Dailysoremachi user here, I'm not sure if you guys remembered this but I asked for questions from anons a while back to ask to Ishiguro-sensei. (desuarchive.org
It took longer than I thought but I finally finished up proofchecking the answers from Ishiguro-sensei (and adding Hotori faces) and put it on my website here (soremachi.wordpress.com
I'll also post the questions and answers in the thread too.
From 103anon:
>I know how to write, but I don't know how to write an story, what would you recommend me to learn?
Ishiguro-sensei:
Practically speaking, to learn to write stories, you should try reading stories/novels and imagining settings in your head.
Write down in a diary about interesting conversations with friends/family, interesting events, unpleasant thoughts etc.
Daydream often
Try to turn your ideas into short stories. For written stories, 200-400 (japanese)characters (in english it would be a a few times more letters). For manga, you can do 4 komas or 2 page mangas. From there try to slowly turn those into longer stories.
... Those kinds of things I guess.
After that, what i think is most important is to play, fall in love, and in general increasing your experiences.
>元福井大学生、USA
>Sensei, I'm always amazed with the detail you include in your art, which I study every day, but when reading Soremachi I was even more amazed with the level of thought put into each characters personality. What would you say is the key to writing the dialogue between these characters and the stories they find themselves in?
Also thank you for Hotori, and I am praying for a Tengoku Daimakyou/Mokuyoubi no Furutto anime adaptation.
Ishiguro-sensei:
In order to write realistic characters I think you need observation, experience, and analysis of one’s self.
You should try not to make characters say unnatural lines when trying to progress the story. To come up with natural dialogues, thinking about what kind of dialogues you have with your family and friends is good.
People are complex and you can’t attach labels to people such as “tsundere” or “younger sister”. I wanted to express this in my manga.
From lambda, USA:
>Hi, I recently finished reading Soremachi and enjoyed it a lot. I was wondering, do you ever plan on returning to that setting again? Like a spin off with certain characters or something of that matter. I’m not familiar with your other manga yet, so maybe they take place in the same universe and I’m ignorant, but I really enjoyed your writing and I wish we could see more of Hotori and friends as they felt like real people to me. P.S. If you ever were able to release physical English copies of the series for the west I would totally buy them.
Ishiguro-sensei:
I do sometimes want to draw Soremachi related things, so I might write a spin off or extra episode in the future.
Also, a setting a bit into the future of Soremachi would be interesting. I sometimes think of what kind of life Hotori and Kon would have when they become university students.
From Sarah G, USA:
>Thank you for creating Soremachi! It is one of my top 3 favorite mangas, and even though it’s been a few years since I last read it, I still remember it very fondly and have recommended it to all of my friends who like to read manga.I know you probably can’t answer this because it’s a secret, but what do you think of making a Tengoku Daimakyou anime some day? I think it would be a perfect for animation, especially with how well the Soremachi anime turned out. I’ve been buying all the volumes for it even though I can’t read Japanese so that hopefully anime studios will notice it with the money it’s making…
Ishiguro-sensei:
Thank you very much! If that passion would reach an anime studio or a movie distributor employee, it might become an anime.
As for whether it is suited for anime, the story is complicated and I made it to be read multiple times, so I’m not sure if it would be suitable…
Absolutely incredible.
From Poko, USA:
>1: Did Shizuka date Kitamura Saki (airship guy)?
>2: Does Soremachi take place in the same universe as Tengoku Daimakyou?
>3: What is Hotori’s favorite book?
>4: Did Zenji’s ghost ever reach heaven?
>5: Is there something about the town that attracts supernatural things or is their world just like that?
>6: Was Hotori being chosen by the alien to sacrifice herself really random?
Ishiguro-sensei:
1: It depends on your definition of date but I believe the time they spent together is irreplaceable.
2: I wrote Soremachi and Tengoku Daimakyou as separate worlds. If it was the same world then that would be too sad. However, some descendants of characters from Soremachi do appear.
3: I’m not sure what Hotori’s favourite books are… but some of my favourite books would be Sanshiro by Natsume Soseki and Dogura Magura by Yumeno Kyusaku.
4: I think that Zenji has still not gone to heaven, and is looking on at the city.
5: I believe that the unnatural is always happening somewhere. Like maybe in the apartment next door.
6. Hotori being chosen by the alien was random.
huh
From Macrophage, USA,
>Hi!! I really enjoy both of your works! This question relates to Soremachi. In the manga there’s a frequent reference to a card game called Demon Colosseum, and I’ve wanted to know more about it! If you ever wrote any rules on the game for consistency’s sake, and if there was ever any talk to make a real game out of it.
Ishiguro-sensei:
There was never any plans to turn it into a real game, but to keep consistency, I tried to make rules to some degree.
Every turn, you roll 2 dice and you use that as the cost to use monsters or equipment. Something like that.
Oh shit this is fucking awesome, thank you user.
From Taro:
>Tengoku Daimakyou is one of my favourite manga! What was your inspiration for your stories?
Ishiguro-sensei:
Akira, Jojo, Fujiko F. Fujio’s manga, mystery novels etc. I took inspiration from a wide range of sources. Also, where I first got the idea to write Tengoku Daimakyou was while I was having a walk (which is one of my hobbies), and I tried to fantasize what the scenery would look like if the world would be destroyed.
Interesting. I wonder if his dairy was his inspiration for the airship chapter.
