>>282397247
Memorial interview celebrating Junji Ito's 30 year mangaka anniversary
>Now that you have reached your 30 years anniversary as manga artist, please tell us how you feel.
Ito: Honestly, I feel like "did that much time pass?". When I debuted I wasn't particularly busy, doing both my work as a dental technician and mangaka for around three years. Around the three year mark, keeping up both work became tough, with me losing weight and turning thin, my weight turning to around 50 kg (laugh).
>Did your work go smoothly since your debut?
Ito: I think it always went smoothly. Since I was with "Monthly Halloween" I constantly could get work. When that magazine suspended publication, I also got to work with Shougakukan's "Big Comic Spirits". Of course, I also worked with "Strange Stories for Sleepless Nights" (Nemuki*). However, I slowly felt a slump creeping up on me. I never felt like that around the time I debuted. Like asking myself "A slump, what would that be?" (laugh)
* Shortened version of the Japanese name.
>Around when did that happen?
Ito: Around the time I was drawing "Uzumaki" I guess. Before that, I somehow never felt resigned, reasonably doing work I'm satisfied with. On top of that, with the years piling on, the ideas just wouldn't come as they did ... I lost the feeling of being omnipotent.
>Around when did you lose that feeling?
I guess about the time when I drew "Hanging Balloons". But even if the ideas wouldn't come to mind, I strangely never felt like quitting. There's been plenty in my life as a mangaka, but I have never felt like quitting, not even once. Being a mangaka is a fun job. Of course, drawing takes its toll on the body and it's tiresome. My trick for being able to work for so long could perhaps be me working at my own pace without forcing myself, and so not burdening myself with multiple serializations.
