TSB :: Interview: The integration of the enjoyability of video game live streams into manga.

An interview with Yasunori Mitsunaga about his manga series and other topics.
Published by ComiSpe! (comicspace) in Japanese here.

---

Yasunori Mitsunaga-sensei, original author of the anime-adapted series “Kaibutsu Oujo” (Princess Resurrection) and other works touching various manga genres, is challenging for the first time the isekai genre with his manga series: “Jikan Teishi Yuusha (Time Stop Brave) – A game setting to save the world in three days is way too short” (hereafter referred to as “Time Stop Brave”).

Over time, the series has become quite popular among manga fans. So much so that, in Nico Nico Manga 2020 in Data that was announced at the end of last year, the series won 1st place in the most read official manga category!

Synopsis: “Twitter is raging about it! My life is over!!” At that moment, KUZUNO Sekai, an ordinary high-school student, was transported to another world. Furthermore, he was given the overpowered ability “Time Stop”!! In a frenzy, Sekai started flipping girls' skirts left and right. And yet, the seemingly invincible ability is subject to unexpected limitations ......?!

This time, I interviewed Yasunori Mitsunaga-sensei to commemorate the release of Volume 4. Could Sekai-kun's perverted sexual harassments be motivated by ... the author's inner desires?! Plus, we talked about “Kaibutsu Oujo Nightmare” (Princess Resurrection Nightmare), which is being serialized in “Monthly Shonen Sirius” at the same time!

(Interview & Text: Cars SP ; Edit: Kohei Yagi)
(Translation: Mezawari Translations ; Source article date: 2021/01/13)

• The isekai boom was a game changer for the manga industry.

—— What motivated you to start drawing “Time Stop Brave”?

Yasunori Mitsunaga-sensei (hereafter: Mitsunaga): The trendy isekai genre piqued my interest. I believe it was a massive game changer for the manga world. In old-fashioned fantasy series, the hurdle of explaining the world setting from the get-go set the barrier to entry too high.

—— And of course, in traditional fantasy, the first step was naturally to explain how the world and the magic work.

Mitsunaga: By contrast, in isekai, if you incorporate, as a template, concepts that are commonly known, then the explanation part may be left out, and immersion into the world setting becomes easy. I feel that isekai is a reader-friendly genre that does not require any explanation of the premise.

—— It's not unusual to have a tacit rule such as a fire-type monster being weak against water, is it?

Mitsunaga: Such a common knowledge has already been established between the author and the reader. I was fascinated by the situation where everyone was interested in a world setting shared among a huge community.

People these days are experiencing RPG games, and movies such as “Harry Potter”, and “The Lord of the Rings”. With that as a basis for an isekai, it's totally fine to get straight to the main point right away.

I thought to myself “Hmm, the rules of the manga world have changed”. And frankly speaking, I wanted to challenge the genre of the newly emerged rules.

—— When a status screen appears, even though the story is set in a fantasy world, we do accept it without finding it out of place.

Mitsunaga: I think you can see that isekai fantasy is already in a state where anything works. And yet, the barrier to entry is still not too high. Rather, entry is becoming easier, which is, in my opinion, the motive to draw isekai.

• An experience-based manga that you can enjoy as if you are watching a video game live stream.

Mitsunaga: Another trait of isekai is that there are many Cheat / OP main characters*. A big contributor to that is that readers enjoy the feeling of excitement when the main character is invincible.

Instead of fighting a rival head-to-head in a close call fight, the main character clears the hurdle with ease. Don't you think that this is similar to watching a video of a high-level game player?

(* Cheat / OP: Both are internet slang which mean that the main character is too strong or powerful.) (TN: The Japanese equivalent of "OP" is "TUEEE".)

—— If we put it that way ...... For example, if someone does an RTA game clear of “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” in less than 30 minutes, suddenly we find ourselves in the “OP character” category.

Mitsunaga: In videos of very good gamers, even when they face an opponent that puts up a hard fight, it feels good to watch them smoothly beat up the opponent. Concurrently, the “OP character” category is a major trait that represents isekai, and makes you think “At this point, this should be a super-power”.

