Translating Interviews

justwantanaccount · May 24, 2011

Posts fixed

Hi! I dug around the Internet to see if I could get a full list of interviews Gosho has ever given so far, and this is the fruit of my work.

コナンドリルオフィシャルブック (Conan Drill Official Book), published May 1 2003 - (TRANSLATED)

Detective Conan vs. Kaitou Kid Perfect Edition pg 169 - (Raw text)

朝日新聞夕刊 (Asahi Evening Newspaper), published January 13, 2006 - (Full raw text)

Press conference in Erlangen, Germany on June 17, 2006 - (TRANSLATED) (German)

Aoyama Anime 10th anniversary interview on 2005-2006 - (TRANSLATED)

名探偵コナン＆金田一少年の事件簿01 (Detective Conan & Kindaichi Case files #1), published April 10, 2008 - (TRANSLATION)

オトナファミ6月号 (Otona Fami or Adult Family June issue), published April 21, 2008

週刊少年サンデー17号 (Weekly Shonen Sunday #17), published March 27, 2009

Aoyama & Monkey Punch interview from 2009 - (TRANSLATION)

少年サンデー1983 (Shonen Sunday 1983, a special issue commemorating Sunday's 50 years of publishing), published July 15, 2009

ガンダムエース3月号 (Gundam Ace March issue), published January 26, 2010 - (PARTIAL TRANSLATION)

オトナファミ6月号 (Otona Fami or Adult Family June issue), published April 20, 2010

Masters of Manga, published July 6, 2010 - (TRANSLATION)

オトナファミ6月号 (Otona Fami or Adult Family June issue), published April 20, 2011 - (TRANSLATION)

ミステリマガジン6月号 (Mystery Magazine June issue), published April 25, 2011

青山剛昌先生と話そうDAY (Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day), held January 3, 2012 - (SUMMARY)

Otona Fami or Monthly B.L.T published April 2012- (TRANSLATION) (raw source)

Sankei newspaper interview, published June 30, 2012 - (Raw source)

青山剛昌先生と話そうDAY (Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day), held January 3, 2013 - (SUMMARY)

Magic Kaito Treasured editions - Gosho on Magic Kaito - (PARTS 1-3 TRANSLATION]) (PART 4 TRANSLATION])

Detective Conan Super Digest 1, 2, & 3 - (TRANSLATION)

Three unknown interviews from 2008, 2009, and 2010 - (TRANSLATION)

File 865 Shounen Sunday Special Booklet - (PARTIAL TRANSLATION)

Unknown Super Digest Interview - (Korean Transcript)

青山剛昌先生と話そうDAY (Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day), held January 4, 2014 - (SUMMARY)

Asahi Evening Newspaper, published January 6, 2014 - (TRANSLATION and link to full raw) (Raw source)

March (part 1) 2014 and April (part 2) 2014 edition of the Monthly Conan Newspaper - (TRANSLATED Part 1) (TRANSLATED Part 2)

Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the Japanese actor Takeru Satoh, leaked April 13, 2014 - (SOURCE) (TRANSLATION)

Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014 - (SOURCE) (TRANSLATION)

Super Digest Book 50+ - (PARTIAL TRANSLATION)

Super Digest Book 60+ - (TRANSLATION)

Super Digest Book 70+ - (TRANSLATION)

青山剛昌先生と話そうDAY (Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day), held January 3, 2015 (ALL QUESTIONS) (Source and translation part 1) (Translation part 2) (Source and translation part 3)

Postcard and animal crossing hints 2014-2015 - (SUMMARY)

Super Digest Book 80+ - (TRANSLATION)

All Super Digest Books 10+ through 80+ in one place - (TRANSLATION)

青山剛昌先生と話そうDAY (Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day), held January 3, 2016 - (TRANSLATION)

(Lol you can see that Gosho usually gives interviews around April, probably for hyping up the movies.)

Of these, I have the raws for Conan Drill, Detective Conan & Kindaichi Case Files, and the Monkey Punch & Aoyama Gosho talk from Endless Youth & Co. I'm thinking about translating them, but I want to make sure they're not translated already - so, I'm wondering if these three interviews are translated already or not?

Interviews from other people

Interview by Ryo Horikawa at 2013 Anime North. (voice actor of Heiji Hattori)

EDIT: Copy & pasting some older posts I've made:

Wait wait wait, didn't Gosho say in some interview somewhere that the name of Anokata appeared in the series already?

*Searches*

Aha! From this website that summarizes theories and facts from 2chan board . . .

2006年朝日新聞夕刊のインタビュー記事より
From 2006 Asahi Evening Newspaper interview article

2006年1月13日（金）朝日新聞夕刊の記事「アニメ・原作いい刺激」
Friday January 13, 2006, Asahi Evening Newspaper article "Anime, Manga [are] good stimulus"

実はボスの名前は既に原作のどこかにでている。捜してみて下さい。…
In fact, the boss' name already appeared somewhere in the manga. Please see if you can find it. . . .

Another blog backs claim this up

2005年青山剛昌とコナンファンの集いでの質問コーナーより
From Q&A in a gathering between Aoyama Gosho and Conan fans in 2005

Ｑ．黒の組織について？
Q. On the Black Syndicate/Organization?
Ａ．正式名称はある。言うとボスの名前がバレちゃうので言えません。
A. A formal name exists. If mentioned, the boss' name will be exposed so I can't say.

Erm, I'll see if I can get a confirmation on this somewhere, when I have time . . .

『名探偵コナン＆金田一少年の事件簿』4号より
From "Detective Conan & Kindaichi Case Files" 4th Issue

Ｑ.これに気付いているor知っているのは自分だけ！！
Q. Only self noticed/knows about this!!
高山みなみ｢｢あのお方｣が誰なのか…。キャストは誰も知らない。｣
Takayama Minami: who "anokata" is . . . None of the [other] casts know.

This seems to be some interview with Minami, who, as you know, voices Conan in Japanese. I'll see if I can get a confirmation on this, too, but I don't have much time right now, ha ha.

EDIT: This Japanese website compiling info on Conan confirms that the Detective Conan & Kindaichi Case Files #4 did a special report on what the voice actors know that the general public don't. I guess I'll have to buy the issue to really see the full interview, hmm. /EDIT

So if the second source is to be trusted, Anokata's name popped up before sometime in 2005 - and since the first source is reliable, definitely by January 13 2006. The 2chan blog says this means the name popped up somewhere before File 551, but you guys can check that for yourselves.

Anyways, I think we can effectively rule out the "new character" possibility, yes? ^^ These show that the name of Anokata has appeared in the series.

Sources, sources.

I can give a source - and it's from 2chan, essentially. ^^; This is my original post - and as I mentioned in that post, it's up to you to believe this spoiler or not. I can translate the entire post where I got that spoiler from, if you'd like:

445 : 作者の都合により名無しです : 2011/06/25(土) 15:28:12.02 ID:rjCoLlGx0 [1回発言]
昨日大学でやったらしい青山トークショーのネタバレすごいんだけど
そこまでぶっちゃけるのって感じ
おとなファミよりすごい

445: Anonymous: 2011/06/25 (Sat) 15:28:12.02 ID:rjCoLlGx0 [Commented 1 time]
The spoilers from a talk show Gosho reportedly did yesterday at a university is crazy
Like, you're gonna spoil that much?
It was crazier than [the interview in] OtonaFami

(Note: すごい can mean 'great, terrific, horrible', etc, but for this context I chose 'crazy')

(446-450 pretty much ask 445 to spill the details, then)

451 : 作者の都合により名無しです : 2011/06/25(土) 17:11:43.51 ID:nflQXEXH0 [1回発言]
もったいぶるバカはほおっておけよ
俺が代わりにネタバレしてやる

博士は黒幕ではない

確定

451: Anonymous: 2011/06/25 (Sat) 17:11:43.51 ID:nflQXEXH0 [Commented 1 time]
Ignore the idiot putting on airs
I'll give the spoilers instead

Professor [Agasa] isn't BO boss (Note: 黒幕 literally means 'black curtain' or 'political fixer', but I'm pretty sure it means BO boss here)

Settled

453 : 作者の都合により名無しです : 2011/06/25(土) 18:39:03.56 ID:WCtBexQ10 [1回発言]
今後の展開において28巻を読み直しておくと
おーとなるというレポがあった

453: Anonymous: 2011/06/25 (Sat) 18:39:03.56 ID:WCtBexQ10 [Commented 1 time]
There was a 'Whoa!'-inducing report that said
On future developments, [Gosho said that he'll] re-read Volume 28

457 : 作者の都合により名無しです : 2011/06/25(土) 21:48:18.35 ID:ava55YlP0 [1回発言]
とりあえず検索して出てきた物

来場者との質疑応答があって
博士は黒組織のボス？って質問があって
「阿笠博士は黒の組織のボスじゃありません」って答える

バーローは何故バーローなの？
タッチかなんかあだち充作品の主人公がバーローって言ってたから

世良真純の人気が凄いと講演会で話す

あの花（あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない。）を楽しみに見ていた
最終回も見て楽しんでから講演会に来た
花咲くいろはも楽しみに見てるよ

457: Anonymous : 2011/06/25 (Sat) 21:48:18.35 ID:ava55YlP0 [Commented 1 time]
Anyways, here's what through searching

There was a Q&A session with the attendants,
and [Gosho] answered, "Professor Agasa isn't the BO boss"

Why 'バーロー (bah-loh)'? (Note: You usually say 'baka', but Gosho likes to say 'bah-loh')
Because Touch and other works by Adachi Mitsuru said 'bah-loh'

Talks about how popular Sera Masumi is during lecture

Was enjoying あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない。 (We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day)
Enjoyed the last episode then came to lecture
[He] looks forward to watching 花咲くいろは (Blossoming Iroha)

Hmm, you're right, I need better sources - *googles, since apparently that's what the 2chan guy did to get all this info*

It seems true that Gosho really did give a lecture at his former university (Nihon University College of Art), according to the university's website. This page talks about the Nichigei Award for Excellence, which Gosho apparently received this year - the website mentions that the award ceremony was moved from March 11th to April 8th due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, so the ceremony happened this year. This website also mentions that the university plans on having the two winners (one of whom is Gosho) give a lecture later. (授賞式は、3月11日の東日本大震災から間もない4月8日、芸術学部新入生歓迎式プログラムとして江古田キャンパスの大ホールで行われ、ご出席いただいた林真理子氏からは、壇上から受賞の喜びとともに励ましの言葉が述べられました。また、仕事の都合で残念ながら欠席された青山剛昌氏は、ビデオで心あたたまるメッセージを届けてくださいました。お二人には後日、学内で講演を行っていただく予定です。)

Then this fan website says that the lecture commemorating the Nichigei Award for Excellence is held on June 24th 2011 from 2pm at Nihon University College of Art Ekoda Hall. Apparently only university students could attend. (学部所属の学生さんのみ参加可能 ... 2011/06/24の14時から、日本大学芸術学部の江古田大ホールで日藝賞記念講演会として、青山先生の講演が行われます。)

One more evidence for the lecture! The university's blog mentions that Gosho's lecture is on June 24th 2011. Here's the poster from that blog:

Okay, the fact that the lecture happened on June 24th 2011 at Gosho's alma mater seems legit . . . BRB googling more.

EDIT: Also, you have to admit that, while 2chan may not be 100% accurate, they do turn out to be mostly right most of the times. ^^; I mean, I learned about OtonaFami from there, and I always go to the 2chan Shonen Sunday Spoilers board to check for the latest spoilers on the latest Conan file, which has turned out to be pretty accurate so far. I'm also impressed that the lecture turned out to be true, as well.

EDIT2: Found one evidence for claim that "Gosho said Agasa isn't BO boss" via Twitter! This 青木敬士 (Aoki Keishi) person is, according to his profile, the Associate Professor at Nihon University of Art, Literary Arts(Creative Writing), and apparently organized the lecture that Gosho gave on June 24th (this tweet says that, since he is organizing the lecture, his classes are cancelled for those days). He also lent his pen to Aoyama when Aoyama was signing signatures, and he got excited and jokingly tweeted that maybe he should take care not to wipe off Gosho's fingerprints (lol).

