CREATING THE SUPERNATURALLY FUNNY WORLD OF YOKAIDEN
Q: So back to Yokaiden... Did you have this story in mind when you were first approached to create a story, or did you think of it after you got the call?
Nina Matsumoto: When I first talked to Dallas on the phone, I was in the middle of working on my own LucasArts-style point-and-click adventure game. It starred a prototype version of Hamachi and started off the same way the book did, up until Grandma's death.
I had no story ideas in mind...until I realized I could simply take the plot line I had in mind for the game and turn it into a comic instead.
Q: What inspired you to create Yokaiden?
Nina Matsumoto: To be honest it pretty much came completely out of the blue. When I was working on the game, I was making up the story and characters as I went along.
Q: What was the pitch that you gave to Dallas? Has the finished story changed much since the initial proposal?
Nina Matsumoto: I gave a summary of the entire story from start to finish, then some character drawings with descriptions. He loved it and signed me on immediately. There were absolutely no changes made.
Q: Who is your favorite character in Yokaiden?
Nina Matsumoto: It's hard to choose, but I'll say Kyuumon is my favourite because he's been with me for so long, in a sense. I knew I'd miss working on Saturnalia, so I took a few characters from there and stuck them into Yokaiden, changing their appearance and names accordingly.
Kyuumon -- or "Nine" in Saturnalia -- is a character I created about ten years ago, so I'm attached to him. I'm having fun essentially writing the same character in a different time period. He also serves as a good contrast to Hamachi's exuberance.
Q: Hamachi is so upbeat and energetic, it makes for a funny contrast with the grumpy, sarcastic and sober characters that surround him. How did you come up with his personality?
Nina Matsumoto: Many yokai are so gruesome and frightening -- I wanted a kid who loves such things instead of being scared by them. He's the kind of kid who would, in modern times, collect dead insects or animal bones found in the woods. It's a little morbid, but not in a disturbing way as he carries with him a genuine fascination.
In order to make the story work, Hamachi needs that kind of personality; after all, he's the one who insists on being in the yokai world. His cheerful optimism is also vital to maintaining a light-hearted mood in a story that could easily turn bleak. Not to mention it makes for good dark humour.
Q: Was he inspired by someone you know?
Nina Matsumoto: Not in the least.
Q: How did you first hear about the world of the yokai?
Nina Matsumoto: I must have been pretty young, because I grew up in a Japanese household; I can't pinpoint an exact time. I always knew about them. I imagine I knew most of them through the single copy of GeGeGe no Kitaro we had in the house.
Q: One of the characters in Yokaiden is named Mizuki, which is a tribute to Shigeru Mizuki, the creator of GeGeGe no Kitaro, yes?
Nina Matsumoto: I guess I answered this in my previous response! Shigeru Mizuki is an amazing artist, and yes, Inukai Mizuki was named after him.
The part where Inukai Mizuki loses his right arm and has to learn how to use his left hand to write and draw is something that actually happened to Shigeru Mizuki (though in his case, he lost it in the war, not from a fallen boulder). He helped popularize yokai in Japan. He took creatures of myth and gave them distinct personalities -- something I want to achieve in Yokaiden.
It's unfortunate his works haven't made it here yet, but I hope to make more people interested in yokai so that there will be a demand for his comics to be translated to English.
Q: I know there's at least two volumes planned of Yokaiden -- will the story wrap up in Volume 2, or are there plans for more?
Nina Matsumoto: I predict Yokaiden will take up 6 volumes at least, but for now I'm taking a break to work on some other things before volume 3.
Q: Would you like to see Yokaiden published in Japan?
Nina Matsumoto: It would be interesting, but it's hardly aimed towards a Japanese audience.
MANGA BEGINNINGS, WEBCOMICS TRAINING AND FUTURE PROJECTS
Q: We've talked a bit about your current projects, let's touch a bit on your past. What was your first exposure to manga, and how did you get into drawing in this style?
Nina Matsumoto: I have no formal training in it, and books never helped much. I read a lot of comics and wanted to make my own, so I did. I've never been good at answering this sort of question, because whatever I do, I just do it and it happens and things fall into place naturally.
Q: Do you do all the artwork yourself, or do you have assistants helping you out? How long does it take for you to draw a chapter of Yokaiden?
Nina Matsumoto: Everything is done by me (assistants would be nice to have!). One chapter takes a month or less. All the writing for one book is done before I start drawing. A whole book takes 7 to 8 months.
Q: So tell me a little bit about your other comic creation, Saturnalia. Could you describe the story for folks who may not have seen it yet?
Nina Matsumoto: It takes place in the year 2999 on an Earth-like planet where androids and humans co-exist, though androids are used as tools and have no personal rights. Many people are unnerved by them and hate them, including the protagonist, a cop in danger of losing his job due to poor performance. One thing leads to another; he ends up having to help a vigilante group that protects androids from a different vigilante group working to destroy them. In exchange, they help him with his day job.
Q: How old were you when you first posted Saturnalia? What made you decide to publish it as an online comic?
Nina Matsumoto: I was 15 years old and wanted to start an online comic for fun and practice. Saturnalia was created specifically to be an online comic. I didn't think it would attract such a large number of readers, especially when I barely ever advertised it! Word of mouth is a powerful thing.
