Continuing from last week’s article (#17), the second half of the Hayato Tashiro’s interview with Hiroyuki Takei’s Shaman King The Super Star Editor, Y-da has been published on the Japanese website Magmix.
The interview continues in Hiroyuki Takei’s office, where he is working while listening to the conversation.
The following is a rough English translation for the interview portion of the Magmix article. The original article in Japanese can be found here. Supplemental images are included throughout and additional background information not included in the original Japanese interview is referenced is included at the end of this English article. Some additional points of clarification have been added to the rough English translation, which may contain some small errors or difference in interpretation from the original Japanese.
Leading Up to Hayato Tashiro’s 20th Anniversary Participation
Editor Y-da (hereinafter as Y-da): The stories of the early days when Takei-sensei and Hayato Tashiro-san moved to Tokyo to start creating is very interesting as it was before my time. You left that game company after that and started your own with some friends, right? Was this influenced by the topics you discussed with Takei-sensei about creating works?
Hayato Tashiro (hereinafter as Tashiro): Yes, that’s correct. I wanted to enter the games industry, so I started only with making background music and sound effects. But my dream was to “make the whole thing,” so I thought it was worth the risk to be able to do that with a new company. I guess that’s partly what influenced me to take on that adventure.
Y-da: Your dream did eventually became true, as you were able to make it.
Tashiro: Yes, of course, with a lot of hard work (laughs). In the beginning, I planned, wrote the screenplay, wrote the script, gameplay design, sound design, and directed… I just kept doing what I could and couldn’t do.
It became a small family; that’s how the staff was. During that time, new ideas would spawn after talking with Takei-kun which was very helpful; the memories of those days were motivation to move forward. Both Takei-sensei and I became very busy and didn’t visit as often as we would have liked…
It was an important time when we worked together, and now we are doing so again based on the experiences we had since then.
Y-da: Yeah, that’s right. After all, I did play the game you made.
Tashiro: That’s a surprise! (laughs)
Y-da: Once upon a time, I was a gamer of all genres, so I played the Dreamcast version of the Kimi ga Nozomu Eien game which introduced me into the bishojo genre of PC games. I also have some of the limited-time goods. (laughs)
Tashiro: Thank you for your support! (laughs)
Y-da: The first time I met Tashiro-san was at the first Shaman King Exhibition at the Tokyo Solamachi venue. I had heard from Takei-sensei beforehand “I have a friend I’d like to work with in the future, so I’ll introduce him to you.” At the time I didn’t connect your name, Hayato Tashiro, to the Kimi ga Nozomu Eien work so I was surprised to find that out later.
Tashiro: I am very grateful. Wasn’t it a bit too suspicious… to meet an unknown person that you would need to work with? It was really fortunate to get over that quickly. Thanks to Takei-kun’s trust and T-da-san’s hobbies we’ve been able to work on projects very smoothly. (laughs)
The Truth About the “Author’s Recovery”
Tashiro: So do you have any interesting stories to share about ongoing series Shaman King: The Super Star?
Y-da: Actually, Sensei had a clear vision on what he wanted the story to be from the start, so I left that in his hands. I was originally worried about the connection to Shaman King: Flowers, but he decided to start with Alumi and have an easy-to-follow story with her. Oh, there is one other story to tell.
Tashiro: What’s that?
Y-da: This is the story when Sensei was hospitalized. At the Shaman King Exhibition, you may have seen a patient’s hospitalization bracelet on a manikin. At that time…. and this is probably the first time it was said, but he was catheterized for a disease called “atrial fibrillation.” So I asked Sensei if he would be okay.
“Are you sure you are ready for this, Sensei?” was all I could think about. It was something completely different I had never experienced before (laughs)
Tashiro: I’m really glad he was able to recover….
Y-da: Very true. Are you aware of the delirium from anesthesia is? When he woke up from the anesthesia, he was in a state of confusion, the Sensei couldn’t recognize me at first since his memory was so fuzzy.