This tweet is the main evidence:

青山剛昌先生、講演会の質疑応答で「阿笠博士は黒の組織のボスじゃありません」って明言しちゃってたけど(汗) ……もしかしたら叙述トリックかもしれないよ(笑)

Aoyama Gosho-sensei declared definitively during the lecture's Q&A that "Professor Agasa isn't the Black Organization's boss," ha ha *sweats* . . . maybe this is a narrative trick? (laughs)

This tweet corroborates with what the 2chan board said about Gosho's favorite shows - maybe this is that one 2chan guy's source? I dunno.

講演会来場者との質疑応答のなかにあったんですが、青山剛昌先生も「あの花」の最終回は楽しみにして観ていらしたそうですよ！あと「花咲くいろは」も

This was included in the Q&A with the attendants - reportedly, Aoyama Gosho-sensi also enjoyed watching "Anohana"'s last episode! "Blossoming Iroha", too

Oh! I found Nihon University's profile on Aoki Keishi.

Chekhov MacGuffin · May 25, 2011

No for the Drill, but I am not sure about the others

Scar Akai · June 3, 2011

I don't think that they've been...

Balthazar Manfredie · June 6, 2011

i have seen this somewhere before

kaRAN · June 6, 2011

good work

justwantanaccount · June 9, 2011

Translated the Aoyama & Monkey Punch interview from 2009! Nothing about DC's plot is revealed, but interestingly enough Aoyama says that he ran out of ideas by the third chapter of DC and didn't think that the series would last past one volume ha ha. One interview down . . .

As always, let me know if I made a translation error, or if the English is confusing.

アニメでルパン三世とコナンが夢の競演を実現させます。最初に聞いたときの感想は？

The dream confrontation between Lupin III and Conan in anime will be realized. What were your impressions when you first heard of this?

青：コナン側からいえば、今考えられる最大の強敵。かなりワクワクです。

Aoyama: From Conan's side, [Lupin III is] the most powerful adversary currently imaginable. I'm highly excited.

モ：最初にお話を聞いたときは、はたして本当に実現できるのかと思いました。でも、できたら絶対に面白くなるはずだと思いました。

Monkey Punch: When I first heard of the talk, I thought, is it possible to realize this? But I thought that, if it is, then it definitely must become interesting.

青：僕も実現できるのかなと思っていました（笑）。

Aoyama: I also wondered if it was possible (laughs).

確かにすごい企画です。

That's true, it's a stunning project.

モ：脚本家の方は大変だったでしょう。どういうストーリーになるのか、まったくわからない。

Monkey Punch: The scriptwriter must have gone through a lot of trouble. I have absolutely no idea what the story will be like.

青：僕もそこそこは脚本をチェックしました。コナンが登場する部分はもちろんですけど、原作の「ルパン三世」が大好きで、「ルパンはこうじゃないだろう」って修正を入れてました（笑）。

Aoyama: I, too, checked the script here and there. Of course the parts where Conan appears, but since I love the original work for Lupin III, included revisions like “Lupin isn't like this” (laughs).

不二子のシャワーシーンなど「ルパン三世」のお約束もありますし、いつもの「名探偵コナン」とは、少し違うかもしれません。

Since there is the Lupin III promise to include Fujiko's shower scene and so on, [this show] might be a little different from the usual Detective Conan.

モ：それは楽しみです。

Monkey Punch: [i'm] excited for that.

両作品に登場する刑事同士が知り合いという設定もあります。

It's also established that the police detectives appearing in both series are acquaintances.

青：目暮警部と銭型警部は、どっちも警視庁ですから（笑）。

Aoyama: Both Inspector Megure and Inspector Zenigata are from the Metropolitan Police Department, aren't they? (laughs)

青：「名探偵コナン」で（アルセーヌ・ルパン生みの親である）モーリス・ルブランが、怪盗紳士を描いた作家として名前だけ出てきます。そのルブランが書いたルパンの孫と言うことは、ルパン三世は「名探偵コナン」の世界では架空の人物。それと対決するわけですから、本用に夢の対決です。カットになったけど、本当は“ルパンの孫”というセリフを、ぜひ入れたかったなあ。

Aoyama: In Detective Conan, Maurice Leblanc (creator of Arsene Lupin) appears as the name of the writer who wrote the gentleman thief. Since [Lupin III is] the grandchild of the Lupin written by that Leblanc, Lupin III is a fictitious person in Detective Conan's world. [Conan will] have a face-off with that [fictitious character], so this truly is a “dream” confrontation. Although this got cut, I really wanted to include the “Lupin's grandchild” line.

モ：今回のアニメでは、コナンは少年、ルパンは青年。それをどう組み合わせるんだろうとは思いました。江戸川乱歩の小説でも、怪人二十面相と少年探偵団の対決はあったので、そういう感じで面白い対決だといいな。

Monkey Punch: In this anime, Conan is a boy, and Lupin is a young man. I wondered how they'll put these together. In Edogawa Ranpo's novels, there was a face-off between the Kaijin Niju-Menso (Twenty-Faced Fiend) and Shounen Tanteidan (Boy Detective League) - I'd like it if that kind of feel is used.

青：コナンの場合、本人が少年探偵団であり、明智小五郎でもあります。コナン世界で一番切れる人物が小さい奴ですからね。その意味では、いい対決になっています。

Aoyama: In Conan's case, the main character is both the Shounen Tanteidan and Akechi Kogoro. The small guy is the sharpest person in the Conan world. In that sense, the confrontation is a good one.

ちなみに今回の見どころは？

Also, what's worth watching this time?

青：コナンはルパン＆次元との絡みです。特に次元とコナンの絡みはオススメ。次元の手を見たコナンが「あなた、タダものじゃないですね」っていうシーンは、僕が付け足しました。その後に、次元らしいせりふを言うんですよ。

Aoyama: For Conan, the entanglement with Lupin & Jigen. I especially recommend the entanglement between Jigen and Conan. I added the scene where Conan, who has looked at Jigen's hands, said “You're no ordinary man, are you?”

青山先生にお伺いしますが、「ルパン三世」の魅力は？

I would like to ask Aoyama-sensei – what is Lupin III's appeal?

青：子供のころから原作が大好きですが、やはり作品全体から感じるクールなカッコよさ。昔の「００７」ぽいところもありますね。

Aoyama: I have loved the original work since childhood - definitely [say] the cool feel [you] can get from the entire work. It's also similar to 007 in the old days.

モ：それは、僕も意識して描いていました。

Monkey Punch: I have consciously tried to draw that way.

青：絵柄もかっこいいですよ。キャラクターの手足が細くて。実は、コナンが笑ったときの口元の感じは、モンキー・パンチ先生のマネ。かなり影響を受けました。

Aoyama: The style is cool, too. The characters' limbs are thin. In truth, the atmosphere of Conan's mouth when he grins is in Monkey Punch-sensei's imitation. I received quite an influence.

モ：それはありがとうございます。当時、連載していた雑誌の読者が少年ではなく青年層だったので、絵柄はそれを意識して、大人っぽく描いてました。

Monkey Punch: Thank you kindly for that. At the time, serial magazines' readers were not boys but young adults, so with that in mind, I tried to draw with an adult-like style.

青：僕が「ルパン三世」にふれたのは小学３年生ぐらい。本屋さんで買ってきて家の本棚に並べていたら、エッチすぎるからと親に処分されて、後でまた買い直したこともあります（笑）。（編集部注　扉のページでモンキー・パンチ先生が持っているコミックは、青山先生が持参した私物）

Aoyama: I came across Lupin III around third grade. There was one time, when I bought it from the bookstore and lined it up on the bookshelf, my parents thought that it was too sensual so they confiscated it - I had to buy it again afterward (laughs). (Editorial notice: The comic Monkey Punch-sensei is holding on the front page is Aoyama-sensei's)

当時の小学生には、「ルパン三世」は刺激的すぎたんですね。

Lupin III was too stimulating for elementary school children back then, wasn't it?

モ：実は「ルパン三世」を描いていた当時、本屋さんで幼稚園ぐらいの子が母親に「ルパン買って」と言うと、母親が「こういうのは読んじゃダメ」って（笑）。

Monkey Punch: Actually, back when I was drawing Lupin III, a child who might be in kindergarten said “Buy Lupin!” to the mother at a bookstore, and the mother replied, “[You] can't read things like these!” (laughs)

青：いや、当時の僕は、ページをめくるたびにワクワクでした。

Aoyama: Back then, I felt excited from turning the page.

青：「名探偵コナン」を知っていると聞いて大感激です。実は聞いたいことがあります。モンキー・パンチというペンネームは、どうやって名付けたんですか？

Aoyama: I am deeply moved to hear that you know about Detective Conan. Actually, I have something I want to ask. How did you get the pen name, Monkey Punch?

モ：新人の頃に某編集部でつけられました。最初は変な名前だから断ろうと思った（笑）。当時、カタカナのペンネームは当たらないというジンクスがあって、当時の編集長が「そのジンクスをお前が破れ。一年だけやってイヤだったら好きな名前にしていい」と言われて。それがきっかけです。

Monkey Punch: I got the name at a certain editorial department. I first wanted to decline [the name] since I thought it was strange (laughs). At the time, there was a jinx where pen names in katakana did't become successful, and the editor-in-chief at the time told me, “You break that jinx. If you don't like it after a year, you can pick your favorite name.” That was the start.

青：ペンネームは、絵柄に会ってますし、最初は外国人かと思っていました。背景のハイコントラストな描き方はアメコミですよね。

Aoyama: The pen name suits your style, and I first thought that [the name] was a foreigner's. American comics have backgrounds with high contrast, right?

モ：欧州の作家が好きで影響を受けて、そういうものが組み合わさってこうなりました。

Monkey Punch: I like European artists and received their influence – things like that combined together and here I am.

青：「ルパン三世」の発想は、どこからですか？

Aoyama: Where did Lupin III's idea come from?

モ：新雑誌が出るときに「表紙と巻頭をあげるから」と言われ、その場で浮かんだのが、「アルセーヌ・ルパン」。それで後先考えずにルパンものをやりたいと言って、その後で作り込みました。

Monkey Punch: I was told that I'll get the cover and the opening page when the new magazine comes out, at right there I thought, Arsene Lupin. Then I said that I want to do something Lupin-related without reflection, and I started working.

青：僕は原作のクールなるパン三世が好きです。原作では、ルパン帝国の三代目でゴージャズだし、世界各地に手下がいて、アルセーヌ・ルパンぽいのが魅力でした。

Aoyama: I prefer the cool Lupin III in the original work. In the original work, [Lupin III was] Lupin Empire's third generation and had minions all over the world; the similarity to Arsene Lupin was appealing.

モンキー・パンチ先生が考える「名探偵コナン」の魅力は？

What is Detective Conan's appeal according to Monkey Punch-sensei?

モ：実は「ルパン三世」でも探偵者をやってみたいなと思っていて、僕が考える探偵ものはアガサ・クリスティーみたいな本格推理。そうなると最後のところで相当な文字数が必要になって、漫画的じゃない。だから、いい方法を見つけたらやろうと思っていました。それで初めて「名探偵コナン」を見て、なるほどこういうやり方があったのかと目からウロコが落ちました。あとは高校生でありながら小さい少年。これが子供達に受けていると思います。本当にやられたなという感じです。ルパン三世にも薬を飲ませて子供にすればよかった（笑）。

Monkey Punch: I actually wanted to do mysteries in Lupin III; personally, when I think of detectives I think of Agatha-Christie-like, genuine deductions. In that case, the word count becomes considerable at the end and no longer manga-like. So I wanted to find a good way to do this. Then I watched Detective Conan for the first time, and my eyes were opened. A boy who's actually a high school student – I think that this is what appeals to children. I feel that [Aoyama Gosho] really did it. I should have made Lupin III swallow a pill and become a child, too (laughs).

モ：今、「名探偵コナン」は、何年目ぐらいですか？

Monkey Punch: How long has Detective Conan continued so far?

青：もう１５年ぐらいです。

Aoyama: About 15 years already.

モ：そんなに続けてられるのはすごいです。

Monkey Punch: It's amazing that you've continued for so long.

