can deliver a thing like HxH while being lazy and play all day, but i guess there is quite some effort involved into togashi's storyboards^^

Hald of these characters at least will probably never speak a line, some will never be seen, but togashi knows exactly who of them does what and plays which role, whether he shows them or not.
Personally, i would get scares of if i had so many chars to juggle.

I guess the women in the right upper corners are the mothers.
Just could not figure out who the middle is.
Grandmother?

Msan28 · Nov 4, 2016

Yeah, top right are mothers.
Look at Benjamin's top middle , maybe is a form they adopt with his nen beast. Tsubeppa doesn't have one, maybe still undecided. Just speculating It's interesting because this was filmed in early 2016, even before the return from the last hiatus. Make me think how much Togashi already advanced with the plot all this months.

Btw, here's a long ass summary of the magazine that was included along the DVD and the illustrations. All credit to Sandman.

[Before becoming mangaka]

Togashi's parents managed a company which sold papers, painting tools, stationery and manga magazines. His father's hobby was drawing.
When Togashi was around 6 years old, he used to draw many of his original heroes and monsters. When he was around 8 years old, he was inspired by one of his friends whose hobby is drawing manga. They showed their mangas with each other.
When Togashi was in junior high school, he was fully attracted by some Shoujo mangas whose essential was Shounen manga-ish such as Mineo Maya's manga.
Since then, he started reading "Urusei Yatsura" and learned how to attract female audience. Togashi thought he was suitable for Shoujo manga although his favorite manga genre was Shounen manga.
Togashi was going to become a junior high school art teacher, but gave up right after he started his internship. This was because he was afraid that his own words might influence students directly.
The reason Togashi was going to become a teacher was that he thought he would not be able to work in the same way as normal adults did. Shaving and wearing a business suit every day is what Togashi considered impossible for him. He was afraid of living a life outside school. After he gave up working as a teacher, he had no choice but to work as mangaka.
In 1986, Togashi's hype was skyrocketing when he was selected as one of the finalists in a famous manga audition, Hop Step Award.
When he was a college student, his editor said to him, "Even if you end up not being able to succeed as mangaka, you have an alternative choice to live as a teacher". After this statement, Togashi got more serious in drawing manga and dropped out of a college. Then he moved to Tokyo aroud 1989.
When moving, he suffered a trouble about his household goods not arriving his house for a week. Togashi had no choice but to sleep on the floor.
He couldn't afford to buy a single desk, so he used a drawer as desk when drawing manga. Togashi said it was painful since his legs couldn't put under the drawer. lol
Togashi was about to run out of his bank deposit. He felt really relieved to hear that Shueisha decied to make a serialization of his manga.

[After becoming professional mangaka]

