The encounter with manga

What was the manga that you read as children that impressed you the most?

Nekoi: In my case, everything by Yukari Takahashi and Kahoko Tachi, both authors that belonged to the Ribbon school.
Mokona: As for me, the first volume that someone bought for me was The Rose of Versailles. For it was very popular at the time (laughs).
Ohkawa: The ones from Shinji Wada and Jun Mihara. The magazine that I liked the most was Margaret, a weekly one, and as for Shonen, the one that impressed me the most was Devilman, by Go Nagai.
Igarashi: The first manga that I read was Phoenix, by the master Osamu Tezuka. The first one that I was given was The Rose of Versailles and the first one that I bought myself was Candy Candy. When I was in elementary school, the magazine that I liked the most was Nakayoshi.

What anime impressed you the most?

Mokona: I’ve always been a big fan of anime, I watched more anime than read manga. The first ones that I followed were Yamato and Gundam, after that I kept watching more animes about robots in the same line as Gundam.
Nekoi: I watched a lot of things, but mostly animes for boys.
Igarashi: In Kansai, when we were little, a lot of older anime series aired on Sunday morning and I watched all of them.
Ohkawa: My friend Tamayo Akiyama and I really liked Yamato. We always watched it together but after middle school I lost contact with anime.

In Kansai, Gundam aired on Sunday afternoons, there were a lot of series that aired in special timeslots.

Ohkawa: I was in school so I couldn’t watch them (laughs). Because of the studies, I couldn’t watch Gundam or a lot of other series when they were aired.

What novels impressed you the most?

Ohkawa: I read a lot of argumentation books. When I was in fourth or fifth grade it started the trend of Kadokawa movies and because of that I read the works by Joichi Morimura and Seiji Yokomizo. After that, I used to read books by Kiyoharu Matsumoto and Rampo Edogawa.
Mokona: I used to read the works of Rampo Edogawa that were in the school’s library, later I read the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Nekoi: Out of the four of us, I think I was the one that read less novels (laughs). I was too busy watching science fiction series like NHK’s Captain Future to buy novels (laughs). The authors I remember are Jiro Akagawa and Motoko Arai. Also Wolfguy and Illusions War by Kazumasa Hirai.
Igarashi: The ones that are still with me (laughs). And the Japanese science fiction ones from the school library. After that, I started reading the series for youth literature by Sakyo Komatsu and Akira Amura. I was later interested, along Nekoi, in the books published by Shueisha in their Cobalt Bunko collection, for example the works by Motoko Arai. I loved  The Six Shadows of the Family by Tsuyoshi Tsutsui, I was very moved while reading it. With Nanase Futatabi I cried. And with Edipo’s Lover I was hallucinated, it was something that broke all the standards (laughs).

What movies impressed you the most?

Ohkawa: My father really liked going to the movie theater so he took me with him a lot. Up to middle school or university I watched a lot of western movies. I was impressed by the character design of Katsuhiro Otomo for Harmagedon, I bought the tickets in advance and all that so I could watch it. Seeing the original drawings of Crusher Joe moving around impressed me a lot (laughs). Even if there were some differences to the original idea. I had no idea that it was the same author, Yoshikazu Abiko, taking charge of the production.
Mokona: I watch western movies since ever since I’ve known Ohkawa (laughs). We even went to watch the Star Trek movie, the TV series of spaceships.
Nekoi: I didn’t have a lot of money. The few I had I spent it with anime, so I couldn’t watch anything else. Besides, we lived in the country and movie theaters were too far (laughs).
Igarashi: Every time I went out I enjoyed going to the movie theater. Even if only to watch animation. I am from the generation marked by Galaxy Express 999 (laughs).

The beginnings

How did you start drawing manga?

