Vigilantes Authors at Naples Comicon 2019
The artist and writer of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, along with their editor, recently attended the Naples Comicon 2019 (April 25-28). They did some signings and live drawing.
During the event, MangaForever conducted a video interview with the three of them (Interview Video; Transcript)
- Hideyuki Furuhashi (HF) – Writer of Vigilantes
- Betten Court (BC) – Artist of Vigilantes
- Tetsuya Sato (TS) – Editor for Vigilantes
- The interpreter is Mari Nakagawa
The interview is translated by awlol from Italian
Interviewer from MangaForever : Let’s give a big welcome today on Naples Comicon 2019 in the booth of Manga Forever, with thanks to Star Comics Edition, to Hideyuki Furuhashi-sensei and to Betten Court-sensei!
HF, BC & TS : Thank you!
Interviewer : How and when was the idea of “My Hero Academia: Vigilantes” born?
Tetsuya Sato (MHA Editor) : Ciao ! ?
The idea was conceived by me, I wanted to make a spin-off of My Hero Academia, so the first thing I did was to get ahold of Betten Court-sensei. After he accepted the offer, I went to search for someone to make the script and I immediately thought of Furuhashi-sensei.
After I received positive answers from both of them, I contacted Horikoshi-sensei who was very happy to know it would be Betten Court since he is a fan of his for a long time.
Interviewer : What’s the process of making these chapters?
Hideyuki Furuhashi (HF | Writer of Vigilantes) : At the beginning I make the script and sketch the storyboard with framing and speech bubbles. After that, I send them to Sato (editor) who approves them and then these storyboards go to Betten Court-sensei in the end.
TS : On the storyboard I note down my corrections and opinions.
Interviewer : What was Kohei Horikoshi’s role in the conception and development of Vigilantes ?
TS : During the storyboard phase we always wait for his approvals, he also adds ideas and sometimes tells us what to remove. Every chapter is supervised and approved by him.
Interviewer : Furuhashi-Sensei, is it easier to tell a villain’s development or a hero’s ?
HF : At the root of Vigilantes, the growth of the protagonist is of the utmost importance.
To help them grow, “villains” are needed … It’s hard to make them distinct … to make a hero charming, it’s necessary to have an equally charming villain as an opponent.
Interviewer : Betten Court-sensei, how do you approach the characters when you draw them, when they are fighting in battles, and how about the character design in Vigilantes?
Betten Court (Artist of MHA Vigilantes) : My work have rigid deadlines, but luckily on the storyboard there are already sketches and pointers about the characters, and with these, my job is easier and faster to do.
Interviewer : My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is considered more “unknown” compared to My Hero Academia. Do you try to show a different side of “what is a hero” in your work ?
HF : The idea of “what is a hero” is the same in both works, but what changes is the same idea depending on the target. My Hero Academia is a shōnen, a genre with a well defined structure and tropes where, to take as an example, the protagonist always need to be a good guy. However, in Vigilantes, we can explore the “dark side” of the characters, we can make them do mistakes and the protagonist doesn’t need to always shine as in the traditional shōnen way and this “darkness” can make them emphasise the “light” of the former.
Interviewer : What are your sources of inspiration? Did western comics, especially the Superhero genre, influence some parts of your work ?
HF : Alan Moore’s «Watchmen» and Frank Miller’s «Batman: The Dark Knight» from DC certainly influenced the setting of Vigilantes. Our protagonist on the other hand is obviously inspired from Spider-Man.
BC : I don’t think I was influenced by the comics, instead I’m inspired by the aesthetics of the films based on them.
Interviewer : Have you ever thought of Vigilantes getting an anime adaptation?
HF, BC : We would really like it!
TS : It’s up to you too … the Italian Fans and your support!
Interviewer : Vigilantes is being serialised on Shonen Jump Plus.
Is there a difference from the traditional paper publishing ?
BC : The reason Vigilantes is serialized digitally is because I couldn’t hand in the episode every week for traditional publishing.
HF : By releasing digitally, in my opinion, allows me to get immediate feedbacks from the public … sometimes they encourage me, sometimes they give me suggestions too. They don’t influence me however, but it’s always great to have such a quick response.
The Japanese Shonen Jump Plus App where Vigilantes is published on allows comments from users. Readers can comment and upvote others’ comments, like on Reddit. Lately >!“don’t die CC”!< is often a top comment.
Interviewer : What stage is Vigilantes at? Do you already have an ending in mind ?
HF : I work by objectives, I set them and I try to complete them. During the development of the story there can be extended parts or it can go to different ways than what I envisioned. Everytime I believe I reached the midway of the story … for example, in the second volume I thought after two more books I would have finished the story already, but now we are at the sixth volume and I think there will be ten books in total … who knows!
Interviewer : Let’s end the interview with a question as a fan: let’s say, a hypothetical fight between All Might and KnuckleDuster, who would win ?
HF : It would be exactly like a battle between Superman and Batman.
A clash between an incredibly powerful being and a simple human with a lot of wits and tactics … I think it would end in a tie.
That’s all for now. Be sure to join the Subreddit Discord for discussions!