How we like to know a little more about the authors of Planeta Manga magazine! Today we chat with Kaoru Okino Y Blanca Mira, illustrator and screenwriter (respectively) of Good Game!.
How did you enter the world of illustration / comics?
Kaoru: I think like most; participating in fanzines, contests, practicing with webcomics and trying to upload my illustrations on many online sites. The Internet is a great help when it comes to showing your work to the public and publishers.
Blanca: In my case it was as a result of wanting for a long time to participate in a manga contest, but being disastrous drawing. Luckily, I got the support of another artist to collaborate, and since then the dream of being a mangaka has come true.
Your first contact with Planeta Manga was …
Kaoru: Thanks to Blanca! I am not very put in the news of the comic world, but she showed me a news where Planeta Manga was announced as a novelty. So, since we were planning to do a couple of comics together at the time, we sent what we had of Good game!, And liked it!
Blanca: As Kaoru says, we were evaluating making a pair of manga together, and the day I saw the news of Planeta Manga, I knew we had to try it. Be part of such a project; also with a series, we were very excited. It was difficult to visualize what would happen, but fortunately, today we are experiencing something very beautiful.
How did the plot of Good Game! Come about?
Kaoru: Blanca had that story for years, I'm glad you rescued her!
Blanca: That's right, I had thought this story a couple of years ago, for a Japanese publisher, but I did not get to show it because the format was not viable. I tried to give it up, but I couldn't. He kept thinking about his characters, the situations … and it was a story that he really wanted to tell. So I was the happiest person in the world the day Kaoru gave me the go-ahead to bring Yuki and Enishi to life.
What did you do first: the character creation or the script? How is your usual work circuit?
Kaoru: As I say, Blanca already had the story so the final design of the characters was based on some drawings that she had, trying to preserve the essence of these and using some design that I had out there without using and I liked it.
When working on it, Blanca makes the script for a chapter, shows it to me, we talk about it and then she makes a storyboard and sends it to me. I redo it with sketches and annotations, with ideas and some corrections, and then we'll talk about it again. Between the two of us we decided which is the best final result and that's when I start drawing the final version.
Blanca: I think Kaoru has given all the details (XD). Just to add that it is great to work with her, since she does not stop making me laugh, and with her suggestions she brings a lot of wealth to Good Game, especially at the humor level.
How do you value the reception the magazine has had and what would you highlight about it?
Kaoru: What I'm seeing is pretty good! I did not expect so much support and I sincerely appreciate it, this country has needed a Manga Planet for years, although I think it has come at the best time and it is that I have the feeling that readers are changing and are beginning to be more open and give less importance to the fact where the authors were born before reading their story.
I would highlight the new authors, those who come to events to show us their projects, some timidly confess that they want to send something for the magazine, but they do not dare, even in the networks I see people cheering or encouraging their friends to participate. I really like that, I really want to see his comics!
Blanca: Planeta Manga deserves the support it has, and I hope it will be even more so as time goes by. As Kaoru said, Spain had needed such a project for years. A means to attract new generations of manga fans, and it also represents an opportunity for manga authors, present and future, to have a goal to point to when working on their projects. It is something that we all have to take care of so that it is not lost.
Your favorite Planet Manga series is…
Kaoru: Everything in Planeta Manga is very good! Although I do have a favorite and that's Gryphoon. I am very "shonera" and the fantastic adventure stories in which they stick together and have powers can help me, hahaha.
Blanca: They all have something special and are therefore entertaining, and you can see the care that all the authors put into it. But if we talk about personal tastes, I would also opt for Gryphoon now. The characters are very funny, and the plot, at the moment, has a lot of sauce that I like.
Next projects.
Kaoru: A short story called Beastly Circus that will appear on Planet Manga 3 and 4! Also with Blanca we are working in Heraldos for the «editorial N» (hahaha), and I have a couple of things started that I have had to pause, but that I will resume soon.
Blanca: On manga, with Kaoru we are working on Heralds, and apart I continue in my continuous struggle to serialize a manga in Japan. As for a novel, I hope to publish a novel soon about my experiences there as a mangaka and as a student. Also this year a romance novel will be published.
Social networks
Kaoru:
Twitter: @Pencilness
Instagram: @kaoru_okino
Blanca:
Twitter: @shirayukihimeh
Instagram: @blanca_mangaka
