SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part IV-1)

(Continued from Part III)

Mizutama:

Ah, well, let us get back on track here—I think between Dick and Varley on the timeline was William Gibson. Have you read him?

Hagio:

I don't like so-called Cyberpunk and I haven't read any [of his stuff] yet.

Sakai:

So, like "Kirinyaga," you actually like SciFi that externally feels like traditional SciFi.

Hagio:

That's right.

Sakai:

How about the stuff with tons of space aliens?

Hagio:

I like that, too. For that, what I like best is a manga called "Number 7" by Osamu Tezuka.

Sakai:

Speaking of space aliens, I don't recall any shojo manga that were filled with strange space aliens.

Mizutama:

How about "They Were Eleven?" There were a lot of them.

Sakai:

Yes, but they were all basically humanoids. Nothing really strange.

(Continues)

SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part II-4)

(Continued)

Sakai:

Who decided which stories to adapt?

Hagio:

I did.

Sakai:

You picked your favorites?

Hagio:

Yes, but I also considered the target audience of Weekly Margaret—I picked my favorites as well as what I thought would be suitable for the readers. In truth, I thought "The Fog Horn" might not be very accessible, but that was my most favorite from Bradbury back then.

Mizutama:

But how about the story about finding a buried woman?

Hagio:

That's "The Screaming Woman."

Mizutama:

I feel that was less accessible to the readers of Weekly Margaret than "The Fog Horn."

Hagio:

Well, but there is definitely a girl in the story. While "The Fog Horn" has only a middle-aged man and a monster.

Mizutama:

Oh, is that how it goes? (laugh) But it's a masterpiece, "The Fog Horn."

Hagio:

It's a masterpiece indeed.

Sakai:

Then, the SciFiers who encountered and were won over by Hagio-san in "They Were Eleven" got blown away when they read the sequel "The Horizon in the East—The Eternity in the West."

Mizutama:

And then we got "Silver Triangle," and "Ten Billion Days and Hundred Billon Nights," then "Marginal." I also liked "Heiresses in the Cabbage Fields," [Note 1] which reminded me of Lafferty. Oh, by the way, while "Marginal" was serialized I recall being really excited, with a strong gut feeling that you surely must also love "The Left Hand of Darkness."

[Note 1] "Heiresses in the Cabbage Fields" (1973)—the apartment where the Year 24 Group gathered was also in the middle of the cabbage fields. The manic mood in the piece perhaps conveys the reminiscence of the life there.

Sakai:

What an opinionated fan! (laugh)

Hagio:

Ah, I did read "The Left Hand of Darkness." It was so good that I chased down everything by Le Guin. "Marginal" was about a world where only men were born. Incidentally, you've probably heard the news stories about a recent survey of shellfish along the coast of Japan. The study indicates that these shellfish have all been feminized because of endocrine disruptors in our environment. When my manager heard this news, she said, "That story in 'Marginal'—that was really about shellfish, wasn't it!?" I replied to her, "That's right, actually." (laugh)

(Continues)

SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part II-2)

(Continued)

Mizutama:

In retrospect, "On the Porch a Girl With a Puppy…" was also SciFi, as well as "Asobidama (Marbles)" [Note 1], but I think what really established you as a "SciFi cartoonist" in the public mind was, after all, "They Were Eleven." When I read it, I instinctively sensed, "Ah, Hagio-san is paying tribute to the 'SciFi' that she grew up reading." Perhaps it was because this work appeared to contain exactly all the symbolic elements of "SciFi" that non-SciFi readers have vaguely in their mind. At least that's how it seemed to me. (laugh)

[Note 1] An early and long-lost SciFi piece by Hagio; some say it is a prequel to Keiko Takemiya's "To Terra". My husband never got to read this, to his deep regret.

Sakai:

"They Were Eleven" was about young people fighting for their survival within a confined situation, but in its sequel the theme was like society doesn't get better through mere individual efforts—it turned into a rather disillusioned, or a rather more measured story, right? Was that because of the restrained viewpoint that you've mentioned, in response to a more positive view of the future like that of Asimov?

Hagio:

No, I wasn't thinking that deeply, because the idea first came to me in my high school days. The SciFi plots I did back when I was doing "They Were Eleven" were generally in that vein; there were lots of characters like those wholesome, young, male protagonists. So I was thinking of a lot of adventure stories for such characters, but when I finally penned "They Were Eleven," the "model student"-ness of the hero really got on my nerves and I didn't see this as a good thing. So I did the sequel thinking perhaps I could do better next time, but it still didn't work out. (laugh) I thought to myself that I couldn't keep depicting those wholesome characters, and I junked all the other SciFi ideas. So I think there is timing in everything, the right moment to do things.

Mizutama:

Ah, I see. So "They Were Eleven" was from the early stages of "SciFi" addiction, when you hadn't developed any resistance and had severe symptoms (laugh), that type of "SciFi" for you. Mmmm, it wasn't completely off the mark then that I saw it as "paying tribute."

Sakai:

What are you talking about? (laugh)

(Continues)