But then, as I thought to myself “What could possibly be the strongest of them all?”, Time Stop came to mind in about two seconds. And so I thought, “There's probably no other power that can top it”.

—— The analog method of using a game controller to stop time is quite unique.

Mitsunaga: Since isekai has a game-like component to it, I immediately came up with the idea of making a manga about pressing the pause button, while playing a game, to stop time for a while.

While I'm in the middle of playing a game, and I encounter a strong opponent, first of all, I hit the pause button, drink some tea, calm down, and in some cases I exit the game and I go have some fun elsewhere.

—— Sekai does the same, right? When some Event happens or when he gets stuck, first of all, he stops time for a moment, then he starts thinking.

Mitsunaga: In general, I think people who play games behave like that. That's why I thought that a main character that stops time would make a reader feel like they are actually playing a game, thus they become attached to the story.

—— So the joy of reading “Time Stop Brave” is similar to the joy of watching a gameplay live stream ...... That makes a lot of sense.

Mitsunaga: I have Sekai-kun take actions that the readers would have thought of doing personally. When I started the serialization, I thought it would be good to make such experience-based manga. I try really hard to keep in mind the assumption that when a reader is reliving the events, they then have become Sekai-kun.

• The author's strong intention manifested into bear-san panties.

—— When a female character appears, do you also begin to have thoughts about wanting to look under her skirt?

Mitsunaga: Absolutely. Let's suppose for instance that I'm playing a precision-crafted open-world VR game, where I can hop on a train to travel. The first thing I would probably do is to lie down on the stairs of a station.

(Everyone laughed)

—— If it's about a game that allows you to change camera angles, then I think many people can relate to some game that made them wonder if the game developers even made what's under skirts properly, and so they checked.

Mitsunaga: I'm actively putting in thinking that the series will not be experience-based unless I draw the part that a male reader would normally attempt to do. For example, testing out the limit of the low camera angle.

—— Don't you think twice whether they will even attempt to take off panties? (LOL)

Mitsunaga: Before serialization began, I had a meeting with two editors in charge. We discussed whether I should include erotism, and if so, how far I can go. After careful consideration, the resolution was “Once time is stopped, erotism is absolutely unavoidable. Let's do it!”. So I floored it, so to speak.

—— Sekai-kun, who shows us readers not only panties but also boobs, is our brother-in-arms!

Mitsunaga: That is because he is a protagonist that does things readers cannot do. I feel that everyone is having fun as Sekai vigorously strips off clothing.

I would be happy if readers thought of it as “I'm holding back from that, but I still want to see him do it.”

—— I believe Niña was the first victim of Sekai's sexual harassments.

Mitsunaga: The first panel of the first chapter of this manga, shows bear-san panties. Nonetheless, that part is also my own way of hinting that “This is the line of reality of this world.”

If you stick to the technical level of the Middle Ages, you can't bring out modern panties anymore. But there, I brought out bear-san panties to show that this is a manga with a very loose setting.

—— This is about the citizens not being able to afford to wear cloth made with modern sewing technology, right?

Mitsunaga: Even if I were to make the setting as close to reality as possible, no one would benefit from it. That is why I went as far as to ignore reality. As the author, I want to see people with modern panties, and so does everyone else. The manifestation of my intention to take that seriously is the “bear-san panties”.

• Drawing a manga about the deeds of a player that temporarily stops time before a boss fight.

—— What's also interesting about “Time Stop Brave” is the full exploitation of time stop to also spend months fighting a sandworm, or subjugate a tower, in order to forcibly clear game stages.

Mitsunaga: Once time is stopped in a different world, the rest is analog to solving a chess problem. But then I start to question whether it would be a stupid idea to draw, about what is essentially “Everyone thinks they will be invincible when they stop time, right? But I, on the other hand, run into a lot of trouble!” (LOL). And so, the premise of this manga became the materialization of that in various ways.

