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Interview: Hiro Mashima [2017-10-25]


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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 5886
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:33 pm Reply with quote
Bloodstrain wrote:
Fairy Tail has 60 million copies in print, not 260. Might want to fix that. People Might think the series is good with those numbers.


Given how often anything related to Fairy Tail leads to "debates" regarding it's quality doubtful.
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Cam0



Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 4884
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:32 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
You have traditionally used more Western influences in your work. What kind of Western work do you draw inspiration from?

About 30 years ago in Japan, there was a huge boom of RPG fantasy games, so those are where I got my inspiration from. For example, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.


Those aren't Western works, right?
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:40 pm Reply with quote
You're telling me that Mashima's too scared to kill off characters now because he thinks it'll get him cancelled? That's pathetic. Just how bad were the responses to the chapters where characters died in Rave Master? The deaths there and how they made me feel are a large part of why I consider Rave Master a good manga. Things had impact, unlike Afro Cat Immortal Makarov Fairy Tail.
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 981
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:50 pm Reply with quote
Mashima making FT a "Happy good lucky" Manga in response to Rave being so serious and kinda hopeless is an old fact that I thought everybody knew...

I am also surprised of people not knowing FT was made on a weekly basis, most Shounen Manga are made on the spot (this according to Death Note's Oba).

According to Oba, there are 2 types of Mangaka: "Calculatives", those you plan and then draw and "Impulsives", those who make-up the plot as they go.

And Calculatives, like himself and Togashi, are the minority for a long shot.

The most famous Impulsive is actually a woman: Rumiko Takahashi, if you guys think FT was random try reading Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha.

Anyways, what I am trying to say is that there is nothing weird nor special on how FT was written, most Shounen Manga are written on the spot, live and die for sells and popularity and try not to kill popular characters.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:50 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
I'm not ashamed at all, I had reasonable expectations. Like most long running battle shonens it started out rather formulaic. Other examples would be how Ushio & Tora started out as a standard monster of the week show, Hunter X Hunter started out as a simple kids go on an adventure, One Piece was a villain of the week type of show. It was just as I expected it to be,

But as the series goes on, you expect it to evolve and try new things. Not become stagnant and lazy. Needless was a show I knew would be schlocky, as it was incredibly obvious from the start, and even that was a bit more thoughtful with character development. FT had put some effort into it's world and seemed ready to expand into something.

I was never expecting fine art or even a well thought out epic adventure, I was expecting a competently put together action show with some character development.


You present some valid criticisms of the series (although when it comes to innovation or narrative competency, I'd consider Fairy Tail to be about average compared to the typical shonen that makes its way to the US) but whenever a moderator nukes 2/3rds of a Fairy Tail thread, it isn't because people are presenting well-reasoned arguments about how Fairy Tail's character development didn't live up to the potential set by its world-building, or that it didn't evolve and try new things. I can't help but feel like we'd get less trolling if the trolls understood that Fairy Tail's reliance on uninspired tropes was far from unusual.
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BigHeadClan



Joined: 21 Oct 2013
Posts: 283
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:26 pm Reply with quote
Fairy Tail had a lot of great moments, sadly the overall story could have done better had Hiro Mashima been willing to kill off a few characters.

As for contributions from the anime? The freaking music~! Sooo goood, have at least half a dozen guitar tabs for the series alone. lol
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:25 am Reply with quote
Cam0 wrote:
Quote:
You have traditionally used more Western influences in your work. What kind of Western work do you draw inspiration from?

About 30 years ago in Japan, there was a huge boom of RPG fantasy games, so those are where I got my inspiration from. For example, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.


Those aren't Western works, right?


Yeah, I was a bit confused by that.

Quote:
If you were in the world of Fairy Tail and you could have three people on your team, who would it be?

Lucy, Erza, and Juvia.


lol Mashima making it clear he wants the boobs.
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:52 am Reply with quote
That drawing of Brandish Surprised

"Man, I need to get into Fairy Tail..." Laughing
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:02 am Reply with quote
Cam0 wrote:
Those aren't Western works, right?


DQ and FF were inspired by Western fantasy board games though. Maybe he was thinking of that when he answered the question.
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tee2330



Joined: 11 Oct 2013
Posts: 64
PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:06 am Reply with quote
FilthyCasual wrote:
You're telling me that Mashima's too scared to kill off characters now because he thinks it'll get him cancelled? That's pathetic. Just how bad were the responses to the chapters where characters died in Rave Master? The deaths there and how they made me feel are a large part of why I consider Rave Master a good manga. Things had impact, unlike Afro Cat Immortal Makarov Fairy Tail.


I kinda see where he's coming from unlike most people I get SUPER invested into characters where it really makes me depressed when they die like akame ga kill, it was hard to watch the characters die I wanted them all the live I liked them too.

I can't watch game of thrones because I can't stand that feeling with all the dread I'm having about possibly losing my home and my lack of social activity I don't need anymore sadness in my life so if erza gray juvia or any other major character died on regular basis I wouldn't even read it.

