#(and also it's being published in shonen sunday. one more time what did we expect)

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Stephen Paul

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the last installment in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My final guest in this series is Stephen Paul, One Piece translator for Weekly Shonen Jump. For my chat with him, he chose the Skypiea arc, in which the Straw Hats soar up to an island in the clouds, and soon find themselves dealing with both a long-lasting feud and a man with lightning powers and a god complex.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Skypiea arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Skypiea arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: Let’s say that, for some reason, I get to the end of the Jaya arc, and the Straw Hats are about ride the Knock-Up Stream, and I decide “Eh, One Piece might as well end here. I think it’s said what it needs to say.” What do you tell me, in one sentence, to keep me going to Skypiea?

  Stephen Paul: I would say “Don’t you wanna see One Piece’s take on Indiana Jones?” That would be my hook.

  Yeah! Skypiea’s my favorite arc, and it’s got a sense of pure adventure, so I could see that. I adore it, and it’s the storyline I want to revisit the most often. When did you first get into One Piece, by the way?

  I got into One Piece in 1999.

  Oh, wow. Where in the story was that?

  I first saw it when I picked up an issue of Weekly Shonen Jump at a Japanese bookstore in San Diego. I was doing a high school report on manga for my Japanese class, and Luffy was on the cover, and it was during the Arlong arc where they’re fighting in Arlong Park. And I didn’t really know anything about it, but it was on the cover, so I figured it was the hot, new thing, and later that year, I was doing a student exchange in Japan and I bought the first few volumes. 

    That’s a pretty good place to start. Arlong Park is pretty much the “Crap or get off the pot” arc.

  Yeah, if it’s not doing anything for you by then, I think you’re out of luck. But it really hooked me around the Baratie arc when Mihawk shows up for the first time because it was beginning to structure this big story to come with this huge world. 

  So they go up to Skypiea, and there are islands made of clouds, Nami’s riding on the Waver, Usopp nearly falls though, it’s pretty fantastic. What were your thoughts on this new location? Because One Piece has a very strong internal logic for itself and you’re not like “Clouds?!? THAT wouldn’t be physically possible,” so you immediately accept it. But what was your first reaction?

  It’s really fun. At this point in the story, it’s the most prominent example of the rush of newness and intricate culture and architecture. It’s like taking someone from the World War I era and showing them all the consumer goods that are available in the 60s. And then Eiichiro Oda does this little thing where Nami rides over near the jungle and there’s a hint of foreboding. And it tells you “Yeah, we’re having fun now, but it’s not going to last.” All of it is really deftly done.

  Speaking of foreboding, Skypiea is Enel’s domain. And he’s probably my second favorite villain and when I watched One Piece for the first time back in college in 2008, I was fascinated by him. There were so many online discussions about him that said stuff like “ACTUALLY, he’d have the highest bounty of anyone ever if he had a bounty,” and “He’s actually the strongest character.” And he was cool to me, but not in the same way that Crocodile was. Crocodile was cool because he acted cool, but you’re just kind of in awe of Enel. What did you think of him?

  It’s interesting because he doesn’t get revealed for a while. He’s just a menacing presence until his reveal that he’s like this evil Roman emperor on the sofa with a banana. And he seems very aloof. 

  I think the series does such a good job with Enel, because there’s this elaborate sky island with all of this dream-like stuff, but everyone is scared of something. They’re all terrified of this kind of unknowable power. 

  Yeah, he strikes fear in people, but he’s such an aloof character in terms of his personality. He’s megalomaniacal, but he’s not really into monologuing like Caesar Clown or Spandam. He doesn’t delight in mockery. He just does what he wants with the people under his sway. I think that’s why it’s so effective when he finally gets shook by Luffy resisting his power. It’s why the Enel eyes gag works so well. Because up until then, he’s never panicked in the slightest. He’s god. He’s got that confidence in himself. 

    At this point, in the anime and manga, I feel like I kind of wait for the Enel eyes moments. It’s such an unforgettable visual. But I remember thinking before it “Well, Luffy is rubber, and I got a D in high school chemistry, but I think that would mean that he’d resist Enel’s shocks.” And then he did. Did you call it before it happened?

