Thread by @KamuyCentral

An interview with Yukimura Makoto (Vinland Saga) and Noda Satoru (Golden Kamuy)! We'll be back with some digest of the interview later!

https://twitter.com/mainichi/status/1147286450305679360

(quick translation)
Yukimura Makoto said he used to read Young Jump weekly, and he read Golden Kamuy since it began serialization, with the bias that "since it's Young Jump it must be good". He realised that lots of research must have gone into the manga.

He also personally love stories about bear and hunting. But when he told about it to his editor in charge, the editor told him to stop because if Yukimura said a manga is interesting, its luck would fall 😅
However, Golden Kamuy later became a big hit

Even so, his editor said, "If only you weren't a fan, Golden Kamuy would have sold thrice as many now!" 😅
Anyway, Yukimura said he's realised Golden Kamuy's charm since early on.
Noda Satoru thanked him and said he's happy. Noda himself had found Yukimura's Planetes astonishing.

Until that time, Noda has known only fantasy-oriented science fiction, but Planetes' down-to-earth, reality-style science fiction made him think, "A great author has come!"
So he's interested in what Yukimura would do next.

When Noda read the first chapter of Vinland Saga, he too realised how much preparations have gone into it. He understood how hard it must be for an author who's strongly obsessed to details to draw a historical tale set in Northern Europe.

Noda praised how Vinland Saga became ever richer in details, and many things can be conveyed thanks to how they are finely drawn. Especially good is how Yukimura draws snow: the snow when an axe fell on it, the thick snow when there are footsteps on it..

Noda also wanted to draw snow like that for Golden Kamuy, but weekly serialisation meaning he can't afford such luxury and he has to compromise a lot of things.

*Now I have something else to do, but I'll return to this when I have time! The link is only the first part of the interview, by the way. Yukimura seems to genuinely love Golden Kamuy, he talks about a lot of scenes and details that he likes.

What's more, when Yukimura said his favourite GK character is Tanigaki, Noda said it's Tanigaki for him too. As for Noda's favourite Vinland Saga character, it's Askeladd, and he wondered if Askeladd's the closest to Yukimura's own personality.

And here's the second part of the interview. The two authors were asked whether there are any similarities between Vinland Saga and Golden Kamuy.
Yukimura said a lot of people die in the two manga, and they're both set in a cold region.

https://twitter.com/mantanweb/status/1148191264636121088?s=19

Noda said there are many sexy, cool old men in them, and please give him more rough, cool, even though hairy, old men

When asked the reason why he chose the theme for Vinland Saga, Yukimura said one day for some reason he felt a great need to draw/write about violence. Thus, he needed to base the story on a culture in which violence is common and instilled in it.

Noda said he too wanted to write about life & death. The mountains of Meiji-era Hokkaido were not covered by the police, so murders were not easy discovered there. To stay alive in such places, religion has an important role, and religion features strongly in Vinland Saga too

Noda said the Vikings didn't feel guilty when killing people because they believed they would go into Valhalla if they died fighting and thus violence was justified. He said he was glad he wasn't born in such time and place

When asked about his reason behind choosing Golden Kamuy's theme, Noda said originally he wanted to write a story about his own great grand-father who went to Russo-Japanese war as a soldier with the 7th Division. Basically the story he'd told us often:
kamuycentral.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/mod…

He then discussed about Yukimura's attention to details of everyday objects in Vinland Saga. Noda himself went to Karafuto (Sakhalin) and Khabarovsk and was able to notice and draw differences between the Ainu, Nivkh, and Uilta cultures.

He didn't think most readers saw the differences between, for instance, the sleds of the Karafuto Ainu and the Uilta, but if they do understand, he's glad.

Next, when asked about their difficulties in drawing manga of rare themes like Vinland Saga and Golden Kamuy,

Yukimura said it's rather hard to share the visual image (of what he wants to have in the manga) with his assistants. But his current assistants have been with him for a long time and used to the work, they're doing their best. Yukimura imagined that it's difficult for Noda too-

-with Golden Kamuy; it's hard to draw any manga not set in modern Japan even when materials are present. That's why with Yukimura, an assistant can't just appear from nowhere and get to work.
Noda said he could feel Yukimura's attention even to the corners of the pictures.

There's a sense of overall unity even though there are parts drawn by assistants. Vinland Saga is published monthly, not weekly like Golden Kamuy which made it difficult to keep the balance of the whole pics, but Noda thinks Vinland Saga's achievement's made possible by--

--not only Yukimura's drawing skills, but also by working closely with the assistants.

Noda said, there's a danger of not getting attention when you write a manga about things that readers don't know about - for instance, his own previous manga about ice hockey.

Golden Kamuy is written with the people with the best knowledge about the Ainu, the Nivkh, and the Uilta in Japan.
However, at the beginning, since the Ainu is a delicate theme, there were even people trying to stop it from being published, but his editor fought for it.

Since that time, until now, he always writes/draws things about the Ainu with great care. As a Wajin (Japanese majority) himself, he always tries to remain neutral in that space, and it's hard.

However, he's the author who's given the chance to draw Tanigaki Genjirou naked, so.... erm, sensei?

Why the sudden turn...................

Yukimura said he had to fly to many countries to collect materials: Norway, Denmark, Iceland, France, England.. he'd soon fly to Canada. It costs a lot of money, so he regretted it a little why he didn't decide to make a story set in a closer country. (he laughed)

Yukimura thinks collecting material is difficult - even for him with monthly schedule - so Noda able to do so with weekly schedule feels like magic, and he said "otsukaresama desu!" to Noda.

Yukimura had watched up to episode 4 of Vinland Saga and he thought "Making this is difficult!" but the anime's already exceeded his expectations. He just wished the anime staff wouldn't push themselves too far and ruin their bodies!

I think that is all?

Note: this has been a quick reading/translation, there are many details I left out. I apologise in advance if I made any mistake, and if anyone can point it out/tell me how to say it better in English, I'll be very thankful!