Friday, May 4, 2007

SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part I-1)

A Cruel God Reigns by Moto HagioI found another interesting interview with Hagio done by a now-inactive online SciFi magazine. It was part of a series called "SF Manga-do" or "The Way of SciFi Manga" moderated by Keinojo Mizutama (mizutama = polka dots), a female illustrator/cartoonist/columnist specializing in SciFi. Mr. Sakai was the moderator and an editor at SF Online (the site is still up, but no longer active). The interview was part of its May 24, 1999 issue.

This is a very long interview, so I have to break it up into manageable chunks.

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Mizutama:

Today we would like to ask Hagio-san, as a SciFi cartoonist /SciFi reader, to talk about SciFi and manga…wow, what a thick-headed way of saying it (laugh). Sorry, I am quite nervous. Ever since I read "On the Porch A Girl With a Puppy…" (1971) I have been reading your works in real time.

Hagio:

Ah, I see.

Mizutama:

When "Tooma no Shinzou" was appearing in installments, I used to send in a direct response card every week. To keep the series running as long as possible by contributing to the reader survey.

Hagio:

That's quite flattering. Did you win any original artwork?

Mizutama:

No, not even once. Look, Sakai-san, if you sent in the card, you could win an original artwork of the title page back then. Oh, I wanted one so much, so badly. But I never won.

Sakai:

Haven't you reverted back into a mere fan, today? (laugh)

Mizutama:

Because! Ah, I'm so sorry, really. Well, then, Hagio-san, including the current serialization of "A Cruel God Reigns," you haven't really done any "SciFi manga" for these past several years, or have you? Perhaps, by any chance, it may not be too pleasing to you to be called a "SciFi cartoonist" at this point? Like, "I have done so much in other genres," and so forth.

Hagio:

No, it's not like that at all.

Mizutama:

I was debating with myself as to whether it is perhaps as delicate a problem as calling Ms. Ryoko Yamagishi a "ballet cartoonist."

Hagio:

I don't think Yamagishi-san would be concerned about it, either. After all, she swept the shojo manga world with "Arabesque", so I doubt she would find it a problem. But if you think about that, you could also call her an "Umayado [Note 1] cartoonist." (laugh)

[Note 1] Umayado is the name of the main character from "Hino Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi", another must-read, according to my husband.

(Continues)

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