Author: Little Death/Anitama Cover Source: "Boom Islands"
Generally speaking, many of the works of cartoonists will be adjusted according to the needs of the market, and even if this style is welcomed at a certain time, the subsequent works will change in order to make a breakthrough. But there is a manga artist who has been practicing his favorite dark style for more than two decades, and this author is Takahashi Nu.
Nou Takahashi, interviewed on Natalie's website.
Takahashi Nu, written in Japanese as Takahashi 橋ツトム, was born in Tokyo in 1965. When he was young, he had a rebellious personality, liked music, once formed a band, and joined a violent group called "ZERO" in junior high school, so he also loved motorcycles. In the first year of high school, his friend died unexpectedly, and he himself chose to drop out of school and work outside the home to earn money to support himself. After being dumped by the girl he was hooking up with, he played music with his bandmates again, but due to differences between the members, he was not very happy about "working with others". Is there a profession that you can do on your own? At this time, he just remembered that when he was a child, because he liked Mizushima Shinji's baseball manga "Big Rice Bucket", he had drawn one of the many characters in it, Masami Iwai, and felt that his drawing skills were OK, and he should be able to support himself with this.
In 1987, when Takahashi, who had been out of society for a few years, was selecting a magazine to submit to with his short manga debut "GOTAVOICE", he happened to see Kaiji Kawaguchi's manga work "Actor" and was greatly moved after reading it, so he decided to submit an article to Kodansha, which published this work, and chose the Four Seasons Newcomer Award of "Afternoon". At that time, he was full of confidence and felt that his work would definitely win the award, but in fact, he was hit hard by the editors, pointed out many shortcomings, and almost rejected the manuscript. However, in the end, this work was repeatedly modified and selected as the winning work of the current period by virtue of its unique style. Takahashi himself was favored by Kaiji Kawaguchi, who was one of the judges at the time, and was invited by him to serve as a manga assistant, which made Takahashi, who regarded Kaiji Kawaguchi as an idol, very happy. Led by his predecessor teachers, he was much better than his own personal groping, so Takahashi nu was at ease as Kawaguchi's assistant to exercise himself. After two years of studying as an assistant, takahashi published his first serialized work, Mine Tremor, in Morning, another Kodansha youth magazine. Initially serialized intermittently, it was officially changed to a long form three years later in 1992 and published in Afternoon. This change continued to be serialized for 8 years, and finally ended in the January 2000 issue, a complete set of 19 volumes, and in 2003 and 2009, 10 editions of the library and new editions were published. In the three years from 2008 to 2011, Takahashi Nu published three follow-up books under the name of "Mine Earthquake Diablo", which is to meet the reader's desire to understand the future situation of the male and female protagonists in the work.
The male protagonist of "Landmine Earthquake", Iida Seiya.
"Landmine Earthquake", as Takahashi's famous work and masterpiece, tells the story of a ruthless Japanese policeman Iida Whoori also reflects the social phenomenon reflected in the pursuit of various criminal cases. For Iida, he was only a staunch enforcer of Japanese law, and in his view, within the law, evil is beheaded, and for those who are determined to have committed a major crime, as long as the other party is found guilty, they can be directly executed without trial, even if this person is his friend or lover. It is such a work that makes people a little depressed in terms of content and painting style, and while making people feel the charm of Takahashi's fierce painting style, they also see the author's preference for dark style. It is a cruel and realistic approach that exposes the dark side of this society to the reader. Human nature is one of Takahashi's favorite themes, and in his later works, depictions of human nature abound. In a later interview, Takahashi said that he had always enjoyed writing about the darkness of human nature because he felt that human personality has always been complex and changeable, and in different choices, how will humans choose, which will affect future life, and what will become after that? Whether to live a happy life from now on, or to go to hell and never recover, and that's why he wants to express it in comics.
Cover of the monograph volume 1 of Mine Tremor Diablo.
