Сборная солянка (на английском)
I - interviewer, M -
Moriyama
I: Firstly I want to ask about the context from which 'Chrno
Crusade' was created. What led to the creation of this series, which was
first serialized in '98?
M: At first I thought of doing a one-off, but that never happened
(laughs). My manager at the time said to me, "Lets publish a serialized
project!" Meanwhile, it was decided that there was to be a combination of
a boy and a girl. Actually, in a previous one-shot that I wrote, the girl
was also the master and the boy gets used and fostered. On top of that,
initially I had the concept that there would be an item called 'Chrno'
that would connect the two characters.
I: Does that mean that you also decided that the setting would be
1920s America?
M: No, at first I wanted to do a Western story set in 19th century
America. A gunslinging sister, and a spirit-user man. But a Western film
has the image of journeying through plains all the time, so I was told
that it would be too idyllic. My manager pointed this out to me and said
"wouldn't it be hard to make it high tension?" Then we decided to make it
a city adventure, which is close to what it is now.
I: I see.
M: For the same reason, the era was changed to the early 20th
century when there was some machinery. At least there would be telephones,
planes, and cars. I thought I could use a wider range of mechanical
things. This was an era that is different from today, yet close enough
that someone might remember it, and the characters would no longer be
still alive now. Either that, or even if they were still alive, they would
be old by now. That was the kind of setting I wanted.
I: It seems like you
knew it was going to be a boy and girl combination from the start, but
when did you decide on it being a sister and a demon?
M: I've forgotten the details of how Chrno became a demon (laughs).
However, I always wanted a contrasting relationship. A boy and a girl. A
rough neck and a quiet person. A sister and a demon. I thought I'd make
the pair contrast from every aspect. Then I thought that if I made the
girl be the quiet character, it would be hard to do an action story. So I
thought it would be more interesting to have the boy follow behind the
girl.
I: An active atmosphere was a big theme in drawing this comic,
right?
M: Yes, in the illustrations that I've done so far, most of the
female characters needed to be quite lively. I felt compelled to take the
story in a serious direction. For that purpose, I thought it would be
better to have a tough female character who would pull herself forward. It
would be comical as well, so why not?
I: Even so, having such a trigger happy sister is quite intense.
To the extent of being too active (laughs).
M: This is a bit repetitive but I wanted contrast to be an
important part of the story. I wanted to put contrast into the characters
themselves too. I wanted a gap between how they looked and who they are
inside. With regards to that contrast in the two protagonists, I wonder if
I did a good job of it. A demon who is kind and caring inside, and a rough
neck in the guise of a nun. The reaons I gave Rosette guns as weapons was
because I wanted her to remain physically as a normal human being until
the very end.
I: As a normal human being?
M: I didn't want her to have some tremendous hidden power that
gradually gets awaken. Rosette is a nun, who fights like a normal person,
with normal human weaknesses. Even though her personality is like it is,
physically she is at a level that normal human can reach, without becoming
some super-human. Because of that, I thought I'd let her have guns.
Afterall, the setting is American, and I also had an original world view
[concept] of a Western styled story, so an image of a gunman was
superimposed on Rosette.
I: Why does Aion hate Pandemonium so much? I'm very interested in
what happened in the past.
M: Basically Aion is the type that is quite obsessive about things.
For that reason alone, he holds a deep grudge against the unforgivable
things that happened in the past. Whether I can convey that well, is the
problem now. It will describe the shocking truth of 'what demons really
are', I think. I want to shed some light on that area.
I: Next I want to ask about the characters. In CC, there really
aren't any characters who are only annoying, are there?
M: Is that right? I wanted to work on a story that has a different
view on the role of the antagonist. And as expected, after all this time,
I still want to draw the demon sitting on his throne, inside a castle with
bats flying around. (laughs) I hated antagonists who wait for the
protagonists to reach them at the very end. I wanted a last boss who
thought and moved for himself, and from there, the other characters became
like that too. I started thinking from Aion's framework, then developed
the idea so that the other demons became active characters. So the demons
on Pandemonium's side are the real demons, I think. The Sinners who will
be Rosette & co.'s enemy are active and rather human. We can empathize
with what they think to an extent, but there are also things that we can't
accept. I wanted to bring out this pureness.
I: The episode where the Sinners gathered around Aion to have a
meal left a lasting impression. Maybe because it was a good story, or
maybe because we could empathize with the scene. We get torn between
feeling for Rosette's side, and the Sinners' side. Did you have these
conflicts while drawing CC?
M: Hmm. I was thinking of it as a whole. It was always about
letting both sides stand up. Admittedly, when I draw each scene I put
feeling into it, in my own way. Chrno and Aion used to be friends in the
past, its not like Aion suddenly became evil one day. Maybe it was because
of Aion's selfishness, or maybe it was just the natural flow of things.
I: Aion is a really human character, isn't he?
