BLEACH JET Artbook Talk Vol 2 - 2 Translation (Q31-42)

Q.31: Out of all the poems that appear at the beginning of each volume, which volume’s poem is the one that you are most pleased with?





Kubo: Which volume I wonder. I’d say I’m more or less pleased with all of them.

—— J: Are there any that stand out to you the most?



Kubo: In terms of my basic preferences, I’m quite fond of poems that involve numbers, like when Orihime appeared on the front cover (volume 27) “we have not one in common, no two are shaped alike~”, and the poem where Yhwach appears on the cover (volume 55) “take one step in and never return~”, I like these two poems. This is completely unrelated, but in terms of character techniques, I’m also quite pleased with “Burner Finger 1, 2, 3~” the technique used by Bazz-B which was demonstrated in his final chapters.









Q.32: A large number of characters have made an appearance in “BLEACH”, but who has become Kubo sensei’s absolute favourite male and female characters from among them?





Kubo: As for my characters, I like them all. Even though I like voluptuous figures, drawing them is difficult so I cannot make that a sweeping generalisation of who I prefer drawing. When “BLEACH -Brave Souls-” came out, Nelliel, Orihime and Rangiku were what my focus was more drawn to. I like drawing busty characters wearing sexy swimsuits after all (laughs).

—— J: What about male characters?

Kubo: I like all the male characters roughly the same. I do not like nor dislike anyone in particular.





Q.33: Among the characters that appear in “BLEACH”, is there anyone who makes sensei go “I want to be this guy!” If so, please tell us.





Kubo: There’s no one I’d want to be (laughs).

—— J: Conversely, is there anyone you would absolutely not want to be?

Kubo: I have never given any consideration to which character “I would like to be, or not like to be” (laughs).

—— J: Maybe a squad 12 soldier or something…?

Kubo: I don’t want to be a character whose days are numbered (laughs).





Q.34: Which character among the cast of “BLEACH” does sensei believe most resembles himself? Furthermore, does sensei project a bit of himself into his characters?





Kubo: There is no character that takes after me. I don’t think I project myself into my characters. When I’m composing my story and characters, I’m looking at it through the eyes of an onlooker, I don’t deviate from that position. Like when you’re observing unfamiliar characters in action within a dream for example, it’s entirely the standpoint of an onlooker.

—— J: Does it feel like you’re watching a movie?

Kubo: That’s right. There’s absolutely no bit of “myself” to be found there at all, it’s like I’m watching the scene from the viewpoint of a third party. Unless a character that embodies “myself” appears in that space, I am not a party to said dream. Thus I have maintained that “BLEACH” is the story of Ichigo and others all the way to the end, so it has nothing to do with me.





Q.35: If Kubo sensei could enlist in the Gotei 13, which squad would he want to join?





Kubo: Huh!? I don’t think I could enlist. It seems tough so I don’t want to join (laughs). You must have to go through an absurd amount of physical training right!? However, if there is a position where one can draw illustrations on the other hand….

—— J: What if you were a member of staff working on the production of Seireitei Communication?

Kubo: But that would mean I’d be Hisagi’s underling won’t it…(laughs).

—— J: Speaking of Seireitei Communication, it’s produced by squad 9 isn’t it?

Kubo: Correct. If I had drawn an illustration and it was criticised by Hisagi, I would end up thinking something like “that’s rich, coming from Hisagi…”, so on second thought, I don’t want to join at all (laughs).





Q.36: Throughout the whole story, which battle scenes were drawn with the most emotional attachment and enthusiasm?





Kubo: What I want to draw for each battle scene is different. Some scenes I wanted to draw purely for the action, and other scenes I wanted to draw for story progression…. What I enjoyed drawing with regard to action, is the final Ichigo versus Grimmjow fight for instance.

—— J: How about in terms of story?

Kubo: Thinking about it now, if I had to choose the drawing phase which came the closest, I’d say Bazz-B versus Haschwalth is the most unforgettable.





Q.37: Please tell us which character you can draw with the most ease.





Kubo: Ikkaku!





Q.38: In the story there are various characters who put up a united front, but which pair or team does sensei take a liking to? If Kubo sensei personally found it challenging to depict the sense of distance and relationships between these fellow characters, or if there is any aspect within this subject that sensei was particular about and so on, please tell us about it.





Kubo: Since I portray the teams on the basis of their relationships from the start, I have never had any difficulties with this. On the contrary, after I read the work over again I think there are certain things that made me go something like “I haven’t depicted the relationship between this guy and this guy huh?” In that kind of situation, I may decide to reveal it in the form of a side story in the future. Also speaking of the challenges I faced, I decided that I always felt that way about the relationship between Kensei and Mashiro for instance, however I wasn’t able to draw much interaction between them in the manga. As the story progressed, I remember thinking “finally I’m able to draw the relationship between these two” in ‘The Past Arc’.





Q.39: Which movie adaptation is Kubo sensei’s favourite?





Kubo: What left the biggest impression on me is the opening sequence of “Hell Verse” where I had the battle between Ichigo and Ulquiorra remade, I remember how relieved I was by the superb execution. This pleased me greatly. I re-watched that scene alone many times over.





Q.40: Do you ever go back to read “BLEACH”? Are your own illustrations and manga the way you’d like them to be?





Kubo: I think I feel the same for everything, but there are both areas that I love, and areas that make me think “I could have drawn a little more to expand on this.” Conversely, when I try to re-examine my work after thinking “I guess I was too excessive here”, I discover there are also things I had drawn better than expected. In addition, I think my own drawings are all generally to my liking. I draw manga because I want to draw the way I wish, that being the case, if I didn’t like my own art, I wouldn’t be drawing in the first place.





Q.41: I get the impression that throughout the entirety of “BLEACH”, Kubo sensei has depicted the themes of right and wrong. I would like to ask about Kubo sensei’s personal views on right and wrong.





Kubo: I depict the things that are not uniform within myself, in my manga. There are many ways to perceive concepts like “right and wrong”, the one within myself is not necessarily the one that is correct. By nature I like to consider things from various angles, so when I see news surrounding an incident on television, I like to examine it through the initial details. If for example the incident happened to be “a person was attacked in a certain place”, person by person, I consider the motives that the whole cast may have in the event that the person in question is the culprit. Even if the answers to those questions have already been given out on the news, I ponder things like “if some part of this information turns out to be false, would the answers become the complete opposite?”





Q.42: After composing a work like “BLEACH”, is there anything that you made you think “this was non-negotiable”?





Kubo: I don’t much draw with a sense of flexibility (laughs). Basically everything was non-negotiable, although, Asada san the editor during my one-shot before serialisation, made various suggestions like “I want you to do it in this way”, but since I didn’t make any amendments at all in accordance with those suggestions, he no longer asked me to do so midway through (laughs). I knew it would be accepted if it was interesting even if I hadn’t made the amendments as pointed out, so I thought “this will do.”





Translator’s notes: