Sitting on this panel was a bevy of Guests of Honor. They were:

Mikimoto Haruhiko: "I'm not sure if this is the best panel for me to be on. While I do draw manga, I find it is very hard for me so I've not done much compared to the others." Asamiya Kia: "I'm sorry I'm late and held up the start of this panel. The elevator didn't come for 15 minutes. I often make my editors sweat waiting for me to turn in my manga so I know how it feels. Please be forgiving!" Kotobuki Tsukasa: "I'm not a manga, but I draw one in real life!" Izuna Yoshitsune: "I wasn't scheduled to be on this panel, but I somehow got roped into it." Scott Frazier: "I'm not a manga artist really... I drew something like a manga on a CD-ROM that was released in 1996, but... I've worked with many manga artists, perhaps I can answer any questions about that?"

After these inspiring opening statements, we can plainly see that the Guests of Honor were now ready for any question to be hurled their way by their adoring (and forgiving) fans.

Q: What do you consider to be your best work?

Mikimoto: I always regret what I've just turned in! I prefer short manga stories over long ones.

Asamiya: I love all my works! Really, I do!

Kotobuki: I don't feel I have a "best" work yet.

Izuna: Me too.

Frazier: Umm... you know, in '96 I did this CD-ROM, see...

Q: What role is the computer playing in the creation of manga?

Frazier: Some software works well naturally, such as Photoshop. There will be coming out in Japan, around August, a software package by RETAS that is specifically made to help in the creation of manga. We think a lot of people will try it out.

Izuna: Recently, I haven't been drawing much manga, but I would use Photoshop for color work.

Kotobuki: I haven't mastered the computer as a tool so I still don't use it much at all. There are quite a few artists in Japan that casually accept the use of the computer, but from what I've seen, it looks as if the computer is driving them instead of the other way around. I don't want to be dependent on them. I'd hate to come to one of these conventions and have to say something like, "Oh, I'm sorry I can't do a sketch for you because I don't have my computer with me!"

Asamiya: I'd like to say that I am one of the beta-testers for the software mentioned earlier. I always ask, "Where's the Mac version?" And they always tell me, "Its coming! Its coming!" But I haven't seen it yet. It's a software that can be used at any stage of the process. I get the feeling that it will be really useful after version 2. How useful it really will be will depend on the user.

Kotobuki: I may sound like a "purist" when I said I didn't want to rely on them, but if it's a good software and I like it, then I'll use it and I'll have to eat my words.

Izuna: Call me a wimp if you want, I'll carry my laptop to the next convention!

Mikimoto: I'm not much of a user of computers for anything, but I will use them occasionally for color work. I can see them becoming a standard tool though. In fact, I hear stories of artists who can't draw on paper, but do well with a computer!

Q: What was life like when you were just starting out as a manga artist?

Mikimoto: Well, I was already working in anime when I decided to draw manga, but I don't have many fond memories because of a deal that fell through.

Izuna: Well, I was already an animator, so I was wearing two hats when I started to draw manga. The difference is that the editor comes to my house to pick up the work instead of me delivering it. I remember very well the sensation of fall asleep on the train trying to deliver the finished sheets for anime!

Kotobuki: I drew a lot of doujinshi—mostly the ecchi variety—in my early years. It was pretty lucrative doing those manga. When I went pro, I didn't realize the commitment. But having a base of readers (from my doujinshi days) was good to start with. But as a pro, I discovered that you just can't disregard deadlines if you're feeling bad or just get bored of the work. When I started doing designs, I left manga behind. But then, I got much encouragement from my fans, who would write to me, begging me to keep drawing manga. But to draw manga and put out the same number of sheets every month is very taxing on me.

Izuna: I'm sort of hanging in the air as a manga artist, so I need your encouragement!

Q: (to Asamiya) How do you feel about your works being translated into English?

Asamiya: As this is the 10th year anniversary of Anime Expo, it also happens to be the 10th year since my first manga SILENT MÖBIUS was printed here in English. When I saw the English version, I was doubly shocked. First, because the text was all in English. Second, because all the images were flipped (mirror-imaged) showing off all my design flaws! Since I can't read English, I have to rely on the staff who is translating it to do a good job. Of the works not yet in English are EVIL KUN, CORRECTOR YUI and COMPILER. I'd like to ask Viz Communications to release these titles.

