This is a day in the life of a Japanese
manga artist living in a share house
[Music]
This is Nobi, 25 years old, living in the
outskirts of Tokyo and he's just waking
up
he's originally from Hiroshima but now
living in this unique shared house
reserved for only aspiring mangaka aka
manga artist he lives with three other
mangaka under the special program called
tokiwaso project which provides a living
space in addition to support to help
develop a manga artist's career
wow he's mixing natto mozugu seaweed and
egg kind of a unique japanese quick but
healthy meal
do you eat this often
you're so healthy
[Music]
Oh! You drink protein too?
despite not really drawing as a kid he
started creating manga a style of
Japanese comic books six years ago under
the name "Nobikitaro" he enrolled in
anabuki design college in Hiroshima
prefecture and studied manga and
illustration for two years eventually
moving to Tokyo to pursue his career as
a mangaka and recently received the
bi-annual award for upcoming mangaka
from Chiba Tetsuya the creator of the
popular manga ashinojo
good morning everyone I am back with
another day in the life a lot of you
asked me to do another manga artist so
here we are but this time i'm going to
be following an aspiring manga artist
living in a shared house let's go see
what Nobi is doing right now so I just
made it into the share house and Nobi
should be on the second floor
[Music]
Good morning!
Did you sleep well last night?
he has a deadline in one week for his
first ever publisher paid yomikiri a
complete manga story that ends in one
episode and he's still working on the
story so it makes sense why he's just a
bit stressed how far are you from
finishing
he says that one of the most challenging
and time-consuming aspects for him is
building the actual story for his manga
it usually requires many redrafts and
endless adjustments to get it flowing
perfectly for example he said it took
him two months to create his last manga
what are you doing now
in the mornings he feels that his mind
is most clear so he typically starts his
day creating manga but to ensure he
works on all aspects of his craft
throughout the day he maintains a
schedule to keep on track and motivated
and this morning it seems like he's
starting to work on his story plot for
his Yomikiri so let me quickly explain
what happens during the manga creation
process after finishing the plot he'll
work on the nemu a rough drawing layout
plan for his yomikiri which he needs
to produce for his editor it looks like
a bigger version of these tiny tiles
with a lot more detail after getting
feedback Nobi has to repeat this
process several times until the editor
approves the content at which point
he'll start working on his genko the
final manuscript that gets submitted to
the editor before publishing
he's typing random words what's that for
How many manga have you fully comepleted?
What's the name of the manga you last made?
so it looks like Nobi gonna be doing
this for a while so while he's doing
that let's do what we do and explore
this place
okay so let's see what's upstairs oh wow
look at this room
so apparently this is a free room it has
everything you need it has a bed it has
a desk and a place to put your clothes
okay so let's see if anyone is in this
room
oh that's one of his housemates can I
bother you for a sec
what are you doing right now
How long have you been living here?
Why did you decide to live here?
Is it easy working on your manga here?
Can I see your work?
What's the title?
And what's your name?
and cool these are their toilets with
that typical old-school Japanese home
styling fairly clean for a shared house
I guess Nobi is done working on his
manga for now and it seems like he's
going outside
[Music]
Where are you heading to?
as a manga artist there's a constant
level of creative output required so
Nobi thinks it's important to get out
once in a while to take inspiration from
new experiences
oh he switches backpack to the front a
typical show of courtesy in japan when
riding trains or when in other crowded
areas
nice he found a senpai aka mangaka
friend who's more experienced today they
decided to go to Akihabara because
Nobi wanted to specifically take some
photos here to use as background images
for his manga apparently they don't
necessarily need to draw all of their
backgrounds but instead use photos and
edit it in a manga production software
like clip studio Nobi what do you look
for when taking photos
What kind of photos are you taking?
in the past manga was strictly drawn
with paper and ink but in this new
digital age electronic tablets and pcs
are becoming more and more the standard
which is helping artists today produce
content more quickly and efficiently
it's lunchtime it seems that they've
decided to pick up some wagyu burgers
and find a place to eat outside so how
did you guys meet
What kind of manga do you create?
