— Togashi-sensei, what impression do you have after reading Ishida-sensei’s storyboard?
To: At the end, Hisoka uses Dokkiri Texture to transmute a handkerchief and hide the villain’s face, but I had actually thought of using this technique later on in the main story. So I thought Ishida-san had a good sense for using Nen.
It’s really interesting when different people have the same thought.
Also, I thought Ishida-san’s villain was well done. Not just this character, but everyone Ishida-san draws has good atmosphere. I think you get a sense of what manga he has read, and what kinds of pictures he likes, but even his stern old men have a beauty to them. This isn’t something you can achieve through hard work alone. His battle scenes also have a sense of speed which is pretty cool.
Ishi: Thank you…..
To: At the beginning there’s a scene where Hisoka is lying on the ground - did you leave the reason ambiguous on purpose?
Ishi: Yes. I specifically decided not to draw the background for the first scene.
To: That really makes the readers think.
Ishi: Among the discarded drafts, I had ones which talked about Hisoka’s childhood environment - some where he was from a rich family and some where he was poor. But I felt really uneasy about that. Hisoka is the kind of character who doesn’t talk about his past - I felt like as soon as you bring that in, he stops being Hisoka.
To: That’s true. Digging into a character’s past is difficult. It’s like, no matter what story you tell, it won’t surpass the readers’ imagination. Rather than making it clear, it’s more fascinating to leave some things unknown. In Ishida-san’s storyboard, it’s fun to imagine why Hisoka is lying on the ground. I’m very glad that you wrote him like this.
Ishi: Togashi-sensei, do you have an idea of Hisoka’s past?
To: I don’t. That’s why I tried not to think about it. But now I’m thinking I might one day be alright writing about a time in his past just a little before Ishida-san’s manga. Deciding how far back to go is difficult, though.
Ishi: I’m very interested in that.
To: I think my mental age has stopped somewhere between the second year of junior high school and the second year of high school (laugh) [A/N: American system 8th-11th grade]. I think I’d like to write about Hisoka around that age. If I wrote something set any earlier, I’d have to talk about what kind of family he came from, what his parents were like - I think that’d be explaining a little too much.
Ishi: This is just my own idea…. But I can’t really imagine Hisoka having a father. He doesn’t seem to have any influence from a father.
To: In the manga I’ve written so far, all the characters including protagonists have various family situations - many of them have single parents. Even though both of my own parents are still alive and well, and my family situation is pretty typical (laugh). But when I write manga it just comes out that way, especially main characters, or people I think I will have to draw for a long time. Of course, I think parents are just in the way when it comes to a manga story.
Ishi: That’s true, I’ve also had times when I thought parents were in the way in a story. In “Star Wars” the adults who raised the main character get killed right away, and in “Gundam” the story starts when the parents die and the protagonist must leave them. I’ve had the vague idea for a long time that there’s a kind of theory when writing a story that it’s better if the parents are gone.
To: Yes. That’s because the parents in a story are only there to oppose what the protagonist does. For example Gon in “Hunter x Hunter” would be in the upper grades of elementary school in the real world. If he had good parents, they’d never let him go on such a dangerous journey. When you think about it like that, parents really are in the way (laugh). So I thought it’d be better if he didn’t have parents to begin with. Eventually that became a story about searching for his parent, and then I decided on the concept of making his parent a really awful person.
Ishi: I see….!
To: By the way, after reading Ishida-san’s manga, I thought I would like to write a manga about Hisoka’s past connecting to that first scene. I don’t know when that would happen, though (laugh).
Ishi: ……. !
