Q: Have any of the artists featured in the first group of stories featured on SigIKKI.com discovered through this newcomers contest?
Hideki Egami: I'll Give It My All… Tomorrow is one of those titles featured on SigIKKI.com. It's about a 40-year old guy who decides to become a manga artist, but he's kind of a loser. (laughs) Anyway, the creator of that series was discovered through the newcomers contest.
Saturn Apartments is also by a creator that we found through this contest. She originally won the award for her work on a one-shot story, but now she's working on this series.
Q: What do you look for when you consider artists for IKKI?
Hideki Egami: One of the criteria that I use when I look for creators is uniqueness, such that this creator creates a genre for him or herself.
Q: Is this kind of unique vision hard to find in Japan nowadays?
Hideki Egami: Yes, it's really hard. Even though there are more creators nowadays and they are more sophisticated in their drawing style, many times it seems like they are creating works that are copies of other artists work. It's really difficult to find an artist who has lots of originality.
Q: Have you considered looking in Europe or America for artists to feature in IKKI?
Hideki Egami: Ah. I've seen several stories drawn by foreign creators and American creators, but I haven't yet gotten to the point where I've considered including these artists in IKKI magazine. But possibly in the future this might happen.
So one of my hopes for publishing SigIKKI.com in the United States is for more American readers to read these stories, and hopefully in this audience there would be aspiring creators who would someday come back to IKKI and create stories for us. I'm really looking forward to that.
WHAT IS THE SPIRIT OF IKKI COMIX?
Q: The stories in IKKI are very different from each other, but I was wondering if there was a unifying theme that ties them all together? For example, Shonen Jump Magazine has a kind of creative philosophy for stories that appeal most to their readers, stories that revolve around themes of friendship, hard work, strength, and so on. Is there a similar theme or guiding principles that you follow for IKKI? What is the 'heart' of IKKI?
Hideki Egami: We have a slogan for IKKI, something like "We are still at the dawn of the manga era." This kind of explains our philosophy. The spirit of this tagline is that the dawn is still approaching; meaning that if you assume that the history of manga will continue for 200 years or longer, we are still at the very beginning.
Even though some people think that the manga market is saturated, that it is mature and sophisticated, we believe that there is still a lot more that can be done in the manga world. That's my hope and my belief. That's what that message conveys.
Q: I know it's really hard work to be a manga editor. What inspires you, other than manga? How do you recharge, creatively?
Hideki Egami: Ah! (rustles around in his bag and pulls out a magazine) I'm really into this (shows me a model train magazine). This is my hobby. (He flips to an article that features a miniature replica of a rural Japanese train station, complete with tiny buildings, trees and vending machines.)
Q: Oh! So that's why the IKKI-palooza launch party is being held at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum! I had no idea!
Hideki Egami: I'm actually a contributing writer to this magazine. I made this miniature diorama! (points to the photos in the magazine) It's my passion.
In Japan, there are lots of manga about trains. There's a manga that ran in IKKI called Tetsuko no Tabi, or Travels of Tetsuko, about a woman who knows nothing about trains, but travels all over Japan to get to know the various trains and train stations. So this diorama was inspired by that. My philosophy is to mix my professional and my private interests together!
To entertain our readers, we have to be entertained ourselves. Of course, it's not just entertainment; creating a magazine like this is a lot of work. But for me and my staff, we try to enjoy ourselves while we're doing this.
Q: It certainly shows. Thank you for bringing IKKI to America.
Hideki Egami: Ah, thank you.
WHO READS IKKI COMIX? EGAMI AND SATO ANSWER READERS' QUESTIONS
Later that afternoon at the IKKI panel, Egami-san offered a few more details about IKKI as he answered questions from the audience at a Q & A session.
Q: The most popular manga is for young readers. As these readers age, there's some concern that these readers will lose interest in manga. Will SigIKKI appeal to readers who have outgrown younger titles?
Hideki Egami: So what I understand about American manga readers is that a lot of you have first been exposed to manga through anime, and then you get into the original works. However, IKKI is slightly different. We are hoping you will be influenced unto reading manga for grown-ups, and even younger readers will move onto more mature-oriented manga. Please join us by following us on IKKI.
Q: Can you describe average IKKI reader in Japan?
Hideki Egami: Most of our audience is in their twenties, like college students. There's also the a younger group of reader who range from older teens to an older audience, some who are up to 50's -- for example, I'm 52.
Another thing worth mentioning is that 40% of all IKKI readers are female, which is unusual for a seinen manga magazine. When we only count teen readers, then about 60% are girls.
Whenever we make manga in Japan, it's inevitable that we have to consider who are main target audience is, who is reading our manga. However, the truth is for us, for our magazine, we're not trying to focus on whether our readers are male, female or what age they are. It's really for everybody.
