So then the questions began: the origins of Gekiga? his feelings about the movie thats being made? his relationship with Adrian Tomine, the fellow responsible for giving him a second lease of life? his inspiration to become a mangaka? and why the Japanese, who are big animated film makers themselves, never approached him to make a film based on his novels?
He answered all of them in great detail and humour. And laced with all the graciousness that one would have expected. Tatsumi was overt in conveying his deep gratitude to Adrian Tomine for taking him global and also towards "Eric san" for taking on the challenge to take his characters onto the big screen. It emerged that he felt unappreciated in Japan - "In Japan, people always feel that only the new things are good"; "I was told that I am too old". Age was also a constant theme in his views: "You are fortunate that you are still young - draw your stories when you are young, at my age I get tired before I begin". He also spoke of the writers block: "When you hit a block, take a break and look around you and bring all thats around you into your work". Ahem. Right at the end, to a query on the city of Hiroshima's influence on his stories, he got quite emotional as he spoke about the bombs and the destruction.
And when the questions were done, and he stood up to do a sketch, it was quite clear that its spontaneity that inspires Yoshihiro Tatsumi.
4 comments:
Tatsumi-san sounds like a deadly fellow. I have put "A Drifting Life" on my queue. Did you get around to reading it?
am reading it at the moment. and it was bit of a coincidence to come across him at kinokuniya last weekend
its quite a read. a very detailed look on his manga journey and running through post WWII japanese history. enjoyed it and belongs to the top shelf definitely.
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