#yūto suzuki exclusive interview

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Jump Festa 2024 "Q&A Special with Yūto Suzuki-sensei"

Q1: What would their career most likely be if they were not assassins?

Suzuki-sensei: Sakamoto would still be a store manager, probably at a Home Improvement Store. As for Shin, a TV Staff Assistant Director or a manager. Heisuke would be a Chef-in-training at a Japanese restaurant. And Nagumo would get scouted by the entertainment industry and eventually becomes an actor or a model.

Q2: What do they do on their rest/off days?

Suzuki-sensei: Sakamoto → Watching TV, playing with Hana & eating a lot. Shin → Weight training in the garage, hanging out with Heisuke, watching martial arts videos & Youtube. Nagumo → He'll just laze around. He would also sometimes just sit on his bed, with his hair all messy, and do Sudoku puzzles. Shishiba → He would go on Ramen-hopping adventure. Osaragi → She will visit the same Zoo or Aquarium over & over. She sleeps on some days, or kicks stones whenever she finds one.

Q3. Please share with us who is the best at cooking and who is the worst.

Suzuki-sensei: Yotsumura is the best cook. He can cook just about anything, from Italian, French to Japanese cuisines -you name it! Osaragi grew up in a family of farmers in the countryside & she can cook surprisingly well. The one who's lousy at cooking or can't cook at all.... is Mafuyu.

Q4. When they first met, how did Sakamoto start conversing with Aoi-san?

Suzuki-sensei: He did not start the conversation cuz he was all shy, hesitant & fidgety so Aoi was the one who talked to him first. She asked him, "Um… there's blood on your clothes. Are you hurt?" And that was how their very first conversation went. (The blood was not his by the way, it was his victim's blood.)

Q5. Any last words for any of your characters, Sensei?

Suzuki-sensei: Thank you for everything, Shin. Pull together and keep going, Sakamoto.

#サカモトデイズ #SAKAMOTO DAYS #sakadays jf2024 #jump festa 2024 #official media #yūto suzuki #yūto suzuki exclusive interview #SAKAMOTO DAYS interview #jaen

[hyeahgaku]

JUMP GIGA Winter 2023 Special Interview with Yūto Suzuki-sensei!!

First JUMP GIGA 2023 cover to commemorate SAKAMOTO DAYS reaching its 100th chapter milestone since its serialization!!

In-depth discussion with Suzuki-sensei about his life and work, so on and so forth!!

Please tell us the things that you paid particular attention to when drawing the cover illustration of this GIGA issue.

Suzuki-sensei: The chosen pose is stationary, but I also wanted it to look intricate so I made the silhouette not too thin! I wanted to draw attention to his eyes, so I placed the gun next to his face and chose a strong colour (to create contrast)! I drew the texture more firmly than usual to give off a more powerful effect! I wanted to highlight his skin complexion so I deliberately chose cold colours for his shirt, hair, etc. but later I thought it looked a bit dull so I added the red light for the barcode scanner as an accent colour.

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A must-see exclusive interview for readers of SAKAMOTO DAYS, and aspiring manga artists!

Suzuki-sensei Profile

Birthday: July 6

Hobbies: Basketball

Special skill: Handicraft

Favourite manga: Hunter x Hunter (Note: This is additional, known info from the one-shot.)

First debuted in April 2019: Published Garaku (骸区) on Jump Plus.

September 2019: Published Locker Room (ロッカールーム) on Jump Plus. In November of the following year, it received a live-action drama.

December 2019: SAKAMOTO •坂本• (SAKAMOTO -サカモト-) was published on Jump GIGA 2020 Winter. (Note: FYI, this was kinda a prototype of SAKAMOTO DAYS.)

SAKAMOTO DAYS serialization commenced in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, Issue No. 51. It has become a popular serialization today!!!

Suzuki-sensei, you were once featured in GIGA. Please tell us if you have any memories from that time.

Suzuki-sensei: There was that one time when I tried using Clip Studio Paint, I realized that there were many missing tones when I pasted the image. [Turns out that] I did not display the tone area. I remember the person-in-charge told me, “Full analog is better.”

