Interview between Miura and Persona's developers (Part 2)

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Part 1 of this interview can be found here.

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Interviewer: It’s impressive that it was major.

Mr. Miura:
When I was young, for manga, there were only two conceptions: major and minor. In short, for major manga magazines, there were only a few publications for boys like “Jump”, “Magazine” or “Sunday”. Even magazines for young adults were still very rare at the time.

So, to make a debut as a mangaka at that time we had to be major.

A few more Otaku-oriented manga magazines like “ComiComi”, “Captain” or ComicComp” didn’t come out until around the time of my debut. However, they were treated as very minor. I’d say those who failed to be mangaka in major magazines were treated as if they would “go back home”. *laughs*

Therefore, when I wanted to be a mangaka, it was impossible for me to do a fantasy in a major magazine. I even entered “Shōnen Magazine”, but most of the manga published in “Magazine” at that time featured hoodlums wearing a school uniform act violently. *laughs* After them, it was sports manga.

“Jump” was a bit unusual but it didn’t give me a possibility to make my way (into publication of my manga). To do a fantasy in this situation, I got to think “what would be a major fantasy?”

So I found out the “most prominent fantasy”, which was Disney.

Mr. Hashino:
Oh, Disney!?

Mr. Miura:
Today, when we want to do a fantasy story, first we set up a different world in minute detail. But Disney animations back then started with “once upon a time, somewhere”.

“Once upon a time, somewhere” actually refers to somewhere in old times in the real world. “Snow White” or a series of Disney’s stories are about strange things happening in a place that is like somewhere in the Middle Ages, aren’t they?

However, in today’s fantasies, suddenly a different world is prepared with a “bang”, as if to say something like “come on, please enter this world”. But, in this way, people who aren’t interested in fantasy wouldn’t enter the world.

Especially not at that time when fantasy wasn’t yet major.

That’s why I thought it would make sense to use Disney’s structure, which is the most famous in the world. So, I used “once upon a time, somewhere” for “Berserk”, first preparing a world where it’s like a war was being waged in the real Middle Ages in Europe. And then I drew strange things happening there.

All the manga at that time followed that pattern, didn’t they? Part 1 of “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure” was also like that, I think.

Mr. Miura:
It’s the same for the “Persona” series. It’s not “once upon a time” though. After it’s well described how youths lead their life in the real world, the world of Shadows appears.

Therefore, I think it’s the same structure that I intended to do with the Middle Ages in Europe. I don’t know how you’ll do it in your fantasy work though.

Mr. Hashino:
Working on a modern drama, I feel like I’m creating a world that is familiar to players.

However, youths who live in the real world, of course, don’t have supernatural powers, nor confront huge monsters, nor are the center of the world. *laughs*

So, perceiving that today’s modern fantasies look like the real world and might be actually the falsest world, this is the start. It's a self-deprecating story. *laughs*

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Note 1: "Monthly ComiComi", "Monthly Captain" and "Monthly Comic Comp" were all manga magazines. "Monthly ComiComi" was first published by Hakusensha in 1983, "Monthly Shonen Captain" was launched by Tokuma Shoten in 1985 and "Monthly Comic Comp" was created by Kadokawa Shoten in 1988.

"Monthly ComiComi" is where the Berserk Prototype was first published. It was followed by Animal House in 1989, which then evolved into Young Animal a few years later. See this post for more details. 

Note 2: Miura uses the word “major” (in Katakana) several times in this interview. It has a similar meaning than in English: important, popular, trendy, major, etc. However its use slightly differs and for ease of reading has sometimes been translated to something more natural.

Note 3: Hashino uses a specific word, “チヤホヤ“, to refer to the syndrome of a young boy or girl being the center of the world, specifically being spoiled by too much flattery. In this context (video games) it's essentially fulfilling a kind of “power fantasy”. It’s discussed at length later on in the interview.