Fans of Ao Haru Ride have continued to increase even more with the animated and film adaptations. For the romance comic that makes many readers’ hearts beat, how will they give birth to them? Furthermore, we’ll see some light shed on the unexpected reality of the occurring kisses that appeared in the comic! The second part to the must-read interview will now start!
— This year, with the animated [note 1] and film [note 2] adaptations, has become the year where the world of Ao Haru Ride has expanded. For the anime, what kinds of emotions did you have when you could see the characters move and talk?
Sakisaka: I was just so happy I cried! I was moved at the splendor of the characters I created moving, and my characters having voices attached to them was fresh and felt three-dimensional!
— When the series was adapted into an animated series, did you make any previous requests?
Sakisaka: I wanted the contours to be soft, and I asked to have the voice acting to to be intertwined with a fresh, raw performance.
Sakisaka: I wanted the contours to be soft, and I asked to have the voice acting to to be intertwined with a fresh, raw performance.
— The voices totally fit the image perfectly, didn’t they?
Sakisaka: Yes! The voice actors fit the image of my characters perfectly, yet, the performances exceeded far from what I had imagined them to be, and I can’t help but feel grateful. It’s not only the story, but I also love the opening (“Sekai ha Koi ni Ochiteiru”, CHiCO with HoneyWorks) and the ending songs (“Blue”, Fujifabric)… I thought that from the bottom of my heart, and I felt that I was so lucky.
— How will you do that?
Sakisaka: That’s true. So that I wouldn’t think, “The anime is interesting, and the original comic is boring”, I would brace myself more than ever. After that, I think the impact of anime is what what increased the influence from boys… it’s a little surprising, but I am very happy.
lamunetty notes: It looks like the question is cut off so that’s why it sounds like there’s no context.
— Looking back on the animated adaptation, what kind of strong feelings did you have?
Sakisaka: There was a great number of people affected by the setting of the anime… I felt the trouble of creating one thing with many people over again. But for that very reason, there was a feeling of excitement in the chemical reaction that occurred.
— Again, this December, we’re getting prepared for the live-action Ao Haru Ride movie to open in theaters. We’re fired up about things like the never-before-seen illustrated notebook bonus from advance ticket sales, and information about the event in honor of the film coming out.
Sakisaka: Since I’ve loved Tsubasa Honda [note 3] from the start, the moment I discovered she would play the role of Futaba, I was so happy. Because Kou’s a character who’s complicated on the inside, I think he’d be hard to play, so when I knew that Masahiro Higashide [note 4] is playing him, I felt at ease.
— What do you expect from the Ao Haru Ride movie?
Sakisaka: I’m very much looking forward to how the movie’s characteristic feeling of the atmosphere, the colors, and the composition, will be. Because it’s played out by actors in the flesh… I feel that I want the rawness to be skillfully done.
[Seite 2]
— Sakisaka-sensei, when did you actually start drawing comics? What kind of story did you draw?
Sakisaka: The first comic I drew was when I first got employed. With the goal of submitting. Now, I’ve been doing comics for girls ever since.
— What were you like as a middle to high school student? How much moments of “youth” did you have?
Sakisaka: I was a person who was shy, but once I’d get used to you, I’d become shameless. When I was in high school, I thought, “I’ll get wild with many of my friends and not fall in love”, so I decided not to enter any clubs.
— It’s as if your work has the feeling it has situations that carry out in real life, doesn’t it? The title of Ao Haru Ride is made up from the words “youth (ao haru) + ride (noru)”, so what are the factors that you think that “youth” is firm on?
Sakisaka: Love, failure, working to your utmost effort, blindness… I guess.
— In the comic, is there a scene you’ve experienced from your days growing up?
Sakisaka: Kou and Futaba’s “accidental kiss.”
— What?! Did that really happen, when you turn to face someone and kiss by chance…?
Sakisaka: That did happen. Getting such a clean hit… (laughs). I remember feeling in half-admiration, like, something like this really happened~
— Do you have thoughts like, “I wanted to experience this sort of part growing up”? Please tell me about the scenes that you’ve already drawn in Ao Haru Ride, and also the youth scenes that you want to try drawing from now on.
Sakisaka: I’ve admired a kiss in a classroom after school. While it’s too bad I haven’t had this experience, I thought it would be nice if I put it into a drawing, so I tried to draw it. I had fun drawing it after all!
— Did you read a lot of comics? Were you raised on comics for girls nonetheless?
Sakisaka: Yes. The one comic that got me into it from the beginning was Tokimeki Tonight (Koi Ikeno) [note 5]… when I was in elementary school. As for comic artists, the ones I feel I was influenced by are Ryo Ikuemi [note 6], Kazune Kawahara [note 7], Saho Fuyuno [note 8], Junko Kawakami [note 9]… and some others.
lamunetty notes: Makabe is the love interest in the story. Also, the cover of this book is the latest reprint of the series.