青：いやいや、ネタ出しが大変で（笑）。今日も朝から何時間もネタ出ししてから来ました。

Aoyama: Oh no, coming up with ideas is a lot of trouble (laughs). I came here after spending hours from morning coming up with ideas today, for example.

モ：僕は、いろいろなことを吸収していた時期に連載をしていて、ネタ出しの苦労はなかった。連載終盤は、頭にあるものを広げていく作業で大変だったけど。

Monkey Punch: For me, I serialized when I absorb several things, so I didn't struggle coming with ideas. Although, the ending involved expanding what was in the head and was a lot of trouble.

青：僕は、三話目ぐらいからネタ切れしてました（笑）。１巻分で終わるかなと思っていましたし、こんな文字数の多い漫画は誰も読まないと思っていました。

Aoyama: For me, I ran out of ideas from the third chapter (laughs). I thought that the series would end by the first volume, and that no one would read manga with such high word count.

お２人は、作品を描く上で気を付けていることはありますか？

What do you two take care to do when drawing your work?

モ：アニメ化されて声優さんの声にキャラクターが引っ張られることですね。山田康雄さんの声でアニメを見てたら、だんだん漫画のセリフも山田さんが言いそうなセリフになっていった。

Monkey Punch: I got influenced by the voice actors' voices for the characters after my work got animated. After I watch the anime with Yamada Yasuo-san's voice, the manga's lines become ones that Yamada-san might say.

青：そういう影響もあります。

Aoyama: That's true.

モ：クールなるパンが「あらあらあら」ってなっちゃう。アニメのルパンに引っ張られないように苦労しました。

Monkey Punch: The calm Lupin becomes the “Ara ara ara”-type. I struggled trying not to be influenced by the anime's Lupin.

青：「名探偵コナン」では、小五郎の声が神谷明さんで、漫画のセリフで「お父さんのしゃがれ声で言われたくないわ」と言うセリフを使ったりしました。あと円谷光彦の声優さんの大谷育江さんの声がかわいいので、だんだんカワイイキャラになった。アニメが本物と思っている子供達もいて、ファンレターで「アニメと違う」と書かれると、こっちが本当なのにと思いつつ・・・

Aoyama: In Detective Conan, Kamiya Akira-san does Kogoro's voice, so lines like “I don't want to be told by dad's hoarse voice” were used. Also, since Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko's Ootani Ikue-san's voice is cute, Mitsuhiko gradually became a cute character. There are children who think that the anime is the original, too, and when I receive fan letters that say “[The manga is] different from the anime”, I can't help but think, the [manga] is the one that's original . . .

モ：アニメのルパン三世を見ながら僕の絵を見て、「これは違う」と子供達に言われたこのも（笑）。アニメになって、描き始めた頃の尖った部分は柔らかくなったり、絵柄や印象も子供を意識し始めて変わりました。最初の頃と最後の方では、作品の雰囲気がかなり違いますね。

Monkey Punch: Children, looking at my drawings while watching anime's Lupin III, told me that “This is different” (laughs). After becoming an anime, the sharper parts from the times I started drawing became softer, and I changed the style and atmosphere, keeping children in mind. The work's atmosphere is quite different when comparing the beginning and the end, isn't it?

最後にファンのみなさんにメッセージをお願いします。

For the end, please leave a message for all the fans.

モ：僕も視聴者の一人として、ルパン三世と江戸川コナンの組み合わせの面白さは楽しみたい。それを楽しんでもらえれば、原作者としてもうれしいです。

Monkey Punch: As one of the viewers, I want to enjoy the interesting combination of Lupin III and Edogawa Conan. If you could enjoy that, I am happy as the original author.

青：実はコンテを全くチェックしていないのでオンエアがとても楽しみです。皆さんも是非ワクワクドキドキしながら観てください。

Aoyama: Actually, I haven't checked the contents at all, so I am excited about the airing. Everyone please be sure to watch with excitement.

kaRAN · June 13, 2011

i don't see any advantage of doing this thing

justwantanaccount · June 13, 2011

Well, I do hope that some of us will care. ^^; I think that the interviews are interesting, since you can see what Gosho prioritizes when he draws the manga - you also see the business side of drawing manga, which I think is valuable information.

Besides, I think that the lack of info on Gosho's interviews over here is a serious problem. We can see the movies, the anime, the manga, and a lot of other things, but you can't really find the interviews anywhere. We keep hearing about spoilers about what the manga will be like in the future, but we can never get any evidence anywhere. I get frustrated with that, at the least.

EDIT: Aaaand another one . . . The Kindaichi & Conan creators interview. That's all the raws that I have, aside from Conan Drill. This interview shows Japanese culture well, I think, as well as the priorities Gosho has when it comes to drawing manga. No real plot spoilers in this one, but it's a good read, I think.

I've taken much more liberty with the translation this time around, in order to make the English a little more readable. Let me know if I've taken too much liberty, or if I've blatantly mistranslated, or something . . .

まずは連載が始まった経緯を教えてください。

First, pleast tell the details on how the serializations began.

天樹征丸：僕らが「金田一少年の事件簿」を始めた頃は、トリックを使った本格派のミステリー漫画は皆無でした。この仕事を始めた時、いくつかやりたいテーマがあって、ミステリーまんがもそのひとつ。それで企画を考えました。

Seimaru Amagi (the writer for Kindaichi): At the time we started Kindaichi Case Files, genuine mystery manga using tricks were hopeless. When I started this job, there were a few themes that I wanted to do, and mystery manga was one of them. I thought of plans according to that.

さとうふみや：私は、旅行から帰ってきたら、留守電に編集部から「金田一」の打診があって。その頃は、まだ売れてなかったから、「次は何しようかな」とか考えていた時期ですね。

Fumiya Sato (the illustrator for Kindaichi): For me, after returning from a trip, there was a probe about Kindaichi from the editorial department. At the time, it didn't sell, so it was the time when I thought about things like “what should I do next?”

青山剛昌：僕も同じような感じです。僕の場合は、「「金田一」が受けているから「少年サンデー」でも、そういうまんがをやってくれないか？」と打診されて。でも最初は、まったく乗り気じゃなかった。大変ですもん。

Gosho Aoyama: Same feel for me. In my case, I was probed, “Since Kindaichi is popular, can do you do that kind of manga for Shonen Sunday?” At first, though, I had no interest at all. It would be a lot of trouble, you see.

さとう：でも、もう「マジック快斗」を描いてましたよね？

Sato: You were already drawing Magic Kaito at the time, though, right?

青山：あれは泥棒モノですから。泥棒モノは、何か盗めばいいだけだから簡単なんですよ。

Aoyama: That's thief material, you see. For thief material, you only have to steal something so it's easy.

天樹：元々、子供はミステリーが大好きで、僕らが小さい意頃にも探偵小説を読んでいた。まんがでも、長編で謎で引っ張っていけば、いけると思ってました。

Amagi: By nature, children love mysteries, and we read mystery novels when we were small, too. For manga, I thought that I could do it if I stretched it long with mysteries.

青山：でも、実際にやってみると、何故みんなやらないか判る。セリフは多いし大変。

Aoyama: But when you actually do it, you understand why no one does it. Lines are long, and it's a lot of trouble.

さとう：「金田一」の連載当初は、１年ぐらいだと思ってました。

Sato: At the beginning of Kindaichi's serialization, I thought it would only last about a year.

青山：僕もネタ的に続かないから、３か月ぐらいかなと。

Aoyama: I, too, thought that it would only last about three months, since it's difficult to continue material-wise.

さとう：それを週刊ペースでやるんだからムチャすぎる。

Sato: And then you do it at a weekly pace, so it's too unreasonable.

青山：でも「金田一」は、すごく参考になりました。犯人が真っ黒なのも、ほぼマネですから。

Aoyama: But Kindaichi served as quite a reference. I practically copied the part where the culprit is completely black.

全員：（爆笑）

Everyone: (Laughs wildly)

天樹：あれは、さとう先生の発明ですよ。原作では、「人物がわからないように」としか書いてなかったんです。

Amagi: That's Sato-sensei's invention. In the original work, I only wrote, “make sure you cannot identify the person.”

さとう：ただ黒いだけですよ。

Sato: They're merely black, that's all.

青山：でも、誰か判らないし、すごく不気味さが出る。

Aoyama: But you can't tell who it is, and it feels eerie.

天樹：あれってルールがありますよね。男女同じ体型で描く。で、犯人がわかったときに体型が違ってもツッコミはなし。

Amagi: There's a rule to it, isn't there? You draw the same body type for both men and women. Then, when the culprit is revealed, even if the body type changes no one makes a joke about it.

青山：小説だと証拠品や犯人を文章で説明するけど、まんがは、コマのどこかにサラッと描いてトリックにできるんですよね。

Aoyama: In novels, you explain the evidence, culprit, etc. in the text, but in manga, you can deftly draw them somewhere in the panel to build your trick.

天樹：ミステリーって基本は小説なので、絵的なトリックは手付かずだったんです。それに気が付いた時、これは長くやれるなと思いました。その分、さとう先生には苦労かけてます。

Amagi: Mysteries are basically novels, so visual mysteries were untouched. When I realized that, I thought that I could do it for a long time. Meanwhile, I'll continue to give Sato-sensei trouble.

トリックは検証しますか？

Do you verify your tricks?

青山：ドアロックを外からテープでかけるトリックは、編集さんを外に出して実験しました。でも密室トリックは、トリックのために部屋を、事前に全部見せておかないといけない。あれが結構難しい。

Aoyama: For the trick that locks the door from the outside with tape, I got the editor to go outside and test it. But for tricks involving sealed rooms, I must show all the room beforehand for the trick. That is quite difficult.

作画的に言えば、登場人物の描き分けも大変ですよね。

Drawing-wise, drawing apart the characters must be a lot of trouble.

青山：「金田一」は一度にたくさんキャラクターが出てきますから、描き分けも大変そう。

Aoyama: A lot of characters appear in Kindaichi at once – drawing apart seems like a lot of trouble.

さとう：描き分けは、もういいやって（笑）描いていても、「このいいこと言っている泣かせのキャラは、この前は意地悪だったお姉さんと同じ絵かも」ってことありますから（笑）

Sato: I don't put much effort into drawing apart anymore (laughs). When I draw, things like “I might draw this tear-inducing, good-things-saying character the same way I drew that mean lady” happen.

登場人物の名前は？

What about the characters' names?

青山：僕は空の話だったら、鳥の名前をつけるなど、作品ごとのテーマに合わせます。読者から「今回は鳥ですね」と手紙が来たりしますよ。自己満足ですけどね。

Aoyama: For me, I match with the theme of the work – for example, if the story was about the sky, I would give bird-related names. I get letters like “this time, [the names are based on] birds, right?” This is for self-satisfaction, though.

さとう：実際にありそうな名前は使わないですね。

Sato: We don't use realistic names, do we?

天樹：以前に出てきた名前とイメージが重ならないようには考えてます。登場シーンの短いキャラは３話ぐらいだし、長くても１５話ぐらいで使い切ってしまうキャラですから、ある程度は名前でキャラを立たせる意識はあります。ヤバそうな奴にはヤバそうな名前。

Amagi: We try not to repeat the mood of the previous names. Characters that don't appear for long lasts only about three chapters, up to maybe 15 chapters, so in a sense the characters are built on the name. Give dubious names to dubious guys.

青山：なるほど。

Aoyama: I see.

さとう：不幸なヒロインには、冬とか寒々しいイメージの漢字を使ったり。

Sato: For forsaken heroins, we may use kanji's meaning “winter” or something that feels cold.

青山：「金田一」は名前をつけるのがうまい。名前が結構怖い。ネーミングは本当に大事ですよ。

Aoyama: Characters are named well in Kindaichi. The names are quite scary. Names are truly important, aren't they?

さとう：名前の字で、イメージが伝わってきますから。

Sato: You can convey a mood through the name's ideographs.

「コナン」も「金田一」もいろんな場所が舞台になってます。取材にも行かれますか？

Both Conan and Kindaichi take place at various locations. Do you go to places for reference?