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Top Column: Suzuki-sensei published SAKAMOTO•坂本• (above photos) in Jump GIGA 2020 Winter after being published in Jump+ twice!! The main character Sakamoto, his family, Shin and other characters have appeared in the series since then. The concept of the story is the same as the serialization version, but there are several differences such as Sakamoto being a supermarket store clerk, and he [and Shin] even killed robbers, so it’s interesting to see the difference!!

*Shin’s comment: This version of Sakamoto-san is so cool~*

Please tell us what’s the biggest growth or change you’ve experienced between when you were drawing one-shots and now.

Suzuki-sensei: When I was drawing one-shots, my stance was that I would just draw whatever I thought was interesting, so the readers could see what I wanted them to see. But now, I always think about how I could entertain the readers, and how I could make everyone find [the story] interesting. As for [my] growth, I’ve been able to use Clip Studio Paint much better now.

Do you have any advice for the new and upcoming aspiring manga artists on how to create a good one-shot?

Suzuki-sensei: I think that “attention-grabbing” and “page-turning” are key elements in a one-shot! It is important to have this thought in mind while you’re drawing - “This one’s interesting!” - and whether you can really draw that or not. It’s also very important that the reader is able to get on board with the story just because it interests them. Readers will tend to notice if you are focused only on making everything nice and neat or if you’re just summarizing things up. After all, these elements are intended to reduce the “stress of reading.” It might sound weird to make [your story] more exciting just for the sake of attracting people to read, but I think that is one good tactic for competing in a one-shot contest!

*On the next page, we will learn more about Suzuki-sensei!*

Top Column: You can tell from reading Suzuki-sensei’s debut work Garaku, that he’s a mangaka who loves manga and movies! The carefully-drawn backgrounds and elaborate camera work are one of Suzuki-sensei’s strong points!

Please tell us how you became interested in drawing manga and how you chose to pursue this career.

Suzuki-sensei: I was worried about my future career path when I was graduating from my graduate school. But then I came across Katsuhiro Ōtomo-sensei’s manga, Dōmu, which helped develop my interest to become a manga artist.

Are there any other creators or works that you feel have influenced you as a writer?

Suzuki-sensei: I really like the manga written by Katsuhiro Ōtomo-sensei, Takehiko Inoue-sensei and Hiroya Oku-sensei. As for movies, I love the director Christopher Nolan.

I heard that you studied Japanese painting. Does the knowledge you acquired turn out to be of use when drawing your manga?

Suzuki-sensei: I think that it is mainly useful when it comes to composition and form. Japanese painting focuses on the concept of creating a beautiful arrangement of shapes within beautiful compositions, and I always keep that in mind with my work. In the near future, I wish to draw more Japanese-style illustrations.

Please tell us about your manga work process and the tools you use.

Suzuki-sensei: I use an analog pen for drawing the characters. The solid colours, sound effects, effect lines, and backgrounds are digitally drawn by my assistants. I use a Zebra hard G Pen for pen work and inking, and also a digital software, Clip Studio Paint!

Bottom Column: The Ferris wheel scene [Sakamoto vs Boiled], which ranked 3rd in the “Spread Campaign” poll, and the coloured single-page illustrations also portray the balance of the margins, cool silhouettes and compositions!

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Top Column: The world of SAKAMOTO DAYS features characters with many gaps! From the strongest old man, Takamura, to the handsome but merciless Nagumo… The intense gaps are important to highlight the character’s individuality!

(T/n: “Gap” -also known as gap moe- refers to the contrast between one’s appearance and personality, or the difference between someone's actual personality and from first impression you had of them.)

How did you come up with the idea of a “retired assassin”?

Suzuki-sensei: First of all, I thought the idea of fat people being insanely strong is fascinating. So I asked myself, why are they fat? → Because they retired. Why? → Perhaps they got married or something? And that’s how I ended up making it.

Retired Sakamoto’s plump figure is cute, but it is an unusual character design for the protagonist of a shōnen manga. Please tell us the story behind this “fat assassin.”

