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Interview: Kamisama Kiss mangaka Julietta Suzuki


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ColonelYao47



Joined: 01 Jan 2013
Posts: 274
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:26 pm Reply with quote
Cutiebunny wrote:
I was also really sad to see that there were no Suzuki sketches donated by Viz Media at the AX charity auction. Whether that was because Viz didn't want to donate any (they had one in their 'Wall o' shikishi') or Suzuki and/or her management didn't want her to draw anything, it was depressing. Though, then again, I wouldn't be surprised if AX took whatever was drawn and gave that to their investors....like a certain SUSHIO's Anime Expo sketches that were posted on Twitter account last week.


I can confirm that SUSHIO's sketches were given out in the Thursday Trigger panel. I regret missing that panel to do another autograph line.

It's fitting that the wonder of fantasy is at the core of Ms. Suzuki's work. The passion for that domain brings it to life.
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Cutiebunny



Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 1746
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:41 pm Reply with quote
ColonelYao47 wrote:
I can confirm that SUSHIO's sketches were given out in the Thursday Trigger panel. I regret missing that panel to do another autograph line.


Thank you. There was quite a bit of shadiness going on with Aniplex and the charity auction this year, so I'm quite happy that at least the Trigger stuff was given away to attendees.

..And yes, I was stuck in the autograph lines as well...
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DrXL



Joined: 24 Dec 2013
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:44 pm Reply with quote
phoenixalia wrote:

P.S If Hana to Akuma is licensed in English, I will buy it in a heartbeat no matter what the cost. But it will probably never be licensed because of the age gap thing. Confused


Flowers of Evil has been licensed by Vertical Inc. for a while now, they have it up to volume 11. Just FYI Smile
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manapear



Joined: 02 May 2014
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:47 pm Reply with quote
That was a fun interview. Kind of surprised by some of the answers (about androids and sci-fi specifically), but I can relate.

This made me more excited about her and her work, which I already loved. x'D
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mistress_kisara



Joined: 15 Sep 2012
Posts: 210
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:21 pm Reply with quote
DrXL wrote:

Flowers of Evil has been licensed by Vertical Inc. for a while now, they have it up to volume 11. Just FYI Smile


Phoenixalia was talking about this manga https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_to_Akuma

Flowers of evil is Aku no Hana Wink
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Blankslate



Joined: 30 Jun 2015
Posts: 425
Location: Atlanta, GA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:17 pm Reply with quote
Based on this interview and Funimation's interview, Julietta Suzuki tends to give really short answers. So my question is for you, Zac: was she nervous (with lots of head-nods)? Was she sort of dismissive (because answering a large existential question like "What do you think makes someone human and why?" with one sentence seems sort of curt)? I'm actually curious if she used a translator or answered the questions in English herself because that would explain why the answers were so short (she might be less confident in speaking English).
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:57 pm Reply with quote
She had short answers. I read from a list of approved questions (her handlers cut maybe 1/3rd of the questions from the submitted list) and she answered with prepared remarks - not read from a script, but clearly she had these ready. This is pretty typical for an interview with someone of Suzuki's status, particularly in her genre - I've found popular shojo mangaka to be the most "handled" among the creators and artists I've interviewed (nothing like pop stars or Japanese voice actresses, where they have an army of people watching everything they say, but there are at least one or two handlers around).

I wouldn't say 'curt' - she was perfectly nice and seemed engaged, especially at the end when I asked her about her favorite movie (which was the only unrehearsed question). All in all it was a very typical interview with someone like Suzuki. Her translator was particularly good at her job - conveying emotion very well. Would've been great on video!

Though I have to say I find the speculating in here about her being "just happy for the free trip" super tacky - what's with the harsh judgment? Cutiebunny, I swear man, every time you encounter an artist or a creator at a convention who doesn't like, load you up with free stuff or act like they wanna be your best friend you're in here talking shit about them. Such a bad attitude.