  I think if I was just marathoning the whole series, it’s something that might’ve snuck up on me. But because I was reading week to week, it’s something that I saw people talking about online and expecting. They took it into account, and when it finally happened, it was fun because Oda never mentioned it beforehand. He never had a character say “Wait, rubber doesn’t conduct electricity.” He waits for the experiment to happen before the results are made clear to the audience.

  So Enel has his own group of pirates, and one pirate that I’ve never heard anyone say a good word about is Satori and his Ordeal of Balls. I need your Satori hot take: Is he good? Are you annoyed by him? Because I’ve heard people mention Satori as the thing that broke their ambition to finish the story. They get to him jumping around and dancing and just drop out.

  I think my take on Satori is similar to my take on Foxy: It’s impossible to take him seriously. And it’s definitely a change-up in tone when he’s introduced. But I actually enjoy that now, because once you know not to take him too seriously, there’s a bunch of good comic moments in the battle with him. 

    One reason I like it is because Sanji gets the KO. He’s teaming with Luffy, but Luffy doesn’t finish him. But this arc is the first big one where Robin is part of the crew. And you get a few cool Robin moments, like when she just basically eviscerates Yama or her interactions with the crew. How do you feel about Robin’s evolving role?

  I feel like Oda does a balancing act with this arc, where it is the first time she’s together with a new group of people. So there’s an awkward distance there. She’s still mysterious and she’s still dangerous to everyone. There’s still traces of the Miss All Sunday there, as you see with her fight with Yama and Zoro’s skepticism of her. 

  Yeah, in Alabasta, they go a long way to make her Devil Fruit power as horrifying as possible. And Oda is still easing her into the Robin that she’ll become, but there are definitely traces of “Whoa, these creepy arms are basically horror movie weapons” rather than “Whoa, Robin is so cool,” which is where she’ll end up. So you have the big Survival Game, and it really ramps up the action. What’s your opinion on it, as I think it’s really cool.

  He paces it pretty well, so it feels really natural when you get down to the last few characters at the ruins. 

  Feels very Battle Royale. Around here is where we get the flashback, though, and it’s the first big flashback that doesn’t include any Straw Hat Pirate, or any companion to the Straw Hats. And it’s a real history lesson, and I can see it being kind of a gamble. Like, you might watch and think “Okay, move it along. Is Luffy gonna show up as a baby or something? Get back to the action.” What do you think of it as this huge bit of world-building that isn’t directly related to the Straw Hats?

    It’s something that’s indispensable to this story arc and it’s one that I appreciate more and more as time goes on. If you view this arc as just the story of the Straw Hats going up in the sky to find gold and beat a bad guy, it seems like it has nothing to do with the arc. But if you engage with the arc on its own terms, the flashback is explaining what the soul of the arc is, which is of these people and cultures meeting and then being ripped apart in the same way that the island was ripped apart when it was launched into the sky. 

  So we finally see Enel’s big ark, which he’s going to use to help destroy Skypiea. It’s probably the most direct world-ending scheme of any One Piece villain. But Luffy has a big golden ball attached to his fist, he runs up the vine, he punches Enel, and you have this moment where Luffy’s shadow is in the clouds and Cricket sees it. And more than anything, it’s Cricket’s victory, because he knew the lore, he believed in it, and now his dream is being vindicated. How do you feel about this iconic moment, which is now a piece of One Piece iconography?

  The ending of this and Alabasta are probably the two best examples of the climactic blow that Luffy strikes. His fists representing the symbolic righting of wrongs in such an elegant way. Like when he punches Crocodile up through Alubarna, it basically makes it rain. And here, the blow that defeats Enel is the blow that rings the bell that lets Cricket know that the story of the two lineages, the Montblanc family and the Shandorian people, has finally become whole again. 

  When you finished Skypiea, did you know immediately that it would be your favorite arc?

  I remember it being very satisfying when it ended, but I was also very excited for what was coming next. The Going Merry was all busted up and they needed to find a new shipmate to fix it. And since this arc didn’t provide that new crew member, I just wanted to get to that. But as I said, it was my first time reading it on a week-to-week basis, and the richness of getting a new chapter and having a week to think about it, really imprinted on me. And the stuff that I go back to I appreciate more and more.