—— Even when time is stopped, it's equally as interesting to see Sekai struggle through trial and error, and even end up subjugating a completely unrelated dungeon.

Mitsunaga: If we consider the kind of gameplay provided by the “Return by death” ability, the reason why the main character is invincible, in the movie “All You Need Is Kill”, is because no matter how many times he dies, he remembers the game of the same stage. That's precisely how each of us feels when playing games.

—— So it's the same as repeatedly playing and clearing stages in “Super Mario”.

Mitsunaga: When I play a “Legend of Zelda” game, or even “The Witcher 3”, I definitely hit Pause in boss rooms. In the meantime, I go check out walkthrough pages for example, and I might even leave the game stopped for a while, while I work out a counter-measure.

I integrate in the manga, actions commonly taken within such gameplay. So when readers think “The main character is doing what we would do in a game”, I begin to wonder how easy it is to get a lot of sympathy.

—— It's a manga that truly provides a gaming experience.

Mitsunaga: Sekai-kun is a modern person and a gamer. So the basic thing to do is to, first of all, hit Pause, and do some research, before getting to the beating. He doesn't want to sustain damage, because he doesn't know if he will have another chance once he dies. That is especially true since, in difficult games, there's always a place where one dies.

—— People generally fail their first attempt.

Mitsunaga: Since Sekai cannot allow himself to fail his first attempt, he slapped together a stone bridge and he crossed over it. Accordingly, even if he makes a great detour, deep inside he believes it's the natural thing to do.

—— There was a situation where Leafa almost killed him with her first move, and that got him close to ending his first attempt.

Mitsunaga: As it turns out, even in a game, if you mock play*, you surprisingly die a worthless death (LOL).

(* mock play: To shoddily play a game.)

—— There are certain times where even Sekai-kun gets carried away.

Mitsunaga: In the first place, Sekai got into a lot of heat in the real world. So he seems to be the kind of guy who gets mildly cocky, looks smug, and for better or for worse, makes blunders.

—— I'm curious about the content of the tweet that got him into heat, back when he had blundered.

Mitsunaga: It's really difficult to draw such tweet without making it feel uncomfortable. So ...... There's actually an episode in Atsushi Kase-sensei's manga series “Chameleon” where if you submit a photo of a Yankee acting cocky, and it appears on a magazine, then you become a local hero.

The protagonist had found a Jizō (statue) with the head torn off and lying down. So he held the head, took a picture, and gagged “Nobody is as damned as I am!”. But he, Yazawa-kun, wasn't even the one who destroyed the Jizō (LOL).

When I read this, I thought to myself “What a great idea”, and so I held Atsushi Kase-sensei in high esteem.

—— Treating the heat of the tweet as a gag, and even pulling off a laugh. It does seem very difficult to strike the right balance.

Mitsunaga: With the episode where Sekai-kun blundered, the first thing that came to my mind is this story from “Chameleon”. However, I couldn't come up with any ideas beyond this one. After all, Kase-sensei is amazing! And so once again, I realized how outstanding he is.

[ Page 1/4 ]

---

• A character design that does not betray the expectation from fantasy that future generations will have.

—— Now I would like to dig deeper into the characters. Let's start with Niña.

Mitsunaga: I needed someone to listen to Sekai who was initially in jail. She was born from the idea that the person should be a thief girl.

And regardless, since the manga shows perversion, I wanted to wash the entire series a tad by showing an innocent little girl.

—— A girl that "purifies" and "washes away" the lewdness (LOL)

Mitsunaga: She's like a refreshing agent that comes to clear our minds a little.

—— What about Fury?

Mitsunaga: I had a meeting with the editor-san in charge regarding whether she should be “a slave elf or a dark elf”.

—— And from the looks of it, the slave elf option was rejected.

Mitsunaga: “A girl that used to have a high social status, but she fell into slavery, hence she has a very high sense of pride” ...... Right now, Fury carries that to some extent, but for simplicity, we went by the looks, and we decided “it's nice to have a dark elf”. The editor-san here was recommending very passionately “DARK ELF! DARK ELF!”.