青山：寝台列車・北斗星の話を描いたときには実際に乗りました。でも、写真を撮ったら、途中下車しましたけど。

Aoyama: When I drew the story about the sleeping car train Hokutosei, I actually rode it. When I took pictures, I had to get off in the middle, though.

さとう：列車モノを描いたけど、いかなかった・・・・・・

Sato: I drew material about trains, but I never went . . .

青山：でも、編集さんと２人で旅行してもつまんないでしょ。

Aoyama: But traveling with the editor is dull, isn't it?

さとう：それはある！

Sato: That happens!

天樹：「金田一」の時は、どうしたんでしたっけ？

Amagi: What did we do at Kindaichi's time?

さとう：あれはスタッフが写真を撮ってきました。北海道も行ってないんだよ！高校生のクセに、ハジメは何回も行っているのに。

Sato: The staff went and took pictures. We never went to Hokkaido! Even Hajime went many times, though he's only a high school student.

青山：（笑）

Aoyama: (laughs)

「金田一」は雪国が多い。その理由は？

Snowy places appear often in Kindaichi. What is the reason?

さとう：冬は、人を孤立させやすいから。

Sato: Because it's easy to isolate people in winter.

青山：塩をまいて足跡を出現させるトリックがありましたよね。あれはいいなと思いました。

Aoyama: There was a trick that made footprints appear by sprinkling salt, wasn't there? I thought that it was good.

天樹：シンプルでわかりやすいし、きれいですよね。サクラ雪という言葉もいい。あの時は、すごく楽しく書いてました。

Amagi: It was simple and easy to understand, and it was beautiful, too, wasn't it? I like the phrase “sakura snow”, too. I had a lot of fun writing it at the time.

青山：あの時は？（笑）

Aoyama: At the time? (laughs)

さとう：少しテイストを変えてみようと話して描いたんですよ。なにしろ長くやってたから。

Sato: We tried to change the taste a little for that, since we'd done this for a long time back then.

その時のロケハンは？

Did you do location hunting at the time?

さとう：まったくないですよ！

Sato: No, not at all!

青山：（笑）

Aoyama: (laughs)

ミステリーまんがの魅力はなんだと思いますか？

What do you think is the appeal of mystery manga?

天樹：一番の魅力は、謎解き。そこは今のまんが的ですね。

Amagi: The number one appeal would be solving mysteries. That aspect is manga-esque now, isn't it?

さとう：謎があって解決するというセオリーに尽きる。

Sato: In the end, if there is a mystery, one must solve it.

青山：「金田一」と「コナン」で言えばラブコメ要素。

Aoyama: Love comedy is an element in Kindaichi and Conan.

女子高生のヒロインやセクシーな女性が出てきますね。

Characters like female high school student heroines and sexy women appear, don't they?

天樹：お約束ですよ。

Amagi: It's a promise.

青山：「コナン」は、あまりセクシーな女の子は出ないです。「金田一」は、お風呂場に全裸で美女が浮いたりしてますけど。

Aoyama: Not much sexy girls appear in Conan, though beautiful women might float naked in a bathtub in Kindaichi.

さとう：それは「少年マガジン」だから（笑）

Sato: That's because we're at Shonen Magazine (laughs).

天樹：シャワーシーンとかね。

Amagi: Shower scenes and such.

青山：「少年サンデー」だと編集部から止められます（笑）

Aoyama: The editorial department would stop it in Shonen Sunday (laughs).

さとう：「少年サンデー」は、むかしからあまりやりませんよね。

Sato: Shonen Sunday doesn't do it much from the old days, do they?

天樹：ミステリー漫画って、理屈っぽくて判りにくいじゃないですか。だから読者を限定したくないという意味でアイキャッチ的にパンチラを入れて、読んでみようと思わせてるんです。

Amagi: Mystery mangas are logical and hard to understand, aren't they? So you include eye-catching panty shots to make the readers want to try reading, because you don't want to limit the audience.

さとう：まんがって、本当にそういうところの引っ掛かりが、きっかけになることってあるんですよね。かわいい女の子が出てくるまんがというだけで、読み始める読者もいるし。

Sato: Those kind of pulls really does become the start sometimes in manga, doesn't it? Some readers start reading simply because cute girls appear in the manga.

青山：僕は、最初から「コナン」にはラブコメの要素を入れるつもりで描いてました。主人公がちっちゃくなるというのは、まさにラブコメですから。小さい少年と元の自分が好きな女の子が出てきたら面白いかなと。

Aoyama: For me, I drew with the intention to include elements of love comedy in Conan from the beginning. The protagonist becoming small is truly a love comedy, you see. I thought that having a small boy and a girl that the boy's real self loves would be interesting.

天樹：ミステリーまんがじゃなくても、面白くなりそう。

Amagi: That sounds interesting, even if it wasn't a mystery manga.

青山：そう、推理じゃなくて、そっちだけでもいいかなと。

Aoyama: Yes, that part by itself without deductions would be good, I think.

天樹：小さい男の子が、ちらっとスカートの中を見たりね。

Amagi: The small boy might look inside a skirt really quick.

さとう：それは「少年マガジン」だけでしょ！

Sato: That's only in Shonen Magazine!

天樹：そっか（笑）

Amagi: That's true (laughs).

では、ミステリーまんがをやる上で特に大変なのは？

Then, what is especially troublesome doing a mystery manga?

天樹：事件の動機がすごく大切なんだけと、実はバリエーションがそんなにないんですよね。

Amagi: Though the motive for the case is really important, in truth there aren't much variation, is there?

青山：やりつくして、面白い動機がネタ切れ寸前です（笑）

Aoyama: You use everything, and running out of ideas on interesting motives become imminent (laughs).

天樹：まんがは、読者層も広いので、ドラマチックに盛り上げないと読者から不満が出る。

Amagi: Since the readership is wide in manga, you have to hype up dramatically or else the readers may start feeling unsatisfied.

さとう：殺人の動機も変わってきてます。むかしは「恋人が殺されて・・・・・・」だけど、最近は「本当は恋人ですらなかった！」みたいに、ひねくれてる。

Sato: The motive for the murder starts changing, too. In the old days, you use “my lover was killed . . .”, but recently it became “in truth the person wasn't even my lover!” - it becomes distorted like this.

青山：確かにひねりは必要。

Aoyama: That's true, twists are essential.

天樹：シンプルな復讐モノとかにすると、「もう、やったじゃん」と言われてしまいます。

Amagi: If you make it a simple revenge and the like, you get told that you've already done it before.

青山：自分で描くときにも「やったよな」と思っちゃう。

Aoyama: I think “I did this, didn't I?”, even when I'm drawing myself.

天樹：そうそう。動機は最初の１，２年で尽きました。あとはずっと苦労してます。

Amagi: Yes, yes. I ran out of ideas for motives in the first 1~2 years. I've had difficulty ever since.

決めゼリフも特徴ですね。

Catch phrases are characteristic, too, aren't they?

天樹：話が引き締まるし、ここから逆転していくという期待感が出せるのがいい。「ジッチャンの名にかけて」があるおかげで１話分は得する感じです。

Amagi: They tighten the story, and I like how it gives the expectation that the tables will be turned from that point on. Thanks to “In the name of grandpa”, I feel that I've gained one chapter's worth.

青山：「コナン」の場合は「江戸川コナン、探偵さ」というのを時々言うぐらい。１回ぐらい言わせてやろうかな。「●●の名にかけて」って。

Aoyama: In Conan's case, he says “Edogawa Conan – a detective” from time to time, and that's it. Maybe I should make him say “In the name of ___”, at least once.

全員：（笑）

Everyone: (laughs)

天樹：ぜひ交換しましょう！

Amagi: Yes, let us exchange!

青山：「金田一ハジメ、探偵さ」って言うの？

Aoyama: You'll make him say “Kindaichi Hajime – a detective”?

天樹：いいなあ、それ。

Amagi: I like it!

さとう：でも高校生だよ。

Sato: But he's a high school student.

天樹：「探偵じゃないだろ」ってツッコミが入るとか。

Amagi: Someone might joke, “He's not [officially] a detective, is he?”

２作品の影響で、テキストの多い漫画も増えましたね。

As a result of the two works' influence, manga with a lot of text increased, didn't it?

青山：確かにそれはあるかも。

Aoyama: Maybe, perhaps.

天樹：ヒットしたことで、ＯＫになったんですよね。

Amagi: It became acceptable due to the hits, didn't it?

さとう：今の読者は読んで「判った」とスカッとするみたい。

Sato: The readers nowadays can apparently understand better.

天樹：例えば映画化もされた某漫画のテキスト量は、昔だとありえない。新人賞に応募してきたら、「テキストを３分の１にしろ」と言われるレベル。

Amagi: For example, in the old days, the amount of text in this manga, which was also made into a film, was impossible. It's at the level that if you applied for the New Talent Award, you'll be told to cut down the text to a third.

青山：でも、それが読者が「アリ」だと思えるようになった。

Aoyama: But readers came to accept this.

さとう：ゲームもあるし、テキストを多く読む事に読者がなれたんですよね。

Sato: Games exist, too – readers got accustomed to reading more text, didn't they?

青山：でも、その大元を作ったのが「金田一」ですからね。

Aoyama: But the one that created most of this is Kindaichi, isn't it?

では、まんがで禁じ手にしてるものはありますか？

Then, do you prohibit yourselves from doing anything in the manga?

青山：無差別殺人ですね。無差別に見えても、なんか動機があるように描いています。

Aoyama: That would be indiscriminate killings. I take care to include a motive, even if it looks indiscriminate.

さとう：サイコキラーをやると、違うまんがになってしまう。

Sato: It'll be a different manga if we do a psycho killer.

天樹：無差別殺人の類は、ネタ切れ感もあるし、残虐性に面白さが向かう怖さもありますね。

Amagi: Indiscriminate killings and the like feel like you've run out of ideas, and there's the fear that they might interest those with cruel tendencies.

青山：そうですね。犯人に共感を持たれて、殺人をマネされても困りますからね。

Aoyama: That's true. It would be problematic if people sympathized with the culprit and attempted murder.

「金田一」は長編中心で、「コナン」は短編中心ですよね。

Kindaichi focus on longer cases, and Conan focus on shorter cases, don't they?

天樹：だいたい１４，１５話ぐらい。

Amagi: About 14, 15 chapters.

青山：すごいですね。「コナン」は、３話で１篇、最長で６話ぐらい。最初に事件で人が死んで、その謎が提示されて、最後に解決する。これが黄金パターンです。今、これ以上は描けない。お二方は、よくできますね。

Aoyama: That's amazing. In Conan, one case is three chapters, six chapters at the longest. First, a person dies, then the mystery is presented, and finally the case gets solved. This is the golden pattern. Right now, I can't draw more than that. You two are doing well.

さとう：それはプロットを天樹先生と分けているから。

Sato: That's because the plot is divided with Amagi-sensei.

天樹：でもプロットの完成前に始めたりしますから。

Amagi: But sometimes you begin before you complete the plot.

青山：つじつまが合わなくなっちゃうとかないんですか？

Aoyama: Do you never contradict each other?

さとう：ありますね。

Sato: It does happen.

天樹：結婚式なのに、花婿がいないみたいな。後からネームで出すから、袋でもかぶせてっていったら、本当にかぶってた。

Amagi: For example, even though it's a wedding, the bridegroom is missing. [in another example,] I said that, since I'll put it in the pre-manuscript later, why don't you put a bag or something over the head, and there really was a bag over the head.

青山：さとう先生は、原作を変えたくならないですか？

Aoyama: Does Sato-sensei never want to change the original work?

さとう：さすがにトリックは変えられないですけど、泣かせの部分を変えたりはしてます。

Sato: As you'd expect, I can't change the trick, but sometimes I change the emotional parts.

天樹：キャラクターの描き方は、おまかせの部分もあるので、そこはある程度は自由ですよね。

Amagi: On how to draw the characters, there are parts that I leave completely to you – with those parts, you have some degree of freedom, yes?

