In hindsight, I think the best career move I made was briefly quitting everything else to become a manga assistant at Denki Pro for approximately two hours. This allowed me to attend the Young Jump New Years Party where as my new boss explained to me, "Hungry assistants fight for free food, while the gods of manga watch." Also, I got to have ecstatic fanboy moments of pleasure with...
KAZUO KOIKE. I gave him a copy of Otaku USA and told him AIUEO Boy was a personal best (in spite of all the love for Lone Wolf and Cub). I know. I really should have asked "What makes a man a man?" But we already know the answer to that one from reading all his manga, right? GUTS!
I have to admit, it took a few beers to make my balls big enough to approach my own personal Alpha and Omega of Manga...GO NAGAI. He seemed pretty cool about dealing with a crazed foreign fan (a skill probably acquired from run-ins with all those Italians) and slipped me The Card as a parting gift. I told him that God Mazinger was my favorite. In hindsight, it was really dumb not to say Violence Jack or a million other titles, but that's what slipped out of my big mouth first.
We watched Go chat with Koike for awhile and wondered what the hell they were talking about (Heath Ledger? A new Hanape Bazooka? Boobies?). Then there was an opening with HIROHIKO ARAKI, dressed like a host club pit boss, and we grabbed it. I told him I knew his biggest fan in America, Jason Thompson, who edited his JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga while at Viz. The name seemed to set off alarm bells...
Once the mad dash for the food and drink had settled down, most of the party was spent playing this really interesting and exotic Oriental game called "Bingo." Prizes included bicycles, iPods, and a DVD player.
But all these brushes with greatness paled in comparison to actually getting to meet the big guy, the One True Greatest Mangaka Ever, DENKI WATANABE! Without him, I would have been mopping the floor or selling oranges by the freeway. Instead, I nearly got a Bingo and had a pretty good curry.
(Sorry for all the pics of my kimoi dasai gaijin face, but you would cry too if it happened to you!)
OK, Patrick. Let me get this out of the way. If they were God's then you're the God's ACOLYTE. How did you get to work in Denki Pro?
What was going through your head while you were talking to these people? Did you drift or did you stay focused?
As far I'm concerned, you can have ANY face you want while meeting Koike.
Posted by: Eeeper | January 24, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Oh my god. That's amazing.
Did Araki teach you the secret of immortality? (I keep waiting for the day he actually looks like he's aged at all.) Maybe at least the secrets of Hamon?
Posted by: Clarissa | January 24, 2008 at 02:17 PM
FUCK FUCK FUCK!
I'm so fucking envious!
Posted by: Gilles Poitras | January 24, 2008 at 04:20 PM
Wow... wow, wow, wow...
(@_@)
You sir, are (awesomeness)^2 and (lucky bastard)^3.
I would have cried after meeting Koike... OMGOMGOMG...
Posted by: Joanna | January 24, 2008 at 04:46 PM
And to think, all this time I was thinking that all of those statues strewn around Japan were of Colonel Sanders.
Now the truth is finally revealed.
Posted by: Daryl Surat | January 24, 2008 at 06:03 PM
Yeah, but the quest for The Truth continues...
Posted by: Patrick Macias | January 24, 2008 at 06:06 PM
Good God, Daryl is right.
Suddenly everything become clear, and the 'in joke' during Project A-Ko (when A-Ko and C-Ko go to the movie) suddenly develops another level and whole new texture.
Patrick, I weep hot, manly tears of PRIDE for you.
I do hope this ends up in Otaku USA, the one TRUE PURE anime mag.
Seriously, you didn't end up with a flaming pentagram in your palm or something after meeting Go Nagai?
Posted by: Steve Harrison | January 24, 2008 at 09:26 PM
Alt-chan is furiously faxing Dynamic Pro now to secure an interview with The Great General of the Darkness. Keep your fingers crossed. All kidding aside, this shit was like a wedding scene from The Godfather. Koike and Nagai just standing around with their wolf packs while people lined up to ask favors and kiss the ring.
Posted by: Patrick Macias | January 24, 2008 at 09:40 PM
If only Nish was a mangaka...
Is he still in jail?
Posted by: wildarmsheero | January 25, 2008 at 12:35 AM
Still is. The Leij, however, remains on my hit list. His name tag was at the party, but unclaimed. It was right next to Michael Arias (also a no-show).
Posted by: Patrick Macias | January 25, 2008 at 12:45 AM
Where's our guts when it comes to Nishizaki? The Weathermen busted Timothy Leary out of prison. Does this call for the taking of the Tozai 1-2-3?
Posted by: Carl Horn | January 25, 2008 at 12:25 PM
I think Nishizaki is supposed to be released this year, but if not?
I'm down with busting the Nish out. I'm thinking Mole Tank but I know the JSDF has their own battallion of Mole Tanks, so they're probably got Anti-Mole Tank countermeasures ready...hmm..well, you know, given how Japanese Society is based on 'expecting things to go the way they are going', if a group of motley Gaijin show up and just walk in the gate, they won't know what to do!
I am READY! Command me!
Posted by: Steve Harrison | January 25, 2008 at 06:46 PM
The new episode of Anime World Order has some pretty goddamn amazing Tales of the Nish. As we say in OUSA, "Recommended".
Posted by: Patrick Macias | January 25, 2008 at 06:58 PM
True dat. I also appreciated the defense of Nishizaki as a producer and moneymaker, not just for his "Whaddeyever do for us? I bury da cock-a-roaches!" moments--no, in his case, they are worthy to be called epochs. And let's not forget his hard-on in that photo anticipated the moe phenomenon by many years.
Posted by: Carl Horn | January 25, 2008 at 10:02 PM
You know, there are those who mock Nishizaki, point at Odin and Blue Noah and Yamato 2520 and shout 'Loser!', but it's only because of the unimaginable heights of fame, glory and money he generated with Yamato are so overarching.
Nish did alright. I'd break bread with the man.
Posted by: Steve Harrison | January 25, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Where would ANY of us be without Uncle Nish??? Everybody's got a turkey or two in them. Unfortunately, his all came out in a rush in his latter years and cashed him out. But if not for all the crazy stunts and wild experiments during the Yamato years, I think the entire world of anime would be far less interesting now. And we would certainly have much less to talk about.
Posted by: Tim Eldred | January 26, 2008 at 01:26 AM
I don't think the problem is Nishizaki against Matsumoto, I think Leiji is the one who got his trademarked striped boxers in a bunch.
Granted that Matsumoto did so much to make Yamato what it was, and Nishizaki *recognized* that with the co-credit (which came back to bite him in the ass)...as Producer and Owner he really didn't have to do that. He could easily have just left Leiji with the 'industry standard' credit on the show and taken all the glory (cough cough Tomino cough) but he didn't. Nishizaki Rewarded Matsumoto's hard work and pretty much seems to have been stabbed in the back for that.
I mean, I know Matsumoto was seen as a 'up and coming' manga-ka during the '70s, but that alone wouldn't have been enough for Toei to have given him a project like Dangard A, or indulge him with Starzinger, let alone the giant twin success of Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. No, he got all that because of Yamato.
I'm really surprised about Leiji's attitude. It doesn't seem properly Japanese somehow. Where's the respect for his senior?
Posted by: Steve Harrison | January 26, 2008 at 11:33 AM
You walked among the gods, my friend.
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Posted by: free mp3 downloads | February 01, 2008 at 05:21 PM
Hey Mr. Macias.
Lookin' Good!
Oh my goodness you rubbed shoulders with Go Nagai. You, sir, are awesomeness incarnate.
Posted by: DrmChsr0 | February 05, 2008 at 10:22 AM