Editor in charge: What can I say, when Pirotess appeared in “Record of Lodoss War”, I fell so hard for her that it almost became a trauma (LOL).

Since Niña is petite, I figured it would be nice to have some honka donkers action. And speaking of big bazongas, dark elves are the go-to preference ...... That and Arshes Nei from “Bastard!!” looks really good!

Mitsunaga: I believe that, with respect to the Japanese people, those two symbolize what to expect from a dark elf. Similarly, when we speak of “female warriors”, the first thing that comes to mind is an illustration by Akira Toriyama-sensei of a female warrior wearing a “Dragon Quest III” helmet.

I think these have become common expectations for quite a number of generations.

—— It's probably because everyone experiences, say, a big hit game or movie, as a common experience.

Mitsunaga: For the main heroine, I wanted to honestly uphold those expectations.

—— What about Leafa Cloby? The way she pretentiously praises herself every time makes me laugh.

Mitsunaga: She's a swordmaster, yet, with modesty thrown out the window, she became strangely elated, then she became able to perform movements very easily. Ever since the “swordmaster's sword was stolen” event, back when Sekai was fighting the sandworm, I decided that she should make an appearance. And speaking of swordmasters, the first one that came to mind was Hobyrim from the game “Tactics Ogre”.

—— Is that where you drew your inspiration from?

Mitsunaga: I think those who played “Tactics Ogre” would find appreciation for Hobyrim-sensei.

—— He is an ally that inspires confidence, except in the Law route, isn't he? However, what you draw is a swordswoman, not a blind old man.

Mitsunaga: Knowing that, when stripped, those who are not interesting are men, and those who are interesting are women, the character choice in this manga is becoming more and more biased ...... (LOL). I think she grew up to be a character with, for example, a long self-introduction, even though that's not how she used to be.

—— Personally, I'm a big fan of Gankichi. Would you please elaborate on the episode where Gankichi was born?

Mitsunaga: As the readers have noticed, it had become apparent that it is quite impossible for Sekai-kun alone to move certain things while time is stopped. In the early days, he used to carry Fury and Niña in a hand cart.

Even so, it's still troublesome if there's no one to support Sekai. Gankichi came into the scene because Sekai himself would have desperately wanted such person as well.

—— What is the reason behind making Gankichi a golem?

Mitsunaga: When it comes to employment of monsters, golems were the easiest to imagine. The decision followed right after.

Editor in charge: I like that scene where Sekai-kun had just started working with Gankichi while time was stopped, and they gave each other a high five (LOL).

—— Back then, did Sekai order Gankichi through his mind to give him a high five?

Editor in charge: Since Gankichi spontaneously flips Fury's apron, and Gankichi also acts autonomously, I'm not exactly sure what happened there (LOL). Gankichi can't speak, so it's nice to have some sort of emotions at unexpected moments such as that one.

[ Page 2/4 ]

---

• Readers getting a similar feeling to that of watching a live stream, is what makes “Time Stop Brave” appealing.

—— Are there any difficulties/problems unique to this manga?

Mitsunaga: The time schedule within the story is secretly a source of trouble. I get confused about which of the three days is today? or I be like ...... isn't it early morning now?

When Sekai stops time because he needs to sleep, it doesn't matter, but that's not the case when it comes to Fury and the others around him. While the people around him live in a straight timeline, Sekai lives in a nonsensical time. Rubbing the two together is what makes, in all modesty, a difficult problem that is unique to “Time Stop Brave”.

—— Do you have a hard time, for example, trying to avoid the design of “Princess Resurrection Nightmare” although some grotesque creatures do appear?

Mitsunaga: For “Princess Resurrection Nightmare”, I fundamentally decided not to include any fantasy-type monsters.

—— I see. So you're saying: Because it has a modern setting, I adopted ideas from Cthulhu mythos and Gothic horror, however ......

