Oda: Pleased to meet you! Before now I read various works presented to me, but I love all of them. I'm very glad to meet you.
Matusmoto: The pleasure is mine. Recently, there hasn't been a day gone by that I don't see One Piece surface, and I think that's amazing.
Oda: Not at all, today I wondered what sort of person was coming, and was really looking forward to it you know! If you ask me, the impression you give is that of a mysterious man. Because you wrote NIHON NO KYOUDAI and other dark works, I thought you'd have a sour atmosphere, but when I meet you again I'll be calm and really grasp the thought that "that group of works came from such a guy."
Matsumoto: Those works are ATG and OOTOMO KATSUHIRA-SAN and introductory works like that, they were made at the time I longed for that sort of atmosphere. AOI HARU was like that as well, but they let me write shorts relatively freely too.
Oda: I always used to think "there are no geniuses." I thought successful people just put more hard work than most, but when I read PINPON, I was surprised: "Ah, a genius!" This manga was not written with just hard work.
Matsumoto: I work hard too! *laughs* When you say it like that it makes me happy. Thank you very much.
Oda: Anyway, the power of expression isn't incomplete. The flow of panels can slowly penetrate my body, and I see anything but calculations (??, don't know what he means here). Reproducing the images inside my head, or maybe I should say, I feel as though I could draw them with just my intuition. What is it like for you when you draw?
Matsumoto: Hmm. I don't memorize it. I'm too busy so I can't commit it to memory. Whenever I reread even PINPON, there's a lot of times I think "Did I really write this?" On the other hand, stuff like TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI was written leisurely, so I can remember them well. Have you ever had a similar experience?
Oda: I understand. *laughs* When I write without knowing the conclusion, I get that feeling. And now I love TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI, it's really cool. The elocution style, the sense of atmopshere, such a great mood. Furthermore, the way you have the eyes we normally wouldn't be able to see of characters in profile jump out and the way you draw hands that are holding katana are cool. The panel where he kills someone to test his sword, made me seriously think "it would be great if I could draw like this too..."
Matsumoto: Oo~! Thanks! Yatteta kai ga arimashita. Because it's a work that's praised by most readers, I was able to think "I'm glad to be writing it at last."
**Now then, I think I'd like to ask you what your impression of One Piece is, Matsumoto-sensei. Your thoughts on when you saw this work?
Matsumoto: Together with the readers, it's great to get accustomed to the feeling of sailing on a voyage.
Oda: Ee~! The place I'm aiming for, is a manga amusement park where you can enjoy various sensations.
Matsumoto: Moreover, the fight between the two rival giants made me think "that must have been tough to put to paper." Properly drawing scenes like that is amazing.
Oda: As you expected it was difficult, but I'm always thinking "The readers will enjoy seeing this" while I'm drawing.
**Matsumoto-sensei, are there any One Piece characters you like? Please tell us.
Matsumoto: It's Luffy of course. He's a protagonist I don't understand much. I get the feeling I don't know what he's thinking.
Oda: First, he takes action before words, or he does it so he doesn't let himself say things that have passed through his train of thought (??). Mysteriousness may be born from such a place.
Matsumoto: After a long time, I saw a work like a manga overflowing with whimsy and thrills. I thought, "Now this is manga!" Recently the chance to read a manga like that has diminished so it was fresh.
Oda: Really?
Matsumoto: Nowadays, as for my manga which makes people's eyes spin, to reflect the things
I've thoroughly researched, I'm drawing a lot of realistic real world stuff. Of course I like that kind of manga too.
Oda: Certainly, for seinen manga, that type of manga may be prevalent. For shounen magazines, even now lively works that go with the fantasy at full throttle are spreading out. Only, you can't string your readers along with just pure fantasy. I think collecting data is also important. Do you collect data too, Matsumoto-san?
Matsumoto: I collect data for works with sports as their subject matter. However for fantasy works I don't collect much data. For TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI, I wanted to draw a period drama but researching for it is hard, so I distance myself from it. The original author ga tsuite kurete I thought "I can do it." I don't like works based on documents/data.
Oda: The first work of yours I read was TEKKON KINKURIITO, and that was full of imagination.
Matsumoto: It's the work that was most influenced by my tastes. When I read it again I think "despite myself, I remember this well."
Oda: I love child protagonists holding steel pipes and causing a ruckus. Recently I used that for my own work.
**With Ace, Luffy and Sabo.
Oda: Right. Those three figthing with pipes is directly inspired by TEKKON KINKURIITO. "Of course I have to give those kids steel pipes too!" *laughs*
Matsumoto: Coming up with nineteen pages a week, doesn't that tire you out?
Oda: It really is exhausting. Bodily speaking continuing to work at this rate has become difficult. However, if I let go of or slow down this impetus, this feeling that's being chased after, then the funness of the work gets halved. Originally I wanted to cut down on the number of pages I had to draw each week, but if I do that I become troubled.
Matsumoto: For me at this time drawing a 20-page manuscript every week is really impossible.
Oda: The backgrounds are drawn mostly by myself, so that eats a lot of time. However, in the past didn't you experience the pace of working for a weekly publication?
