This long interview with Mashima Hiro is published in Magazine Pocket. The interview was carried out right after the storyboard for the final chapter was completed. The interviewer was Hashimoto, who had previously served as Mashima-sensei’s editor for 2.5 years. Mashima-sensei’s current editor was also present at the interview, and the responses labeled with “editor” are from him.

The interview is really long, and I have broken it up into 3 parts. The other parts will be posted some time later.

Translated by thefairystales | DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE SOURCE

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On the final chapter



How’s the storyboard for the final chapter coming along?



I finished my final meeting a short while ago and the chapter is complete.



It wasn’t rejected?



Somehow or other. (laugh)



Editor: It was OK the first round!



What are your thoughts about finishing the storyboard?



I don’t know how the readers feel about it until I get to hear from them, but I am personally satisfied with how I drew the final chapter. I didn’t aim for something touching or literary, but rather showed “FT-ness” or what’s “FT-ish” to the maximum. I hope the ending satisfies the readers.



You gave priority to what you regard as “FT-ish”?



Right. I think the fans all have their own opinion of what’s “FT-ish”. However, I drew all that I felt was “FT-ish” in the final chapter.



Serialization of the manga began in issue 35 in 2006, and ended in issue 34 in 2017. It’s exactly 11 years.



I didn’t intend for it to be so long.



You were 29 when the serialization began, and you’re 40 now. You devoted the whole of your 30s to FT.



It’s the period where I gain the most weight. However, I was able to draw the manga. I’m completely satisfied.



Is there anything that you didn’t manage to draw?



Nothing at all. I managed to draw everything that I wanted to in the manuscript and it’s something I’m thankful about.

It’s out for the first time in 11 years. An issue of Weekly Shonen Magazine without Fairy Tail.



Now that you mention it, that’s right. The series had never been a break during serialization, and I guess it has become natural to expect a new chapter.



For the first time in about 500 volumes.



It’s a very long time if you put it that way (laugh). Was it in serialization when you join the editorial department?



I joined the company 9 years ago, and the manga was already in serialization. It was at the “Tower of Heaven” arc. I had more than 20 staff working under me, and almost all the staff working for Weekly Shonen Magazine joined the company after Fairy Tail had begun its serialization.



That’s unbelievable. Isn’t the editorial department of Weekly Shonen Magazine too young? (laugh)



Have there been any changes from the time the manga began its serialization till now?



My body is still healthy, but my stamina has dropped. It’s a little different from the time when I was alright even after pulling an all-nighter. However, my energy hasn’t declined. It’s been surging instead.



Do you feel the difference in your stamina more when you’re working on the manuscript as compared to the storyboard?



In my case, the storyboard is more of a product of energy rather than stamina. I always work on it when I’m at maximum energy. The techniques and intuition that I’ve developed over the years have also helped me when it comes to working on the storyboard.



What about the manuscript?



It’s not purely an issue with stamina. The density of my drawings have been going up year by year, and it has become time consuming. I don’t want the quality of the manuscript to decrease once it has gone up, and thus I’ve been spending more time on the scenes.



It’s a problem that arises because you want to give your best with every chapter.

On Natsu



I don’t feel that the author’s age has gone up even as the manga ends. It’s a classic shonen manga.



It might be because I want to cling on to shonen manga forever. (laugh)



Natsu had a prominent presence.



He’s a simple and straightforward protagonist, and there’s no need to make him like a character in an adult-like manga. Natsu was Natsu from the start till the end.



But he grew.



Of course. However, he never changed when it comes to things that are “Natsu-like”. To me, that might be what makes it “shonen manga-ish”.



My impression of the first chapter is that Natsu didn’t fight because he wanted to rescue Lucy.



Natsu was mad that Bora lied that he was from Fairy Tail. However, he ended up saving Lucy when he fought Bora.



He isn’t the type of protagonist who helps others just because they are in need. You showed what was important to him in your own way, even though he appeared to help Lucy because she was in trouble.

That was all that I drew in the first chapter. (laugh)



Is there anything else you have to say about Natsu?



There are minute things, but… Natsu doesn’t have any monologues, and is someone who reveals all his thoughts through his actions. Thus, there isn’t really anything important that I have left to say about him.

On the guild



There are many characters.



The characters who had names were counted before, and there were more than 300 of them.



That was done 2 to 3 years before this, and it seems like the final character count exceeds 400. Can you remember everyone?



That’s impossible (laugh). Various characters appeared in the penultimate chapter, and I couldn’t remember how they’re supposed to look like.



(laugh)



I thought that I would just go ahead and draw them since they’re my characters after all, but when I looked over them later they were completely different from how they’re supposed to look like. (laugh)



The number of characters will increase no matter what due to the nature of the manga. If a guild appears there will be around 10 more characters.



I wanted to draw many characters from the start, and I thought “I’ll draw as many characters as I like!” when the serialization first began. However, at the end, I wondered why there were so many characters when I was drawing the colour page with all the characters gathered together. You reap what you sow, but it was fun. It was truly wonderful. (laugh)



Did you want to draw a guild right from the start?



