Apothecaries and Assassins: Q&A with Minoji Kurata

Nothing about Washington DC was what Minoji Kurata expected. First, she had been told to prepare for hot, muggy weather so she wore a traditional yukata, but the air was unseasonably cool. Nothing prepared her for American fans either, who she described as “passionate,” surprising her by cosplaying even outside the convention, unlike in Japan.

Kurata had plenty of surprises for the fans as well. As she drew live sketches of Maomao, Jinshi, and other characters, she answered questions through a translator about her work on The Apothecary Diaries manga, the Assassin's Creed manga, and her favorite movie genres. Here are some of Kurata's answers about her work, her hobbies, and her life.

When she started drawing manga: “I was four or five when I started drawing manga. It didn't really come to me yet that I wanted to draw manga; it was just something that I did.”

Her age when she first got her manga published: “I think it was when I was seven.”

Her earliest inspiration: “When I was little I used to do a lot of sketches of Yu Yu Hakusho.”

Her thoughts on The Apothecary Diaries anime: “I'm not involved with the anime at all… Even though I work on the manga, it's based on the light novel. I consider myself more of a fellow fan of the anime. When I watched it I thought, 'Oh, Maomao's moving! That's very exciting!'”

What she thinks about being one of two artists working on different manga adaptations of the same Apothecary Diaries light novels: “If I got started on that subject, it would take a whole day.”

How she conducted research for The Apothecary Diaries: “I traveled to China to take a lot of reference photos of palaces and rural villages to get the look and feel of the story.”

The easiest and hardest The Apothecary Diaries characters for her to draw: “Gaoshun is the easiest. The most difficult to draw would be Jinshi, because he's so good-looking it makes me nervous.”

What would happen if she met Maomao in person: “I might distance myself.”

If she could change anything about the original material: “I was thinking maybe of making the Jinshi and the frog scene a little longer.”

Favorite character dynamic to illustrate: “Between Jinshi and Maomao, I really like when they're interacting not as two people in a love relationship, but partnering up to solve mysteries.”

The most challenging thing for her to draw: “I really hate doing battle scenes.”

Favorite manga: “Half God by Moto Hagio.”

How long it takes to draw a full-color manga cover: “Maybe about 15 hours or so.”

Her favorite scene to draw from The Apothecary Diaries: “The scene where Loulan falls.”

The fan feedback she loves to receive: “When they say my work is easy to understand.”

Her digital drawing tool of choice: “Right now, I'm using Clip Studio.”

What's always on TV in the background while she's drawing manga: “I love horror movies playing in the background. When it's music it just makes me sleepy.”

Dream manga adaptation project: “I would love to draw a horror genre manga.”

Why she no longer draws as a hobby: “I used to doodle a lot, but now I have a young child, so now a lot of my free time is focused on parenting.”

Her daily routine: “I have a workplace outside my own house. I go to the office around 8 in the morning and usually finish up around 4 PM. If I really need to keep on working, I'll stay until midnight.”

What she likes to do on her day off: “I walk my dog and I go hiking.”

Her job before she became a manga artist: “I used to work for a company before becoming a manga artist.”

What she'll never do: “I definitely never want to work for a company again.”