    I mentioned the Indiana Jones aspect of a rascally, roguish guy exploring and finding the treasure. And there has to be a bad guy who also wants the treasure, and thus it makes it okay for us to want it because we have to save it. But in most cases, the treasure usually ends up in a museum or an FBI vault or whatever. But what this story arc does so well is that is that, unlike many of these stories, the Skypiea arc actually asks “Well what about the people that created this thing?” What about the inhabitants? It’s never their story, too. So it’s a very colonial style of story structure.

  But in the flashback that brings them all together, Noland is a botanist, and when he makes contact with the Shandorians, they’re suffering from a disease that they don’t know how to treat and all they can do is pray to the gods for help. So Noland helps them out and the way that the story plays out, it becomes clear that it’s not about Noland being more advanced and bringing his gifts to the less-advanced people. It’s about Noland helping them because he is a man of good character. He even gets executed by his own people because he refuses to be less than a good man.

  It’s not the enlightened versus the un-enlightened. It’s a story about character and their friendship that they form, which is brought whole again when Luffy beats Enel. It’s such a different take on that pulp serial style of adventure.

  ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  Favorite character?

  Gotta be Luffy, but I also really like Robin

  Favorite villain?

  Crocodile 

  If you had to live on one island, which would you pick?

  Water 7 seems pretty chill.

  If you could have any Devil Fruit power?

  It’d be pretty nice to have Mansherry’s healing powers. You wouldn’t have to rely on the medical insurance system.

  One Piece moment that made you cry the hardest?

  Probably Nami’s flashback. Oda really shivs you in the gut.

  One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

  The ringing the bell, and all the way that resonates with the characters. That’s hard for me to top.

    And that concludes the My Favorite One Piece Arc series. If you've kept up with them so far, I truly appreciate it. And if you've missed some, all six of them are linked below for you to peruse. One Piece has always been very special to me, but for the most part, my time at Crunchyroll has been spent giving you my perspective on it and my perspective only. And that's neat. I'm truly thankful to have a platform that allows me to discuss the things that I find most fascinating and exciting about one of the greatest anime/manga franchises of all time. That said, I am a very, very, very small part of the One Piece community. A drop in the Grand Line, if you will. So, I decided to reach out, and talk to other creators/fans about their experiences and what they appreciate about this wonderful series. And I was delighted to see everyone bring their own unique tastes and personality to the table. They're all wonderful people, and I am so proud to not just have them as collaborators, but as friends as well. 

  One frequent question I saw over the course of this series was "Where is Water 7/Enies Lobby?" It's one of the greatest story arcs in fiction itself, and to some, it seemed like an oversight to not include it. Well, that's not by my design. When I first came up with the idea for My Favorite One Piece Arc, I immediately feared that everyone I reached out to would simultaneously dogpile upon Enies Lobby, forcing me to draw straws or auction it off to whoever bid the most thrilling idea. But...no one did. No one from this list chose Enies Lobby. This seemingly random (and ultimately inspired) array of six arcs were the interviewees' first choices. That said, if we ever do a "Season 2" of My Favorite One Piece Arc, I think you'll be pretty happy with who I have in mind for the discussion of such a monumental storyline.

  Anyway, keep watching/reading One Piece. It's at a really great spot in both the manga and the anime (Did y'all see that fight between Big Mom and Kaido? You went hard, Toei, and I appreciate it,) and I imagine it's gonna close out 2020 with a bang.

  Hot take: One Piece? It's good. 

    CHECK OUT ALL OF THE "MY FAVORITE ONE PIECE ARC" INTERVIEWS RIGHT HERE!

        Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Daniel Dockery

[books-on-the-brain]

So I used to read a whole bunch, but then I took a small break so that I could have an actual social life. Now I'm trying to get back into it but I've tried to... I just can't get into it. Do you have any suggestions of what I could do to get back into wanting to read more?

bI relate to this SO. MUCH. It’s always hard to find a good reading/life balance, since reading can often be a very isolating activity. It’s also really difficult around this time of year for younger readers, too, since a lot of us are getting back into the swing of it with school and such and find that we have much less time to be reading what we want. So without further ado…

How I cure “reader’s block”/being in a book rut!!!