After the end of Mine Tremor, Takahashi returned to Morning and began the series of "Iron Lady Pitcher". The protagonist of this work is changed to a woman, telling the story of a group of women at the bottom of society who struggled for their baseball dreams after Japan's defeat in the war. Although it is about the theme of baseball, sports are only tools, and the core of the real story is about the struggle for women's rights, as well as the political demands of post-war Japan, through baseball, a tool for communication between the two sides, to describe the struggles of people in that era. Because of the heaviness of the subject matter, this sports comic that should have been positive and sunny still has a hint of gloom and gray tones. Perhaps because Takahashi is a relatively unruly person himself, many of his characters are on the fringes of society: some are policemen known as murderers, some are bar girls, some are murderers' sons, and some are outlaws who have dropped out of school. These people, who are not accepted by the mainstream public, may have experienced all kinds of suffering, may feel lonely, but they still live strongly with their own persistent attitude.
During the "Iron Fist Female Pitcher" series, Takahashi began his habit of double-opening serials, and in 2001 began serialization of the "Heart Demon Judgment" series in Shueisha's magazine "Young Jump". Both magazines were weekly, and he actually ran two serials at the same time, and they continued to do so. As soon as "Iron Lady Pitcher" was over, he immediately started a new serial "Burst Islands" on "Afternoon"; there "Heart Demon Judgment" came to an end, and immediately picked up the new "Blue Heaven", busy. For the work of double serialization, Takahashi himself said: "For double opening, although I have to draw about 100 pages a month, I personally like it, because if two works are created at the same time, it can allow me to strike a balance between the two, and when the creation on this side is not smooth, I can find the status on the other side." When "Burst Islands" and "Heart Devil Judgment" were serialized simultaneously, "Burst Islands" was a personal work that I wanted to paint, but there had to be a work that catered to the public, so I was appointed by "Heart Devil Judgment", so that I could avoid my creation being too self-sufficient to sell and affect my income. ”
The heroine of "Iron Lady Pitcher", Ganado.
As a manga that is very different from his previous works, "Burst Islands" has a special meaning for Takahashi Nu. In the past, the male and female protagonists in his works are basically adults, only this male protagonist is a junior high school student at the beginning. This is because "The Burst Islands" is a semi-autobiographical work of Tsutomu Takahashi, who created this manga about the Japanese rioters based on his experiences during his reading period. The name "ZEROS" where the male protagonist is located in the manga comes from the "ZERO" organization he originally participated in. In the work, the actor's friend died due to a car accident, chose to drop out of high school, and went to the street to fight in a car, all of which are portrayals of Takahashi Nu. Because it is Takahashi's own nostalgic work, the background of the story is also set in 1980, when Takahashi was 15 or 6 years old. In that period of rapid economic development in Japan, these young people who had not experienced hardships since birth were full of confusion about the future and life, as well as the emptiness and rebellion of a comfortable life, and this "PopCorde Islands" is the story that describes the mentality of these young people.
Coloring page for the first episode of "The Exploding Islands".
At the same time as the serial "Burst Islands" and the occasional serial "Inner Demon Judgment", Takahashi nu opened a new work in 2005 on "Young Jump", which is "Shido" set in the late Japanese shogunate period. Takahashi's other works are largely set in modern themes, and this Shido is his only period drama. Originally, his society already had various contradictions and dark plots, and in ancient times, when the naked weak and the strong were eaten, it was even more murderous without blinking. In this somewhat chaotic period of the end of the Japanese shogunate, a pair of brothers were forced to get involved in the tide of the times, and in the face of the great era of various factors mixed together, such as the emperor' rebellion, the revolutionary restoration, and the spirit of Bushido, the only thing they could do was to protect their important people, but simply to survive. This "Shido" is the most single book of all Of Takahashi's works, and by 2010 it was completed with 25 volumes, and then in 2011, it also produced another book.
As the author of youth manga, Takahashi's popularity in China is not very large, mainly because none of his works have been animated so far. His own style and subject matter are more difficult to be animated, but there are many adaptations into real people. The earliest was in 2002 when Ryuhei Kitamura brought the one-volume single-volume "ALIVE" to the movie screen; then in 2003, the "Great Trial of the Heart" series was three consecutive live-action, two TV series and one movie. Among them, the actor who plays Izuko is played by Miko Shi, and the other actors, including the supervisor, also take turns. A TV series has all 11 episodes, but there are five supervisors, one of whom is Kitamura Ryuhei.