青山：僕は自分で考えて自分で描いているから、編集さんとの打ち合わせを勝手に変える事もあるんです。一緒にやっていると、そこが大変そうかなと。

Aoyama: Since I think [of ideas] on my own and draw on my own, sometimes I arbitrarily change arrangements with the editor. If you work with someone, I thought that that aspect seems troublesome.

天樹：意外と大丈夫です。

Amagi: It's actually all right.

さとう：時々、アドリブでギャグを入れたりしてますし。最後の流れも変えたこともあります。

Sato: Sometimes I add a gag ad lib. I've changed the flow in the end at times.

では最後に何かあれば。

Finally, do you have anything you want to say?

天樹：僕から行っていいですか？青山先生、死ぬまで「コナン」を続けてください！

Amagi: Can I start? Aoyama-sensei, please continue Conan until your death!

青山：過労死しそうですよ（笑）

Aoyama: I do feel like dying from exhaustion (laughs).

天樹：青山先生がやっていると思えば、僕らもがんばれます。

Amagi: If Aoyama-sensei does it, we can work hard, too.

さとう：そうそう。まんがって、同じジャンルのライバルがないと廃れやすくなるし。

Sato: Yes, yes. In manga, if you don't have a rival in your genre, it's easier for your work to go to waste.

青山：僕も励みにしてますよ。

Aoyama: It's an incentive for me, too.

天樹：実はファン層が微妙にずれていて、いい感じに棲み分けもできていますよね。

Amagi: In truth, our fan bases are slightly different, so we can divide our habitats well.

青山：巨人と阪神じゃないけど、ライバル同士で頑張りましょう。

Aoyama: We're no [Yomiuri] Giants and Hanshin [Tigers]*, but let us work hard as rivals.

* Famous Japanese baseball teams

CarpetCrawler · June 15, 2011

Thank you for translating these interviews. Excellent work. I've also plugged them on DCW's Facebook page.

June 15, 2011

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red.orchid · June 15, 2011

Thank you very much for translating this for us. I realized I have missed a lot of interviews! And thanks for the Interviews list at Wiki page as well.

Again, thanks! I honestly appreciate your endeavour.

justwantanaccount · June 15, 2011

You're welcome, everyone! I'm glad you guys enjoyed them, I was starting to think that I was wasting my time, ha ha.

Wakarimashita · June 15, 2011

I didn't know that mangas such as Kindaichi or DC were influent to the point where they made people accept mangas with more text. It's true that when you read most of the big hits from the past, theere's very little text compared to mystery mangas.

justwantanaccount · June 24, 2011

Interview in Conan Drill from 2003 translated! No spoiler on the plot here, though there are a lot of interesting tidbits.

Note: I took a lot of liberty with the English this time, since I wanted to focus more on making the English sound natural and readable. I usually try to translate as directly as possible, but I realize that the weird English probably turns off a lot of people – let me know if I've taken too much liberty, though.

Also, Gosho says a lot of things here that he mentions in future interviews, like how he was told to change Conan's name to Doyle since there was a work called Future Boy Conan, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. You kinda realize that interviewers keep asking the same questions, maybe because they don't bother looking over past interviews, ha ha.

Highlights:

The plot for conan was planned in two weeks
Gosho is not "high-strung / neurotic" - he seems pretty laid back
Apparently, in File 125~, the dude pays the gal to be his lover
Gosho has an editor who is from Kansai, and looks at DC's Kansai-ben – this makes sense, I've read people on 2chan talk about how young Kansai people these days don't say "ame-chan" (Files 778-780), but since Gosho gets coached on Kansai-ben by an older guy, the Kansai-ben in DC is rather dated.
Gosho has two younger brothers, one who's an engineer and another who's a doctor. The engineer helps Gosho with tricks related to cars, and the doctor helps Gosho with medicine-related topics, like APTX. The doctor is also an anime otaku who advices Gosho about which voice actor should voice whom.
Gosho also seems to have connections who are former police detectives, people working at banks, CSIs, etc.
Gosho decided when he started that Conan won't cry
Gosho only draws characters with names, leave backgrounds and characters without names to assistants - does that mean that the forensics dude who wasn't Tomo-san in File 756-758 will become important someday?! Lol I dunno.
Maybe you guys knew this already, but apparently Paikaru/Baiganer isn't a real brand of alcohol – the name comes from a character in Lupin III.

青山先生は大学を卒業してから漫画家になられたんですよね。学生時代から将来は漫画家に、と決めていたんですか？

Q: Aoyama-sensei became a manga artist after graduating from college, right? Have you decided to be a manga artist from your student days?

青山　大学時代から漫研には入っていましたけど、大学へは美術の先生になろうかなと漠然と考えて進学しました。小学生の頃、卒業文集に「将来は漫画家になる」と書いたらしいんですが、それも自分では覚えていないんです。でもまあ、子供の頃から絵や漫画を書くのは好きだったので、教科書にパラパラ漫画なんかを描いて遊んでいましたね。ただ、漫画を描いていると親には叱られましたから、コソコソではあったけど。漫画を始めて投稿したのは大学４年のときでしたが、卒業して漫画家になるといったら親には反対されました。学校の先生ならいいけど、漫画家なんてやっぱりどう転ぶかわからないやくざな商売でしょう。親としては、そりゃ心配しますよね。

漫画家になる直接のきっかけは、先輩ですでに漫画家の人がいて、「青山、おまえちょっと出してみないか？」と声をかけてくれたことです。それで、ある少年誌に送ったら佳作になったんですよ。これはサンデーじゃないんですけど。で、ひょっとしたら俺ってうまいのかなと思って。それが大学４年のときでしたね。

A: I was studying manga since my college days, but I entered the university while vaguely thinking that I will become an art teacher someday. Apparently I wrote "I will become a manga artist in the future" in my elementary school's graduation anthology, but I don't remember it. Although, I did like drawing pictures and manga and such from childhood, and I drew flip books and such into my textbook. My parents scolded me when I drew manga, though, so there was a sneaky quality to it. I submitted manga for the first time when I was a fourth year university student, but when I told my parents that I will become a manga artist after graduation, my parents opposed me. Being a school teachers is fine, but being a manga artist is, after all, an unpredictable, yakuza-like business. Of course you would worry if you were a parent.

The direct cause behind becoming a manga artist for me was when a senpai, who was already a manga artist, asked me, "Hey, Aoyama, do you want to try submitting?" Then, I sent one to a certain shonen magazine, and the work received a kasaku*. This wasn't at Sunday, though. After this, I thought that maybe I could possibly be good. This was when I was a fourth year university student.

*佳作 (kasaku) directly translates to 1. well executed work or 2. second best work at something like an art/literature contest (source); however, given the context, it seems that if you receive this then you debut as a manga artist, so I left the original Japanese term since I'm not sure how to translate it. Some people translate it as an "honorable mention", but I don't know how accurate that is.

周りはもう就職活動していた時期ですか？

Q: Back then, were the people around you already searching for permanent jobs?

青山　そうです。僕も一応、教育実習へ行ったんですよ。まだ地元の高校の美術教師になる選択肢もありましたから。

でも自分なかでは、佳作に入った時点で、もうそういう気はなくなっていたのかな。アルバイトでフジテレビの「ポンキッキ」の背景書いたりして、就職活動はまったくしていなかったら。

A: Yes. For me, I trained to be a teacher, just in case, since I still had the option to become an art teacher at my hometown's high school.

Although, when I received the kasaku, I think I lost the urge to continue down that path. I drew the background for Ponkikki and such for part time jobs, so I wasn't searching for a permanent job at all.

学生時代はどんな生活でした？先生が描かれる漫画はみんな登場人物が個性的でしょう。ああいうの、学生時代の人間関係の影響もあるのかなと思いますが。

Q: How did you live as a university student? The characters in the manga that sensei draws are all unique - I suspect this might be due to influence from human relationships during student days.

青山　うん、影響は学生時代に限らず、子供の頃からの蓄積でいろいろあるでしょうね。大学時代は、麻雀ですね、麻雀をよくやっていましたよ（笑）。住んでいたのは最初、西武池袋線沿いの江古田で、そのあと千川。ここがいちばん長かったんですが、大学に近いのですぐ麻雀のメンツなんかは集まるわけです。誰かの家に集まってやる事が多かったですね、お金もなかったですし。けっこう僕は強かったんですよ、当時。でも今はだめですね、やる時間がそもそもないですし、やってもみんなが楽しければいいやと思って、高い手を狙って打っちゃう。そうすると負けます。負けるだろうなと思って打って、やっぱり負ける（笑）。

A: Yes, though I think I was influenced not only during my university years but throughout my life, accumulating from my childhood. As for my university years, I did mahjong - a lot of mahjong (laughs). I used to live first in Egoda, which is along the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, then in Senkawa. The distance was the longest here, but it was close to the university so we met up for mahjong and such. We met up at someone's house many times, since we didn't have money. I was pretty strong back then. Right now, not so much - I don't have time to play, and even when I do play I think that we should just have fun, so I aim for a high hand. If you do that, you lose. If you play thinking that you'll lose, then you really will, as you'd expect (laughs).

お金がなかったといっても、先生の学生の頃はもうそんな時代でもないでしょう？

Q: Even if you say you didn't have money, it wasn't such a period back when sensei was a student, right?

青山　いや、けっこう貧乏だったなあ。カレーには肉を入れられなかったし。５日ぐらいそんな貧しいカレーで食いつなぐんですよ。毎日毎日カレー。でも米は田舎から送ってもらったので、食う物が何もないってことはなかったけど。

米さえあれば何とかなるんですよね。毎日カレーばっかり食べて誰かの家で麻雀やってって、絵に描いたような貧乏大学生の姿だと思いますよ。

A: Nah, I was pretty poor. I couldn't put in meat into curry. I would eat such an indigent curry for five days straight. Curry day after day. But I was sent rice from my hometown, so I did always have something to eat.

If you have rice, you manage, don't you? I ate nothing but curry everyday and I played mahjong at someone's house - I think I was the very picture of a poor college student.

２００２年の１２月３１日の夜。先生のスケジュールがこの日しか開かないという中で、インタビューは行われた。かなり疲れていることは想像が付いたし、少々先生が不機嫌でも仕方がないと思っていた。しかし疲れているのは当然なのに、こちらにそれを感じさせる場合はほとんどなかったといっていい。作家として一流なのはご存知の通りだが、人間としても大人のキチンとした人、という印象なのだ。

December 31, 2002, nighttime. The interview took place, since sensei's schedule was apparently only open on this day. I could imagine that sensei was considerably tired; I thought that it couldn't be helped that sensei might be ill-humored. However, you couldn't tell that he was tired, even though he must have been. My impression was that he was upright as a human being and as an adult, though he was of course aware that he was first-class as an artist.

実はこうしてお会いするまでは、青山先生が気むずかしい方でも仕方がないなと思っていました。ミステリー作家は複雑な性格の方が多いというのは事実だし、ましてやハードなスケジュールですから。でも想像していたよりずっとほがらかで、ちょっと驚いています。

Q: In truth, I thought that it couldn't be helped if Aoyama-sensei had a difficult temper, until I met you like this. It is the truth that mystery writers often have complicated personalities, to say nothing of their difficult schedules. I'm surprised that you are far more cheerful than I've imagined you to be.

青山　もっとストレスの固まりみたいな人間を想像していました？もちろんストレスはあるけど、もともと神経質な方ではないんですよ。だからハードスケジュールでも耐えられるというところもあるかな。

僕も推理小説とか読んでて、この作者は神経質だなあと思う事がありますね。人のアラ捜すのがうまいやつだなとか。僕の場合はまったくそういうタイプではないです。編集者を困らせた事もあまりない・・・・・・と自分では思うんですけど（笑）。

編集者とケンカすることもないですね。ケンカするとしても漫画とは関係ないところで、すごいくだらないこと。編集者が阪神ファンで、僕は巨人ファンなんですが、巨人の優勝がかかっている試合で阪神が巨人に連勝したとき、たまたま映画のポスターのイラストを描く約束をしていたんですよ。でも気分悪いから「俺、描かねえぞ！」って（笑）。編集者も心得たもので、その日はもう連絡してきませんでした（笑）。これ、ケンカっていうのかなあ。

A: Did you imagine someone who was stress personified? I have stress, of course, but I've never been the type to be highly strung. I think that that's why I can endure difficult schedules.