1) First of all, there’s literally no shame in reading something because it’s short and you know you can get through it, or reading something you might consider a “beach read.” If it’s less daunting for you to pick up a 70-page romance novella than Tolstoy that is perfectly!!! okay!!! What matters is that you’re still reading and it’s making you happy, not that you have gained all the answers to the universe by reading a dry and endless classic.

2) Another good option is to reread something you know you really love/want to revisit. I find it’s typically easier to read something for the second or third time and if it’s been a while, then you’ll still be surprised by little things here and there and get the warm nostalgia fuzzies. For me, one of my old favorites to revisit is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I always read it at the beginning of the summer when I’m switching from all academic reading to personal reading (f i n a l l y) because I’m familiar enough with the story that it goes pretty quickly, but I still really love it.

3) In a similar vein, I find it really fun when I don’t want to sit down and read seriously to go back to some of my old favorites from childhood! For example, I loved the Deltora books by Emily Rodda when I was a kid and had some fun the other day going back through some of them and reminiscing. It has the potential to remind you of your love for stories and also in my case, it reminded my why I fell in love with fantasy at a young age and why I’m still so passionate about it! Reading children’s/middle grade/YA books is always acceptable and so much fun at any age.

4) This Barnes and Noble Reader article also suggests reading about books if you can’t actually read a book. As they explain it, find book blogs (like those on tumblr!) that speak to your interests and get you excited about picking up books. Other people’s enthusiasm goes a long way in encouraging you to also pick up a book to read!

5) If you can, find other avid readers and friends who you feel comfortable sitting in silence with! One of my favorite memories ever is sitting on my friend’s back porch and trading the books of the KARE First Love manga series back and forth. We played peaceful music in the background and so we were spending time as friends AND getting reading done. This lead us to discuss our favorite scenes and how we felt about certain translations (literally just because we like how to guy asked the main girl out in the online scantalation better than the printed book rip). But we ended up really getting into this series that in all honesty is kind of silly (despite the soft spot I have in my heart for it) and we joke about it all the time. Reading and socializing in one!

6) And speaking of manga…it’s always a great bridge for getting back into reading when it’s been a while, as are graphic novels! If you haven’t ever tried manga or graphic novels and don’t think it’s your rap at least give them a chance! I thought I hated them until I read Fullmetal Alchemist and fell in l o v e! You’re getting a story and doing some reading, but the pictures really help to ease you in so that you’re not necessarily devoting the same attention that you would be with a novel that’s just pages of text. As such, each volume is pretty quick depending on how long you linger on the drawings. If you already do love manga/graphic novels, then try picking up a new series you’ve been interesting in or rereading a series you already know you like!

Here are some graphic novel recommendations!

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (a story that does a fun take on the idea of the “bad guy” - it actually gave me way more feels than expected, and I loved the art style)

The new Ms. Marvel series written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Adrian Alphona (so do not confuse this with the old Ms. Marvel, this one is better in my opinion because our hero is your average teenage Muslim girl living in Jersey City and it’s refreshing, amazing, adds diversity to the typically white/male dominated world of superheroes, and I am unabashedly in love with one of the main characters, Bruno)

Umbrella Academy written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Ba (this does another more twisted/dark take on the idea of the superhero story, if that’s something more up your alley. It’s the first book of a series I’ve really been loving lately, plus I trust Gerard Way’s taste in comics unequivocally and he wrote it so that’s a yes in my book!)

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (the intertwining stories of an American-Chinese boy trying to figure out his place in the world and the Monkey King of Chinese fable)

I did not include a special section for manga recommendations because most of what I read is probably not the sort of stuff to dive into after having reader’s block. Overall, the realm of shoujo might be a good place to look (things like Skip Beat!, Blue Spring Ride, Fruits Basket, and Kimi ni Todoke. Ouran High School Host Club and Dengeki Daisy were ones I really enjoyed too.)I also recently read Orange which is a fairly short series and easy to read - I loved it but major depression/suicide/mental illness tws there.In terms of shonen, Hunter x Hunter would be a good one because not only is it amazing, but it’s broken up into shorter yet very distinct story arcs which I feel would be easier if you’re trying to get back into reading. If someone has some more recs tho, please add!