I wanted to draw a group of people, or perhaps I should say a team. I wanted to draw something like a gathering of people or a community. I wanted to convey the enjoyment that comes from having various people around.



The guild members seem fun to be around.



Right. It’s difficult to put in words, but I’ve always drawn things like bonds and friendship in my manga. I touched on it more deeply in Fairy Tail as compared to RAVE.



Fairy Tail gives the impression of a classic shonen manga, but it was actually a fantasy battle manga at the start.



There were many comrades right from the start.



Don’t you normally gain more friends from fighting enemies or meeting people during events?



There were challenges that happened in the manga, but that’s the kind of world I wanted to show.



They are nearly all defensive battles. I think it’s something revolutionary.



Really?



The protagonist usually wants to become a certain type of person, or has something he wants, and he fights for that reason. However, Natsu already has all that. He has friends, a home, and enjoyable days.



That’s why he only fights to protect these. He gives his all when it comes to protecting these things. Natsu has these things right from the start, and they are irreplaceable.



I thought that the guild would head to Alvarez at the end, but they ended up returning to the guild, and it became a defensive battle once again.



I wanted the final battle to happen within the guild. It was something that I had decided early on.



The enemies gradually became greater and more powerful but your stance never changed till the end.



It’s about protecting your comrades. I never intended to change that. (laugh)



It’s difficult to draw a manga that’s filled with the protagonist.



People who are motivated are unique.



Wasn’t it difficult to move the story forward? How did you get things moving along smoothly?



It’s a mystery.



You make it sound it it’s somebody else’s affair. (laugh)



Now that you mention it, I hard a hard time with the storyboard at the beginning. It showed how great and interesting the bonds between an existing group of friends are, and that required laying out a framework.



Can you give more details?



The second chapter is easy to understand as an example. The first chapter describes how a Fairy Tail mage is like, and the second chapter shows what kind of guild Fairy Tail is.



I see.



You can’t avoid the characters when it comes to a guild, and thus I had to show them in the second chapter. That would confuse the reader. However, I can’t go on to depict the guild, comrades, and bonds if I don’t do that. That’s why Makarov appears as the guild master when a brawl is about to break out. He is, in a way, a symbol of the guild. The guild is full of reckless members, but there are instances where everyone shares the same point of view. This was the impression I wanted to give when I was drawing the chapter. However, it is difficult for the readers to follow along with just that, and thus Lucy makes her appearance.



Lucy?



Lucy shares the same point of view as the reader. Her reactions are that of someone who comes into contact with the guild for the first time, making it easy for the readers to get into the story. In addition to “the members of Fairy Tail”, the presence of “the mediator Makarov”, and “Lucy, who overlooks what’s happening” helps to put everything together for the readers, making it easy to read.



I see, it had to be done that way.



“FT” couldn’t have been realized without Lucy.

On Lucy



Lucy’s monologue always appears at the beginning of each part.

Lucy has been the core of the story of “FT” right from the start. No matter what type of characters or complicated world views appear in the manga, Lucy is by the reader’s side. She doesn’t understand the things that the readers don’t understand, and she says it out.



But there are many manga where the main character takes on the monologues…



It’s impossible for Natsu (laugh). Natsu is a character who doesn’t have any monologues, and he cannot explain things in a manner that strikes a chord with others.



Lucy does seem like she views things from a third party standpoint.



She’s the newest person to join the guild at the beginning of the manga, and thus, she feels a little like an outsider. Doing the monologues became her role in the end.



Editor: Lucy said “I wouldn’t be who I am today if I never met [Natsu] and Happy” in the final chapter. It would be great if that also became the reader’s thought. After all, Lucy is the voice of the reader.



Lucy’s monologue, which I had written in a rectangular box, became the meta at the end. It’s something really small, but it was something that I wanted to do in the final chapter.

On Gray



Can you tell us more about Gray?



I’ve said it before, but he became more popular than I had expected and it surprised me. I didn’t intend to make him a character that gives off a cool impression, but rather someone who readily chimes in with others. However, he gradually became who he is now. There are few males among the regular characters, and Gray was originally meant to be a character that’s the opposite of Natsu.



It seems that Gray in particular has many troubles and worries thrust at him.



Is that so? I wasn’t aware of that. However, the episode concerning END wouldn’t make any sense if not for Natsu and Gray’s relationship.



Which scene with Gray left an impression on you?



His battle with Silver. It was a pleasure to draw it.



I remember. I was still your editor at that time, and you suddenly came to me with around 3 chapter’s worth of storyboards that day. And also 2 chapter’s worth of manuscripts.



Eh, was it so? I don’t remember.



You made huge revisions to the storyboards of the previous 2 chapters, and you redid the storyboards and the manuscripts at one go. You said “I’m confident of this week’s work” when you handed me the storyboards, which was unusual. You rarely say something like that.



Eh, I give up. I really do not remember. (laugh)



Why did you forget? (laugh) It left a huge impression.



I remember being confident of the work I handed to you, and it must have been a memory of that time. However, I really don’t remember. (laugh)



You must be kidding…



(to be continued in part 2)

