Busy working on Galaxy Express 999 for the theater!
Leiji Matsumoto is here
March 21st. The day to meet Mr. Leiji Matsumoto has finally come. He says he stays up all night four days a week and takes a nap three days a week. He is much busier than he used to be. Back then, I was a newcomer to the editorial department when I was in my first year of high school, and I was assigned to a serial manga by Mr. Matsumoto. It was a 15-pager titled A Million Years of Adolescence, and it ran for ten months. I interviewed him for the first time in eight years at Yomiuri Hall in Tokyo.
-Takase
He won the Manga Shonen Newcomer’s Award, beating out strong contenders. He received 5,000 yen and an alarm clock.
My first impression: “Wow, this is Leiji Matsumoto who did Galaxy Express 999. He’s still the same as he was 8 years ago.” Anyway, I had to finish the interview within a limited time, so I got started right away! I began by asking him how he got into the world of manga.
Matsumoto: I started with the Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels and The Legend of the White Snake, and Osamu Tezuka’s Dr. Mars. I wanted to write a story that was a mixture of all of them. That must have been around the end of my third year of elementary school. I found a pile of shabby paper, bound it up like a book, and drew like crazy.
When he says he was in the third grade of elementary school, it was around 1948. That was about 30 years ago.
Matsumoto: At that time, there was a magazine called Manga Shonen, which was the gateway to the professional world. In 1953, I won a rookie of the year award for The Adventure of the Honeybee. It was 16 pages, and it won me 5,000 yen and an alarm clock. I disassembled the alarm clock and took it apart.
Manga Shonen magazine was a big deal. The regular contributors at that time were Jiro Tsunoda, Fujio Akatsuka, and even photographer Kishin Shinoyama. In 1953, when he was in his first year of high school, Mr. Matsumoto beat a host of strong competitors to win what is now called the Manga Shonen award for the best newcomer. This was his debut as a manga artist.
Matsumoto: I thought I could make it as a manga pro, so I moved to Tokyo when I was 18. I was born early (January 25, 1938). In the spring of my third year of high school, I moved into a boarding house in Hongo 3-chome. During my junior and senior high school years, I lived in Kokura, Kyushu, and I was always drawing manga. Studying for the entrance exam? I didn’t do it. I thought I could do whatever I wanted. I finally did it in a rush, but only at the very last minute.
When Mr. Matsumoto stayed at a boarding house in Hongo 3-chome, the rent was 4,000 yen with two meals. As Matsumoto fans know, that is where he experienced the life of Otoko Oidon. Well, that was enough about the time of his debut. Next, I decided to ask him about “the world of Leiji Matsumoto women,” the topic that interests me the most.
Yuki Mori, Teresa, Maetel and the schoolgirl I used to admire in shorts
I feel that Yuki Mori and Teresa from Space Battleship Yamato and Maetel from Galaxy Express 999 share the same image somehow. Did the master’s ideal type become the visual?
Matsumoto: I’m not sure. Since before Yamato and 999, even before I started writing shoujo manga, my type of woman has never changed. When I was 17 or 18, I saw a movie called Marianne of My Youth. I was already romantically interested in the character played by Marianne Hold, a German actress, and for a while, all I did was draw her character. And…
Here, his voice began to rise slightly. Then he started talking about his own love story.
Matsumoto: I was in love with a girl in high school. It was unrequited, but I loved her! She was a wonderful girl in my class, and after 22 years, I received a New Year’s card from her, in January of this year. She wrote, “I’m a mother of two, and I’m doing my best.” I wanted to write her back, but I was so excited my hands were shaking. In high school, she was tall and, well, one of the coolest girls I’ve ever seen. Her face was curiously rounded, not like…well, not exactly a thin face. I think I’m still influenced by the person I was as an adolescent.
Mr. Matsumoto seemed to be quite fond of the woman he told me about in this episode.
Matsumoto: Even now, I still have a photo of her in my album. She was wearing shorts at a field day. I asked her, “Excuse me, please let me take a picture of you.” She said yes. I remember the conversation up to that point, but after that, blood was rushing to my head.