Mitsunaga: Right. In other words, I didn't want to introduce any RPG-type monsters, as much as possible. Ever since the time I was drawing my earlier work, “Princess Resurrection”, I had already decided “from where and to what extent should monsters be taken in”. It's because I didn't want “Princess Resurrection” to stray away from the horror theme.

—— Editor-san, from your point of view, where lies the appeal of the current work?

Editor in charge: In “Time Stop Brave”, I really enjoy the extent to which things can become ridiculous.

The series is also publicly released in Nico Nico Seiga's “Suiyoubi no Sirius” (Wednesday Sirius), and the fans come up with funny reactions in the comments section.

They don't hold back on expressing their joy with reactions like “LOL” or “This guy is terrible”. I think that this resemblance to live streams is what makes “Time Stop Brave” appealing.

—— A special feature to an experience-based manga, huh.

Editor in charge: A chapter published in “Monthly Shonen Sirius” is afterwards broken down into parts which get uploaded to Nico Nico Seiga. But since we’re having the high points precisely made into first half, middle, and latter half, each uploaded part properly delivers a punch line.

—— How many climaxes do you make in a chapter? And are you deliberately making these cut points?

Mitsunaga: In my manga, all episodes are made to end at the bottom left of a left page. So I believe that makes it okay to cut a chapter at about anywhere.

Editor in charge: And of course, they are precisely made so that they can be well-received when read from a volume. But since they have a high affinity for web publication, they will definitely be enjoyed even when a chapter is split and uploaded to Nico Nico Seiga.

It's a venue readers can enjoy in various ways, but which still has an appeal different to that of “Princess Resurrection Nightmare”.

Mitsunaga: I want to include more and more things, that people find interesting, into the storyboard. So I'm happy to hear feedback.

Editor in charge: The beginning of “Time Stop Brave” is similar to the beginning of other isekais. However, as the story progresses, it starts to look completely different. The ideas, how they unfold and how they are kept going, are amazing. I think Mitsunaga-sensei's mastery is very remarkable.

Mitsunaga: Whenever possible, I let the readers make their predictions (of what will happen next), then I betray them by showing my own predictions. Every time, I just frantically do what I hope everyone will find interesting.

Whenever Sekai does something ridiculous that exceeds the readers' expectations, I feel happy when they think “I never imagined this level of silliness was achievable” (LOL).

• The weirdness of conversations, that can only come out as stupid, add to the beauty of “Time Stop Brave”.

—— Mitsunaga-sensei, what is your favorite episode / scene?

Mitsunaga: The time when people had to be evacuated from the city. Back when I was thinking about this manga in the short term, I prepared this episode as an intermediate goal, with the intention that, if I could draw such thing, then I would have achieved a minimum amount of satisfaction.

—— Chapter 9 of volume 3 was a major stopping point, wasn't it?

Mitsunaga: The idea came to me when I asked myself “If I could stop time, what could be the number one good deed achievable?”. Later on, while serialization was moving forward, I felt that it would have been great if the entire city could have been physically saved as well.

—— What about you editor-san, what was your favorite scene?

Editor in charge: The one at the very beginning where a special move called [Disarm] was introduced. The move was launched onto Clau, a strong-willed princess knight; but damn, that double-page spread was gorgeous.

Mitsunaga: I'm glad we came up with a name for that move.

Editor in charge: Another scene is the one where the enemy's female leader (Zaraza) appeared in front of Sekai.

—— The move that doesn't actually disarm, but still strips someone (LOL).

Editor in charge: When Sekai nicely egged her (Zaraza) on, and had her clothes taken off, the situation started to look like rakugo, and I was like way to go Mitsunaga-san! (LOL).

Fury's cold eyes and the silly poses she (Zaraza) took up, among other things, are also extremely good! The way a sommelier kind of guy appeared in the middle of it was also funny, and I was laughing at the cook-san, or rather Sekai-kun, gently holding down his crotch. You know ...... This conversation, that can only come out as stupid, is the greatest ......