Mokona: It was in middle school, a club colleague wished to release an amateur magazine, a doujinshi, and asked me to help by drawing a page. This was my first work, for at that time there were many people that edited fanzines.
Nekoi: It was in the second year of middle school. With a friend who also liked manga I started drawing an original work in a notebook. It was a science fiction work according to the things that were trendy at that time. As I started drawing without thinking ahead what I would do, when I graduated it was still incomplete (laughs).
Igarashi: I believe the first manga that I did on my own was during middle school. The pen name Satsuki Igarashi came out of an original character of a small work that I did with a friend at the time.

All of you spent time drawing doujinshi in middle school?

Igarashi: When my friend asked me for help, it seemed incredible. I thought: “C’mon, let’s make a book!” (laughs). It sounded very exciting to publish something. Since it was too expensive, we did everything using the school’s copy machine (laughs).

When did the four of you unite? Were you going to the same school?

Ohkawa: No, I was from a different school, but Satsuki and the others studied together. When they were together in high school doing doujinshis, a friend of my school brought me a few drawings done by Mokona. Since she knew them, I asked her to introduce me to them.
Igarashi: At first, more than a doujinshi friend, she was a “going out” type of friend.
Ohkawa: We’d watch movies together, and in the summer we’d see the fireworks (laughs).
Igarashi: We’d rent boats and race against each other, and spend 6 hours in the karaoke (laughs).

Did you see each other often despite being in different cities like Osaka and Kyoto?

Igarashi: There was always something going on either in Osaka or Kobe, we went all together and that’s when we would see each other.

How was the beginning of CLAMP?

Ohkawa: It occurred to us that Satsuki’s group and mine could release something together, so we merged both groups under the name of CLAMP. In the end more people joined, but since the group was too large we ended up not doing anything (laughs).

What did the world of doujinshi mean to you?

Igarashi: It was our debut.

The debut

When did you start considering yourselves professionals?

Mokona: It’s something that we are not secured about (laughs).
Ohkawa: We all talked about releasing RG Veda in doujinshi, but since it’s a very long story, in the end we published it in a short format.
Nekoi: The editor of Wings magazine saw the short version and contacted us, without a proper offer, of course (laughs).
Igarashi: We managed to concentrate the whole story in one volume.
Ohkawa: It had 60 pages, but the truth is that you could recycle very little of that work (laughs).

Do you mean the theme or the drawings?

Ohkawa: Everything (laughs). We had never worked as a group so it consisted of an unfinished work in every aspect. Of course that wasn’t worth anything, but they told us to take that as a base to create something from scratch. The result of that rework became our debut.

And that’s how you got a contract?

Igarashi: No, the deal was when the first chapter came out, if we had a good feedback out of the surveys, they would let us do three more chapters. Luckily everything went well and that way the first volume of RG Veda came into light. Then more surveys were made and depending on the results, we would move forward or not. Since they weren’t bad, we moved forward.
Ohkawa: It seems as though the numbers were better than the editor had imagined so we were told to continue.

It wasn’t all roses, right?

Mokona: Definitely not.
Nekoi: In fact, it was all very rough, apparently nobody understood the series very well.
Mokona: We decided that if we did not succeed in the end, we would leave.

How was it moving to Tokyo?

Igarashi: When we debuted in 1989 we were already in Tokyo. But having rented a flat didn’t mean that we were always in Tokyo.
Nekoi: In the end, when we started having more work, we ended up not being able to go back home, which was a pity (laughs).

Did you notice big changes in your lifestyles?

Ohkawa: At first I thought I was gonna die (laughs).
Mokona: We found ourselves with no privacy.
Igarashi: We only had space under our desks to keep our stuff.
Ohkawa: Now I know what Doraemon felt like (laughs).
Mokona: Inside the closet was better than under the desk (laughs).

The author work

How is the creative process?

Ohkawa: It’s very hard to explain (laughs). To make it simple: I am in charge of the story, then we all get together and I explain to them the general lines and the main characters.

In other words, Miss Ohkawa is in charge of the scripts?

