To celebrate the work surpassing 5 million copies in sales, we interviewed Sakurabi Hashigo! This interview
is a must-see for fans, as it covers the main characters, Azumaya Junta and Saijo Takato, looks back on the previous episodes, introduces Sakurabi’s top 3 favorite episodes in the work, and introduces Sakurabi’s favorite BL settings!!
–Once again, congratulations on surpassing 5 million copies! The “Dakaichi” takeover that took place in July this year at the 1st floor entrance plaza of Animate Ikebukuro Main Store was a spectacular sight.
Sakurabi Hashigo Sensei (hereafter, Sakurabi): It was amazing. I was happy to see “Dakaichi” decorated in the spacious new entrance of Animate, and I’m sure the readers were happy too. It was my
first time to have the illustrations from “Dakaichi” printed on a large acrylic panel, and I was very impressed. The print was so beautiful, and it made me think that civilization is developing rapidly… (laughs). I think everyone wants to take photos (not just of “Dakaichi”), and this is a place that reflects that feeling.
— “Dakaichi” has been running for over 10 years, but compared to when the series was first created, are there any particular points that you still value and think are still important to you now? Conversely, have there been any changes in the way you approach the work?
Sakurabi: I think characters grow and change as I draw them, but the part I think I don’t want to change is the fundamental personality of the character that I set at the beginning. I think that’s what makes
an impression on people when they start reading the work, and personally, I think there are some things that never change no matter how much a person grows, so I want to let them grow within that without changing their foundation.
My own approach to my work has changed since “Dakaichi” became a long story. In the early days, I tried to pack everything I wanted to do into each episode… The story was dense, but the number of pages was limited, so I couldn’t dig that deep. However,
when it becomes a long story, I can look ahead in the long term and think, “I’ll bring out this problem (in the story) here,” and I have the leeway to carefully draw each one of them, so the way I structure the story has changed. Like, “I’ll lay the groundwork for a story to come out later here, and put this off for now.”
So, even if you’re reading the story now, I’m sure there are still some parts where you feel like, “This problem hasn’t been resolved, what happens?”
–Earlier you were talking about the parts that haven’t changed, but could you tell us how you feel Azumaya-kun and Takato-san have grown?
Sakurabi: Takato-san is basically someone who doesn’t have many friends… (laughs). He has a self-contained side to him, solving all his problems on his own, and if you want to call him strong, you could say he is. He has a very narrow private zone, but when he started dating Azumaya-kun, I felt like the width of his private zone became wider.
This wasn’t intentional, but while I was drawing him, I thought, “Oh, this guy has gotten better at interacting with people” (laughs). I think he has become more mellow. However, sometimes I wonder, “Is it okay for him to stay so mellow?”, so I make him raise some issues and draw him while remembering the original Takato.
–What do you think about Azumaya-kun?
桜日：東谷くんは、高人さんと深い関係になる前はあまり人間味がない人でしたね。でも高人さんと出会ってやっと人間社会と関わりを持つようになっていきます。
ただこれも、全て高人さんありきの関わり方なので、これは東谷くんの課題になってきます。高人さんが自分を通さなくても東谷くんが社会とやっていけるように仕向けようとしている節もあるので、そこで東谷くんが変わるか変わらないかは物語上、なるようにしかならないなと思っています（笑）。
けれども、東谷くんも高人さんと親しく近しい関係になり、恋仲になっていく過程で覚えていった感情がたくさんあるので、人間味に変化があったと思います。
コメント