7) Another variation of manga/graphic novels is online webtoons, which are basically digitized comics. I have recently discovered them and think they’re the best. things. ever. If you’re like me and you have a horrible habit of lying in bed scrolling absently through your phone before going to bed and after waking up, this might be good for you. I have slowly been replacing my mindless Facebook scrolling with scrolling through webtoons, which has been so amazing for my mental health! My favorite app is literally just called Webtoon or maybe Line Webtoon (the icon in the app store is a green speech bubble that says “Webtoon”).

For most webtoons, chapters are generally pretty short so it doesn’t take a lot of focus but once again, you’re still reading, and you’re still getting a good story, all while laying fetal position like you might while scrolling through Facebook or texting people before bed. Not to mention you’re supporting amazingly talented artists/individuals who are oftentimes not published and doing this for fun or with the hopes of eventually being published, so you can say you followed them from the start! Also since they update only a few times a week, it gives you something to look forward to on random days.

Here are my favorite story-oriented webtoons currently:

Assassin Roommate by Monica Gallagher. Super cute and quirky romance with a great female lead, also really great in terms of body diversity, and LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON I LOOK FORWARD TO TUESDAYS, THE DREADFUL DAY AFTER MONDAY

My Dear Cold-Blooded King by limelight. Just started this but it seems pretty cool??? The author has paired up with a musician so all the chapters have music which is lit af if I do say so myself

Silk and Briar by paragoing-paragon. I think this is on hiatus but it’s shaping up to be a brilliantly-constructed fantasy story with some crazy twists and turns

instantmiso’s stuff is also really popular (Where Tangents Meet and Siren’s Lament). It’s not as much up my alley as it is pretty fluffy romance and I’m not crazy about the writing, but she is an incredibly talented artist and has great music with her chapters. Her stuff is super good for an easy read without a ton of brain power/commitment, but I say that with immense respect for her talent and abilities! 

Cheese in the Trap by soonkki. This was also made into a K-Drama so I read the series and threw a little watch-party with some of my friends from my Korean class! Super good series and another great way to enjoy reading AND be social!

Here are the webtoons that are more “Sunday newspaper funnies”               style, where each chapter is a mini story:

Bluechair by Shen (this is WILDLY popular and I totally see why!!! These are hilarious and have cheered me up on many a rough night!!!)

Sapphie: The One-Eyed Cat by joho (feel-good, cute comic about cats that’s also pretty funny. I shamelessly read like a hundred chapters in one sitting.)

If none of this is appealing to you, there is always the audio option! If the actual act of your eyes scanning the page is difficult because you can’t focus on anything, there are a lot of options in this realm!

8) Local libraries usually have an audiobook section that is deeply neglected, but holds some secret treasures! Whenever I go on roadtrips, I always pick up two or three before I head out. They’re also perfect for when you do mindless tasks like sorting/folding laundry, walking a dog if you have one, waiting in long lines, or on your commute to and from school or work or any other similar activities. 

What’s cool is you can search for audiobooks based both on books you actually want to read, and whoever is narrating it. I know Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz had a super popular audiobook because Lin Manuel Miranda narrated it. If you want to pay, Audible is one of the most popular paid platforms for audiobooks. I haven’t personally used it, but it seems to be quite successful. One way or another, audiobooks are a good way to get back into reading without having to budget extra time to sit down with a book.

9) Podcasts can also help if you haven’t already explored those and are open to! Not all podcasts are TED talks, or political debates, or generally academic, or whatever they are stereotyped as. There are a ton that feel just like audiobooks, or at the very least like a play without any visuals. There’s a script and there’s a story and I know it’s helped me ease back into a mindset that preps me for reading because much like audiobooks you can listen to them all the time (I do so while cooking dinner and walking to classes) and it helps your mind switch from reality to the world of a story with relative ease if that makes sense. I’m pretty new to podcasts myself so don’t have a ton to recommend, but here’s what I’ve been enjoying….

