by Gakubunsha’s Gakubun ballpoint penmanship course image character “Nippon no Meiko-chan” has celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, and the Nippen management organization has also celebrated its 90th anniversary. In 2017, we asked the manga artist Shota Hattori (39), who took over “Nippon Meiko-chan” as the 6th generation and witnessed the commemorative year, about his five-year history.
In Black and green checkered patterns, millionaires are travelling in space, trendy anime and gourmet food. The 6th generation “Nippon no Meiko-chan”, who has been a hot topic in the otaku parody story, which has attacked the limit of opening occasionally, is delivering a new work every Wednesday on official Twitter. Hattori says, “Because it’s a promotional manga, it’s better to be crazy as much as possible, but especially on Twitter, nerds such as anime are crazy, so I feel that it’s increasing. I feel like I’m drawing once every six months … I can’t think of ideas or flexible development unless I can afford to search for stories actively, so I spend a lot of time vacant while watching the net and news. That’s right, “he said. “Current affairs refer to the report, but it was challenging last year because the information was almost full of the corona. It can’t be helped to write only so dark topics, but the world’s atmosphere is the corona. Isn’t it strange to write bright things that have nothing to do with its midst? I thought that the atmosphere of the world or the mood would be reflected in the content of the manga. “
“Miko-chan” appeared in 1972 to promote the Japan Pen Writing Study Group (Nippon Pen). Reiko Yabuki, Mami Morisato, Mina Matsumoto, Kazumi Hiro, Hiromi Umemura … While the artist took place, the designs and settings continued to reflect the times. There was a blank period of about ten years from the activity of the 5th generation. Still, Hattori, who was drawing a parody manga of “Miko-chan” due to douujin activities, received a request from Gakubunsha for the 6th generation.
The sunshine course is reversed.
Meiko-chan’s secretariat of Nihon Pen, which handles correspondence education, said, “As the number of new members of the ballpoint penmanship course decreases, the priority has been shifted to other classes during the blank period from the 5th to the 6th generation. In the meantime, I was out of the top 10 in the sales ranking by course for a particular year. ” On top of that, “Since 2017, the ballpoint penmanship course has returned to No. 1 every year. As a result of the past five years, before and after the activities of Miko 6th generation, the pace of new enrollment in the ballpoint penmanship course has increased to about 2.5 times. It has become. “
Following the manga format of around nine frames throughout history. The secretariat will respect Hattori’s draft as much as possible in terms of composition and planning. “Mr Hattori’s manga has hidden elements in small details. Recently, Meiko-chan showed off her Nagoya shoot in a popular nostalgic game and the table housing without touching anything in the dialogue. There is a real-time generation of coins piled up in Nagoya.
I’m looking forward to having followers put in a rush against them. ” The introduction on Twitter is widespread because it accurately captures Meiko’s character, but the secretariat is in charge of it, not Hattori.
There was also an accident during the 6th generation. The secretariat cited “a commotion case where the manuscript did not reach” and “a quota omission case”.
The turmoil that the manuscript did not arrive was in April 2020, when the new work posting was delayed only once on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Hattori never delayed the manuscript, and the secretariat, who was trusted entirely, waited without prompting, but the manuscript did not arrive, and he gave up posting on the day. Hattori had completed sending the work data, but the email had a problem. Because I deal with current affairs frequently, when the posting time is late, readers say, “I’m trying to use the latest news that came out today, and it’s late.” At this time, it was caused by a simple misunderstanding.
The quota omission case is a case where the promotion piece (commonly known as “quota”) that “Japanese pen has a history of XX years …” was not drawn. “At one point, there was no quota in the name of the next work, but when I interpreted it as” I had some intention because it was Mr Hattori “and posted it as it was, I forgot to put it in. Thus, we received a lot of rushes from everyone saying, “There is no advertisement!”
New development in both manga and lectures
The 6th generation with the concept of “Meiko-chan, who is nostalgic but never seen before”. So far, “first in history” such as original painting exhibition, collaboration with other industries, collaboration cafe, bookmaking, animation commercial, etc., has been developed. The number of course members has increased, and a left-handed system was newly established last summer. A synergistic effect with manga is born.
On the occasion of the commemorative year, Hattori said, “It’s been 90 years since the usual line that the Japanese pen has a history of XX years … I think that such a character is not so, so I’m honoured to be involved. “I’m drawing Meiko-chan” is overwhelmingly easier for middle-aged and older people to know. Especially for women, I thought that the recognition of Meiko-chan, the original Japanese pen, was amazing. I also had an autograph session, but most customers were amazed when they were 10 to 20 years older than me because people of that generation had never read my manga. ” He spoke with deep emotion.
This year, a new rival character with the motif of the third generation has appeared. Hattori said, “I used to put out AI rival characters before, but I thought there are many rivals for handwriting, rather than the evolution of modern technology. Initially, the 6th generation was set on the net. So I started with the intention of establishing a new Meiko-chan, but it’s been five years now, and it’s just a milestone year, so this year I’m doing flashy things such as the homage to the past series. I want to come. ” “It’s quite difficult to write every week, so I just keep going, but it’s an advertising manga where it’s important to stand out, and sometimes I think it’s good to draw interesting and topical times.” It’s difficult to make manga because of the times when I thought, “That!” I want to go, “he said.