I, too, think sometimes that some writers are highly strung when I read their work – the type who are good at searching people from scratch, and such. For me, I'm not that type of person at all. I haven't inconvenienced the editor* much, either . . . or at least, I'd like to think so (laughs).

I haven't quarreled with the editor, either. Even if there's a quarrel, it's not about manga, it's about something really trivial. The editor is a Hanshin fan, and I'm a Giants fan; when Hanshin won consecutively against the Giants in the match where the Giants' championship was at stake, I happened to have promised to draw the illustration for the movie poster. But I was in a bad mood, so I said, "I'm not drawing!" (laughs) Since the editor was understanding, he didn't contact me anymore that day (laughs). This isn't really a quarrel, is it?

*Strictly speaking, the term could be plural, but I've left it as singular here since Aoyama seems to be talking about his editor.

少年サンデーではない雑誌に始めて投稿なさって佳作になったんですよね。そのままそちらでやるという気持ちはなかったんですか？なぜ少年サンデーへ？

Q: You got an kasaku with a submission to a magazine other than Shonen Sunday, right? Did you not want to continue at that magazine? Why the move to Shonen Sunday?

青山　佳作に選んでくれた漫画雑誌の、編集者が「僕は君の絵は好きなんだけど、今のうち雑誌では絵柄を変えろといわれるだろうから、よそへ行ったほうがいいよ」とアドバイスしてくれて。だったらあだち充さんが好きだし、全体的に絵がかわいいし、サンデーに持っていこうかなと思ったんです。そうしたら、わりとすぐにいけると言われて、その後はけっこうスムーズに。

ただ、先輩の漫画家から「編集部に何度も足を運んで編集者に名前を覚えてもらわなきゃいけないよ」といわれたので、できるだけ編集部に通いました。「ちょっとまってて」で新人賞をいただいたんですが、その時点で僕の場合は編集者が付いていたんです。でも自分と同じような新人は何人もいる、その中で顔を覚えてもらうためには頻繁にネーム（下絵原稿）を持って行こうと。そこは意図的に考えてやっていました。半年ぐらいは、かなりしつこく「ネームを直してきました」と通いましたね。ほとんど毎日のように。ほかにやることもなかったし、早く連載待ちたいなと思っていましたね。

A: At the manga magazine where I was kindly given the kasaku, the editor kindly advised me, "I personally like your art, but you'll probably be told to change your style sometime soon, so it'll be better for you if you went elsewhere." If so, I like Mitsuru Adachi, and the picture is cute overall, so I thought about moving to Sunday. Then, I was told that I could go sooner than I'd thought, and things went smoothly after that.

But then, a senior manga artist told me, "You should visit the editorial department many times until they memorize your name," so I visited the editorial department whenever I could. When I received the Newcomer Award with Wait a Minute, I already had an editor, in my case. There are many newcomers just like you, so to stand out you must bring in the name (roughly sketched manuscript) often. I did that intentionally. For about half a year, I visited quite insistently, saying "I fixed the name again!" Almost everyday. It's not like I had anything else to do, and I wanted to serialize as soon as possible.

「マジック快斗」の連載はそんな中で決まったんですね。サンデーの増刊で。

Q: Magic Kaito's serialization started in that evironment, didn't it? In Sunday's Special Edition?

青山　そうです。単発で少しずつ描かせてもらったりしていましたけど、基本的にはその間、無職ですよね。漫画家として食べていけるようになったわけじゃないですから。学生時代にバイトで貯めたお金と、新人賞の賞金を食いつぶしていました。

でも、こうして話すと苦労の時代と思われるかもしれませんが、実はえらい楽しい日々だったんですよ（笑）。漫画は好きな事だから、結局、自分の好きなことやってるだけなんですね。

新人の頃は時間もたくさんあったから、好きなゲームもできましたし。ドラクエをやりながら漫画を描いていた頃の話で、編集者と待ち合わせの約束があったんです。で、江古田の駅前の喫茶店にいるからって電話かかってきたときに、僕は寝ぼけて「あ、あのー、ゴールドがないからいけないよー」って（笑）。そのままガシャンって切って、その３０分後にまたかかってきたときに、そういえばさっき俺、なんかへんなこと言ってたなーとぼんやり（笑）。

そのときの編集者もいい人だったんです。だからいろんな面で楽しかった。今はもうゲームをやる時間もありませんしね。

A: Yes. I was allowed to draw from time to time, but you're basically jobless during that time, aren't you? You can't eat as a manga artist, yet. I was eating with the money I saved through part-time jobs as a student, and with the prize money from the Newcomer Award.

Although, you might think that this was a difficult time period the way I talk, but those days were actually really fun for me (laughs). In the end, I was doing what I liked, since I like manga.

I also had a lot of time when I was a newcomer, so I could play my favorite games. Back when I used to draw manga while playing Dragon Quest, I had a promise to meet with the editor. Then, when the editor called since he was at a cafe near Egoda's train station, I replied, half asleep, "Uuuum, I can't gooo, since I don't have the gold yeeet" (laughs). Then I hanged up, and when I got a call again after thirty minutes, I vaguely thought, "I said something weird, didn't I?" (laughs).

The editor back then was a good person, too. Things were fun back then, in many aspects. Now, I don't quite have the time to play games as I used to.

漫画家としてやっていける、食べていく事ができると実感したのは「マジック快斗」でですか？

Q: Did you realize that you could continue as a manga artist, that you could eat as one with Magic Kaito?

青山　そうですね。当時の編集長が「マジック快斗」をあまり評価してくれなくて、「これが単行本になって１０万部売れたらおごってやる」って言われていたんです。だけどあっという間に越えちゃって、その時単行本が売れるって儲かるんだなと思いました。そのあと「YAIBA」の連載が本誌で始まったんですが、週間だから単行本が出るのも速いでしょう。それでずいぶん楽になりました。生活もですが、精神的にもですね。忙しくなって遊ぶ時間はなくなっちゃいましたけど。

コナンは「YAIBA」が終わってから、編集者と次はどうしようという打ち合わせの中で決まりました。当時、「少年マガジン」で金田一君（「金田一少年の事件簿」）が始まっていたんですが、探偵モノは好きだし、面白そうだから自分もやってみたいなと思いました。最初は「探偵物語」みたいな、ちょっとハードボイルドっぽいコメディというのを考えていたんですよ。でもコナンはわりと少年漫画の王道なんですよね。小さくなって、悪い奴らに脅かされてという。

プロットは２週間ぐらいでできあがったんだけど、そんなに神経質に考えたわけでもないんです。コナンが小１に戻っちゃうというのも、新一は１７才だから、ちょうど１０才戻ればわかりやすいだろうと思ったんです。小１にしたことにどんな意味があるんですか、と聞かれる事があるけど、意味はただそれだけ（笑）。あと、小１だと完全に子供だから、その年齢の子が何をやっても笑って許してもらえるだろう、みたいなことはちょっとありましたけど。

A: Yes, I think so. The editor-in-chief back then didn't like Magic Kaito very much, and he said, "I'll treat you something if this gets sold as volumes and sells 100,000 copies." Then the number was passed in the blink of time - I thought, it's profitable to sell volumes, isn't it? After that, YAIBA started at the magazine, and since the magazine is weekly, volumes came out quickly, too. Things became much easier after that, not only in terms of livelihood but psychologically, too. I did become busy and lost time to have some fun, though.

Conan was decided when I met up with the editor to discuss what to do next after YAIBA ended. At the time, Kindaichi (from Kindaichi Case Files) started at Shonen Magazine, and since I like mysteries and it seemed interesting, I wanted to have a go at it. At first, I/we thought about a hardboiled-esque comedy with a title like "Tale of a Detective" or something similar. But Conan is the royal road to shonen manga, isn't it? Becoming small, and then getting threatened by bad guys.

The plot was finished in about two weeks, but it's not something I/we thought neurotically about. Conan turned back to a first grader, since Shinichi is 17, so I thought that turning back exactly ten years would be easy to understand. I get asked if why I chose first grade, but that's pretty much all the reason (laughs). Although, there also was a bit of an aspect that, since first graders are completely children, someone that age will be laughed at and then forgiven for doing anything.

プロットと一緒に、キャラクターの絵も決めていくのですか？

Q: Did you decide the characters' appearances along with the plot?

青山　ほとんど同時に。絵については１分もかかってないかな。

A: Almost at the same time. I don't think that the pictures took more than a minute.

コナンのめがねというアイデアもそのときに？

Q: The idea for Conan's glasses was decided at the time, too?

青山　スーパーマンが好きなので。彼はクラーク・ケントのときにはメガネをかけていたでしょう。それが頭にありました。新一のときはメガネしていないけど、コナンになるとメガネ。

メガネで思い出しましたけど、掟破りの漫画を作りたいなと考えていたんですよね。少年誌の主人公でメガネって、アラレちゃんぐらいでしょう。のび太は厳密にいえば主人公じゃないし。

あとはネーム（文字）の多さですね。ネームの多い漫画は少年誌ではウケない、というのが定説だったんです。それからもう一個何かあったんだけど、何だっけな。コナンっていう名前についてだったかな。「未来少年コナン」と同じだからということで、編集長はいい顔をしませんでした。ドイル君にしろと言われたような（笑）。

でも担当編集者とは掟破りをやろうと盛り上がっていましたよ。

A: I like Superman, you see. Superman wore glasses as Clark Kent, right? That was what was in my head at the time. No glasses when he's Shinichi, but glasses once he turns into Conan.

I just remembered, I wanted to make a rule-breaking manga. In shonen, Arare-chan is about the only one who is a protagonist and who also has glasses. Strictly speaking, Nobita-kun isn't a protagonist.

Also, names (characters/letters). In shonen, there was a rule that manga with a lot of names in it don't become popular. There was another rule I tried to break – hmm, what was it? Was it about the name, Conan? Since it was the same as Future Boy Conan, the editor-in-chief didn't make a very good face. I think I was told to change the name to Doyle-kun (laughs).

My editor was excited about breaking the rules, though.

それと、さっきおっしゃった少年漫画の王道の部分と。ラブコメの要素もあるけど、幼なじみでっていうのはわりと王道ですよね。

Q: Going back to what you have just said about shonen manga's royal path – your work also has an element of love comedy; childhood friends are also royal-path material, aren't they?

青山　そうですね。幼なじみはまあ、僕の趣味といわれればそうだけど（笑）、ラクなんですよ設定が。幼なじみで昔から知っているというのはストーリーが展開しやすいんです。ラブコメではやっぱりあだち充さんの「タッチ」とか好きでしたから。テレビドラマだと「男女七人夏物語」。今の若い読者の子はこのドラマを知らない人も多いでしょうけど、ラブコメの最高傑作だと僕は思っているんですよ。ああいう雰囲気を出したかった。

ただ、ラブはあるんだけれども、新一と服部に関していうと女好きではないんですね、どっちも。普通の高校生の男の子とはちょっと違う。探偵ってやっぱりホームズにしても横溝正史の金田一にしても、かなり変わったところがあるんですよ。そこが探偵という人種の魅力でもあるんです。

A: That's true. You could say that it's my preference to use childhood friends, though (laughs). The setup becomes really easy. It's easy to develop the story when the characters are childhood friends who have known each other for a long time. I liked Mitsuru Adachi-san's Touch, after all. As for dramas, I like The Tale of Seven Men and Women*. Though most young readers now probably don't know about this drama, I think that this is the masterpiece of love comedy. I wanted to bring out such an atmosphere in my work.

Although, despite the presence of love, neither Shinichi nor Hattori chases after women, do they? They're a little different from a normal high school boy. In the end, detectives are fairly different, whether you're talking about Holmes or Seishi Yokomizo's Kindaichi. That's the appeal of detective-type people, though.

*There's a Japanese Wikipedia page for it, but that's about it. Apparently it ran from July 25 to September 26, 1986 on TBS, and was so popular that its ratings exceeded 31% at one time.

ネームがボツになった、というようなことはありますか？

Q: Have your names ever been disgarded before?