Podcasts to look into:

Anything written by Mac Rogers. That includes The Message, Afterlife, and Steal the Stars. Personally, I like Steal the Stars and The Message more that Afterlife. They’re all sci-fi stories that are generally told from one perspective but you get to know amazing characters and I was not expecting the twists and turns. And Steal the Stars is still coming out so jump on the bandwagon now lol

The Adventure Zone from Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy at My Brother, My Brother and Me (another podcast which I have not listened to). The Adventure Zone is actually them playing Dungeons and Dragons, but they’re funny as all get out (the last place I lived had a communal kitchen for dozens of people and I was always laughing like and idiot while listening to this and making dinner and I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was nuts). Eventually the Dungeon Master gets super into the story telling and they script some of it with cool music. It’s really amazing and has a nice balance between story/characters but also the element of “real people” as they’re a bunch of brothers and they’re dad all just having fun. It’s a good bridge to getting back into reading.

Welcome to Nightvale is always a classic. It’s a bit trippy for me but tons of people enjoy it. The same team also produced a podcast called Alice Isn’t Dead. I honestly know nothing about it but one of my friends always raves about it, so it has his vote!

10) And okay so here’s my last suggestion. It might feel like a bit of a cop-out because I guess it kind of is, but it often works for me. So here it is. Sometimes it just helps to sit down and remember why you like to read in the first place. The fact that you’re actively trying to get back into it isn’t meaningless. It’s a very willful decision. So what is driving you? Maybe it’s because…

reading is an escape or a way for you to cope with difficult things in your life. This can be anything from mental illness, to school/work stress, to relationship dissatisfaction, difficult family or economic situations. Maybe you just are bored of our planet earth. Sometimes you might just need to be transported into another world for whatever reason and that is totally okay.

or reading inspires you to live your best life. Maybe there’s some character in a book you love that you look up to and aspire to be. Remember that passion you had when you were first getting to know that character, and that sense of being understood or finding a role model. Maybe you want to go on an adventure as wild as that character went on and that’s your idea of living your best life. Whatever the reason is, this sort of inspiration is a powerful emotion that books make us feel and sometimes that’s also a good reason to reread a book that’s inspired you.

and I don’t know, maybe you’re a writer yourself and you draw inspiration from reading in that sense. The more you read, the more you learn about what sort of writing you like and don’t like, and you grow stronger in your craft. Good readers help make good writers (but also don’t take that to mean that if you happen to be a writer and you’ve been in a book rut for a long time that you own skills are waning. we all get in book ruts and that’s okay. maybe it’s time to seek out a new source of inspiration in a different genre or new writer)

or perhaps you simply love stories. Maybe you breathe stories like other people breathe air and you can’t imagine that side of you not existing. If you’re one of these people, that makes reader’s block twice as hard. But that doesn’t mean that if you’re not turning pages that you’re not absorbing stories. Take it slowly and ease back into it with things I already mentioned like podcasts and webtoons.

One way or another, you’ll find your way back. Maybe this post will spark something. Maybe it won’t, and it will take another few months for you to really feel gungho about reading again. That’s all okay. Take your time. Enjoy being with friends and other activities. Do what’s healthiest and what works best for you. And eventually you’ll get back to reading a ton. However it happens, I wish you the best of luck!

[recentanimenews]

Akiyo Nagano, Atsuko Ishizuka, and Akira Himekawa Discuss Being a Woman in the Anime and Manga Industry!

This year’s Crunchyroll Expo was a blast with plenty of amazing panels and premieres! We had the chance to sit in on the Women in Anime and Manga Panel, featuring the Legend of Zelda manga series author duo Akira Himekawa, animation director Atsuko Ishizuka, whose work includes No Game No Life and many more, and Akiyo Nagano, the creator of Bananya!

During the panel, these industry professionals talked about their personal experiences in the industry, challenges (and benefits!) of being a woman in the anime industry, fielded questions from the audience, generally shared their overall knowledge with the lucky listeners. If you weren’t able to attend Crunchyroll Expo, don’t worry, because below we’ve got the full deets of what these talented ladies had to say! Read on to see what their childhood dreams were and if they match where they are now, how to get free cake, challenges of being a woman in the anime industry, and their advice to women looking to get started in anime.