Last edited by Zac on Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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lys



Joined: 24 Jun 2004
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Location: mitten-state
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:58 pm Reply with quote
I'm guessing there was an interpreter to translate questions into Japanese and answers back to English. At TCAF this year, Aya Kanno gave mostly shorter answers too. I think probably language is an issue: even if the interpreter is doing a good job there may be an uncertainty on the artist's side that she's understanding the question correctly, or that the interpreter will be able to convey her answer entirely (and probably she's attempting to think of an answer on the spot that can be conveyed without too much difficulty, so she's not going to ramble on with details like she might in a native-language conversation). And then there's consideration for the time it takes to repeat every statement in two languages and not wanting to go past the schedule (if it's a tight one). (edit: I see Zac gave more insight about this specific interview, but the things I mentioned still seem like they could be potential obstacles for these kinds of interviews in general.)

All that said, I don't want to sound ungrateful for the interview at all! I think it's just how these things are under the usual circumstances. And I'm sure she appreciated meeting and hearing from her overseas fans!
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Cutiebunny



Joined: 18 Apr 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:54 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
Though I have to say I find the speculating in here about her being "just happy for the free trip" super tacky - what's with the harsh judgment? Cutiebunny, I swear man, every time you encounter an artist or a creator at a convention who doesn't like, load you up with free stuff or act like they wanna be your best friend you're in here talking shit about them. Such a bad attitude.


Assumptions about my personality are indicative of a bad attitude, Zac. Very Happy

But to answer your question, no, that's not the case at all. I can only think of a handful of Japanese guests I've met where I walked away with a bad taste in my mouth simply because their behavior was not appropriate. I have met plenty of artists who didn't "load [me] up with free stuff" and I've commented that they were pleasant people. I've also paid many artists, either directly or their management, for artwork, and think quite highly of these artists despite the hefty prices I paid. I personally feel all artists should be properly compensated and have, quite often, offered and paid more money than I was charged.

I would never expect any guest to become my 'bestie', nor do I ever approach a guest expecting this to happen. So, please, do not assume I hate guests if they fail to become my friend or give me awesome free stuff. That's not the case at all.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:55 pm Reply with quote
If an anime company wants to fight piracy, putting regional restrictions or only having the censored doesn't help. That's why I feel they should put more simulcasts on YouTube since I think YT doesn't have the regional restrictions as bad as sites like Crunchyroll.
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:23 pm Reply with quote
InuKag1 wrote:
Should have asked if there was gonna be a season 3 of Kamisama Kiss!

Authors don't decide whether or not their series gets a continuation so it would have been useless to ask her. It's production committees who decide what gets animated and what gets additional seasons.
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:57 pm Reply with quote
Her movie choice is interesting. The level of verbal interplay in that movie is amazing, and having not read any of her manga, I wonder if it correlates to anything in her work? I think this as a unrehearsed question yeilded a truly unexpected, but honest answer.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:41 am Reply with quote
I like the French title, Devine Nanami. That's certainly a better title than Kamisama Kiss! One thing that bugs me a little about the series is Viz's localization. A lot of terms are left untranslated. I guess I can understand not wanting to offend people by translating "Kamisama" as "god" (even though the little g should make it obvious that it's referring to a polytheistic type of god or spirit), but "yokai," "shinshi", "tochigami," etc are all untranslated in the manga with translation notes at the end. The translation notes even have the very unhelpful translation "Ayakashi is an archaic term for yokai," before translating "yokai" a few lines down.

But that's all on Viz, not on the author.

I was surprised to learn that Julietta Suzuki also wrote Karakuri Odette, because the two series don't seem to have much in common, at least on the surface. I liked her answer about androids, but I hope she isn't too turned off by scifi. I really liked Karakuri Odette, more than Kamisama Kiss even, and would love to see another series like it.

It's really cool AX got to have her as a guest. I wish you could have video taped the interview, too!
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:46 am Reply with quote
I tweeted her a congratulations message in my terrible Japanese when the anime was announced and she sent me a really lovely message back, so I don't think she doesn't care about her fans. As Zac said, and I've noticed the same from reading sidebars in shojo manga, shojo artists in particular seem to be kept on a rather short leash.
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phoenixalia



Joined: 20 Dec 2011
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:18 am Reply with quote
I'm sure Suzuki-sensei cares deeply about her fans. I see on twitter too and she's really nice.
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