Manga no Tsukurikata 1

[boke's comment's in brackets like this]

Page 1 Panel 1

Silver Dragon winner of the 2nd Dragon God Awards

I'm going to become a manga artist

1-2 What're you talking about?

I've just graduated from school and I quit my job

1-3 So don't come in my room without knocking

Azuma Hideo sensei raves about this work!
"Very nice. Lovely :-). Highest marks."

1-4 Manga no Tsukurikata [How to Make Manga]

Hirao Auri

2-1 When I was 13, I had my first manga published.
It got a little notice, but I guess it was just because of my age.

After that, the work stopped coming. Totally without warning.
I thought the only way to get back to being a manga artist was to start earning a living.

Or so I thought.

I'm 19 this year.

2-2 I think I tossed my old first drafts over here...

2-4 Total crap

2-5 Just hold on a sec, what's popular nowadays anyways?
[Can't make out what's under this, sorry]

2-7 Stop! Stop! If I read this now, I'm gonna pick up strange influences...

3-1 Well...

3-2 Manga... is difficult....

3-3 I mean, I can't draw robot stories

I can't draw animals, so animal stories are out...

Collecting historical info is a pain...

It's hard to come up with worlds for fantasy stories

Angel and Devil?
Love between the sky and the deep blue sea?

Ah,
When I think about it, there's tons of stuff I can't draw

I've heard that to do realistic stories, you have to have experience with what you are drawing...

4-2 No, no, no.
This won't work at all

4-3 sfx: slam!

Kya

4-4 I said to kno...

Sempai!!

5-1 Why did you quit work, sempai?
I miss you!

Why is Morishita here?

She said she wanted to come over....
Ah...
So that's why...

5-2 Sempai, if you've quit your job, you'll just be a slacker!

5-3 Are you drawing something?

Wah! Wah!
Don't look!

5-5 Oh, hey...
Morishita

Do you wanna go out with me?

6-1 Yes

6-2 Wait!
What?
What did you just say?

Look, Morishita reaaally loves me. Right?

Yep!

6-3 I know all about it

That's it's popular right now

That genre

6-5 What's popular right now is boy's love and girl's love, right?

If we're just talking about what's popular

7-1 What are you looking at?

Mmm? Nothing.

Ufufu

What?

I'm just happy to be out on a date with you, sempai

7-2 When I came to get you, you were wearing that weird outfit and didn't know what to think

Ah, forget about that...

I was trying to get some experience for a gag manga...

Bam [handwritten]

7-3 Date, huh?
Date...

Going places like this

Doing things like that

and taking notes on the experiences to turn into manga later... That's all I wanted, right?

8-1 Sempai, what kind of books do you read?

8-2 I don't really read that many books
I like reading, though

Ah, come to think of it,
Masato...

8-3 What about Masato-kun?

How is he at school?
Um, I think he likes you, you know

8-4 Ah,
Masato-kun is...
...different somehow. Lacking in the manliness dept. maybe

...so I'm more manly than Masato?

8-5 Yep! I love you! You are good at... er, well, I don't know if you were good at your job, but you had perfect attendance

8-6 Mmm

Mmmmmmmm

8-7 Let's do something more date-ish!

This doesn't help at all!

It's becoming a talking head manga! [I'm guessing this refers to "talking heads" or when the artist has shots of faces talking with no bodies or backgrounds]

??
What are you talking about?

Nothing!

9-4 When you say "more date-like", is this what you meant?

9-5 That's right...
She really does love me

9-6 Sorry.

9-7 Sorry.

10-1 Yay
Sachi's new manga

10-2 You like Sachi...?

Yeah.
I really like Sachi. Even though they call her stuff "mood manga"...

10-3 Pretty different from a manga artist just selling books because she's young...

11-1 Um...
Don't you think that Sachi can't draw backgrounds?

11-2 Not so great with perspective or design
And Sachi's sense...

11-3 Why are you saying that stuff?

11-4 I just said I liked it, right!?
Why do you have to say that?

11-5 I didn't think you'd be the kind to go dissing on what other people like

N...

12-1 It's not...

12-2 Morishita, it's not that I hate you, but I don't like stuff like that

12-6 The Rules [it's a loose interpretation. I reserve the right to revise it if we learn more about Sachi's manga in the future]

13-1 Um, well

13-4 H
H
H

How did it go? Your date with Morishita?

13-5 Hey, so just what do you think is wrong

13-6 With Sachi's manga?

??
Sachi?
The manga artist?

14-1 It's Morishita...

She said that Sachi wasn't very good at drawing backgrounds or doing perspective or design.

14-2 I love everything about this manga

14-3 What?
Look, Sachi is

14-4 Morishita, ok?

14-5 No way

No fucking way
What the hell are you talking about

15-1 It's true. Morishita draws that manga

Even while she's going to school

15-2 Author's Note
Power up!
I got a part time job (*o*)
I think I must be really dumb...

15-3 Oops,
Maybe I wasn't supposed to tell you that...

No fucking way!

15-4 Sempai
I... I really love you

16-2 Morishita...
You're not supposed to say that

16-3 Yeah, you're right
I know

16-4 Aaah,
I want to be swallowed up by the sky

16-5 See?
If I go like this, it's like walking on air

16-6 In Sachi's manga...

Starting from midway through...

17-2 Beep beep beep

17-3 Hello? Morishita?

When is your next deadline?

Your manga's!!
You're down to the wire, right?
You don't have to hide it anymore, ok?

I see

17-4 Ok, I'm leaving now

...um, I don't get it!

17-5 You're girls! I don't get this at all! It doesn't work that way!
Morishita would be just fine with me!!

No way. You won't work.

17-6 Huh?
What do you mean?
It's not like you're Morishita or anything

18-1 I don't get it either

18-2 Am I responding to Morishita saying she liked me? Do I just want to draw manga?

18-3 Sempai...

19-1 You didn't have to hide the fact that you were a manga artist from me

19-2 But, sempai, you drew manga, right? It was hard to bring it up

19-3 You knew?

Naturally!

And you dislike young manga artists, right?

19-4 I suppose I do...

Um, but you know

19-5 It's not helping things if all we do is talk

Besides moving our hands, what else is there to do?

We'll becoming a talking head manga [handwritten]

19-6 With the deadline looming over you the day after tomorrow
You went out on a date with me, huh?

20-1 I would totally blow off the deadline if it meant I could see you.

20-4 Don't say that

Wah

20-5 After I reading your manga, I started wanting to draw manga again!

21-1 You're drawing manga, working and going to school, right Morishita?

21-3 That's amazing
I mean, I'm just lazing around at home

21-4 I suck.
Pathetic.

22-1 I wanna read your manga! A manga drawn by you!

Even if you are just a slacker, you'll find you're own slacker way to draw it

22-2 I'm sorry I don't have any connections or anything, but let's do it! Let's do something together!

22-4 I don't need you to go that far

I just

You really love me, huh?

23-1 Of course!

23-2 But even though I said what I said, I'm not sure if I love you

23-3 Even when I think it over, I'm not sure

23-4 Geez, I know that much

23-5 Ah...

23-6 Once I'm able to draw the manga I really want to draw, I'll give you an answer, ok?

24-1 And then, let's go and do more date-like things

24-2 Ok...
Yes!
I'm waiting!

24-4 Kyaa

The end