Matsumoto: Yes. PINPON and TEKKON made it into weeklies, but when it came to the second half of PINPON I had to take a break. Once TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI runs for three months, I feel the fatigue of working for three straight months and I relax the time restrictions.
Oda: Aah I see. That allowance for time, gives your pictures a better feel. That amazingly comfortable and easy feel, I think, appears in your drawings.
Matsumoto: So when you're not busy, it's not the wrong way?
Oda: The flair of flying towards the deadline, you inadvertently expect the idiot strength (bakachikara, lol) that comes with it. I've experienced multiple instances where when there's barely any time left I get a ton of ideas, and I can draw pictures with vigor, and I rely on that explosive, high power output. However when I draw that out, the crisis affects my body still more. The result is that it's steadily becoming ever more painful.
Matsumoto: For me, if I enter back in during intervals I could still manage to continue drawing, but it'd always be with high tension which would make it difficult. On the other hand, if I draw only when I feel like it I can create great works that come straight from the heart.
Oda: What do you mean?
Matsumoto: In the past, I drew GOGO MONSTER on commission for over three years, and it didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would.
Oda: Uwa~! You wrote that doorstopper on commission?
Matsumoto: Yes. Though I myself decided when the deadlines would be, drawing for a magazine still meant it didn't go my way. Halfway through thoughts like "I can still quit, now" and "Shall I continue drawing?" would keep popping to mind. Though the burgeoning desire to abandon the work was soothed by my editor, I struggled to the last.
Oda: Is that so? But I'm jealous you were able to put out such a splendid book . I wanna try my hand at working on commission one day too.
Matsumoto: Even GOGO MONSTER's front cover illustation took lots of time. But you can't say just taking a lot of time will bring the picture to a good finish. On the contrary, stuff like the cover illus. of the first vol. of PINPON took just three hours from the blank page to completion.
Oda: Three hours!? *laughs*
Matsumoto: That time I drew something else, I just couldn't draw it out so my editor and designer came by my workplace to visit. I was told "I'm taking a walk in Enoshima, so please finish by the time I return," which placed on me a three hour time limit. Far from spicing it up, I didn't even have time for a rough draft, I took pastels to it in one sitting!
Oda: That too is full of the feeling of lively motion, it's a really great image. I was never taught by anybody so I don't think I could do it.
Matsumoto: Nah, One Piece is especially a work born from under really intense pressure. and when I read it I can tell. When I read it I break out in a cold sweat (lol)
Oda: That one word really, really saved me! Even if it's just you who can understand that, I'm happy.
**Matsumoto-sensei, your works changed design in a big way, is this where your obsession towards pictures comes from? (really not sure about this one)
Matsumoto: Nah, the style depends on the contents of the story. For me the images of manga should develop alongside the story all the way to the end with an expressive soul. It's not an obsession, but with TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI the feeling that the art strings the story along may be strong.
Oda: Yeah, people who can convey something with an exposition-free panel of just art are really awesome.
Matsumoto: Totally, when I set to work on an illustration, I have to confront that difficulty.
Oda: Stories change but, when you set to work, do you use a computer, Matsumoto-san?
Matsumoto: I don't have a computer.
Oda: Ee~!? Aren't there various problems with that?
Matsumoto: My family's got one, so it's not something I worry about.
Oda: All right, though it's obvious, I don't use one either.
Matsumoto: Oda-san, your stuff is mostly hand-drawn, right?
Oda: Yes. There are comic artists who use 'cuts" (katto). Recently the laptop trend has gotten bad so I complete everything by hand.
Matsumoto: Your drawings have a great hand-drawn feeling that way.
Oda: Your pictures are done the same way, and for the pictures I really like, just looking at them I think we'd get along. They're pictures that be can gazed at without ever tiring. On the other hand, while other pictures may be beautiful, you don't need to stare at them for a long time. Hand-drawn images, more or less, have that great feel, so I want to make that important.
Matsumoto: One Piece is now up to the halfway point, right? How many years til the finish?
Oda: Since I get scared everytime I think about that, recently I've just not been thinking about it (lol, oh Oda you doof). *laughs* I don't know how long it will take, but I'll reach the end without fail.
Matsumoto: By all means escort Luffy and friends to the end of the Grand Line! (I'm impressed with Matsumoto's OP knowledge. God I heart these two.)
Oda: Thank you so much! Everytime you come out with a new work, I always have so much fun. I'm sure the same will be true for your next work as well.
Matsumoto: I'll be starting on it soon. The title is SUNNY, and I thought I'd draw a lot of children. It looks like this. *hands over sample copy*
Oda: Uwa~! Sketches of your upcoming work! The linework and backgrounds, did you fill these out simultaneously until now? This is amazing... Did you take the perspective of the background from a real life place?
Matsumoto: Nah. I spread the tone paper and tried to match it tightly but in reality you can it went out of alignment in a big way.
Oda: No way, it's not bad at all! This art is at a level I can't reach even through hard work. You showed me something wonderful. I await your next work! I'm really happy to have met you today. Thank you so much!
FIN