Bata Neart

NB! Japanese Format! Read RIGHT TO LEFT!

Welcome to the first page of Hello Tomorrow!; the Bata Neart one-shot manga made as part of my course of Manga School Nakano!

As promised, each page will have a little bit of back story attached to this project and before I get into the details of the pages you will see before you, I’d like to got a little into how this all began. And so, today we start with:

Part 1: Meeting Nao Yazawa

There is something you should know about me. I’m not very good at knowing names, especially when it comes to names attached to my interests or passions. For many years I have been interested in cartooning, Anime and Manga, and for the most part if anyone were to mention a famous artist or director, I would smile & nod and acknowledge the person’s great work…but I really wouldn’t know who they were talking about.

Such ignorance is embarrassing for a self-confessed manga-nut, but that was the truth with me, and mostly it still is. So when I actually encountered a famous manga-ka…I was in for a surprise.

Years ago, in the early days of my web-cartooning, I had spent a lot of time networking. One place I would do this was LinkedIN, and there I had found a small but interesting Manga/Anime group. I found some interesting souls who I am still talking with these days, but one in particular caught my interest.

Someone working at Japanese manga school named ‘Nao Yazawa’ had put up discussion thread about the idea of developing an English language program for prospective language students, and I thought that was a wonderful idea. I commented to say so, and offered what help I could give. Nao replied to me, and asked for assistance in proof reading the school’s English program. I gladly helped out in this way, and thus began my communication and internet friendship with Nao, who at that stage I only knew as a friendly girl in Tokyo who taught manga production and who wanted to help develop an international section at the school.

After about a year or so, I noticed that Nao was on Facebook, and so I friended her. Within moments, I had access to her photo archive, which for the most part included a lot of her work. I hadn’t seen her work before, and I was agog with the detail and skill involved. Nao was clearly a pro at this, but as a dug further I the truth became even larger than that.

Moon & Blood, The Isolated Zone, Wedding Peach….hey….wait a minute? Wedding Peach?

A quick Google search confirmed what I had just realised. Nao Yazawa wasn’t just a pro, she was a pro manga-ka who had produced work that had been turned into an anime.

To my absolute embarrassment, after knowing her for months I had no idea how famous Nao was. I’ve never admitted this to Nao herself, and if you are reading this Nao…I hope you enjoy the next bit…

I sat at my desk in considerable shock for some minutes after I had learned this truth about my internet friend. A sense of confused wonder had come over me. For myself and others like me, pro manga-ka are nearly mythical or even ‘god-like’ people with artistic abilities that were far beyond mere mortals like myself. To boot, a manga-ka who’s work was made into Anime is even more ‘god-like’ in ability. And so I was in awe…

However to my delighted surprise Nao was a normal nice person. Her fame and ability had not seemed to have gone to her head, but instead the opposite had happened. She seemed to be humble, friendly, and generally open to questions from others. Beyond her art, this is something of Nao that had inspired me greatly and still does today. From that day I had decided to try to be the artist best I could be, but to also be humble and nice to others while I do that.

My online friendship continued with Nao, which thanks to her opened my eyes further to the world of the manga-ka, and to the ways to better myself as an artist. More on this journey, next week.