青山　イラストレーターの女の人が愛人の画家に殺される回（FILE. 125「落ちる死体」～）で、「俺はおまえにお金をやる。だからおまえはオレを満足させる。それで５０・５０でいいじゃないか」と書いたら、これはちょっとまずいですって。サンデーでは確かに生々しいかなと思いました（笑）。結局、「仕事をやるから家庭に口出しするな」というような、あっさりしたものにしたんです。そのぐらいですね。

A: In the case where the female illustrator gets killed by her lover, who is an artist (File 125~ "Falling Corpse"), I wrote, "I give you money. You give me satisfaction. That sounds like a fair deal to me," and they told me that this was not good. I do agree that it was too raw for Sunday (laughs). In the end, I changed it to something light like "I'll do my job so don't meddle with the family." That's about it.

取材はどうしているんですか？警察関係とか、犯罪の知識とか、すごくデータ部分がしっかりしていて、驚くことも多いんですが。

Q: What about collecting data? I'm often surprised about how firm the factual areas on police relations, crime knowledge, and such are.

青山　編集者の友達に鑑識や銀行の人がいたり、アシスタントの親せきが元刑事だったりするので、聞いてもらって。たとえば貸し金庫を夜中にあけるとしたら何が必要か？とか。警察用語でも出していいものは作品で使わせてもらうし、「これはちょっと秘密だから出さないで」というものも当然ありますし。

クルマ関係は一つ年下の弟に聞いています。エンジニアなんです。トリックで、氷を前輪に挟んで動かないようにして、とけたらどうなるのか、多分水はクーラーかけっぱなしだったらラジエーターの水が落ちる、で、どっからどう落ちるの？と聞いたり（巻末最新４１６話リスト、３０２頁を参照）。

薬者関係はもう一人の弟が医者だから・・・・・・。アポトキシンの設定などは二人で考えました。若返る・・・・・・骨が元に戻るっていうのはあり得ないんで、それはフィクションだとしても、細胞が若返るというのはありうるな、とか。この弟はアニメについても詳しいので、声優さんを決めるときにアドバイスもくれました。あと、服部と和葉の大阪弁は、関西出身の編集者が細かく見てくれます。

取材といえば、寝台特急「北斗星」を編集者と二人で取材に行ったことがあります。夕方近くに待ち合わせしていて、今回の事件の舞台は「北斗星」で行こうと突然決まって。その時偶然、翌朝のチケットが取れたんですよ。でも北海道までは行かず、宇都宮で降りてきちゃったんで、ちょっともったいなかったですけどね。車掌さんに驚かれましたよ。「途中で降りちゃうんですか」って。

A: The editor has friends who does CSI or are working at a bank, and the assistants' relatives turn out to be former police detectives, so I ask them. For example, what do you need if you want to open a safe at night? I get to use some police terminology, too, though of course there are secret ones that I can't use.

On car-related subjects, I ask my brother, who is one year younger than me. He's an engineer. I ask him things like, if you insert ice between the front wheels and the ice melts, what will happen? The radiator's water will probably drip if the cooler was kept open – then, where would the water drip from? Things like that. (File 221)

On medicine-related subjects, I have another younger brother, who is a doctor. He and I came up with the APTX. To be rejuvenated . . . you can't get your bones back to the way it was, so that aspect is fictional, but maybe it's possible to rejuvenate cells, and such. This younger brother is also knowlegeable about anime, so he advised me on who to pick for voice actors. Also, on Hattori and Kazuha's Kansai dialect, the editor, who is from Kansai, looks over them carefully for me.

On site research, I've rode the sleeping car train Hokutosei with the editor before. We had a meeting around dusk once, and suddenly decided to make this case center on Hokutosei. By chance, I/we managed to obtain the ticket(s) for next morning. Unfortunately, we didn't go up to Hokkaido and got off at Utsunomiya, so it was a bit of a waste. The train conductor surprised me. I said, "I have to get off in the middle?"

コナンでストーリー上、いちばん苦労する事は何ですか？

Q: What do you struggle with the most in Conan's story?

青山　動機ですね、犯人の。トリックを考えるのが大変だと思われますけど、僕としては動機の方にいつも苦労しています。

怨恨が多いんだけど、いつもじゃ面白くないし。かといって無差別殺人みたいなのはイヤですし。たとえば暑かったから、ムシャクシャしたから人を殺したとか、そういうのは後味が悪いでしょ。それはやりたくないんです。犯人も死なせません。月影島の話だけですね、最後に犯人が自殺して終わるのは。

A: The culprit's motives. People often think that coming up with tricks is troublesome, but for me, I always struggle with the motives.

Grudges pop up a lot, but if it happens too often, then it's not interesting anymore. But then, I don't like indiscriminate murder, either. For example, someone kills people because it was hot outside – that leaves a bad taste, doesn't it? I don't want to do things like that. I also don't let the culprit die. The culprit commits suicide in the end only in the Tsukikage (Moon Shadow) Island story, right?

キャラクターについても「これだけはやらない」と決めていることはありますか？

Q: On the characters, is there something you decided the characters won't do?

青山　コナンは泣かない、ということぐらいですね。あくびして目に涙がたまるのはいいけど、号泣しない、感情移入して泣いたりしない。これは最初に決めたことです。ほかにもいろいろあるけどあんまり言わない方がいいですよね。読者のみんなに捜してもらうほうが楽しいでしょう。

A: Conan doesn't cry, but that's about it. He might have tears in his eyes from yawning, but he won't wail, he won't cry from empathy. I decided this at the beginning. There are other things I decided, but it's better not to say them, isn't it? It'll be more fun for the readers to search for themselves.

ストーリーは、編集者との話し合いで決まるんですか？

Q: Do you decide the story with the editor?

青山　はい、編集者と最初に話しながら決めていきます。これは前の話が終わったら仮眠をとって、すぐその日のうちにやります。フリートークのような感じで、トリックから話の流れから結末まで、一気に編集と一話分、つまりおよそ３～４週分を決めてしまうんです。

だから大まかなスケジュールは、一つの話が終わって仮眠、その日のうちに立ち合わせ、そこから３日間でネームを上げて、またそこで打ち合わせ、それから４日間でペン入れ、仕上げという感じです。これで一週間。

A: Yes, I first discuss with the editor and decide. When the previous case ends, I take a nap, then I discuss within that day. With a free-talk-like style, we discuss from the trick, the flow of the story, to the conclusion, and we decide one case at once – in another words, we decide what will happen for the next 3~4 weeks.

So the overall schedule goes like this: one case ends, I take a nap, I meet with the editor within that day, then I finish the name (pre-manuscript) in three days, then I meet up with the editor again, and then I ink it, then I add the finishing touches in the next four days. This is my week.

休めないですね、全然。その間にもいろいろあるでしょうし。

Q: You can't rest at all, can you? You must have other things to do within that period, too.

青山　ええ、休めないです。原稿を完成して寝てるときぐらいしか休みはないですね。休載のときは旅行なんかもしますが、それでもコナンのことを考えていて完全に休みにはならない。息抜きは野球を見てるときぐらいですね。

A: No, I can't rest. I rest only about the time when I sleep after finishing the manuscript. I might travel when Conan doesn't print, but even then I think about Conan so it's not truly a rest at all. I relax only about when I watch baseball.

コナンはこの先、どう展開していくのか誰もが興味のあるところですが。

Q: Everyone is curious about how Conan will develop in the future.

青山　いや、それもいっぱい言わないのが楽しいでしょう（笑）。読者があっと驚くような展開を考えていますけど、今はまだ言えないことのほうが多いですね。

A: It's probably more fun to not say much about that (laughs). I am thinking about a development that will surprise the readers, but for now there are more things that I can't say.

仮に先生が数週間の休みを取ったとしても、誰もコナンを忘れる事はないし、人気が下がる事もない（編集部は困るが）。そういうところまで上がりつめたのに、先生はなおハードなスケジュールの中でコナンを書き続ける。そのエネルギーはどこから湧いてくるのか、不思議な気分になった。

もう一つ、先生からは「仕事」という言葉が出てこないのだ。漫画を書くことはまぎれもなく先生にとって仕事なのだが、いわゆる「労働」というという意識とはまったく違うものだろうと思う。

Even if sensei does take a few weeks of vacation, no one forgets about Conan, and the popularity doesn't go down, either (though this will trouble the editorial department). Even though sensei climbed up to that point, he continues writing Conan amid an even more difficult schedule. I wonder about where such an energy come from.

One more thing, sensei never said the word "job". Though writing manga is undoubedly a job for sensei, it seems to be completely different from the what is called "labor".

漫画家にとって大事なことって何なんでしょう？たとえば漫画家を目指す人たちにアドバイスするとしたら。

Q: What is important for a manga artist? What would you advise people who want to become manga artists, for example?

青山　なんだろう・・・・・・。僕はあんまり自分で「ああ、俺は漫画家なんだな」と強く意識するような瞬間ってないんだけども。

まあ基本的には好きっていうのがありますよね。好きじゃなきゃやっていけない。あとは、好奇心を持つこと。ありきたりですけど、これぐらいしか思いつかないですよね。

好奇心っていうのは、たとえばすっごくつまらない映画を見て「つまんねー！」って終わるんじゃなくて、俺ならここはこうするのに、とか、こうすればどんどん面白くなるのにと考えていくようなことかな。

面白い映画はそのままでいいんだけど、つまらない映画を見たときにそこで何を考えるのか。だから案外、つまらない映画のほうが結果的には自分にはよかったりします（笑）。

それから、世の中のことで自分が知らないことはたくさんあるでしょう。アニメに関しての話なんだけど、視聴率で「F1, F2」という専門用語を聞いたとき、あ、これで何かできないかなと考えちゃったりしましたね*。新しいことを見たり聞いたりしたときに、何かできるんじゃないかと考えるのは大事なことです。

A: I wonder . . . I never had a moment where I had a strong sense that I am a manga artist.

You might say that, at the core, you have to like it. You can't continue if you don't like it. Also, you must have a sense of inquisitiveness. These might be common, but that's all that I can think of.

On inquisitiveness, say you see a boring movie. Don't say "Boooring!" and be done with it, for me I would think about how this part should be like this, how if this is done then it will be come more and more interesting – things like that.

Interesting movies are fine the way they are, but what are you doing to think when you see a boring one? That's why boring movies are surprisingly better for me results-wise (laughs).

Also, there are a lot of things that you don't know about in this world, right? In a story related to anime, when I heard of the terminologies "F1, F2" for ratings, I end up thinking if I could make something out of them or not.* It's important to think about what you can do with things you've never heard of before.

*テレビの視聴者の年齢増をあらわす記号。F1は２０～３４才の女性、F2は３５～４９才の女性である。その他は次の通り。

F3＝女５０才以上、M1＝男２０～３４才、M2＝男３５～４９才、M3＝男５０才以上、C1＝男女４～１２才、C2＝男女１３～１９才。

*Symbols representing TV viewers' age groups. F1 = female, 20~34; F2 = female, 35~49; others are as follows:

F3 = females 50 and above; M1 = male, 20~34; M2 = male, 35~49; M3 = males 50 and above; C1 = children, 4~12; C2 = children, 13~19.

頭が常に創作の方を向いているんですね。創作脳というか。

Q: Your head constantly turns toward creative work, doesn't it? Creative brain, perhaps.

青山　そうですね。だからやっぱり好きじゃないとだめでしょ。普通は旅行に行ったらなんにも考えずのんびりするんだけど、僕もそうしようとは思うんですが、つい普段の癖で何かネタになりそうなことはないかなと。基本的にマジメってこともあるんです（笑）。ただしあんまり根を詰めるとダメなんですけども。

A: That's true. That's why you have to like it, in the end. You're usually carefree without any thoughts if you travel, and I try to do that, too, but I end up thinking about if I can find material to work with out of habit. At the core, there's an aspect of diligence (laughs). You shouldn't strain your nerves too much, though.

腱鞘炎は大丈夫ですか？漫画家は腱鞘炎との戦いだ、といわれますが。

Q: Are you all right from tendonitis? They say that being a manga artist means a fight against tendonitis.

