Kazumata Oguri is the author of the manga Hanasaka Tenshi Tenten-kun, which ran from 1998 to 1999, but is rather unknown here in Germany. One chapter turned out particularly well, as the author took it as motivation to take a longer break.
Why did he want to take a break? After all those years in the manga industry, the first signs of health exhaustion were reportedly shown by the author. On his own blog, the mangaka discusses how he felt unwell and his left eyelid twitched more frequently.
It apparently got worse after that, as at some point he could only see blurry. He attributes it to strong stress, exhaustion, and lack of sleep.
For that reason, he told his editor that he would like to take a break from his own manga. But the editor allegedly did not allow it.
When the author compared himself with another famous mangaka, an idea came to him on how to finally get his break.
Author compared himself with One Piece, wanted to be just as successful
What idea came to him? The author saw that Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka of One Piece, is also allowed to take breaks. He attributed it to the fact that he himself would only be allowed to take a break when his manga became as popular as the pirate adventure.
Therefore, the author thought up an exciting cliffhanger to answer questions that readers had always had. He drew the parents of protagonist Tenten-kun, but covered their faces.
And indeed, the author managed to reach second place in the popularity rankings of Jump Magazine during the roughly three and a half years in which the manga was published. Fortunately for him, in this issue, the extremely popular manga Hunter x Hunter was on break. Yet, the second place still felt like a miracle to him.
In first place was One Piece. But as Oguri notes, he probably would never manage to surpass Oda.
Did he get his break? Unfortunately, the author supposedly could not come up with any good developments for the rest of the story, which is why his popularity steadily declined. And as the popularity waned again, the much-needed break was still denied to him. He had to continue drawing despite his poor health and the enormous stress.
Additionally, the author of Hunter x Hunter mentioned in the text also struggles with health issues. His condition has worsened so much that a break had to be taken here as well: Creator of a well-known manga must take a break because his health condition does not allow otherwise
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!