#boku to senpai no tekken kousai

[mangaacoverss]

✦ 📓 VOL 1 (1-4)

[onigiriico]

Osora Interview translation (pt.1)

(printed in AnimaniA 4/2018, p.58 - 61 / interview originally given in March 2018 at the Manga-Comic-Con in Leipzig, Germany)

Osora-sensei, is this your first time visiting Germany? How is your impression of the country and your German fans?

— I've had a temporary stop at a German airport while traveling before,  but this is my first real visit here. The German fans are all incredibly kind! The atmosphere here is really familiar in a way. Before coming here, I assumed everyone would be very serious, but I was actually met with a lot of smiles, and that made me happy! When we went out to get food with the team and my entourage talked to the waiter in the restaurant, that exchange seemed so friendly and natural that I thought they were acquainted, but they weren't. Things like that typically don't happen in Japan and I thought it was a really nice and interesting experience. I really like this kind of friendly, familiar atmosphere!

How did you start drawing manga?

— I've always loved drawing, anytime and anywhere – even on the back of flyers that my mother would give to me. I discovered the manga style during high school, when I was 15 or 16. That's also when I first started teaching myself how to draw comics. I was still a bit embarrassed about drawing back then, though, so I never showed it to anyone. When I entered college, I got my first own computer, continued drawing and eventually started publishing my works online as well.

Are there specific manga or mangaka that you liked back in school, that have influenced your own work in some way?

— I’ve always really liked the fantasy manga Mahoujin Guru Guru by Eto Hiroyuki-sensei. The art is cute, but lots of strange characters like plants or elderly men show up as well. This was the first series that I collected and read with a passion. I’m sure this has had a lot of influence on me.

The designs of your characters are very recognizable. Could you tell us a little bit about the designs for Himeko and Shuji from Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai?

— Himeko’s design is shiro lolita based, so she’s a cute lolita character with a lot of bows and frills. Shuji as her counterpart was designed to be the polar opposite, so his outfit is mostly black and fairly simple, with almost no decorative elements. I really enjoy drawing characters with contrasting designs. And since manga are drawn in black and white anyway, their outfits make them easy to recognize as well.

And how did you develop the designs for Akatsuki and Paca from The Ones Within?

— In Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai, the main character wears a blazer, so for The Ones Within, I wanted to draw a gakuran (the traditional boys’ school uniform). That has a more serious look to it. Because Shuji was kind of uptight and serious, I wanted to make Akatsuki the opposite of that, so he’s kind and friendly, maybe even a little bit naïve – just the kind of character that is easy to take a liking to! With Paca, I didn’t put as much thought into it. But I didn’t want people to entirely hate him as the antagonist, so I gave him a cute design. Sometimes I also draw him a bit more mascot-like so he won’t come across as too scary or two-faced to the readers.

The Ones Within revolves around Let’s Players who get trapped in a mysterious game. How did you come up with the idea of putting the topic of gaming / streaming into your manga?

— The topic was actually suggested to me by my editor. I was thinking of a story where boys and girls have to escape from a locked room, and we ended up combining those concepts. Let’s Plays were also pretty popular back then, so we hoped for a good reception. Also, a game setting leaves a lot of room for different sceneries and outfits – there’s a lot of interesting things to explore and that’s why we decided to go for this set-up.

Do you also watch Let’s Plays?

— I do! I really enjoy Let’s Plays and I usually watch videos about Minecraft or horror games.

[ part 2 ]

[nicerandsmarterthanme]

[quadrupleflip]

Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai / Mine and Senior’s Iron Fist Association

Volume 1 Chapter 4: The Angel of Strangulation (Part 2)

[balimeg]

manga dump pt. 2

[shoujoh]

(x)

[thefunkyuniverse]

[incorrect-safeway-quotes]

Random from Safe Way: You two seem to have a pretty good relationship, perhaps you’re dating?

Trevor: You could say Pi’s slightly more familiar than other strangers.

[accuratenitw]

Angus: You two seem to have a pretty good relationship, perhaps you’re dating?

Mae: You could say Bea’s slightly more familiar than other strangers.

[incorrectocquotations]

Character A: You two seem to have a pretty good relationship, perhaps you’re dating?

Character B: You could say [Character C]’s slightly more familiar than other strangers.