he says that a publisher was looking for
an artist on their social media who
could create a manga centered around
fencing Nobi spotted it and told him about it
when did you decide to become a mangaka
one of the main reasons why Nobi asked
to meet a senpai today is he wanted to
get some advice about the plot direction
for his manga so what do you think
So what happens if your late for your deadline?
yeah, it's understandable that he wants to
start his career with credibility now
equipped with the senpai sage advice
Nobi has regained much of his focus
what are you going to do now
so Nobi found this job through his
friend on social media and now he works
for the company remotely and sometimes
at their office he usually works about
three to four hours when he works from
home but since he needs to work on his
name today he's only gonna work for
about an hour the average starting manga
artist's annual income in japan is
around two to four million yen about 17
to 35 000 us dollars so to supplement
living costs that many take on part-time
or assistant jobs
are you done?
[Music]
Do you always stand while you draw?
he's using a Wacom screen tablet
apparently Wacom is used by many manga
artists in Japan and is one of the most
popular brands for its ease of use and
precise drawing tools oh and that's his
shortcut keyboard, cool!
Where are you going Nobi
[Music]
now he has his teiki mendan a counseling
meeting with an advisor from the
tokiwaso program scheduled regularly to
discuss how his manga is developing in
addition to how he's living in the
shared house in fact there are many
young artists living in tokiwaso's
shared houses throughout Tokyo and often
mangaka starting a new career face many
roadblocks so advisors visit to share
and guide all of them in industry
knowledge and know-how so that the
artists have as many tools as possible
to help continue them on their path and
to increase their chances of success
[Music]
when Nobi hits a creative wall with
the stories or simply needs to get some
fresh air he takes a walk along the
river by his house Nobi so how's your
story coming along now
by the way are there any new ways to
earn income aside from going through
publishers
he says there are so many types of
digital manga and ebooks available these
days it's giving way to ebook agents
that will help release a mangaka's work
to hundreds of platforms for a fee at
the same time this new digital era has
also given opportunity to mangaka in
niche markets like dark manga that would
have never been approved by established
publishers
oh he's back on his tablet
what are you doing now?
in the past to build any sort of career
as a mangaka an artist's only option was
to work with a publisher to earn a
living which required them to do a
walk-in interview or get recognized by
winning an award but this practice has
slightly changed in Japan as social
media has provided mangaka alternative
ways to promote and earn a living with
their manga aspiring mangaka can now be
discovered online and some can even earn
a living by publishing their manga on
various online platforms but working
with a publisher even to this day
remains a prudent path to a lucrative career. So what did you upload?
so Nobi's been involved with an online
group of manga artists for the last two
years where every saturday a topic is
announced and each member is required to
create their own two page manga when
he's done with it he posted on twitter
and pixiv which is the largest social
media platform for manga artists and
illustrators in japan he makes a point
to update his fanbox which is like a
blog space every day by the way do you
think going to school to learn about
manga gave you an advantage
he says that the skills he learned at
school in two years can probably be
learned in half a year working as a
mangaka assistant but the largest
advantage was the opportunity to meet
other aspiring mangaka his road wasn't
easy though as he realized that many of
the other students were more talented
than him so after graduating he
realistically took a job working at an
electronic store for three years but
later seeing one of his younger
classmates get their manga published
reignited his passion to re-pursue his
mangaka career
[Music]
oh I guess he's cooking his own dinner now
and there's his housemate I guess he goI
some udon from matsuya smells so good
Nobi's fairly close to his housemates
so when there's a chance they eat
together and naturally they often
discuss manga
right now Nobi's showing him one of
his latest manga to get his feedback
it's one of the benefits of living with
other manga artists nobi says that he
appreciates living in an environment
where others share a common love for
manga while also having a different
perspective in life. So what do you think about Nobi's manga?
now that he's bathed it's time to
refocus on the plot he's been struggling
with all day
be honest do you think he can finish the
storyline
What about the Nemu? Are you gonna be okay?
so it looks like Nobi will be doing
this the rest of the night as he has to
finish this nemu by the end of the week
he'll probably go to sleep later tonight
at midnight and then after that who
knows he has the rest of the week but
that's pretty much a day in the life of
a Japanese mangaka living at a share
house let me know what you thought in
the comments and if you guys want to see
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in the next one.