Sorry I forgot my promise...or did I even promise anything? I don't remember...;3; If I did I am sorry.
I was going to post about this earlier but I ended up doing a lot of other things and I forgot I had brought my laptop. Of course I could post using my ipad but sometimes I touch the wrong part of the screen and takes me to another page and yadda yadda I don't like touch screens for typing long things.
So yeahhh~ Last week I went to Shueisha's building and my heart fills with joy just remembering it.
I'm not a mangaka and I was expecting my manga to be published or anything so that's not really what this is about.
The fact is that I went to Shueisha's building and actually met with an editor of a manga and he was nice enough to give me advice and the company itself was nice enough to do all of this despite my lack of japanese skills and that I am American.
I can't believe all of it!
I met with the editor of Usogui which is another manga that I really like so I am shocked (and lucky I didn't get Tokyo Ghoul's editor...>3>). He understood some english which was surprising like escapism and consumerism and materialism all them ism's he understood! O.O
But he spoke extremely fast so I am afraid I missed some things but my friend translated and took notes for me. It must be the norm for editors to speak so fast because it sounded like a naturally sped up voice and he said everything he had to say.
Basically what I have learned is that when it comes to writing manga the character should be the most important thing. The setting and the story are second to the character. He said that a manga is not about a story but about a character.
This actually gives me loads of confidence because I prefer writing interesting characters to writing interesting stories. I have lots of weird characters that I want to put in my story but I always thought they were too weird but I guess I shouldn't worry about that so much considering how many weird characters there are in anime normally...
Another thing is something I understood before but I need to keep telling myself is that manga does not have to have well drawn illustrations, it just needs to have an interesting story that is easy to understand.
He said this is why Tokyo Ghoul works because it is very easy to understand the premise. Now that I think about it, that's pretty true. It is super easy to read (which is why it is easy to criticize). I have the problem of liking really complicated stuff I don't understand though so I write stories that are difficult to understand...
I think I should practice writing simple stories and maybe stories for children or something. I am exploding with inspiration and ideas for manga and how to practice them I just didn't bring the materials or have the space or time to do that now...So when I return to America besides my normal studies I will go deep into practicing manga and studying Japanese because neither of them are good enough for me to become an actual mangaka.
The great thing is that it's possible! It feels incredible to have an editor tell you that you can do it and that it's possible and even tell me how to get into it more and guhhdfgndjkgdnkjdgn!! So happyy! TT^TT
My problem now is how will I be able to live in Japan....>3> I am not sure how to find mangaka needing assistants...I think that would be the best way to live in Japan besides the JET program. I think if I can get a good enough mangaka the pay would be a lot better than if I was a mangaka.
I have read about some people who wanted to become mangaka but they got stuck being an assistant to a mangaka forever because they got a lot of money and were comfortable and became friends with everyone working there so they couldn't bring themselves to take the risk of becoming a mangaka.
Not really a worry for me since becoming a mangaka is so big of a goal for me I don't think I could really feel comfortable if I was not one.
I learned mainly that my writing style is too Western.
The two big things that he told me were to make an interesting character ('cause my main character was not interesting at all) and to figure out what I want to say or what the theme is at the beginning. This is the opposite of everything I've learned from my creative writing classes in America. They tell you to make an interesting deep character in an interesting deep world 'cause it'll make it feel more realistic while figuring out the theme as you write it. It cheapens the story if you have the theme right at the beginning and it can sound preachy, but manga is being sold so you have to great readers from the beginning.
Another thing is that, I don't know if this is just Young Jump but the shorter the better and not more than 35 pages. Which is super nice 'cause I thought it had to be 45 pages so I kept adding pages...;orz And then the main climax page is almost always on page 29. That's something that I never noticed before. Another reason why I am happy for this experience. It makes everything so much easier. Before I couldn't wrap my mind around it when I read the manga and I knew something was missing but I didn't know what it was...
So I am going to study manga so more and write out where the climax etc of each scene is etc. Then also practice drawing the pages to see where the story happens and how they show this...though that part is annoying and I have done it before but I don't know if I am should completely copy it or just copy the paneling and expressions etc...Like should I ink it and tone it and everything??
Also I have given up on traditional manga. I can do illustrations traditionally but NO EFFECTS. NO SPEED LINES. NOT AGAIN. THAT WAS HELL. Pretty much what I did the entire week before going to see the editor....and like the few hours right before it as well...;orz It's so freaking time consuming and easy to mess up and I don't want to do it.
Yup so I have a renewed and strengthened love for manga now!
Oh~! You might also be wondering the tiny details of what it was like going inside the bulding etc.
So we started in Shinjuku station and then just went off I think exit A1 if I remember correctly and then we turned left and it was right there across from Tully's.
It was a bit confusing 'cause there was one Shueisha building with manga and mangaposters all over it and another Shueisha building with cubicles and posters of animals and a small photography exhibit. Before we went in we took pictures of eachother next to the sign of the building and this guy with a bunch of manila folders ran inside, probs with a ton of manga, probs an editor.