Could you please introduce yourselves and tell us what you do?Akira Himekawa: The two of us (A. Honda and S. Nagano) are Akira Himekawa. We’re the force behind the Legend of Zelda manga series for the last 20 years. Atsuko Ishizuka: I’m Atsuko Ishizuka and I’m the animation director for anime like No Game No Life, A Place Further Than the Universe, and more!Akiyo Nagano: I’m Akiyo Nagano, the creator and designer of Bananya. I did the designs for the characters in the anime, manga and the goods. Thank you very much for having me!

How long has everyone been working in their profession? And how did you all get started?AH: Since the two of us debuted, it’s been 30 years! The two of us have different reasons why we started, but we were both influenced by watching anime and reading manga as children.AI: I checked up on my bio myself earlier, and I realized that I’ve been in the industry for 15 years. I thought I was much younger, but we all got old. (laughs) When I was in college and I was looking for jobs, I interviewed at Madhouse, and I’m currently employed there.AN: I was employed within my company, and since then, I’ve become a freelancer, but it’s been about 6 years. In college, I studied to make illustrations, and I worked hard to join the current company I’m working with, and since then, I’ve been focused on making illustrations.

Was this what you always wanted to do when you were a kid?AH: Of course, we were born around the time anime started to appear on TV more, like Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, and it pushed us to become manga artists.AN: When I was young, I used to mimic styles from shoujo manga. Once I joined my company, I didn’t draw in the cute style that I do now, so I had to learn and work to change my style to be cute for my current work. AI: As a child, I wasn’t that interested in anime and manga. In fact, the only one I knew and followed was Doraemon! I actually play music ,and I wanted to become a musician, so I surprised my parents when I told them when I was going to become an animator. One more thing: I love Doraemon and I have the same birthday as him, which is September 3rd!

  Could you share insights as to how you overcame difficulties at your job?AH: The topic of this panel is “Women in the Anime Industry”, right? And I speak for all of us as women in the industry, even though we work in a separate professions and offices, in the manga world, it’s very separated. We have shoujo and shounen manga, and even the magazines that publishes them are different. Men would be required to take stories targeted for boys and women would be required to take the ones targeted for girls. It was really hard to get into the industry! We debuted with a shonen title, and while we love shounen manga, but we didn’t expect to enter that side of the industry. 20 years ago, it was more difficult getting into the shonen manga side of things, but now you see a lot more ikemen stuff and women are getting into shonen manga more! It has gotten a lot easier now than, say, 30 years ago! It’s totally different now! Since more girls are getting into shounen manga, it’s easier for us to draw for shounen manga.AI: In the anime industry, there would be similar challenges. But when I got started, anime was something that was watched by equally by boys and girls, and men and women. So, in terms of working towards a target audience, it wasn’t a hard challenge for me. For me, the biggest challenge is the work environment. I’m a studio employee, and we work in a department where do creative work, which is a team effort because it’s animation, so our work hours were very irregular. Sometimes I would work long hours into the mornings, and if you are a woman, you might know that keeping your makeup on all around the clock in the office is a very, very hard thing to do! (laughs) Also, I’m expected to have just as much stamina as men do, which is another challenge. However, there is one reward to this kind of lifestyle: I never get jet lagged, so that’s why I’m awake and alert for this panel right now! (everyone laughs and claps) And it’s true that there tends to be more men in positions, such as directors, but in recent years, now there’s more women coming into the studio to work, so the office smells better! (everyone laughs)AN: In my industry of being a designer for goods and stationary, it’s the opposite problem; in our office, we have only 2 guys, which is very refreshing, since they entered our world! But on the other hand, we want our goods to continuously evolve and to get a new refreshing vibe into the goods that people might want to buy and use. Which is why we want new people to come into the illustration field to enrich and bring more joy to people who are using our products.

Do you feel that there is a difference compared to a man working in your same field?AI: It’s a tough question to answer, but since I work with a studio that has more animators that are men, the women members tend to be more supportive of men. But for me, it’s kind of different, because once you are in the position of a director, the men think that you might be lacking the stamina that men might have, so that you might need more support, and then they’ll go and provide that support.