青山　一回なりかけて、ヤバイなというときがありました。元々、筆圧が強いので腱鞘炎にはなりやすいタイプなんです。それからは描き方を変えましたね。細マジックで、何度も線をなぞって太くしていくんですよ。ピグマの０．１ミリというペンがあるんですが、それでサッサッと。そうすると腕に力を入れなくてもすむんです。

絵は背景と重要じゃない登場人物以外は、自分で描いています。クルマを含めた背景、それに人物で言うと鑑識とか名前のない警察はアシスタントに任せて、名前のある人物については僕がやるという分け方です。

A: There was one time when I almost got it. I always had strong pressure on the pen, so I'm the type who easily gets tendonitis. I've changed my drawing style since then. I use a thin marker and trace over the same line many times to make it thicker. I use the PIGMA 0.1mm pen. That way, I don't have to put much pressure on the arms.

Except for background and unimportant characters, I draw everything. Meaning, I leave things like backgrounds with cars, CSI's and police people without names to assistants, then draw the characters who have names myself.

絵に関して、影響を受けた漫画家さんというと誰でしょう？

Q: On the art, which manga artist did you receive influence from?

青山　「ルパン三世」のモンキー・パンチさんですね。コナンがお酒を飲んで元の身体に戻るときがあるでしょう？あの「白乾児（パイカル）」というお酒は、「ルパン三世」に出てくるすごくかっこいい魔術師の名前なんです。あとはあだち充さん、意外なところでは少女漫画家の松苗あけみさんかな。それから大友克洋さんは世代的に、僕らの年齢だとみんな多かれ少なかれ影響を受けているんじゃないかな。

A: Monkey Punch, of Lupin III. There's a time when Conan drinks some alcohol and reverts back to his former body, right? The alcohol called Paikaru comes from the name of a magician that appears in Lupin III. I would also say Mitsuru Adachi-san, and surprisingly a shojo manga artist named Akemi Matsunae-san, I think. And people my age all received influence to some degree from Katsuhiro Otomo-san, I think.

(Ha ha, I wonder if Miyano Akemi's name comes from Matsunae Akemi's . . . it sounds like it does, doesn't it?)

先生は独身ですが、結婚したら今の生活は続けられないですね。

Q: Sensei is single, but if you marry you can't continue living like this, can you?

青山　無理でしょう。生活が変わっちゃったら、今のペースは維待できない。最初にコナンを立ち上げたときも、「これは大変だよな」と思いました。で、実際やってみたら本当にあまりに大変なんで、もう上の人からどうこう言われるんならやらない。勝手にやらせてくれなきゃいやだと言ったぐらいです。そうやって、生活も作品も好き勝手にやっているから続けていけるんでしょうね。

コナンをドイルにしろとか、服部を純然たるライバルにしろとか、そういうことは言われてきたけど、それは僕が考えてることと違うので。そこは作家として主張してきました。だからずいぶん好きなようにやっています。好きなことを、好きなように・・・・・・心身ともに大変ではあるんですが、結局はそこに尽きると思っています。それで、そうやって生きていける自分はやっぱり幸せなんですよね。

アイデアが枯れてもう何も出なくなるまで、もしくは読者から「おまえはもういらない」と言われるまで、漫画家としてずっとやれたらいいと思っています。口では「あー、もうやめてえ～！」と言うことはあってもね。

A: No, I can't. If my lifestyle changes, I can't continue the current pace anymore.* When I started Conan, I thought that this would be a lot of work. When I actually started, it was truly so much work that I don't do what my superiors say. I even said that I won't do anything unless they let me do whatever I want to do. This way, I can continue because I'm doing whatever I want in life and in my work.

I was told to change the name from Conan to Doyle, to make Hattori into an absolute rival, things like that, but that's different from what I'm thinking. In that aspect, I insisted on my way as the artist. So I've been doing whatever I want. You should do what you like, as you like . . . This may be quite troublesome to both mind and body, but in the end I think that I want to be consumed there. Therefore, I'm happy, after all, because I'm living this way.

I think I want to continue being a manga artist until ideas run dry, or readers tell me that they don't need me anymore. Though I might say "Aaaah, stooop!" from time to time.

*There seems to be a typo here - I can't find the meaning of 維待anywhere – so I guessed at what it meant.

Balthazar Manfredie · June 24, 2011

in goshos head conan was made in 2 weeks, the drawing is 20 years

justwantanaccount · June 24, 2011

^He adds fillers. Lots and lots of fillers.

Wakarimashita · June 24, 2011

So he won't stop until the readers are bored ? Given the manga's sales, it's not about to happen.

justwantanaccount · June 24, 2011

^ Well, to be fair, he said that he won't stop being a manga artist, not that he won't stop DC. ^^; Besides, this was way back in 2003 - since he's thought about retirement, I think that he's changed his mind by now.

red.orchid · June 24, 2011

I also wish Gosho would draw another manga (NOT Magic Kaito @_@!) after taking a rest from Conan. Or he could pick up scriptwriting

justwantanaccount · December 15, 2011

Some of you might already know about this interview from dctp, but I just found it so here it is . . . It's always good to have multiple translations, right, so that if there's a discrepancy then people can figure out what the translation error is?! So here it is.

From 2chan, another blog confirms this interview

As usual, since the Japanese language likes to leave out subjects, I'll be filling in what I think the subject is, but it might not necessarily be accurate.

例のガンダムエースの対談　※コナン関係を抜粋

The rumored Gundam Ace conversation *Extracted the Conan-related segment

「池田秀一×青山剛昌」（2010年３月号）

Ikeda Shuuichi x Aoyama Gosho (2010 March issue)

池田「ところで、どういった経緯で『赤井秀一』というキャラクターが生まれたんですか？

　　　コナンでは、キャラクターの名前は有名な探偵の名前をもじったりするのがお約束なのに、

　　　ガンダムが元ネタなのが不思議ですよね」

Ikeda (voice actor for Char Aznable, the namesake of Akai Shuuichi, in case you didn't know): By the way, under what circumstance did a character named "Akai Shuuichi" emerge?

In Conan, the characters are always named after famous detectives.

It's curious that Gundam is the basis of this name.

青山「実は探偵ネタが尽きたというのもありまして(笑)

　　　お話の中で、主人公の江戸川コナンに味方をするＦＢＩ捜査官を出すことになった時に、

　　　イメージ先行でその敏腕捜査官はシャアっぽくしたいなと思ったんです。

　　　だから最初はシャアから取って『赤井』という名字だけ決まっていたんです。

　　　その後、下の名前をどうしようかと悩んだ結果、池田さんのお名前からいただいて

　　　『秀一』にしてしまいました(笑)

　　　コナンの本名が『新一』なので、『新一』と『秀一』は、似た名前だから

　　　本来は採用しないんですが、今回だけはいいやと思って」

Aoyama: There's also the possibility that (I) ran out of detective-based names (laughs)

When it was decided that (we) would introduce an FBI agent who would side with the protagonist, Conan,

I wanted to base the image of that astute investigator on Char.

That's why (I) decided on just the last name to be "Akai (red)" at first.

After that, when (I) pondered on what the first name should be, (I) decided it to be "Shuuichi" after you, Ikeda-san (laughs)

Since Conan's real name is "Shinichi," and "Shinichi" and "Shuuichi" sound similar,

(I) wouldn't normally pick (this name), but I thought that it would be okay, just this once.

池田「いやあ、光栄ですね。そして、ＴＶ版では声もやらせてもらってる訳ですから、

　　　すごい縁を感じます」

Ikeda: What an honor! Since I get to voice the TV-version as well,

I feel a quite a deep bond (to the character? to Gosho?).

青山「アニメ版の重要キャラクターのキャストは、Ｐから『誰かイメージはありますか』

　　　と希望を聞かれるんですが、赤井の時には『そりゃ池田さんでしょう！』

　　　ってリクエストしたら、夢が叶ってしまいました。

Gosho: For the anime's important character's, I get asked by P (I don't know what the heck P is), "Do you have an image (of who the voice actor should be) in mind?"

For Akai, I requested (by replying), "Who else but Ikeda-san!" and the wish came true!

(中略)

(omitted)

池田「コナンでは、これからもガンダムネタは出たりはしそうですか？」

Ikeda: Will there be more Gundam-based (ideas? characters?) in Conan?

青山「コナンの味方であるキャラクターの最高ランクにあたるのが赤井でしたから、

　　　黒ずくめの組織側にもガンダム系の名前のキャラが出せたら面白いですよね。

　　　例えば『安室徹』とか(笑)

　　　ガンダムと敵味方が逆なのがいい。そうなると、

　　　声は誰がやるか決まってしまいますが(笑)」

Aoyama: If Conan's ally's highest ranking member is Akai,

then it would be interesting if there were characters with Gundam-based names in the Black Organization as well.

Like "Amuro Akira/Tooru" (徹 can be read both as Tooru or Akira) (laughs)

For Gundam, the good guys and bad guys should be reversed. In this case,

the voice actor is more or less decided (laughs).

池田「そうですね、あの人しかいない(笑)」

Ikeda: That's true, there's only that person (laughs)

hopes · December 16, 2011

Wow!

Thanks so much~

justwantanaccount · January 5, 2012

There was recently a Q&A event with Gosho called 青山剛昌先生と話そうDAY (Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day) on January 3rd, 2012 at Tottori. You can see a brief video here, and some pictures can be found on this blog.

According to this blog, these are some of the answers Gosho gave - also, she says that she left out some answers that she thinks Conan fans should already know. She also apologizes for possibly forgetting some answers. So far, this is the only blog I can find that reported on what Gosho said in the Q&A, so here they are!

The emphasis is mine.

いつになるか分からないが、川中島の戦いを扱った長野県警が出るデカい事件を用意している。
Not sure when (it will be published), but a huge case using the Battles of Kawanaka Island involving the Nagano Police District is being prepared.
仕事場のデジタル化で変わった事→仕事場がトーンで汚れなくなった。
Due to the digitalization of the work place, the work place doesn't become dirty after using tones
何巻まで続く？→100巻まではいかないと思う…けど分からない。
Until what volume will (Conan) continue? → (Gosho) doesn't think (Conan) will reach 100 volumes, but (Gosho) isn't sure.
沖矢さんを消さないで！→うーん、どうだろう…。
Don't erase Okiya-san! → Hmm, I'm not sure...
千葉刑事の下の名前→高木刑事が声優さんと同じなので違う名前にするかも
Detective Chiba's first name → Since Detective Takagi's is the same as the voice actor's, maybe (Chiba's first) name will be different (from the voice actor's)
睡眠時間→朝9時～昼12時。原稿上がった時は12時間くらい泥の様に眠る。
Time of sleep → 9am ~ 12pm. Once the manuscript is done (Gosho) sleeps like mud for 12 hours. (Gosho sleeps three hours a day?! O_o)
蘭の誕生日教えて！→差し支えあるので今は言えない。でもまだ誕生日来ていないので蘭は現在16歳。
Tell me Ran's birthday! → Since there's an obstacle can't tell for now. But since the birthday hasn't passed Ran is 16 right now.
今でもお気に入りのエピソードは東都タワー爆破未遂事件
Favorite episode is still the Touto Tower bombing attempt case
ボスのメールアドレス、青山先生がご実家に電話する際、市外局番が七つの子に聞こえた為、これは使える！と使ったらしい。
On the Boss' email address, when Aoyama-sensei called home, since the area code sounded like Nanatsu no Ko, he thought "I can use this!" so used it, apparently

The rest of the list is about the movie - if you want me to translate, let me know, since I'm too lazy right now, ha ha. ^^;

EDIT: Oh! This topic is pinned! I never noticed. Cool! :3

CarpetCrawler · January 5, 2012

Some very fascinatingly interesting information there. Didn't know that Ran was 17 yet, but I guess it makes sense considering her birthday hasn't happened in the manga yet.

His sleeping schedule doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

Wakarimashita · January 5, 2012

Looking forward to the huge case involving the Nagano police district !

CarpetCrawler · January 5, 2012

Looking forward to the huge case involving the Nagano police district !

As am I. My brother literally squeed when he heard what it was going to use. xD He loves reading about stuff like Shingen Takeda and the like.

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