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What does it mean to write?

Kamentotsu【２】

SEASON2 vol.3

Kamentotsu

I draw while experimenting
in the hope people will play with it.

Manga artist Kamentotsu worked in various fields before debuting as a manga artist when he was 27. Although he was good at going undercover and the pieces he uploaded as a report manga artist was often talked about, he struggled as an artist. However, the views on him changed after his piece Koguma’s Cake Shop (koguma meaning “bear cub” in Japanese) that he uploaded on Twitter became a hit in 2017. We’ll be looking into how Kamentotsu continues to experiment ways to draw that’s only possible because he publishes his pieces for free on the Internet and not on paper. Look out for the video of Kamentotsu drawing store manager Koguma towards the end of this interview!

ProfileKamentotsu

Born 1986 in Aichi prefecture. Manga artist who mainly publishes pieces online. His manga Koguma’s Cake Shop was uploaded to his social media in 2017. It was later published and sold 500,000 copies in just a year.

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Twitter@Computerozi

Table of Contents

The fun in being a part of people’s lives

ーー: When the Koguma’s Cake Shop (koguma meaning “bear cub” in Japanese) came out, it instantly became a hit and was soon followed by an actual book coming out alongside with goods. I wonder if it’ll turn into a video or video game and expand into something more.

Kamentotsu: There might be further developments after this, but one thing I have in mind is to stop waiting. If someone suggests that they want to turn it into a video game or sell a selection of goods, it will be “waiting” for those ideas to come to me. It doesn’t really feel right to wait for someone to suggest turning my piece into an animation. In the age we are in now, I think it’s okay for us to suggest things ourselves, and that’s why we made our own animation for the Koguma’s Cake Shop and uploaded it to YouTube.

ーー: Oh, so you weren't asked, but did it yourself?

Kamentotsu: I find the biggest joy in being able to slip into people’s lives. For example, I’d be happy if I can draw the children’s attention while they wait for their mother to finish washing the dishes or dries their hair for them. That’s where I find joy. But I didn’t want to wait while saying things like this, so I decided to turn it into an animation before anyone else did.

ーー: There are cartoons that children are deeply engrossed in.

Kamentotsu: Exactly. Children’s senses are amazing, so there’s no point in deceiving them. I feel that they know the image of “children” adults have and so they portray it. That’s why I think deciding not to show something “because they probably won’t understand” is frustrating for them. I believe they have the most fun in feeling “I don’t really understand what it is, but this is what’s in an adult’s world.” I personally felt this way when I read as a child. There was this snack that came out in a manga where a character says, “how amazing does this taste!” I had no clue what the snack was, but I remember thinking “I don’t know what it is, but I bet it tastes super yummy.” Switching this snack to something that every child would know; they’d probably sense that it was chosen on purpose.

ーー: Koguma’s Cake Shop is a fantasy-based story, but seeing your old pieces, there’s the sudden appearance of something mechanic… I take it you like sci-fi?

Kamentotsu: I adore Fujiko F. Fujio and his worldview of fantasy and mechanics mixed together. People of my age were brought up amid technology developing day by day and when everything started to be more simplistic and sophisticated. Because of this, those bulky machines like engines were a part of fantasy to me.

ーー: Even with recent developments, an age where there were no cellphones and the age we’re in now with a smartphone is completely different.

Kamentotsu: Even if I draw a fantasy world, I do think of those “real” aspects too. For example, because it’d be unnatural for there to not be a smartphone, I really mulled over whether it should appear in the Koguma’s Cake Shop. For this instance, I asked my readers on Twitter if store manager Koguma should own a smartphone. It’s also much easier for there to be a smartphone when creating a story.

ーー: So it affects the way a story develops.

Kamentotsu: It’s convenient to be able to make the characters talk to one another at a distance. At the same time, there are stories I can’t draw because there’s a smartphone of course, like missing each other because one of them was late, or not showing up on time. But that’s something that doesn’t happen these days, so I decided for store manager Koguma to own a smartphone.

ーー: Comparing Koguma’s Cake Shop with previous pieces, is it easier or more fun for you to draw?

Kamentotsu: Interestingly, it hasn’t changed that much because what I always want to draw is that “death continuously exists in this world and this is where we live.” I have this weird admiration towards death and think about how you feel the chills towards its existence. There are a few people who feel that through reading Koguma’s Cake Shop, saying they feel something destructive about the relationship between store manager Koguma and the waiter that’s not everlasting. I’ve always had this motive from before.

ーー: Do you have anything you aim towards when drawing your manga?

Kamentotsu: I always feel that I want to “grasp” something and do experiments to search for ways to develop my manga further. Twitter is free to do as many experiments as I like, so it was a part of doing anything and everything. Part of the experiment is for fun, but I don’t do things bad on purpose. Instead, I search for what people want, and try to suggest something they might like. I’m not a genius and don’t know what will work instantly, so it’s always a struggle.

ーー: Did you find anything as you did everything by feel?

Kamentotsu: What I found as I experimented with Koguma’s Cake Shop was really simple. The creator really has to enjoy themselves otherwise it will be conveyed to the readers. I think mangas are possessed by something, so I try not to draw if it’s something I don’t enjoy.

ーー: I think the readers of Koguma’s Cake Shop enjoy it too. I’ve seen readers send in their own drawings of store manager Koguma. Because it’s something that started off from Twitter, I think it feels like a playground that the artist Kamentotsu made.

Kamentotsu: I’m yet to achieve this fully, but I want the Koguma to become a playground of some kind. It doesn’t have to be Koguma and it can be another character, but I do wish everyone would play in this “Kamentotsu Playground.”

ーー: Ah, that’s nice.

Kamentotsu: There’s something I regret, and it’s that the store manager in Koguma’s Cake Shop is so difficult to draw. It’s a character that needs the cross-hatching technique. So many kids try their best and send their drawings to me, but it’s not a character they can draw with ease. If I were to do something next, I’d want it to be easy to draw. Something simple, but still unique… it is quite hard.

ーー: Just like you know it’s Mickey Mouse by just placing three circles.

Kamentotsu: Yeah, I do think I need to find something like that. There are so many great predecessors, like Doraemon and Hello Kitty who you can draw light-heartedly. Having said that, the effort that goes into drawing Koguma in itself is fun, so I think readers enjoy that aspect to. If I can see an alternate universe, I’d want to see how the readers will react if it was a polar bear.

ーー: “A Polar Bear’s Cake Shop.” (Laughs)

Kamentotsu: I’m curious to know people’s reactions if it was a “Polar Bear’s Cake Shop” or a “Panda’s Cake Shop.”

(To be continued)

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