NHK's latest "Professional: Styles of Work" series featured Naoki Urasawa, mangaka of Monster and 20th Century Boys. In the article, Urasawa talks about what professionalism means to him: "Professional is...the fact that there is a deadline, and the people who do their best until that deadline."

Humans are Complicated

Naoki Urasawa is one of today's "superstar mangaka," his works have sold over a 100 million copies. One of the reason Urasawa's manga attracts so many fans is due to his manga character's expressions. Urasawa could express deep emotions with a simple touch of his pen:

"I feel that I have done well when I draw my character's face like he is feeling the pain, or he is feeling sad, or he is worrying...the character can have all kinds of emotions."

Occasionally Urasawa even places his character in front of a mirror to inspect his own artworks.

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A new live-action film based on Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga has been announced and is set to come out in 2008.

20th Century Boys recently
returned to the pages of Big Comic Spirits after going on hiatus for over eight months.

Source: eiga.com

Recently a conversation was held by Kyoto Seika University's newly established manga department between manga artist Naoki Urasawa, creator of popular series such as Yawara!, Monster, and 20th Century Boys, and Takashi Nagasaki, a manga producer who once worked with Urasawa. The topic of the conversation was centered on the difficulties in creating a positive relationship between manga artists and their editors. Below is a translation of the report from Kobe Shimbun regarding the conversation.

The Relationship between a Manga Artist and an Editor is Collaboration

Naoki Urasawa is talented enough to be able to draw two manga at the same time, one for a weekly magazine (20th Century Boys in Big Comic Spirits) and the other a bi-weekly magazine (Pluto in Big Comic Original). However, Urasawa attributes his success to hard work:

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When Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys ended abruptly last April in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits, leaving only a note stating that "the next part of the series will resume in Spring 2007," fans wondered if the series will actually finish.

After months of waiting, Big Comic Spirit has finally announced that the "final chapters" of 20th Century Boys will begin serialization in Big Comic Spirit No. 4+5 New Year's issue, on sale December 25th.

Also announced is a new manga from Tohru Fujisawa (of GTO fame) titled Animal Joe, which will start in issue 3 of Big Comic Spirit, on sale December 18th.

A new series called Yuru Yuru Future by Haruko Kashiwagi will begin in Big Comic Spirit No. 6+7.

20th Century Boys, the latest manga from Naoki Urasawa (mankaga of Monster, Pluto), has been serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirit for 7 years. This month, without any announcements or promotion, the final chapter of 20th Century Boys was suddenly released in issue 21+22 of Big Comic Spirit.

While the ending may be a surprise to many, according to a note in the same issue of Big Comic Spirit, the next part of the series will resume in Spring 2007.

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