American Go E-Journal

Hikaru no Go manga creator Hotta Yumi provided a fascinating peep behind scenes when she sat down Sunday with American Go E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock to explain the process of creating the popular manga. With her editors needing final artwork eight weeks before publication, Mrs. Hotta said that months of painstaking work went into each new manga. Depending on the storyline, “I sometimes was working on three episodes simultaneously,” she said, through translator Akane Negishi. She would roughly sketch out the stories and then send them to Obata Takeshi, the artist who would turn them into finished artwork. At the same time, the rough drafts would go to the Nihon Ki-in, where staff would find games that would best illustrate the story, and the game records or positions would also go to Mr. Obata, who would add them to the finished artwork. “The go was of course taken very seriously,” Mrs. Hotta said, “That’s why so much effort was necessary. We really wanted to help make go more accessible to a broader audience.”
photo: Hotta Yumi (l) shows drafts of Hikaru no Go manga; report by Chris Garlock, photos by Steve Colburn