Suzuki-sensei: I like characters with strong gaps, so I combined some elements from the two extreme opposites, such as the strongest old man and the strongest fat guy. And the result is that I found it more exciting to draw the strongest fat guy. Back then, I wanted to do a one-shot anyway, so I was focused on the story to make an impact. I truly never expected for it to get a serialization. I never modeled my character after anyone but later on when I learned about the movie “Enter the Fat Dragon”, I thought to myself that they are rather similar.

In SAKAMOTO DAYS, there seems to be many unique action ideas, such as Sakamoto repelled with a cough drop and fights inside the trains. How do you come up with such ideas?

Suzuki-sensei: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of absurd action [sequences]. Even in movies, one could wonder how they'd never think about doing this kind of action sequence or direction, and they may even ask themselves, “Do battles even occur in a situation like that?!” I like the kind of direction which would take the audience by surprise!

Bottom Column: One of the major attractions of this work is the depiction of powerful battles! It’s because the locations are familiar to the readers, and the battles are realistic and powerful beyond one’s imagination. It’s important to narrow down the situation in order to bring out the intensity of the battles!

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Many attractive side characters appear in your series, such as Shin and Lu. How did you come up with such characters?

Suzuki-sensei: Sakamoto is fat and a man of little words, so I figured he needed a handsome sidekick. During a conversation between the two of them, there was this stuff, “killing in [your] imagination.” I wished to portray that and that’s the reason why I made Shin a clairvoyant. He gets along well with the quiet Sakamoto and they surprisingly made a good team. As for Lu, I initially wanted to draw a battle with a Chinese assassin, and in the course of that, she would show up as a pitiable heroine. [I guess] in my case, I often have a “I want to draw this kind of development!” or “This is how I want the story to unfold!” goal in mind, so the characters are born in the process due to that.

*Lu’s comment: So that’s how I was born, huh~*

Among the characters in your work, is there any character that is particularly easy or the most difficult to draw?

Suzuki-sensei: I don’t have many characters that I find difficult to draw but there are times where they do look alike. So I tend to be careful with that. Gaku is a character that I can draw easily among all the characters. He is someone who doesn’t depend on others and pushes forward on his own path, and I admire people like that, so I enjoy drawing him.

*Gaku’s comment: Ahhh, I see.*

Please tell us your favourite scene from Volume 1 of the manga.

Suzuki-sensei: I like the scene where Shin jumps off the roller coaster in Volume 1. I drew it in such a way so that the readers would be able feel the floating feeling during that scene whilst they're reading. When I drew that scene, I thought to myself that I might be good with drawing action scenes! I remember getting a positive feeling [from it].

Bottom Column: A scene that captures the moment Shin jumped off from the roller coaster – from various camera [angles]! It is important to capture the cool moments in powerful action scenes, such as when Sakamoto tried to punch while disassembling a gun, or when Sakamoto approached the enemy from behind!!

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Top Column: One of the charms of the work is that it will always make you laugh!! In order to make the reader want to meet the characters and experience their world, it is important to make the story “easy” to read! Despite being a world where assassins are rampant, it still seems like a fun world [to be in] and that’s the charm of this work!

Your one-shots Garaku and Locker Room both have a darker worldview, whereas your serialized SAKAMOTO DAYS is a shōnen manga with comedy and action elements. Is there a reason why you decided to go with this genre?

Suzuki-sensei: It’s easier to make a dark story if it’s a one-shot. But with serialization, I thought it might become potentially harder, so I decided to make the most stress-free manga that I could draw and read, and that’s how this kind of setting came about.

Do you already have the ending of the story in mind, or have you not decided it yet?

Suzuki-sensei: Yes, I have already planned a definite conclusion in mind.

Finally, SAKAMOTO DAYS has reached its 100th chapter. Could you give a final message to our readers who are reading the story?

Suzuki-sensei: The series is only able to continue into a serialization all thanks to the readers! I cannot thank you enough. Thank you very much! I’m also very happy with the fan letters that I’ve received. Please keep sending them. Please continue to support SAKAMOTO DAYS!