(Everyone laughed)

Mitsunaga: When the readers are happy with things, they say “Do it more! Take off more clothes!”, and it's awful to see the situation escalate. It's difficult to decide how far I can go with erotism while maintaining the balance of the story.

[ Page 3/4 ]

---

• “Princess Resurrection Nightmare” is about “a feeling of reunion with nostalgic friends”.

—— I would like to inquire about “Princess Resurrection Nightmare” which is concurrently being serialized in “Monthly Shonen Sirius”. What was the reason behind rebooting your earlier work “Princess Resurrection”?

Mitsunaga: I actually published a manga called “Avarth” before doing that. I had heard that it didn't do too badly based on the polls, but then, talks came up about the volumes not doing well in sales, and I was generously offered to keep going, but I decided to stop.

—— I was looking forward to reading what would have happened next in “Avarth”.

Mitsunaga: So, as a means of rehabilitation, I made the suggestion that I want to draw some more of “Princess Resurrection”. Sometimes the editorial department would tell me that “it would be good to have short stories (of Princess Resurrection) drawn”, and I personally felt the desire to read them, so I started drawing.

—— Did you have an epiphany while drawing the same characters once again?

Mitsunaga: Even when I restarted drawing them after a number of years, I felt once again that Hime and the other heroines move totally on their own will. It was a feeling of reunion with nostalgic friends.

—— You spoke earlier about the difference between monsters, but are there any other differences between “Time Stop Brave” and “Nightmare”?

Mitsunaga: In “Time Stop Brave”, the story is connected all along, but “Nightmare” is a collection of short stories. In “Time Stop Brave”, the story follows the subjective perspective of Sekai-kun, whereas “Nightmare” is structured as a removed objective observation of everyone.

• Motivation for work comes from finding an enjoyable part each time.

—— Is there anything that has changed between the initial serialization of “Time Stop Brave” and now?

Mitsunaga: Not in particular, I guess. As new characters keep on appearing, and the story goes on, I keenly feel that my comprehension of “Time Stop Brave” deepens. It's a manga that can all along remain in, what could be called, an initial ambition state, where the initial drive of “Let's do this in this manga!” is present.

—— Is there something you do to maintain your motivation?

Mitsunaga: No, not in particular. I guess I usually kind of draw time and time again for my enjoyment.

—— So you're saying that you actively find enjoyable parts in your work?

Mitsunaga: Correct! That's exactly how it is. I think that, for the type of manga artist-san that, when there's material that they want to draw, they serialize because they want to put it into shape, the interest in that material holds a great deal of motivation.

However, in my case, I have adopted a style that involves finding the thing I want to do each time, no matter the material / manga. That's why the material itself doesn't sway my motivation.

—— So there are various types of manga artists, huh.

Mitsunaga: Probably. Since a certain point in time, I had realized that, for example, if I suddenly were to be asked to “make a sumo manga”, I could enjoy myself, each time, right then and there, by maybe saying “Well, since it's a sumo manga, can we make it like this?”.

• Three series are concurrently being serialized. I asked Yasunori Mitsunaga-sensei about the secret of his speed.

—— In addition to concurrently serializing two series in “Monthly Shonen Sirius”, your series “Isekai Sniper wa Onna Senshi no Mofumofu Aigan Doubutsu” (Another World Sniper Is Female Warrior's Mof-moffy Pet) is also on-going. How busy is your monthly production?

Mitsunaga: Manuscript work takes at most about 60 to 70 sheets (of paper). Back in 2020, the storyboards (combined) normally took more than 100 pages a month. Since long ago, a storyboard for any series would come to be drawn in one to two days.

—— That is beyond what I expected ...... Would you please tell me the secret of this speed of work?

Mitsunaga: The trick, if there is any, is to have a productive meeting. I'm the type of person who comes up with ideas in the middle of a conversation. I feel better once an idea is put into words and vocalized.

—— So you shape your ideas while having a discussion with editor-san.