I'm guessing he was trying to appeal to people like me hell when zeref and mavis died I was sad and I knew they were gonna from the get go
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Otaking09



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:06 am Reply with quote
So back when this anime originally came out back in 09, and most of me peers had a pretty good feeling it wasn't going to supersede the initial 48-52 episode allotment it had, lets just say that my hope for future shonen standards wasn't rekindled when it got boosted to 175.

However... fast-forward to last year, a couple months after the 2014 season ended, and having watched first 09 adaption, I finally see and realized that it's the kind of shonen that I used to love. Such old-fashioned renditions of this breezy genre take are far and few in-between (even the closest itch-scratcher Twin Star Exorcists was just a wee bit too SHOCK-DARK at times for my comfort).
After having seen how most shonen's want to overexert their substance into edge territory just because it's trendy and spicy now, I came into Fairy Tail with surprising, embracing warmth.

Sometimes, honest-to-goodness escapist adventures just goes down like your favorite candy growing up. Sure, the anime doesn't have the best budget, and the general aimlessness of how the arcs take place inbetween one another is just jarring, you can really get behind how enthusiastic Mashima is for his cheesy "power of friendship" sentiments.
I, for one, can't wait to see what he makes next, can't wait to finish the 2014 season, and look forward to the finale adaption.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:32 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
That has to do with the fact that in Rave Master, a lot of characters actually died and it turned out to be a sad story. When you are working on a manga in a magazine, it is up to the reader's polls and feedback whether you can actually stay in the magazine. To be quite honest, the chapters that have the death of a really important character get a lot of reaction. Knowing this, I really wanted to make sure that people don't die in my series.


Wow, that's... terrible. It's basically saying that your work is soulless.
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Nekelen Tinsley



Joined: 07 Feb 2016
Posts: 339
PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 4:08 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I honestly didn't have any idea what the last scene of the story was like in my mind when I started the series. The fact that I didn't know what was going to happen next was actually the best part of working on this series. For example, when there is a cliffhanger where the characters are in a really tight spot, the fans wonder what is going to happen next? Well, that's actually my question and I really have to think about it.

Pretty much sums up the last arc lol, That's a double edge sword if I've ever seen one.

Quote:
This my personal taste so I inserted it into the character. It's kind of my wish.

lolis LOL.

Quote:
One of the characters that I think of is Acnologia. In my mind, I had a deeper setting for this character. But the story is from the main character's point of view, so I couldn't really do that. I may have some time to explore the story of Acnologia at some point.

Real shame too, I really would have liked more on him. The stuff we got in the movie was pretty weak.
Quote:
There is a character named Brandish. I wish I could draw more of her.

I wish she could have had a better character arc.

Quote:
Fairy Tail, a lot of people love the world view of Fairy Tail, so it is actually possible to expand the story into a spin-off taken over by another creator, so it is kind of diversifying the intellectual property.

I actually would really like that, the first group to come to mind is jellal and the Crime Sorcière. They really were wasted, They dedicated their entire group to defeating zeref and didn't even meet him.

Quote:
To be quite honest, the chapters that have the death of a really important character get a lot of reaction. Knowing this, I really wanted to make sure that people don't die in my series.

Backlash was too much for ya eh LOL. If I remember correctly that's why kubo revied Byakuya .
Quote:
Lucy, Erza, and Juvia.

Team Fanservice LOL
Quote:
His pink hair! And the fact he gets motion sickness.

So basically nothing.
Quote:
One of the things I learned, and feel that I succeeded with in Fairy Tail is developing lots and lots of characters with very unique personalities. I would like to apply that in my next series too.

Give your next cast of characters character development as well and they'll be perfect(There are a few in ft but that's in the way minority).
Quote:
Sometimes we get in a conflict when the editor says one thing and I disagree and I push forward with what I believe in. If I don't succeed, I feel like I should have listened to him.

Nothing but respect for this.I like that you go with what you want and also that you can recognize your mistakes.
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Lelouch Vi



Joined: 05 Jun 2014
Posts: 126
PostPosted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:11 am Reply with quote
To be honest Mashima would be a manga god if he took his talents to the H-manga industry. Heck I'd even fully support him 100%
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SailorNaruto



Joined: 16 Mar 2016
Posts: 195
Location: Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 12:23 am Reply with quote
Ooh. I never realized how scarily identical the manga looked to one piece in the beginning. Wonder why he changed it so drastically. Oh well. I hate to say this but I'm honestly surprised the series has sold so much. Hiro's writing is kinda on the subpar side. I came into the series late but I fell in love with it instantly. And fell out of love almost as quickly. Don't get me wrong, I still have affection for the series, but not nearly as much as I did when I first started. I think it started during the aleverez arc started. That arc ruined so many characters it's not even funny. The asspulls got even more ridiculous, the fanservice got SOO much more frequent and random and took away from the seriousness. But I was truly done when spoiler[Erza, who had every bone in her body broken, propelled herself into the air to destroy a meteor]. I don't know, maybe I'm complaining too much. It's by no means a BAD series, just one that got severally messy in the end. I still feel like I'm a fan though Very Happy
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