This was a chat between Nahoko, Daniel, myself and Kishiro: ----- Hello! Greetings from North America! As long-time fans of Gunnm we are very excited and happy about your new series "Aqua Knight". Hopefully we won't have to wait two years to see it published in North America! ^_^; Fortunately we have, in the meantime, Haisha, which will be out soon in English! ^_^ We look forward to seeing more of your work. Best wishes and good luck! KISHIRO: Hello (~ ~) This is the first time I've received fan mail from outside Japan. I'm very happy. The Aqua Knight tankoubon will be published in Japan next year, and the foreign language version will be published soon afterwards. Please be patient (~ ~) Somebody please translate this (~ ~; ----- Thank you very much for answering our email! ^_^ Nahoko-san can read Japanese and English very well so there is no need to worry about translation. Unfortunately we cannot write Japanese letter so we have to use Roman-ji. Have you yourself considered coming to North America? You would be received enthusiastically by your fans here. Also, what do you think of the English adaptations? Aqua Knight Saga looks very nice, what is the name of the new heroine? Thank you very much for answering our message, and all the nice people in this BBS! ^_^ KISHIRO: Unfortunately, since my command of English is below the average of that of ordinary Japanese, I have no idea how they translated the original into the English version (^ ^; I am a bit worried if the North American readers would be able to understand it well as the English version does not have glosses which are in the Japanese version. Also, I am a bit embarrassed as a graphic writer because the inverted English version exposes lack of skill in dessin [sketch] due to the pictures that are turned inside out. (^ ^;; However, I like the graphic novels as the cover designs are sober and quiet. (^ ^) The Gunnm game is from PlayStation. It is said that a Japanese PlayStation game cannot be played on an American PlayStation due to the protections they put on the game. Banpresto, which has made the Gunnm game, doesn't have any plans to make an English version. If the Gunnm game is to be a great hit in Japan, they may consider an English version. (Responding to the number of Gunnm comics sold in North America) Oh my god! I didn't know! (^o^; Although I get the royalties, there is no knowing how much they are sold overseas. Perhaps, the number (of North American comics) is larger than that in Japan. (Responding to the number of Japanese readers: 900,000) 900,000!!...This is probably a false rumour. ^ ^; The number might be that of the readers of Business Jump in which Gunnm was written. All those readers might have seen Gunnm but not all of them may have been Gunnm fans. So, the number is not really wrong but not really true. The number of Japanese graphic Gunnm sold in Japan is a little more than 200,000 per volume. (What is the name of the heroine?) Thank you very much for asking. (^^) I'd tell Japanese readers to wait for Ultra Jump, but since you may not be able to read the magazine, I'll favour you with the name: she is "Rurihaa" It means the truth, she is not a real protagonist. ----- We have corresponded with Fred Burke, who worked on the English adaptation of Gunnm, and he did a very careful job with the translation, especially with "Zalem" which was very tricky. He was honoured that you used "Alita" in the final volume. According to Fred Burke, the reason that "Gally" was changed to "alita" is that "Gally" is not so easy to pronounce in English as "Alita" (he found this name in a book with baby names). The first part of the title, "Battle Angel", was mostly to attract readers, but "Battle Angel Gally" sounds a bit strange. The entire title "Battle Angel Alita" rolls off the tongue in English. Also, "Alita" means "noble" in its original language, while "Gally" means "to frighten", although not many people know that. I think that readers in North America do understand a lot about Gunnm, although it is a very rich story and we like to discuss it at length and discover new things about it. People here also feel very strongly about the characters because Gunnm is a very heartfelt story that is sometimes very sad ;_; Also, it seems that there are many female fans of Gunnm, perhaps because sometimes it is a bit shoujo in spirit ^_^; Kishiro-sensei, you mentioned once that Gally was "born" as a female cyborg police officer in a story called "Reimeika". Was this story ever published?? As for the artwork, we realize it is difficult for the artist to have his work inverted. However, your technique is so good that even inverted it is considered to be beautifully drawn! You have also influenced some artists in North America... We hope that the Gunnm game is a big hit so it is exported! Many people here would be very happy. Is it a role-playing type of game? Thank you for telling us the name of the new heroine! It's very beautiful, and we hope to see her soon! ^_^ Thank you for having answered all our questions, we are very glad you have taken the time to reply to us. We hope that Aqua Knights is very successful, and look forward to reading it in the future! (^-^)/~ KISHIRO: (Response about Fred Burke) Oh, I see. (^ ^) I'm very much relieved that he translated very carefully. (Responding to comments that Gunnm is a "heart-felt" story) Thank you very much. (@^ ^@) I was very happy to know that the nature of Gunnm [or the heart of the Gunnm story] could be appreciated to the full by the non-Japanese readers, which is more than I could have wished for. I intended to put Gunnm in a universal context so that it would not be bound to particular Japanese social situations, but despite my intention to be universal, there must be something very Japanese; I am very much interested to know if there is anything that a non-Japanese reader would find to be "particular Japanese." (Regarding the shoujo aspects of Gunnm) You think so? (^ ^) I thought you would. Among my comics Gunnm was the most sentimental and while I wrote it I would often say to myself "this is as if it were a Shoujo manga". (Regarding Reimeika) Reimeika hasn't been published as a book. It's just a quick draft without words, drawn in pencil on cheap paper, consisting only of rough sketches. At that time I was just starting as a professional writer and I was very meticulous with these drafts to impress the editor. Had the editor accepted it, I would have written the dialogues, but unfortunately it wasn't accepted. (Influence on American artists) Thank you very much. I am a bit embarrassed (@^ o ^@). I was influenced by many excellent American artists. (The Gunnm game) It would be great if it is exported to North Amarica. The player plays the part of Gally, collecting information from civilians, fighting criminals, and making money. By doing so Gally then empowers her body. At every important stage a scene is inserted where characters automatically interact. The story unfolds almost in the same manner as the manga version does. However, when you reach Zalem (where the original story ends), Gally then goes into space, following a new story I wrote. I actually wanted to do the space adventure in the original version but I was forced to stop for various reasons. I think that the original ending were Gally prevents Zalem from falling is very good, but I just made it up only two issues before the ending. So, the space story in the game version is much closer to what I had originally wanted to do. I hope that the game will be translated too and will be enjoyed by many people. ----- Kishiro sensei, regarding your question about the Japanese elements in gunnm, we talked with a few other Western friends (Daniel 7 Dan) and we couldn't find many things which seemed "particularly Japanese" to us (maybe we read too much manga! ^_^;). Here are a few things we found: There are perhaps some other minor details, but we think that you managed to create a society with very little Japanese bias. It's a society which represents all cultures at the same time, and is therefore quite universal. Probably that's why people all over the world like Gunnm! ^_^ We apologize for our use of Roman-ji, but unfortunately we have no choice. We would also like to apologize for the time it has taken us to respond. It is sometimes hard for us to get together to post in this bulletin board, but we are very happy to have had the opportunity to be here! Thank you very much! ^_^/~ Oh! Happy birthday from North America Kishiro-sensei! KISHIRO: I designed Den as a samurai on purpose, and made them eat with chopsticks, but I was not aware of Ruw's bowing at all! I was quite surprised that one's culture would reveal itself without one's knowledge. (^ ^) (Regarding compliments that Gunnm represents all cultures) Thank you very much. That is the best compliment for Gunnm. (@ ^ ^ @) I do not mind Roman-ji at all. However, had I known that [the day would come when I would receive fan letters from abroad], I would have studied English harder when I was a student....(regret). Thank you very much for your good wishes for my birthday! (^ ^)