Why Inoue Takehiko started Vagabond
Japanese blog Katsujichuudoku reports that the book “Manga note” has a part on magazine editors where they revealed the reason why Inoue Takehiko made the strange decision to leave Shounen Jump after Slam Dunk ended to start a manga on Miyamoto Musashi in the magazine “Morning”.
Apparently, editors from various magazines had approached Inoue Takehiko to start a new serialization on their magazine after Slam Dunk ended.
The reason for why he picked to go to Morning was because amongst all the editors that approached him, every one of them told him that he can draw anything he likes on their magazine, however, the editor from Morning was the only person who had a plan on the manga that they wanted Inoue to do in their magazine. The editor asked him to do a manga adaptation of Yoshikawa Eiji’s Miyamoto Musashi.
Though the author of the book also adds that the story was not heard directly from Inoue Takehito himself, so he is not 100% sure if the story is completely true.
The story is definitely very plausible considering the unexpected move and the completely different genre that he started on at the time. And if it is true, it is a great story, showing a different side to the manga industry, since there are more than a handful manga authors in the industry that wish they were free to draw whatever they want to instead of being forced to do topics imposed by the editors.
Edit: corrected a big mistake. Morning magazine, not Evening!
May 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Someone should’ve forced him to do a Slam Dunk 2 then lol.
But seriously they really need to animate the 2nd half of the manga sometime in the future at least… =(
May 18th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
>Some dude
Please. Seriously. Slam Dunk is, well….
I mean the anime was long as it is. The first season fo Slam Dunk is now a classic, along with DBZ and other before it.
I’m surprised that he went with the move of doing something someone else planned for him… but its interesting. Who’d have thought: from basketball to samurais.
Well, just waiting for his next project, whatever it may be. Maybe he should do another shonen/seinen title….
May 18th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Yea but they’ve got like the last half of the manga sitting there waiting to be animated. Mine as well finish it off if you ask me, I know the chances are probably slim, but I’m still hopeful though.
The part about a Slam Dunk 2 manga was actually meant as a joke in case you didn’t catch it btw lol =P The bit about a Slam Dunk 2 anime however isn’t.
May 19th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Hmm… I believe Vagabond’s running on Morning. ^^v Nonetheless same publisher as Evening although I noticed that he’s not entirely pressured to release a chapter every week.
Well, when you’ve got a big hit like Slam Dunk, I guess it’s natural to feel that you’ve got the dibs on everything. But it could have been overwhelming to Inoue, hence Morning editor’s direction could have been a good start. On the side I also read that he’s actually trained in calligraphy art or something like that. And he really uses this a lot in Vagabond. I guess the editor gave him that opportunity to use that too.
At least now, he won’t be labeled as plagiarism king. XDD It’s not like he can find Miyamoto Musashi’s photo and lift it off like Patrick Ewing. XD
May 19th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
This story somehow reminds me of renowned film director Takashi Miike who manages to pump out 3-4 movies a year from every conceivable genre. He says that he does any kind of movie because he treats his directing as a job and thinks he should always be working. That he manages to put such a unique touch on everything just shows his awesomeness. I think Akiyuki Shinbo is probably the same way.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
When you’re successful, life is a bed of roses.
Shame that there are few success stories in the manga industry.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
>>khursten
You’re right! I noticed the original article says Morning too! I can’t remember if the original was wrong originally and fixed it or if I actually wrote it wrong somehow. I’m pretty sure the original article said Evening when I wrote the post, but my memory isn’t always right. Otherwise this sure is a horrible typo, just when I thought I was on a good streak of having no major typo mistakes.
As for not being pressured to release chapters every week, seinen magazines are usually a lot more lenient in letting authors go at an irregular pace as compared to shounen magazines. (Togashi is an exception)