Have you found that helpful?AI: Yes, definitely! If I say that I’m hungry, then someone buys me cake! (everyone laughs)AH: Right now, we work in our own studio, but when we work with the editors, they’re all men. We used to work with a lot of older men, but they’ve gotten a lot younger! (laughs) It was a struggle working with them, but we learned how understand each other and work together.

Is there a difference between working with male or female editors?AH: Of course there’s a difference. At Shonen Sunday, the editors were mostly male, who are better for advice on action scenes and shonen. But when it came to relationships and love advice, female editors would fare better at that kind of advice.AN: Like I mentioned earlier, since there are only 2 men at our office, I had the benefit of getting input from my female co-workers. But the great part is that they weren’t separate from us in any way, so they did their best to advise on cute stuff. We all bonded over the idea of cuteness, so actually everyone really got along and are really supportive of one another. The cuteness of our products kinda brought everyone together!AI: Kawaii is justice! (everyone laughs and claps)

You all have been working in your respective industries for several years now, have there been any changes in the industry since then that you’ve seen? Is there anything that you would want to change about the industry?AH: (From Honda-san) Right now, I’m very happy to be able to come overseas and have connections like this and talk to you all! I don’t really want to change anything!

(From Nagano-san): In the industry, shoujo manga is mainly created by women, while shonen manga is mostly created by men, but are some men also create shoujo manga and the amount of women who create shonen manga increased a good amount. Thinking about my own work and trying to get that published has been difficult, but being in this industry, we haven’t really thought that far to change the industry itself. Personally, our readers are 50/50 boys and girls, so we don’t worry about that in that point and time. AI: As for myself, there’s been an increase of female directors, so it’s my personal wish and hopeful new trend in the anime industry that we get a bigger budget! Please give us more money! AN: I’m not too sure about making changes to the industry where I work, but since I work in pretty much the kawaii industry, I’d like to have more guys to work with us as well! I’d like to continue to draw more cute characters, but with the support of guys in our industry, while trying to make some products for boys as our target audience.

What’s your favorite part of your job? AI: For me, I work with a lot of people, so when we’re done animating, we do our daily checks, and when we see our work done and in animated form, we get to applaud all our hard work. This is the thing that keeps me going!AH: I’m jealous that as a director you get to share and understand your work with your staff so well! In our case, our work is being bought all over the world, and we’re very thankful and happy that it’s being received so well! We’re really happy to be able to do this!AN: For me, personally, because I draw so many cute characters that is aimed at a younger audience, I really appreciate that the kids really love our characters and use the products that we sell, like our stationary. For our manga magazine that we publish, we have fan art submission contests, we’d get Bananya fan art with messages like “I love Bananya!”, and getting to read those messages make me happy to be working on what I’m doing because I’m making people happy!

What advice would you give to women looking into working in the industry?AN: For me, before debuting in this industry, I was extremely nervous! In addition to all the drawing and practice that I’ve been doing on different types of illustrations, I also had friends who introduced me to the great people in the industry that were really supportive. Basically, don’t only work on your talent, but also value the connections with people that you have, because that might take you where you want to go.AI: Going into the industry, you really need to be able to communicate with people, and you need to never give up on your drawing skills too! You need to increase the number of people you can talk to, and be able to hone your ability to be able to communicate with them. In addition, stamina is a non-negotiable asset; you need to keep up your health, which is invaluable! Also, remember you’re going into the entertainment industry to make people happy, so if you’re a woman, remember to wear makeup so they will cherish you more! (everyone laughs) And remember to use foundation that lasts 24 hours! (laughs)AH: As girls, I think you should show your appeal or charm; be yourself! In this industry as women, you really have to have a strong heart. You have to be very confident and believe in yourself!

As the panel came to a close, we got a surprise: the day after was Ishizuka-san’s birthday, so we all sang her happy birthday! She happily exclaimed “I love you!” to the crowd, providing a fun and vibrant ending to an insightful panel. Hopefully their words of encouragement and advice will speak to women who want to work in the anime field, or any profession, to follow their dreams, and we hope to see all of them again someday at Crunchyroll Expo with new stories and projects!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known to profess her love of otome games over at her blog, Figuratively Speaking. When she has the time, she also streams some games. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com