Mikimoto: As Asamiya said, in English, the artwork is flipped. And I see all my errors when it is flipped so it is difficult to look at it. And at the end of the manga, I often find a picture of myself and something written about me. It is bothersome for me to see something written about me which I cannot read! There was a MACROSS side-story that has never been released in English. As for the other titles, I get all kinds of samples from all countries all over the world in all kinds of languages. Whenever they come from Europe, because the alphabet is mostly the same as English, I usually cannot tell which country it is from. So the fact is, I don't really know how many versions of my manga I have out there!

Q: Is it the character designs that makes or breaks a manga?

Frazier: I don't think the design are that critical. You can tell a good story with stick figures if you wanted to. They are important, that's for sure, but I wouldn't say that they make or break the success of a manga. Did that make sense?

Izuna: I do think that the designs do have a major role in the success, but I think the story is more important.

Kotobuki: Regardless of my personal opinion, it's important to understand that in Japan, there are a lot of manga for readers to choose from. So most readers will not read a manga to make a judgment whether they think they will like it or not. So, for a manga that is new, readers will judge it on how it looks first. In this context, the designs do have a deciding role in the success of the manga.

Asamiya: I agree wholeheartedly. But that doesn't mean that if the designs are good and everything else is bad it will be a success. Just like in the case of advertising and magazines, having attractive characters is important, but that is only one part of the equation for success.

Mikimoto: I find that I have a lack of things to say... Let me speak about anime then. In anime, the designs tend to attract the spotlight when a show becomes popular. Should a show fail, however, the sponsors still tend to blame the character designer. Only when everyone's work comes together will you have a truly successful show. Your designs can be made more or less alive based on the work of the director, the story writers and the animators.

Q: (to Asamiya) What was it like working on INSPECTOR GADGET?

Asamiya: Heaven have mercy! All I ever did was draw Gadget! It wasn't fun I'll admit. I think I would have preferred to draw Penny. God, I hated drawing that nose of his!

Q: As aspiring artists, how many of you went to the comic markets such as Komiket?

(All the guests raised their hands in affirmation.)

Q: What was it like to trying to sell manga at these comic markets?

Mikimoto: Well, perhaps this is showing my age, but when I went to these comic markets, GUNDAM was still on the air and the doujinshi scene was very small and different from what it is today.

Asamiya: I'm also an old-timer. We were very happy just to get 2000 people in a room altogether back in those days. I haven't been to one of those in a long while.

Kotobuki: I've been going to Komiket a generation after Mikimoto and Asamiya and this will be my 16th year attending. Back then, the concept of actually making money from the sale of doujinshi was unthinkable! But today, it is possible for doujinshi artists to make a living doing nothing more than drawing doujinshi. Doujinshi is so big in Japan now, if a big name artist draws something, it would sell really well. But someone new probably wouldn't sell anything. Its slowly turning into an industry. Soon, I think the copyright issue might become a serious problem for doujinshi.

Izuna: Well, since most of my doujinshi were of my own creations, I was able to use these comic markets as a place to self-publish. That's a good use of these comic markets I think.

Q: What is the most common error artists make when drawing a manga?

Mikimoto: The error you must never commit is to miss the deadline.

Asamiya: I agree! I really can't think of anything else to add.

Kotobuki: But is there an artist who can meet a deadline? Since we have creative freedom, the deadliest sin is to miss the deadline.

Izuna: Not just in drawing manga, but generally dodging responsibility is a very bad thing to do in whatever you do.

Frazier: Other than the deadline, I've seen two other mistakes. One, if you get to be really popular and you start to think you're God and you start to treat people really badly, that's a mistake you'll soon regret. And two, if you're going to take the time and put in all that effort and you don't create something that's truly original, that's a mistake that'll hold you back. Oh, and I have another one to add: Don't start something you know you won't finish!

The time was 2:30PM after Frazier spoke his final comments and the panel came to a close. One of the translators, Taka Karahashi, closed the panel in a most appropriate way by saying: "OK, this is the end of the panel. Thank you all for coming to the last panel of Anime Expo 2001!"