*Sakamoto’s comment: Thanks for reading this far. I appreciate it.*

*Over 2.3 million copies sold!! Volumes 1 to 9 are on sale now!!*

fin.

#SAKAMOTO DAYS #Jump GIGA 2023 Winter #サカモトデイズ #interview #official media #yūto suzuki #yūto suzuki exclusive interview #jaen

[hyeahgaku]

MASTERLIST

> Greetings. I'm Soy (they/them), and I thank you for stumbling on this page and/or following me here. This blog is dedicated to Yūto Suzuki’s incredible masterpiece called “SAKAMOTO DAYS”. Support Suzuki-sensei by reading the manga on the official site: Read here!

> In an effort to make this blog resourceful for all Sakadays fans, i try my utmost best to post everything associated with Sakadays here; articles, news, interviews, poll results, draft sketches, mangaka's comments, magazines extras, etc.

> I have X/twitter so you can consider followin me there. I make an effort to post everyday especially when new chapter are released.

> Most importantly: This blog is absolutely not spoiler-free.

> Second most importantly: If you use any of my translated works, please credit me. You can attach the hyperlink to my original post, or just credit my username "hyeahgaku" it's that simple.

> I read both the EN & JP versions of Sakadays and I do JP->EN translations sometimes but it's all self-learn. I am by no means a certified professional translator. Moreover, English isn't my best language so I'm not 100% fluent in both languages (MEGA LOL). So my translations aren't 100% accurate and are subjected to changes when the official versions drop. Pardon me for any grammatical, spelling and translation mistakes that you may encounter.

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My Translated Works.

SAKAMOTO DAYS Light Novel:

Suzuki-sensei illustrations & extra pages

SAKAMOTO DAYS Jump Festa 2024:

Q&A Special with Yūto Suzuki-sensei

SAKAMOTO DAYS Special Stage, featuring guests commentaries

Interviews or Q&As with Yūto Suzuki-sensei:

Exclusive Interview with Yūto Suzuki-sensei (Jump GIGA Winter 2023 extra)

WSJ Magazine Extra - Character Profiles:

Tarō Sakamoto

Shin Asakura

Heisuke Mashimo

Slur / Kei Uzuki

Lu Shaotang

Nagumo

Osaragi

Shishiba

Kashima

Gaku

Natsuki Seba

Takamura

Aoi Sakamoto

Hana Sakamoto

Boyle

Obiguro

Tatsu

Hyō

Lu Wutang

SAKAMOTO DAYS Bonus Omake *Unofficial translations by me:

Vol. 4 Bonus omake (featuring Natsuki & Tanaka-san)

Vol. 7 Bonus omake (featuring Slur, Kashima, Uda & Gaku)

Vol. 9 Bonus omake (featuring the casts for 1st Popularity Poll)

SAKAMOTO DAYS Popularity Polls:

"No. 1 Spread Campaign Poll" Results - Top 20!

1st Character Popularity Poll Results - Top 10!

1st Character Popularity Poll Results (full list with all names)!

1st Character Popularity Poll Top 10 Characters + Yūto Suzuki-sensei comments!

/note: These are mere fan-translations. All titles, synopsis and descriptions are subjected to changes in the official version.

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Official Volume Extras

Japanese version:

Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 • Vol. 4 • Vol. 5 • Vol. 6 • Vol. 7 • Vol. 8 • Vol. 9 • Vol. 10 • Vol. 11 • Vol. 12 • Vol. 13 • Vol. 14 • Vol. 15

English version by VIZ Media:

Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 • Vol. 4 • Vol. 5 • Vol. 6 • Vol. 7 • Vol. 8 • Vol. 9 • Vol. 10 • Vol. 11

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Other SakaDays-related Materials

Sakadays Movie References

Sakadays Trivia

Suzuki-sensei's Weekly Comments

Compilation of all Sakadays Volume Covers & Info

Compilation of all Sakadays Colour Pages from WSJ Magazine

Compilation of Sakadays Featured on WSJ Magazine Covers

Sakadays Official Lockscreen Wallpapers

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Others/Misc

About this blog

My replies to your asks

#yo and a warm welcome to you #masterlist