Just as I was shooting my friend said, “Hey, let’s go home.” I exploded at him and said, “Shut up! You go home first!” It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I was in a state of excitement because I was so thrilled to take that photo. After I finished, I turned around and saw that my friend had left. I started panicking and saying, “Wait, wait, wait!”
Well, it’s a nostalgic story, isn’t it?
And then…
Matsumoto: He didn’t punch me or anything. When I was just starting to become a professional manga artist, and the day after I graduated from high school, I received a postcard saying, “Good luck.” He was the only person who directly said to me, “Good luck with your manga.”
After that, I didn’t know where she was, and I thought I would just be a nuisance to her. Then I received a New Year’s card for the first time in 22 years. I was so happy. Ah, she remembered me. She’s now the wife of a school teacher.
Matsumoto-sensei finished his story with a sense of sadness. Yuki Mori, Teresa, and Maetel. I wonder if they all look like “Marianne, a French actress, and a slender classmate in shorts at an athletic meet” divided in half.
Matsumoto: At first glance, she looks like a gentle beauty, but she doesn’t cry herself to sleep. I often portray a woman who would not die if she were left alone. I think it’s better to have a strong spirit, than ranting and raving.
Leiji Matsumoto flanked by voice actors Masako Ikeda (left)
and Masako Nozawa (right) of Galaxy Express 999
After the success of Galaxy Express 999, he is aiming for the world of “Inkintamushi” anime
[Translator’s note: “inkintamushi” is a common Japanese word for tinea cruris, a fungal infection also known as jock itch. It’s mentioned here because it was a prominent reference in Matsumoto’s Otoko Oidon manga, which depicted a young everyman in a life of poverty.]It is said that the universe Mr. Matsumoto depicts his own world of romance and dreams. How did he come up with the idea of a train running in outer space?
Matsumoto: It’s a wish I’ve had since I was a child. I wanted to go to a place like that (outer space). In those days, trains and ships were the only vehicles.
After the Battle of Trafalgar, Spain was defeated by the British. It began to decline because of the loss of ships. In my childish mind, I thought that we had to have ships on the sea. Nowadays, we have rockets and spaceships in space. I had a fantasy that in space, I would need a spaceship that would stand out from the rest. I guess it continues today.
It is true that powerful spaceships like the Arcadia in Captain Harlock, the Space Battleship Yamato, and others are depicted in his drawings. The C62 galaxy train No. 999 running through dark space with “power” and the sound of a whistle gives me an indescribable feeling of nostalgia. On the other hand, it is also a strong locomotive with great endurance. What a romantic spaceship! Is that the world he will continue to promote in this universe?
Matsumoto: It has always been my desire to reach the goal of “anime” and for the past year or two, it has finally come true. But in the end, I would like to create an anime in the world of “Inkintamushi.”
He’s going to depict the real-life experiences of the grumpy teacher in Otoko Oidon?
Matsumoto: That’s the end goal. If I continue Otoko Oidon any longer, I will become a broken man, you know. What I’m aiming for is a world of that type, but if I say I want to turn it into an anime, a sponsor will not look at me favorably. If something like that appeared in commercials, no one would buy it. Every day, projects come and go, then come and go again.
Mr. Matsumoto has been steadily thinking of new projects to follow Galaxy Express. How does he live his life?
Matsumoto: First, energy. And second, energy. And to run a marathon.
A marathon?
Matsumoto: Yes. I think back to the time when I almost collapsed after running about 10 kilometers in a marathon. At that time, I just pushed through it…you have to have guts. Human beings should be faced with hardships at least once, and should continue to face hardships. You shouldn’t run away from it. You have to burn with a sense of vengeance. And then one day, you will look back and say, “I did it.”
The sensei says it himself.
Matsumoto: I’m man of trivia with a big heart and a big appetite for learning. I get involved in a lot of things. It never fails to be a plus later on.
He has a pair of shoes said to be swiped from an apprentice, still the same as when he went to Africa 5 years ago.
Matsumoto: I’ll wear these shoes until the soles fall off.
I was impressed by the way he talked with a laugh.
Results of the “Best Ten” reader poll announced in the previous issue:
In the voice actor category, Kei Tomiyama (Kodai) took first place with 3,069 votes. Yasuo Yamada (Lupin III) took second with 2,744. Yoko Asagami (Yuki) placed third with 2,605.