I had been with him for a while up to that point, so I was slightly shocked that he forgot me. But as time went he gradually recognized me, but he didn’t understand why I was there. I was slightly shocked again…. So that was a bit interesting, no? (laughs)
Tashiro: Quite sobering and melancholy… (laughs)
Y-da: Anyways, did you see the latest news? Starting on November 16th the Seibu Line has been outfitted with new hanging ads?
Tashiro: Yes, were talking about the concept of “Kakitasu tasanai” (書き足す・足さない), right? Come to think of it, Takei-kun mentioned that a little while ago.
Y-da: While I won’t go into the details, there was a lot of preparation that when into it and it used up some of Sensei’s vacation. As a result Sensei didn’t have time to go looking for another toy for his hobbies, and it was one that is almost impossible to find. ….In the end he was able to find it, but the next time it happens I want to find it as an apology.
Tashiro: (Great laughter) That’s really funny. Is this something that happens often to you Y-da-san?
Y-da: If you are interested, I can tell you of many times.
The Next Arc of 2021
Tashiro: Is there anything you are looking forward to in 2021?
Y-da: How about… “The Super Star’s next story arc will become a reality?” With Tashiro-san and Takei-sensei here, I think it’s OK to announce.
Tashiro: Is it okay for you to say that!? Thank you for this announcement. I’ll be looking forward to working with you more closely in the future. I think comes as a big surprise and the timing of this interview was just right.
Y-da: For 2021 there are also many other plans being worked on, including the already announced TV anime, the Shaman King Exhibition in Izumo, and your involvement Tashiro-san. Once again, thank you for your assistance.
Tashiro: No, no, thank you for everything you’ve done. Thank you for taking your time for this.
The Shaman King Exhibition had multiple venues in 2019 & 2020, and for the first venue in November 2019 we covered some of the details before the event. Also mentioned in the Shaman King Exhibition Fan Meet-up Twitter Venue Day 1, Y-da mentioned that displaying the medical bracelet at the venue was Takei’s idea.
The Shaman King: The Super Star went on an extended 5-month hiatus in the Shonen Magazine Edge issues from January through May 2019. This hiatus was extended slightly to allow Hiroyuki Takei to recover. The Shaman King: Red Crimson manga series also went on a shorter 3-month hiatus during this same time, as Hiroyuki Takei provides significant story input. As alluded to in the interview, this was a planned procedure and the notice of the hiatus was included in the magazine.
The concept of “Kakitasu tasanai” (書き足す・足さない) is not a common phrase, so it’s a bit hard to describe into English. It’s the combination of “to add to”, such as adding to a list, and “nothing added”, as in nothing changed. These train ads that are being displayed advertise the “Funbari Onsen” as a real location using the same style of ads as real onsen (hot springs) locations do. While talking about this concept, Takei may be referring to adding his own spin on these type of ads, but not taking away their feeling.
Patch Cafe is currently working on a long form article about these train ads which will be posted soon. Be sure to check back on this website or follow us on Twitter, @ShamanKingNews, when that article is posted.
At the end of the interview there was an announcement of a new story arc for the Shaman King: The Super Star manga that’s currently ongoing. Unlike previous manga series, this is defined by labeled story arcs. While some news outlets may have reported that the series was coming to an end, this was false, and only related to the end of the story arc. These story arcs in The Super Star have the following titles:
- Itako No Anna The 3rd
- Death Zero From Flowers
- Dai Butsu Zone
The “Dai Butsu Zone” arc is the current story arc that has started in the 5th volume of Shaman King: The Super Star releasing in Japan on January 15th, 2021. These first 3 story arcs were originally previewed in a special “Prologue” chaptered that functioned like a “movie trailer” style for the series that was published in Shonen Magazine Edge on April 17th, 2018. This prologue trailer helped show Takei’s initial design for the series.
The first four volumes of Shaman King: The Super Star will be released in English worldwide digitally from Kodansha Comics in December. The first chapter is available for reading now via the Kodansha Comics website. This will bring English readers caught up to the Japanese volume releases for the manga series.