(submitted by clutzyangel)

[bismuthwisdom]

My Manga/Anime Collection

Because I had to rearrange my shelves a bit, I decided why not show my small collection of manga/anime DVDs I had procurred over the years. It isn't much, but it's honest work.

I didn't bother labelling the volumes, so you will just get the series names. Also, all are in German, unless otherwise stated.

Legend:

🟧 - Want to complete

🟥 - Don't want to complete (physically)

🟩 - Complete

◾️Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

◾️Eden of the East

◾️Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion

◾️Anime Promo Material

◾️My Neighbor Totoro

◾️Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

◾️Tales from Earthsea

🟩Another

🟧Chobits

🟧The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún

🟩The Miniature Garden of Twindle

🟥Hetalia World Stars

🟥Hetalia Axis Powers

🟩Kuro

🟧Go With the Clouds, North-by-Northwest

🟥How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master's Medical Journal

🟩Clover

🟧Arte

🟧Laid-back Camp

◾️Negima! Magister Negi Magi (Croatian)

◾️D-Frag! (Japanese)

◾️Man of Many Faces (English)

🟧Beastars

🟥Skip Beat

🟩Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki

🟥Love x Wanko

🟥Grimms Manga

🟧Hyouka

🟥Ludwig Kakumei

🟩I.O.N

🟩Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai

🟧orange

🟥Inuyasha

🟧Sailor Moon

🟥Dream Saga

🟥DearS

🟥Chi's Sweet Home

🟧The Royal Tutor

🟧Oshi no Ko

🟩Crayon Days: Daikirai na Aitsu

🟧Negima! Magister Negi Magi

🟧Assassination Classroom

🟥Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning

🟩Vitamin

🟩Recast (Manhwa)

🟩Lost Ctrl(Manhwa)

🟥Pandora Hearts

🟩Sailor V

🟥To Love Ru: Darkness

🟥Fate/stay Night

🟥Shiro Ali

🟥Aldnoah.Zero Season One

🟥Romantica Clock

🟥Alice in the Country of Hearts

🟥Nana-iro Kakumei

🟥Yumekui Merry

◾️Hetalia Arte Stella Artbook

◾️Various manga drawing books

🟥Please Save my Earth

🟩Angel/Dust

◾️Mirai (Movie Guide)

(I guess my impulsive past self has gathered a lot of manga just because they look pretty. Which might partially explain the red prevalence 😂)

[mangaacoverss]

VOL 2 (5-9)

[onigiriico]

Osora Interview translation (pt.2)

(printed in AnimaniA 4/2018, p.58 - 61 / interview originally given in March 2018 at the Manga-Comic-Con in Leipzig, Germany)

( pt.1 )

The Internet offers Let’s Players, but also all kinds of artists an opportunity for very direct communication with their fans. However, this can also have its downsides when it comes to potentially negative feedback. How do you deal with this issue?

—Sometimes you just stumble across negative feedback that you didn’t want to see, and that can chip away at your motivation and creativity. I try to prevent that by not really looking at reactions in the first place, and when I do happen to see negative feedback, I try to forget about it again as soon as possible. Of course, when I start a new series, I’m curious about the readers’ reactions and go looking for feedback, but if eight out of ten comments are very positive and two are negative, I still tend to get stuck thinking about those two negative comments. There even was a time when that negative feedback made me feel too depressed to draw for a couple of days. But the more often this happens, the more you learn to deal with this criticism. I can stomach it pretty well by now, and I think it’s important to not let negative feedback get to you.

Did your experience regarding interactions with readers change much from Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai to The Ones WIthin?

—Digital publications receive a lot more feedback than series that are only released in print - be it via email or via Twitter. Twitter is the main source of comments. With Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai, there was much less of a response, and the feedback that we did get was usually in the form of letters. Since readers had to buy the magazine first and then go out of their way to send a letter, that was a lot more complicated. (T/N: i.e. it takes more time to write/send a whole letter than to just send a tweet)

How do you handle responding to messages from your readers? For example, do you set specific times for yourself to reply?

—Since I get the most reader interaction on Twitter, I try to answer questions and comments there when I find the time for it. I always do that myself because I want to respond to my fans in my own words. That doesn’t feel like extra work to me, but rather like a pleasant change of pace. Aside from my personal account, there’s also the official account for The Ones Within, which is mostly for promotional use. My editor retweets my tweets there and forwards any questions that get asked there to me.