Mitsunaga: After the course of action has been decided upon in a meeting, and it is time for the storyboard, I discard all other potential ideas, and I consider only the scope of what has been decided upon. If I were to consider to no end, the infinite potential directions a story can take, then that would be bad for my health.

—— It's not good to let hesitation creep in.

Mitsunaga: It's like playing Sunaba no Bō Taoshi, if you completely eliminate as many unnecessary factors as possible with your first move, then hesitation in thoughts dwindles and you become faster. I put forth that elimination criterion in each meeting.

(TN: Sunaba no Bō Taoshi is a children's game where a stick is planted in a small pile of sand, and the players take turns removing parts of the sand. The player who fells the stick loses.)

—— Would you please tell me the secret to remaining in the manga business for a long time?

Mitsunaga: This overlaps with what I just said but, I believe that, in any case, it's not something to think about while drawing. While drawing, the progress of the story and, like I said, ideas about manga production should be cast out of the brain.

—— What is one thing that you would absolutely refuse to do, and choose to draw manga instead?

Mitsunaga: Playing a certain game. “Cyberpunk 2077” just does not stop.

(Everyone laughed)

• The excellent sensibility of Koyoharu Gotouge-sensei depicted in the spiders episode of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”.

—— Don't you run out of ideas?

Mitsunaga: One of my hobbies is to think of new plans. So I don't have much trouble with ideas.

—— Do you have tricks for coming up with ideas?

Mitsunaga: I think it comes down to more refining and understanding of one's liking. It suffices not to say “I like that book / movie”; instead, what part of it has struck you the most? Which element do you like the most?

—— It feels like an enhancing of the view of the word “like”.

Mitsunaga: For example, back when I was reading the first volume of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” for the first time, in the first chapter, Nezuko tried to protect Tanjirou; I could have immediately replied “I like that scene the most”. Even the bare legs vividly left an impression; it's a great scene.

For “SPY×FAMILY”, I liked the phrase “He's a cool liar!”.

I believe that if you can more specifically understand what deeply resonated with you, then that will become tomorrow's food for creativity.

—— We, “ComiSpe!”, normally ask our guests the question “What is your favorite manga / What manga are you addicted to?”, but um ......

Mitsunaga: Right now, it is of course the one that the wife strongly recommended; “Demon Slayer”. I am attracted to phrases that none other than Gotouge-sensei can come up with, and sensibility theatre that is none other than Gotouge-sensei's.

For example, the demon spiders' episode in the beginning. Normally, an enemy demon, who is seeking a family, would be admonished by the protagonist, would become aware, and would cease the pretend family. I think that, out of 100 manga artists, around 90 would go with that plot.

—— Well, because it's a fight with the protagonist, the most suitable development is making the enemy aware.

Mitsunaga: However in the case of Gotouge-sensei, the demon has already realized by himself that, even if he successfully created the pretend family, he would not be able to fill the hole in his heart. He already realized the importance of what he has lost, and he knew that whatever he does will be unfulfilling. And yet, a demon, that cannot give up his pretend family, was introduced into the story.

Back when I read this, I was impressed by the excellent sensibility. Stepping to such depth is typically not quite achieved. I felt that that part is certainly where Gotouge-sensei's prowess as an author perfectly shines.

—— Now, would you please tell us about the highlights of the latest volume, volume 4, of “Time Stop Brave”?

Mitsunaga: Perhaps the greatest feature of volume 4 is the changes in both scenery and characters. Even in an RPG, when you go to a new city, country, or continent, it feels different and exciting.

—— In the “Dragon Quest” series, once you get your hands on a ship, it suddenly feels like the area of activity has expanded.

Mitsunaga: I think it's nice to enjoy such thing. That's why Sekai's party comes across Events of completely different nature compared to when they were in the previous city. Missions of a different kind from before, such as Ghoul extermination, do show up.

—— Finally, do you have any words for the fans reading this article?

Mitsunaga: It's a manga completely intended for boys, but I invite girls as well to read it! (LOL)

—— (LOL) Thank you very much!

[ Page 4/4 ]

---

And that's about it. I hope you had a good read.