M: That's right. Its also that I can't draw characters that are
wholly evil. SO I think of it as maybe selfishness turning into evil in
the end. The selfishness will stack up, resulting in actions that will
probably be called evil. But I wonder if the things Aion call evil are
evil in the eyes of others. I can't express this very well in words within
myself, so I thought maybe I could tell it in the form of a comic.
However, I think that it is important, as a comic-artist, to be able to
draw antagonists who behave like one. Perhaps that will be my next
challenge.
I: 'The characters all have their own goals, prayers, and ideal
worlds that they strive to reach; someone must be sacrificed as a result.
With all these clashes, where will the ending take us? Prayers, what
should we believe in...?' That's the direction we think the story is
going right now.
M: I'm very happy that you have read so much into my story. I think
it is developing over and above my original intentions. Its an 'individual
vs individual' construct, not one of 'good' and 'evil'. Another way to
express it would the clashes between selfishness and one's surroundings.
Because its gotten to such a large scale as a conflict between god and
demons, individual frictions will be more apparent. Hmm...I really can't
explain that properly.
I: The characters all have their own ideas, but how did you decide
on how many characters there would be?
M: Not much thought went into that, actually. Well, to an extent,
I didn't want a big army. I wanted each character to fight their own
fights properly. That is probably the high point of the story. That's why
I don't want to add any more characters in.
I: No matter which side they're on, each character is given
importance. You can see that in how Aion's group is depicted. I think
there were many great scenes. Were the characteristics of the Sinners
decided after Aion?
M: That's right. There are some who are pretty despicable, some
who are okay so long as they're having fun. Rather than being like some
society, its more like a circle of friends in university. Well, I
wondered what it'd be like if it were a really small gang. What kind of
leader would they have? After some vague thoughts on it, it became like
how it is now.
I: However, thinking back to Volume 1 when Rosette and Chrno took
care of the wharf incident in such a wham-bam fashion, its hard to imagine
that the story would have developed so much.
M: I want to say something cool like, 'I had the story in my mind
all along', but...(laughs). There were many parts aside from the essential
relationships that floated into the picture. It felt as if it gradually
expanded.
I: By 'essential relationships', do you mean Rozette and Chrno's
relationship?
M: Yes - Chrno and Rozette, as well as Chrno and his former
contractor (Magdalena). To elaborate, I also planned how Chrno's
personality came to be that way, and what happened between him and
Magdalena. That's why those two relationships existed from the very
start. After that, other elements fell into place, like Rozette's final
goal - Joshua, and Chrno's goal which would become the climax of the story
- Aion. From there on it expanded horizontally, with the world that the
Sinners came from, Pandemonium. It felt as though the story was widening
with each character I designed. To be honest, by the time it was first
published, I had filled in the vague concepts of Joshua's story, but I
feel like I made up the parts about Aion and Pandemonium as I went.
I: Which one of the core characters - Rozette, Chrno and Joshua -
did you complete designing first?
M: In order: Rozette and Chrno as a combination, then Joshua.
I: Was there something that you used as reference for the
characters' names?
M: There were characters that were named according to the setting,
and others that were named according to the 'feel' of the name. For
example, I wanted a name that was against 'Chrno' for Aion, so I looked
for words meaning 'eternity' and 'eon'. Then there were a lot of
characters whose name I decided on for its 'force' or 'feel', especially
the Demons. At first I was going to use names of existing demons for
Chrno's group of Sinners, but when I turned to focus on Aion's concept of
Pandemonium, I realized that I needed original material. Using existing
demonic names would feel out of place. From there on, each demon got an
original name, in order of how important and active they were. Because the
Sinners were unique even among the demons, if possible, I didn't want them
to have names that gave an image of stereotypical demons.
I: The demons in CC are quite different from conventional demons.
It feels like they're in a unique world.
M: I took a lot of trouble to ensure that the world-view wouldn't
expand boundlessly.
In particular, I think that the Magdalan Convent and Pandemonium would
give too many options. It would be easy to create new characters or
substories. But I think the focus should be on Rozette and Chrno, so you
might get the impression that the viewpoint is quite narrow. For example,
in the San Francisco arc (Vol. 4~5), instead of having Remmington come
after Rozette and Chrno, I had thought about making him arrive first to
help some other person. That in itself could have expanded into a drama
based in the Magdalan San Francisco branch, but if I did that, there would
be more characters and episodes. In the end it would just be unmanagable,
so I did it in moderation.
I: Is that why the San Francisco branch was understaffed? (laughs)
M: Actually there are many demons in that area, but they just
aren't very active. That's why there aren't many people stationed in San
Francisco. That's how its meant to be.
I: I see. Since Azumaria was originally introduced as a guest
character, but then became a regular, she seems a bit special...
M: You're right, I originally treated her as a guest character who
would disappear after one episode, then come back later on a bit at a
time. But having only Rozette and Chrno on their journey would be boring
even if I had them talk. Adding another person into their dialogue would
liven things up, so that's how Azumaria ended up staying on stage.