The first manga serialization for him was Ten de Showaru Cupid ("An Ill-tempered Cupid in Heaven"). It became pretty famous, but it finished earlier than expected (chapter 32). Togashi now regrets that he should have prepared a rough plot till the finale before serialization.
2-3 months after finishing his first serialization, new ideas for next manga came to his mind one after another. Then He started Yu Yu Hakusho soon.
Togashi dsecided to focus on the occult and battle in Yu Yu Hakusho since both of them were his favorite genres.
Editor told him that Toagshi is good at creating a story. Togashi was glad to hear that, but at the same time, he thought it wasn't enough in order to maintain great popularity for more than 30 chapters. That's why Yu Yu Hakusho turned into battle manga and made a great success.
Editors in Shueisha consider it is one of the greatest role models to turn a manga which ends in each single story into battle manga. The role model for Togashi was "Kinnikuman" ("Muscle Man"). It started as comedy manga and then turned into battle manga, which Togashi believes can entertain shounen in terms of both surprise and excitement.
One year after he finished Yu Yu Hakusho in 1994, Togashi suggested his editor that he would like to draw manga that would NOT become much popular. This is because he wanted to show various aspects of his personality as mangaka to his audience. Togashi believed he had already drawn traditonl Shounen manga to the best of his ability in Yu Yu Hakusho.
Togashi also told his editor that he would start traditional manga again after he finished "Level E". Editor accepted it.
In "Level E", Togashi was going to finish stories in each chapter, but Prince Baka (stupid prince) became popular as opposed to his expectations. Thus, he decided to make Prince Baka the protagonist of Level E. The prince had complicated personality which always went beyond everyone's imagination, so Togashi had difficulty in creating a story.
Having finished Level E, Togashi started Hunter Hunter. He keeps in mind that he should change his style in each arc so that his audience can be surprised.
Togashi considers character's personality is sometimes important than story. The ending of Chimera Ant arc was not what he expected at first. He makes a simulation about how his characters will talk with each other and take an action in specified situations, which allows his audience to feel as if his characters really exist.
Togashi loves professional slang. For example, his characters call "turn over" when they visit websites. Also, he shows detailed concept of Nen as if it exists as some kind of martial arts in real world.
Togashi tends to show some rules to his audience at first such as Greed Island arc. He enjoys the process finding system bugs or shortcuts in the rules to go beyond expectations of audience.
In Chimera Ant arc, Togashi enjoyed making a super long list as to how his characters would take actions since 10 days before invasion in Royal Palace. He wanted to draw characters in desperate situations taking an unexpected action when they came across someone accidentally. Editor gives exmaples such as encounters between Morel and Shaiapouf/ Killua and Meleoron.
Togashi has been attracted by dirty side rather than beautiful side ever since he was a junior high school student. Editor considers Mukuro in Yu Yu Hakusho is one of the typical examples.
About drawing style, Togashi decided to draw Yu Yu Hakusho impressively and Level E realistically. In Hunter Hunter, he keeps in mind that he should not use screentones as possible as he can.
Togashi doesn't specify detailed personality of boss characters from the beginning. For example, Toguro in Yu Yu Hakusho was just a bodyguard at first, but his personality gradually became more attractive as his grudge against Genkai was revealed. About boss characters' appearances, he enjoys making them complicated since boss characters don't make much appearances.
While Togashi is drawing manga, he listens to TV show ad enjoys talking about it with his assistants.
Togashi considers himself not being good at drawing color spreads.

-Togashi memorises facial expressions ot characters in other mangas. One of his favorite book is "Facial Expressions" written by Mark Simon.

There are 5 assistants in his studio.
Togashi thinks of Akira Toriyama as a god. He has Dragon Ball 30th book.
On Togashi's desk, there is some manuscripts of a fight betweemn Hisoka and Kastro which he considers as bad quality. He pays attention in order not to repeat the same error. Togashi also says that people on internet fandom were embarrassed with the chapter at that time. lol
The previous editor says, "Togashi-sensei is very gentle. He remembers what editors said in the past and sometimes bothered to be worried about us."
Editor thinks Togashi resembles Gin Freecss in terms of personality.
An editor says he was scolded by Togashi only once when he changed words in manga a bit without permission.
Togashi sticks to every single word in manga. He even doens't want to use various fonts since he is always confident of his words being interesting.
Togashi's message to mangaka beginners:

"Keep in mind about audience. Make every effort to go beyond their expectations".

shionoro · Nov 4, 2016

Msan28 said:
On Togashi's desk, there is some manuscripts of a fight betweemn Hisoka and Kastro which he considers as bad quality. He pays attention in order not to repeat the same error. Togashi also says that people on internet fandom were embarrassed with the chapter at that time. lol

THAT is kind of extreme.

Msan28 said:
The previous editor says, "Togashi-sensei is very gentle. He remembers what editors said in the past and sometimes bothered to be worried about us."

That is awwww!

Demonspeed · Nov 4, 2016

Togashi

.

There are several hiatuses but you can't deny that he loves his job.

Kinda surprised to read that he wanted one of his works to be unpopular :XD

.

His advice for beginners though, it's hard to follow that IMO. A good manga can be conventional but with excellent execution.

shionoro · Nov 4, 2016

Demonspeed said:
Togashi .

There are several hiatuses but you can't deny that he loves his job.

Kinda surprised to read that he wanted one of his works to be unpopular .

His advice for beginners though, it's hard to follow that IMO. A good manga can be conventional but with excellent execution.

But isn't an excellent executation part of exceeding exspectations?
I think his advice is more of the 'don't settle for decent' kind of thing.

There has to be something about your manga pleasantly surprising your audience, whether it is a unique plottwist or a fight which is so epic that it is hard to ignore.

Msan28 · Nov 4, 2016

You guys take a look at this, Togashi working and showing off his studio, the mangas he collects (very good taste), drawing and painting the color page from chapter 350. It's like the holy grail.

http://www.bilibili.com/video/av6959778/

Already see it all. He shows pages from chapter 360, so that chapter was finished even before the release of chapter 350. It make me wonder how much he advanced already with all this months of hiatusessss...

