Inio Asano and Daisuke Igarashi, on getting started in the manga industry

In 2012, Manga Erotics F did some interviews with manga artists regarding the first time their work was published — including Inio Asano and Daisuke Igarashi.

---

Inio Asano

“That’s a Bit Much, Kikuchi!!” (1998), Inio Asano’s first work published

1. How did you come to make your debut? (Did you bring your manga in and show an editor, did you enter a contest, etc.)

When I was seventeen, I drew about twenty pages’ worth of short gag pieces and brought them in to Spirits. The editor I was seeing was Naoki Yamamoto’s editor, and it just so happened at the time that Yamamoto’s one-shot “Fine Girl” came out to be shorter than originally planned, so they ran my manga to fill the gap. I lucked out, not having drawn something too long. (laugh)

Taiyo Matsumoto and Daisuke Igarashi

Here’s a conversation between Igarashi Daisuke and Taiyou Matsumoto that ran in the magazine Brutus in early 2012.

Picture of Matsumoto and Igarashi, from the relevant issue of Brutus.

1.

Taiyo Matsumoto: I feel like you kind of came out of nowhere. I’ve been drawing manga for about 25 years, but you really blew me away. I first heard your name around the time Witches came out, and at first I thought you were still new to the scene. This guy is just incredible, I thought—it was so polished and everything. I was a little worried for myself.

Daisuke Igarashi: I found out about you when I was a student. Your work was being featured in a magazine or something, and seeing your manga cover designs I thought to myself, “This is really good, this is my kind of art”, but I figured I would probably be influenced by it if I read it, though. That fear kind of trumped everything else, so I avoided your work for a long time. (laugh) Nowadays I actually read your work just to steal from it, though.

Matsumoto: I find I can’t tell who you’ve been influenced by when I look at your work. With most manga artists you can see that, Oh, this artist’s a Katsuhiro Otomo fan, this one’s a Yumi Tada fan.  With your art, though, I can’t tell; you leave me wondering, “What artist is this guy into?” You’re original, I guess is what I’m saying. Hmmm… it feels kind of like you’ve come to manga via painting.