Then there are security guards surrounding all the corners of the lobby except for the photography exhibit. When we walked inside they stopped us and asked us if we had an appointment which was terrifying 'cause we were like 'are we in the wrong place' but nope we did have an appointment. Then we went up the desk and the person asked for our name and then called the editor and said we were here and we signed some papers and then got tags that said we were guests.
Then we went into one of the closed rooms, not the cubicles, but through the cubicles I could see mangaka talked with their editors...:3
And then we waited and panicked for the guy. I realized that that moment I forgot to put in some dialogue and missed some lines here and there so I did not feel well.
But as soon as he came in he was extremely nice and humble and talked extremely fast and to the point. I was too nervous and forgot what I had originally planned for my manga so when he asked me what I wanted to say with it I was like 'uhmmm...I dunno...' so that part is what I regret...;orz But anyways my manga was very weak and dull which I thought anyways so that didn't really break my spirit at all. What's great is that I knew what was wrong with it I just didn't know how to fix it and now I know~ :3
So yeah then he left and we left and then we went to Ikebukuro and after that I did too much shopping and playing around so am just now writing this...
If you are interested in that bit I will just summarize below:
I went to the pokemon center and bought my friend's souvenirs that she asked for so it was like 10 figurines and 5 keychains but they were all really cheap which was nice. I bought a gardevoir keychain and a sylveon plushie keychain.
Then we went to the large Animate store which was too huge and there was an extremely long line for the cash register...And I bought a Tei keychain, a ghibli pin, and two fire emblem if charms which weren't Leon so I was disappointed. But I kept looking for Evangelion or Chibiusa stuff but I couldn't find any...;orz Apparently all the things I like are extremely old...'cause we tried finding a Dance Evolution or DDR machine in the numerous game centers in Ikebukuro and couldn't find any....;orz
Then we stayed in a manga cafe and I read some Heroine....something something I forgot...It was interesting at first but then turned into Strobo Edge...Where you have the main guy not like the main girl as a twist but then in the end he gets jealous of her dating some other guy and like the main girl again...which I am super confused about because I thought the point was that that wasn't not going to happen and she kept wishing it to happen. Like don't imagine impossible things, but then the manga just changed it's mind.
Then we went to a game center in Shinjuku that did have DDR and Dance Evolution so I played to my hearts content. Then we went to Asakusa and ate some yummy tanuki soba from a restaurant where you could see the guy making it in the entrance window. I bought a tengu mask at Asakusa. It had so much tourist gandering japanese stuff that was trying to hard to be Japanese...but some nice sweets and snacks to buy. But yeah I successfully bought a tengu mask that I always wanted. I just wanted a cheap one that I could pain to something, I just want the base. I tried making one once and that failed so I was determine to buy a plastic tengu mask. I really like tengu masks..:3
Then I went back to Harajuku and splurged on clothes and accessories. Then afterwards we went to Shizuoka where I am not at my friend's house.
We have been playing tons of Splatoon which was really funny during Christmas time 'cause we could tell that kids got Splatoon for christmas since late at night there were random 1 level players appearing along with level 50 players.
I bought some clothes in Shizuoka as well and my friend's sister gave me her jacket which was exactly like one I had wanted and looked for all over Japan but it was always over $40...:/ It's a pretty basic olive green jacket...;orz
I bought lots of souvenirs for my friends and I went to the movie theatres in Japan for the first time to watch Orange~
Which was surprisingly good. I mean good as in not a terrible embarrassment like LDK or Another or some of the other movies I have seen Kento Yamazaki in...I actually cried which surprised me. I also had a cold but I do believe I honestly cried at the end. It's a topic that is hard not to cry about so yeah my defense.
And Kento Yamazaki was top tier gorgeous so that was great and seeing him on a big screen.
I just can't believe that I went to a manga editor, saw the movie version of one of my favourite shoujo manga's with my eye candy playing the lead, and that Bakuman's live action movie is popular in here so I get to hear Sakanaction very often (since it did the theme song for the movie). So happy with my life right now....:3 So happy with Japan right now! XD
Oh! Also I was looking for a souvenir for my brother and wanted to buy him a figurine but they were all really expensive and I couldn't figure out what to buy him but yesterday I went to a used figurine store and found a Guts figurine AND Griffith figurine together for less than $20 so I bought the Guts for my brother and the Griffith for me and omigaw 'tis awesome...<333
I hope people are happy with my souvenirs 'cause I thought a lot about what they might want...;3;
Today was my free day of no plans...I will probably go back to playing animal crossing now...
ADIOS~ (watching Pokemon Victini movie right now...nothing on tv either...;orz it's nice it's in Japanese but...yeah I prefer the Arceus movie which I watched yesterday...;orz TV...)