A coloring page for the single book ALIVE.
In fact, Takahashi Nu is not very resistant to live-action adaptations, and he is also very interested in filmmaking. In 2004, he was both a producer and a director, and co-produced a film with others, "Broken Film". It is estimated that he was addicted, so in 2006, he and Kitamura Ryuhei filmed a movie "LOVE DEATH". The work is adapted from one of his short stories, "69", in which Takahashi Tsutomu is also a producer in addition to the original. In addition to movies, he also worked part-time from time to time, such as illustrating novels and setting characters for the PS2 game God of War. Although the game is relatively crude and has little repercussions, some people did buy it because of Takahashi Nu's design.
After the end of "Burst Islands", Takahashi successively drew "Behind the Spirit" and "Two-Dimensional JUMPIN", but the results of these two works were not very satisfactory, and finally they ended in just a few volumes. It wasn't until 2015 that he again opened two works at the same time, one in black-box serialized in the monthly Afternoon, and the other in "Residual Sound" serialized in "Big Comic Superior". Because this time,"Residual Sound" was serialized in a magazine owned by the Elementary School, so he was able to cross the three major publishing houses and publish his works in all three magazines. This is relatively rare among today's Japanese manga artists. For these two works, which have only been serialized for a year now, Takahashi Nu himself has high hopes for them. In an interview, it was said that this "Residual Sound" was a work that he really wanted to paint, and when he saw Ken Takakura and Suga Bunta die one after another, he remembered the movies they had played before about Japanese gangsters, and wanted to create a work related to gangsters. At that time, even the editor was not very optimistic about this work, "Although it may not be sold, but because you want to paint, then try to paint it!" He said this to Takahashi Nu.
Black-BOX was just beginning to serialize the cover of the current issue of the magazine.
Another work, BLACK-BOX, tells the story of how a child of a murderer becomes a professional boxer. The two works have completely different themes, but they are serialized simultaneously, so when drawing two works, the switch between them is just a change of mood. As for the problem of workload, a large part of it is given to the assistant, and especially the handling of details is given to the computer. It is precisely because of the presence of assistants and computers that the workload of 100 sheets per month can be guaranteed. In the past, at its peak, there were as many as 6 assistants, and then some people went out independently, and he did not add many new assistants. Speaking of Takahashi's assistant, those who have now become manga artists independently are more famous among Those who have become manga artists, including Tsutomu, Hideho Sato, and Masahito Makoto, who said in his memories diary that when he was an assistant to Mr. Takahashi, he was specifically responsible for drawing backgrounds, and the background of volume 13.14 of the single book "Mine Tremor" was basically drawn by him. Moreover, Takahashi does not like his assistant to call him a teacher, preferring to let people call him boss.
Takahashi Nu's work desk, picture from Natalie.mu.
The greatest joy of life is the motorcycle and music Takahashi Nu, when asked what he thinks of the profession of manga artist, he feels that he can create what he wants to express, which is the greatest wealth of manga artists. Fortunately, he has been engaged in comics for 27 years, and he has always had subjects he wants to draw, and now that he is 50 years old, he can continue to draw for another 10 years to 60 years old, and maybe he will consider retirement again. And he thinks that his teacher Kaiji Kawaguchi is a very fond of manga, not playing golf, not buying cars, and spending all his time on the creation of manga, which may also be a happy performance for him. So he feels that it is quite good to be in such a state now, to be able to play with his hobbies in his spare time, and as for comics, it is both a job and a hobby for him. I think I like it, but I don't know, sometimes I don't think it's annoying to be like this all my life? For the future, he feels that the most important thing is to be healthy, even at the age of 60, he can go out immediately if he wants to ride a Harley motorcycle. As for now, while you can still move your hands and feet, of course, you can live according to your own wishes.
Information is provided in the form of references
Japanese Wiki
Interview with Natalie.mu Takahashi Nu
Takahashi Nu official website
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Original: m.anitama.cn/article/d76c897af864885f?utm_source=toutiao