cereal and choccy milk!?

No matter how much a publisher asks, there are just some works that I’m reluctant about turning into bookstankobon.

To list some off, there’s Dust 18, Burunga the 1st, Hurricane Z, etc... and this series, Alabaster.

There are many reasons I don’t want to do it. “Ones that were unpopular since the beginning of their serialization, some of which even got cancelled partway through the story,” “ones that I myself think are trashy works,” “ones where I hate the main character’s personality or style,” “ones that just can’t be reprinted now because of discriminatory or otherwise contreversial content,” ...and many others.

However, since this is a “complete collection”the Osamu Tezuka Complete Manga Works by Kodansha, they have to publish all of my works, so I have no choice.

So, reluctantly, the first one up to bat was this work, Alabaster.

Above all, what I hate about Alabaster is the sheer darkness of the story. What went wrong was that I wanted to write something grotesque and promiscuous, like Edogawa Ranpo’s The Dwarf (一寸法師) no English translation or Beast in the Shadows (陰獣). I have a tendency to write absolutely hopeless, nihilistic works, and Alabaster was one that fell into that habit.

I hate every single character that appears in this. I especially dislike Rock and Gen; they’re characters I don’t want to write the most. I think the reason they exist despite this is because I have ups and downs in my motivation to work, and this work ended up clashing with my lowest point.

The famously bipolar Kita Morio called me “eternally manic” once, but that’s a big misunderstanding. Every 3 to 4 years, I fall into an depressive melancholic state. Whenever I end up with failed or trashy works, it’s usually because they were written during that time.