By the way, there's a dust jacket that doesn't belong to the other 33 volumes...

Demonspeed · Nov 5, 2016

He said that some of the followers of the princes he drew might not appear right?

I put Area D on hold but I feel like reading it ASAP just because I saw it in his collection.

Kanmuru · Nov 5, 2016

Msan28 said:
You guys take a look at this, Togashi working and showing off his studio, the mangas he collects (very good taste), drawing and painting the color page from chapter 350. It's like the holy grail.

http://www.bilibili.com/video/av6959778/

Already see it all. He shows pages from chapter 360, so that chapter was finished even before the release of chapter 350. It make me wonder how much he advanced already with all this months of hiatusessss...

By the way, there's a dust jacket that doesn't belong to the other 33 volumes...

Omg <3 thank you so much for sharing!

Demonspeed · Nov 7, 2016

Youtube link for the video and more details:

Nakurawari said:
Looks like it. And according to a summary I found on reddit, one of the assistants has been there since the beginning of Hunter X Hunter.

Here is the short summary by reddit user Urouge108:

At least one of his assistants has been working under Togashi since the beginning of the series. On the other hand, there is an assistant who started working under him just 1-2 years ago.

When an assistant says in the interview that Togashi is a gentle person, Togashi tells him to praise him more. lol

Togashi's studio is not calm since he loves TV show to collect various kinds of info for future stories.

About the drawings on the wall, when Togashi was asked about what kinds of effort he makes to explain to his assistants about manga properly, he answered that he is not that good at speaking, so he shows some drawings to them in order to explain about background things. He also displays a manual which shows how to handle screentones.

Togashi has 3 desks since it would become messy soon if there was only one desk.

Togashi says he hesitated to tear apart the vinyl package of Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary book since the book is so important for him. He says that he owes what he is today to Toriyama.

There are many characters about Black Whale arc on the lists on his desk, but some of whom might never appear in the story. This process is important for Togashi since he sometimes comes up with an interesting idea. That being said, it is the first time for him to make a lists of characters in one arc.

About the color spread of Captain Tsubasa, Togashi considers "Junior competition France" arc in Captain Tsubasa has the most numerous named characters in Weekly Jump's history. He aims to break the record.

The double page about Nen Beasts were drawn by Togashi himself, as opposed to the double page of Black Whale.

Togashi considers some fight scenes between Hisoka and Kastro being terrible in terms of drawing. (Togashi sometimes fixes his drawings in the volume.)

Thanks to Nakurawari who posted it in the WSJ thread.

Msan28 · Nov 7, 2016

Urouge108 = Sandman xD
Great, even more details.

I actually was able to understand when he explains the BW spread xD
"Kore wa staff, watashi janai desu" xD

shionoro · Nov 7, 2016

About the color spread of Captain Tsubasa, Togashi considers "Junior competition France" arc in Captain Tsubasa has the most numerous named characters in Weekly Jump's history. He aims to break the record.

Once again i have to stress: Does this sound like a guy who is lazy and just in for the milking the series?
I really don't think so.

The double page about Nen Beasts were drawn by Togashi himself, as opposed to the double page of Black Whale.

Interesting. This should at least put all the 'HxH is not going on because Togashi is too proud to get help' rumours to rest.

Demonspeed · Nov 7, 2016

shionoro said:
Once again i have to stress: Does this sound like a guy who is lazy and just in for the milking the series?
I really don't think so.

Interesting. This should at least put all the 'HxH is not going on because Togashi is too proud to get help' rumours to rest.

These complaints are just the result of the frustration of the fans.

shionoro · Nov 7, 2016

Demonspeed said:
These complaints are just the result of the frustration of the fans.

Ya, but one can hope that fans would tend to get more supportative than angry if that rumour is out of the window.
Togashi does not intereact with fans as it seems, but it still looks like he keeps tabs on opinions in boards and stuff.

Terahawk · Nov 7, 2016

After watching the video, holy moly. I never realized just how painstaking it is for him to draw even one character, let alone an entire chapter. No wonder it takes so long for us to get new chapters, he seems to agonize over every little line and stroke of the brush.

I do wish the video had an English translation, and for some reason it never showed Togashi's face, but you can tell that's definitely his artwork.