I: As we got closer to the core of the story, her [Azu's] role
seems to become bigger. A lot of thought must have gone into bridging what
looked like a 'road movie' at the start, and Pandemonium's story.
M: While I did think through parts of it (laughs), there were times
when it was more of a bet, like 'I'll put things together bit by bit, then
make a jump, and see how well I land'.
I: Were there any characters who you had designed, but never
appeared in the story?
M: Yes there were, because I designed characters according to the
story. Even though I'd had the ideas in my head, I would decide that it
really wasn't necessary before it got finalized.
I: Satella has a different standpoint from both Pandemonium and the
Magdalan Order. What kind of character did you create her to be?
M: I wanted Rozette to have a rival, and one that is not an older
superior. Well, she is older than Rozette, but I wanted her to be someone
who would contend with Rozette as an equal. At first she was going to be
Rozette's senpai at Magdalan Order, but then I thought it'd be nice to
have someone from a completely different world. I thought I could give a
wider perspective of the story's world by adding in a character that had
powers outside of the Magdalan Order. Well, thanks to Satella, the
perspective became too wide in some areas and there was a part that became
quite troublesome later... I had thought it'd be hard to expand the story
this much with just one character. I experienced the difficulty of making
a new character into a regular one.
I: I want to ask you about how you mold your characters. You
mentioned how you design the way they look first and then name them
afterwards?
M: That's right. The first thing to think about is what kind of
role they play. Sometimes I would prioritise 'coolness' or 'cuteness' with
a character and work from that mindframe. I decided that everyone in the
Magdalan Order would have a cross on them somewhere. As for the clothing,
I didn't want it to be too old or too new. If I aim for something barely
TONDEMO, I can keep the linework that I like. Of course, I tried to be
reserved with how cool Magdalan Order characters looked as a whole... The
difficult thing was when the Sinners or Magdalan Order characters lined up
- I tried to make it so that they wouldn't feel out of place but...
Anyway, if any of them were actually walking in the streets in reality,
they would look pretty strange (laughs).
I: People on the streets would get out of their way (laughs)
M: I didn't want the main party to be too conspicuous out on the
streets; I designed Chrno's outfit with that in mind. In the rough design
that I first drew for Chrno, he was wearing something like a mantle that
was torn and tattered. He looked more like a demon that way. The dress
that Rozette wore looked like a nun's outfit and a fighter's outfit at the
same time. As the chapters progressed, and the Militia appeared, her
outfit looked more like that of a fighter's. Seeing as readers have gotten
used to Rozette's character by then, I thought they would stick with the
story even if Rozette had a more unique costume.
I: Well then, could you tell us which chapter is your favourtie?
M: I like them all, but really I think the first time I thought 'I
really want to do this [chapter]' was the arc about their past. (vol 2) It
was a story that took place in a small orphanage. The image from a
child's heart gets destroyed. I put a lot of effort into drawing that.
That was something I wanted to do.
I: The scene where Rozette, Chrno and Joshua went for a picnic was
wonderful.
M: Thank you very much. The other scene that left an impression on
me personally was in the 4th volumn when everyone took a photo together,
then afterwards, when Rozette and Joshua reunited. That scene puts a new
turn on everything that came before it, so I wanted a scene with a nice
ambience leading into it.
I: Rozette and Joshua's reunion scene was very captivating, it made
you want to read on.
M: I always include a preview at the end of the volumes, but this
particularly important scene came up as one of these previews. The scenes
I want to leave the most impact with came up in my head quite often, so I
wanted to keep making links to them. In contrast there were times when I
had nothing at all. It was hard work trying to put a spin on things and
fill in that space between scenes that I wanted to draw. But if I dont'
draw those scenes, then what came before won't be connected to what comes
after.
I: No no, I think that the scenes the readers want to see and the
scenes you want to draw match up quite well. The scene with Magdalena and
Chrno, and the scene where Remmington is sent to execute Chrno were very
powerful. I think you put quite a lot of feeling into those scenes.
M: And so I did. I wanted to have the readers emphasize with the
story. During the meetings with my manager, we had quite a few arguments.
Sometimes I took too broad a view of things, and get told to induce the
readers to emphasize more. I thought I was doing that already, though
(laugh), like how things look from Rozette's point of view and such. I
wanted to make her views an important aspect. The characters have a very
different image from the one I have myself, so I wondered how they would
react under these circumstances, what they could do. In terms of Rozette,
she is the type of character that came to positive conclusions, not
negative ones. I hoped that the readers will emphasize with her because of
that.
I: The only times where Rozette backed down was once in Vol.7 and
the time she said "I can't run anymore" in vol.5
M: There could have been more situations where Rozette would be in
crisis, but she manages to get past due to luck, support from others or
just by her own strength.
But even I'm not completely sure what Rozette will decide if she had to
make an absolutely critical decision.