— How do you think of yourself as a comic artist?
Sakisaka: Regarding my work, I take it very seriously… since I became a comic artist, I’ve had times where I’ve discovered things like, “These sorts of things happened to me too.” The feelings I’ve had from my debut, where I won’t draw only the things I like, haven’t changed.
— From now on, do you have any type of works you want to try to challenge?
Sakisaka: Someday, I want to try drawing romance that’s a bit more mature. Things that are more and more painful realistically.
— Wow… I’d so want to read that!! If you drew a mature romance with your use of human psychology and sharp observations of behavior, that comic would turn out very deep.
How do you feel about Ao Haru Ride ranking in at #17 in the female readers section of Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2014?
Sakisaka: I’ll work hard more and more. Thank you very much!
— Ao Haru Ride has become your longest work, surpassing your previous work, Strobe Edge, at 10 volumes. Please tell us what we should look out for from now on in it.
Sakisaka: I would like you to look for the end of the school trip to Nagasaki, where Kou has gotten over everything, and how Touma will fight back to Kou’s counterattack.
— Now, as closing, please give a message to the readers.
Sakisaka: Ao Haru Ride is the ruling romance comic, therefore, I intended to carefully draw the subtleties of the heart, so I want you to enjoy the tremor of delicate feelings. I’m really happy to get an empathetic response on what I draw and interesting things people have told me. Thank you for your support!
Interview conducted by: Kozue Aou
[note 1] The Ao Haru Ride TV animated series was broadcasted from July 2014 to September 2014 on TOKYO MX, MBS, BS11, and some others. The protagonists, Futaba Yoshioka and Kou Mabuchi, are played by Maaya Uchida and Yuki Kaji, who Sakisaka-sensei highly approves of. The official site is aoha-anime.com.
[note 2] The movie Ao Haru Ride opens in theaters in December 2014. Tsubasa Honda and Masahiro Higashide, who play the roles of Futaba Yoshioka and Kou Mabuchi, are popular, distinctive mature young actors with true ability promoted as a hot topic. The official website is
www.aoha-movie.com
[note 3] An in-demand, super popular young actress who’s also a model. After debuting as an exclusive model for the fashion magazine Seventeen, she’s obtained tremendous popularity as an active exclusive model for Love Berry and non-no. After that, she’s not active in just modeling, but also as a media personality and an actress, and has also performed in numerous television dramas and movies.
[note 4] An actor and model. In high school, he debuted as the winner of the grand prix of the Men’s non-no exclusive model audition, and appeared in the Paris Collection as the active forefront. In 2012, he debuted as an actor in the movie The Kirishima Thing. While this was his debut work, his presence and acting ability were highly appreciated and gained attention. Furthermore, he appeared in both seasons of NHK’s morning television shorts, Amachan and Gochisousan, and achieved his big break in one fell swoop. From here on, he is scheduled to appear in top billing in Ao Haru Ride.
[note 5] A big hit and a romance fantasy by Koi Ikeno. It ran from 1982 to 1994 in Ribon (Shueisha), and in 1982, it was adapted into an animated series that also become a bit hit. With Ranze Eto as the main character in the first part, Narumi Ichihashi in the second part, and Aira Makabe in the third part, becoming three parts with three heroines from different generations holding special abilities. In 2013, a new, never-before-seen prequel, Tokimeki Tonight: The Circumstances of Shun Makabe (Shueisha) become a big topic when it went on sale and ranked in at #2 in Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2014, female readers section.
[note 6] A female comic artist. She’s best known for Barairo no Ashita and Kiyoku Yawaku. Kiyoku Yawaku was adapted into a live-action movie in 2013 starring Masami Nagasawa and Masaki Okada.
[note 7] A female comic artist. She’s best known for Sensei! and High School Debut. High School Debut was a mega hit and sold more than the cumulative total of 6,000,000 copies of the comic, and in 2011, it was adapted into a live-action movie starring Junpei Mizobata and Ito Ohno.
[note 8] A female comic artist. An illustrator. With her stylish designs and unique panel layouts, she’s gained core popularity. Currently, she’s mainly active as an illustrator. In addition, her husband is Taiyou Matsumoto, who is a comic artist just like her.
[note 9] A female comic artist. Her 4-panel comic, Paripari Densetsu, is currently being serialized in Feel Young (Shodensha), Choujo dakara tte. in the appendix of the synthesized literary magazine Da Vinci (Media Factory), and Nichiyoubi ha Marche de Bonbon in Cookie (Shueisha).
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