From ゲテヲ, 日本:
>Could you tell me if there were anytime where you thought “If it was now then I would’ve wrote it this way…”
Ishiguro-sensei:
There’s been many times I’ve had these thoughts… I think I would have liked to have written the first few chapters of Soremachi with a more relaxed atmosphere. And recently in Tengoku Daimakyou’s Lonely Earth, I think I could’ve put in another twist.
From needpotion, Sweden:
>Ishiguro-sensei! I wonder what manga, anime, work of fiction or other artist inspires you to pursuit your dreams?
From Ishiguro-sensei:
Katsuhiro Otomo and Fujiko Fujio definitely. Also mystery novels. I think the structure of the stories I write are heavily influenced by mystery novels.
>there was an QnA with Ishiguro-sensei
>I wasn't there to ask him whether if he lurk on Any Forums or not
FUCK
holy shit it actually worked
He really likes Fujiko Fujio
From Fandy, Indonesia:
>I just want to say thank you for making the most wonderful manga, it really speaks to me. I first read it around 6-7 years ago, and everytime I read it back it’s still as good and magical as the first time. I wish you a good and fruitful life, Godspeed.
Ishiguro-sensei:
Thank you. As a mangaka, the greatest gratification is for readers to enjoy rereading works!
Holy shit. We might see more Soremachi in the future.
Senpai, I'm going to be 100% real here. I only liked Soremachi for this glasses tits cow. Only reason. I have the entire manga in my HDD, but I haven't worked up enough fucks to read it.
From a non e-moose, USA:
>Have you taken any inspiration from Charles Schulz’s Peanuts for your design for simplified faces? Some panels, notably when someone is expressing sadness, have the same simple charm to them.
Ishiguro-sensei:
Since a long time ago, even in Japan I had many opportunities to read Peanuts. Because of this, I never really had it in my consciousness, but I do like how the characters and faces are drawn.
holy fucking shit
From Campbell, USA and from Chandler:
>I love the mixture of science fiction and slice of life in various chapters of SoreMachi or Tengoku Daimakyou. What previous works (manga, television, movies, books) helped inspire the science fiction aspects of your series? ありがとうございます！
>Despite being a slice of life story, Soremachi has a lot of supernatural/sci-fi elements. Did you always plan to write those sci-fi chapters or was it something that you decided while writing the story?
Ishiguro-sensei:
Fujiko F. Fujio’s works were a big influence. I read his works from a young age without knowing about the sci fi genre, so even now when I write my stories, I don’t think about setting out to write a sci fi story, and I mix “sci fi” with “ghosts” into my stories without thinking about it.
From Josephine, Vietnam:
>Hi Sensei. I love Shizuka-chan’s classmate Kitamura Saki, but I am sad all the time because I didn’t see him again after that chapter. Where is he after that? What kind of relationship did he have with Shizuka-chan? I want to know very, very much.
Ishiguro-sensei:
I did think up a story about the two but it didn’t make the main story. It was an independent story set in the past and Hotori wasn’t related to it so I ended up not drawing it. Maybe I will have a chance to write it one day.
legendary thread, legendary user! banzai!
soremachi sequel confirm
From Anon1:
>Was your editor ever hesitant to approve any of your ideas for chapters? If there were any rejected chapter ideas, could you give examples of any of them?
Ishiguro-sensei:
I didn’t have any rejected ideas, but there have been times where I have rejected ideas myself. One of them was a story about Nanase, a boy who was good at drawing and made manga. In the end I thought it was a bit boring to make him as a main character so I stopped it.
>I sometimes think of what kind of life Hotori and Kon would have when they become university students.
Please.
I didn't ask anything and yet I'm grinning like a little girl
5:00, you bastard.
>while I was having a walk (which is one of my hobbies), and I tried to fantasize what the scenery would look like if the world would be destroyed.
same I wonder what the world would look like if it was destroyed
From MarsZ11, USA:
>Thank you for making Soremachi! Its among my favorite manga(and anime) of all time. I have three questions.
>First, did you decide how Soremachi would end at the start, or did the ending change as the series continued? Also did any characters evolve, or have their characteristics altered from how you decided they would be at the start? A lot of what makes Soremachi special is the characters and stuff like Kon’s backstory really help immerse the reader in the story.
>Second, were you/are you a fan of mystery books, and if so what kind? I really enjoyed the mystery segments in Soremachi especially when it talked about writing a mystery story and not just solving mystery which are two different things?
>Lastly, what input did you have into the anime? Did you choose the studio and/or give any tips or requests. I thought they did an amazing job capturing the beautiful atmosphere especially in the episode where Hotori and Sanada ditched school.
Ishiguro-sensei:
I had a rough outline of the story when I started, but as it was being serialised, I was able to develop the characters more. Especially Hotori, who turned out to be wiser than I ever thought she would be!
I do love mystery books. Especially those where the story develops along with diary entries or letters.
I left the anime mostly to the studio. But if they had questions then I would answer them.
From RYIEBE:
>What inspired you in creating Kon?
>Which one of your works have you had the most fun working on?
Ishiguro-sensei:
I modeled Kon off the darker parts of my personality. In contrast, I wrote Hotori based on the brighter parts of my personality.
In the midst of working on them, all of them were tough, but in the end they were all also fun to write. But in the end, Soremachi was particularly enjoyable.