Written by Imbricator
This year, the classic fantasy manga Fairy Tail ended after a run of over 10 years. We talked to creator Hiro Mashima at New York Comic Con about anime, cultural differences, his future plans, fandom, and more—here are the highlights!
Hiro Mashima at New York Comic Con
On Life After Fairy Tail
“I was actually feeling kind of lonely and sad, so I started doodling,” Mashima said when asked about how he felt the first day he woke up and didn’t have to start a new page. He frequently posted art on Twitter and Instagram during Fairy Tail’s run, and is still producing a steady stream now. However, Mashima said the pictures he posts on social media “are just my doodles and have nothing to do with the main plot of the series. Now of course, I want people to remember these characters—that’s one of the reasons—but also it’s fun for me to draw characters... I have a next set of characters in mind for my new series, but I won’t be able to post those on my social media.
“I actually don’t really like to be around people too much,” said Mashima. “I actually don’t even like to talk to people that much. But through my work of manga I actually get to communicate with the whole wide world, which I think is incredible.”
“At this point I feel that I’ve done everything that I can do and told all that I wanted to tell in the story of Fairy Tail,” Mashima said, adding that “I might change my mind once several years have passed.”
Mashima shared that he is currently planning a new series. “One of the things that I learned and feel like I succeeded with in Fairy Tail is to develop lots and lots of characters with unique personalities. I would like to apply that in my next series.”
“I honestly don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing if my new work reminds people of my old work. In Japan, there’s kind of a jinx... after the first big hit, your next series is going to flop. But, personally, I’m not worrying about it. There’s one reason why I’m not worrying, and that's because I personally don’t think Fairy Tail was a giant success. So when I think in such ways, I feel no pressure.”
(We totally disagree that a series which has sold over 60 million copies and hundreds of anime episodes isn’t a big success... On that note, anime fans can be on the lookout for the final season, which will premiere in 2018.)
“I’m full of hope for the new series. I’m looking forward to it.”
On Creating
“I honestly didn’t have any of the last scene of the story in my mind when I started the series. The fact that nobody knew where the story was going was actually the best part about working on this series. For example, one chapter ends with a cliff hanger when the characters are in a real tight spot. What’s going to happen next? That’s actually a question I asked myself.”
Mashima doesn’t work alone. Fairy Tail’s creative team includes assistants—some of whom have gone on to become successful mangaka themselves—and his editor. After writing the first draft of a chapter, he’ll show it to his editor, who will tell him if it’s good or not. Sometimes, they have a conflict of opinion.
“And then I push forward with what I believe is a best-case scenario... and then I don’t succeed and I feel, oh, I should have listened. Sometimes, when I’m stuck on an idea, he gives me pretty prompt advice which really helps me get over those places that I was mulling over.”
Hiro Mashima says "hi" to MyAnimeList!
A major difference between the American and Japanese comic industries is the amount of collaboration that goes into the development of a universe and story. A popular American title might star a character created decades ago by someone who’s since passed away, in a universe created by someone else, written by a writer new to the series working with several different artists with different art styles. Mangaka have much more control and ownership over their stories, as they are usually the ones who write and draw all of a series from beginning to end. When they decide to stop, the story stops as well. Mashima spoke positively about creative collaboration because of the potential to bring the story to more people more efficiently.
“One of the great things about the approach for American comics is that so many people can work at once. That way, they can turn it into a movie, a different kind of comic book, or other types of media... that can actually convert, carrying over to not just America, but overseas. I think that has to do with the fact that more people are able to enter into the creative work.”
Mashima also said that he welcomed having manga spinoffs that branch off from the main story.
“A lot of people really have an understanding of the worldview in Fairy Tail. It is actually possible to expand the story... it could be taken over by another creator. Diversifying the intellectual property is actually really amazing.”
“The reason I decided to close Fairy Tail is because I wanted to challenge myself with new worldbuilding. To actually create a unique story line for each story arc requires a lot of planning.”
“As you can imagine, working on a weekly series is very difficult. However, you get immediate feedback from the fans—'I wanna read the next chapter!...' and I really want to respond with the next chapter.”
Mashima said he had no trouble eating and sleeping properly during Fairy Tail’s run.
On Genre
“I really love fantasy works in general, so if I get started with a new series I would like to try another fantasy series. However, each series’ approach is quite different; for example, Rave Master [his debut work] was about a group of people who are trying to save the whole world. Fairy Tail is actually about closer knit relationships, friendships... if I was trying to start another fantasy series, I would want to do a different approach.”
“Maybe 20-30 years ago in Japan, there was a huge boom of RPG fantasy games so those were kind of where I started off. Like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Those are the series I was inspired by,” Mashima said when explaining why he favored Western and European fantasy aesthetics over Asian ones.
Mashima said he would like to see more science fiction incorporated into the current state of shounen manga. “In Japan, there’s sort of a jinx where science fiction works don’t take off. If it was a manga for slightly older teens, or for adults, then there are a lot of great sci-fi manga. However, for shounen manga—for example, the ones from [Weekly] Shounen Magazine or Shounen Jump—there are not that many science fiction works that have really taken off. So if you’re a newcomer artist trying to launch a new manga, maybe that’s something to explore.”
Shounen has proved popular with both boys and girls, but shoujo’s proportion of male fans is small compared to the amount of female fans shounen has. We asked what shoujo is missing in regards to appeal.
“That’s a difficult question,” Mashima said. “In terms of shounen manga, they tend to touch on everlasting themes. For example: friendship; romance; victory.” This brings to mind leading shounen publisher Shounen Jump’s editorial guidelines of “Friendship, effort, victory” (Fairy Tail is published by Kodansha’s Weekly Shounen Magazine). “Those are the most important elements of shounen manga. Those are the kind of elements that resonate, regardless of your gender.”
“In terms of shoujo manga, it tends to just stay within the theme of romance. For the male audience, it’s kind of like watching Sex and the City. Maybe it’s kind of hard to really get it.”
On Fans
“I didn’t put the highest priority onto the continuity of the story. It’s more important for me to make the story exciting by really portraying the emotions of each character,” Mashima said about the universe he created in 2006. “So if the fans find some flaws in the continuity of my plots, I’m actually excited to know that people are reading that much into it."
Press watching Mashima draw
As for his previous series—Mashima reported receiving a lot of requests for sketches of Rave Master characters at his autograph sessions. “But I realize that I have forgotten how to draw a lot of the characters from my own series,” he said, laughing.
In action
When asked for his favorite thing about the Fairy Tail fandom, he answered thus: “Everybody’s eyes shining and sparkling. I get really happy just from seeing that.”
A packed audience waiting for Mashima’s panel
Hiro Mashima spoke to us through a translator. This interview was edited for clarity.
Thank you to Hiro Mashima, Kodansha Comics, and Reed Exhibitions for making this possible!