Could you describe your usual daily routine when working on The Ones Within?

—I’m a night owl, so I usually get up rather late at around 10 am. After that, I basically work in two rounds. The first lasts the entire day and ends in the evening, around dinner time. Then I take a short break, and the second round starts at around 9 pm and ends at roughly 2 am. If I’m close to a deadline, I sometimes just continue drawing until I pass out. (lol) I never take much time to eat at that point, either.

What advantages are there to drawing digitally in comparison to drawing traditionally?

—Oh, there’s a lot - especially how easy it is to make corrections and adjustments. Your work space is neater and other people can’t stare as easily at what you’re drawing. There’s no need to erase sketches or apply screentones by hand (T/N: see here how screentones are applied traditionally, it’s definitely faster digitally lol), so there’s not as many work steps either and you can finish your work even on your own [without assistants]. And since it’s all data anyway, it’s easy to save as well.

Do you have any advice for artists who are just starting to work digitally?

—Practice makes perfect! I used to have a private page online where I more or less kept a drawing diary, all about original characters. I still kind of do the same thing on Twitter nowadays. It’s important to keep at it and actually draw on a daily basis, that way you’ll get used to it. There’s also live streams from artists on Pixiv and Twitter - it’s helpful to watch those and adapt parts of their progress for your own work.

You’ve shown us a picture of one of your notebooks that you use to jot down your ideas - where do you usually come up with these? (*picture under the cut at the bottom of the post)

—There’s two main places where I tend to draw spontaneously. For one, on the train - usually after meetings with my editor. I can best sort out my thoughts right after those meetings and save some first ideas. Secondly, in bed, right before going to sleep. Ideas flow really easily when you’re sleepy and letting your thoughts wander. Also, I’d feel like I’m wasting my time if I did nothing and just waited to fall asleep, so instead I imagine as many scenarios as possible and jot down the best ones. When I come up with something I especially like, I might also get up again and draw it digitally right away. (lol) I don’t take my notebooks with me everywhere I go, though.

Both Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai and The Ones Within combine dark, mysterious elements with more comedic ones. How do you find a balance between these two aspects, and what do you like so much about combining these opposites?

—I like both comedy and serious plots, so I wanted to draw both - in the end, I combined the two without really thinking much about it. I usually just let this come to me naturally while I’m drawing too, although I do keep the timing in mind. For example, it wouldn’t be appropriate to make a joke in the middle of a sad or serious scene, and vice versa. So, I take care not to destroy the atmosphere that I’m trying to convey [in each given scene].

Personally, which character from The Ones Within is your favorite?

—I can’t really “rank” my characters because I love them all! Going by who’s the easiest to draw, it would be Anya. He’s a pretty straight-forward type, so he’s easy to understand. He’s also the only one who looks angry a lot of the time and has eye bags… and his accessories, like the helmet, his iron bar or the chewing gum - they make him stand out and thus easy to draw.

Do you already have an ending planned for The Ones Within or do you still have a few options to choose from?

—The ending is already planned out!

Do you maybe already have a new project in the works that you would like to tell us about?

—For now, I’m just really happy that The Ones Within is getting an anime adaptation and I can finally talk about it, now that it’s getting officially announced this May! I can’t wait to see my characters animated on the screen!

A final word to your fans?

—Thank you so much for reading my manga! There are so many Japanese manga series out there, and I’m really happy that you chose to read mine out of all of them. The Ones Within is getting an anime adaptation, and of course the manga is still ongoing as well, so I hope you will stick around and enjoy it until the end. Thank you!

Osora-sensei, thank you very much for the interview!

I tried to decipher these but the picture was too small to read much sadly agdjsdvhs

The bigger page seems to be some Kudou bros goodness? They seem to be talking about Shinya having Kenya's piercings (and maybe about Anya getting piercings as well, considering his very resolute "I don't want to." lol) and they're also mentioning ramen at some point from what I can decipher

And the bottom right looks like some kind of character relationship chart / worldbuilding notes,,,

[nicerandsmarterthanme]

[quadrupleflip]

Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai / Mine and Senior’s Iron First Association

Volume 1 Chapter 4: The Angel of Strangulation (Part 2)

[ai-to-wa]