Ohkawa: That comes much later.
Igarashi: First everything is explained verbally (laughs).
Nekoi: As if it were a conference (laughs).
Mokona: She does it very well (laughs). When the story is sad, she makes us all cry.
Nekoi: She is particularly good with scary stories.
Ohkawa: That is because when it rained, during physical education classes, the teacher amused himself  telling us scary stories (laughs). In the case I have decided the design of a character, I explain to them their appearance. Sometimes I bring sketches, it’s better than explaining, but not very often because I’m very vague (laughs).
Mokona: Usually by this stage Ohkawa has already decided if the characters will have short of long hair, their style of clothes and their complexity. This can be considered part of the author work.
Nekoi: She also tells us how the world where the story takes place works and we decide a few details.
Ohkawa: In addition we agree on the birthday and height of characters.
Igarashi: As much as possible we write a curriculum for the characters, which avoids confusion later.

What about the real author work?

Ohkawa: With what we have decided, we then write a text to make a simple explanation to the editor. If we have an agreement I start writing the script.
Mokona: The script for a manga looks a lot like the a movie’s. It has to be very detailed.
Nekoi: Everything the characters are carrying and when they change their clothes.
Mokona: And what they are feeling.

Do you describe the frames in details?

Ohkawa: In the case of mangas like CLOVER, I tried to get as close as possible to the draft.
Mokona: But in general it’s more about impressions. We explain what happens before, after and then we have to fill in the gaps (laughs).
Nekoi: Many times we don’t know how to translate what’s written in the script.

How do you split the tasks for the draft?

Igarashi: That depends on the work.
Ohkawa: Sometimes one is in charge of the characters and the other for the backgrounds. Sometimes everything is done by the same person.
Nekoi: Then it can also be that one is in charge of a character and the others in charge of the remaining characters.
Mokona: There are times in a work where we have to decide who will do this character or that character.
Nekoi: It’s different for each work.

How do you make decisions?

Mokona: Since we work together we can only do it during meals, right?
Igarashi: We all talk together and it sounds like an open market.

Work production

What is giving you the most work lately?

Ohkawa: We are now working in the first volume of ANGELIC LAYER. We had only decided the beginning, the ending and the order of the battles.
Igarashi: We are taking a lot more time than any other work (laughs).
Ohkawa: We are very sorry (laughs).

Are fighting scenes a problem when it’s time to work?

Ohkawa: No, but when we talk to the ones in charge of the fight scene they always complain that it’s never fully explained (laughs). And then, one time the entire plan was already done, and we couldn’t stop asking them “What will they do now?”. And them: “But we already explained that”. And it was true, but I didn’t remember anything of what they had said (laughs).

That is to say, the characters don’t move according to their free will?

Ohkawa: At the moment no, but perhaps when I’m much, much, much more experienced I can make it so that the characters have their own entity (laughs).

Have you already decided how Chobits is going to be organized?

Ohkawa: Right at this moment I am in the middle of writing it. I already have a detailed list of chapters, and while there could be changes, it is mostly all decided.

X is getting a bit long right?

Ohkawa: We delayed the planning a little (laughs).

The production

Do you think that serialization can kill a good idea? I mean something that looked great in the script and preliminary drawings.

Ohkawa: We publish only 13 pages of Chobits every week. In order to complete a book chapter, we need at least 3 installments. I believe for a magazine, that is fatal, but the editor prefers this method of working.

In page 25 of volume 2 I had a big surprise.

Mokona: Ah yes? That’s great! (laughs). Although I don’t know why (laughs).

It wasn’t something that you did on purpose? (laughs)

Ohkawa: We didn’t draw it with the intention of surprising anyone if not for the people to see the clothes she wore in the past. Not the clothes that are worn in the narration world, that are not very varied.
Mokona: I’m not amused by you saying that you were surprised with the illustration (laughs). The truth is that we didn’t draw it with that intention.
Nekoi: The editor in charge didn’t make any objection.
Igarashi: If there was any problem he would have told us: “Are you sure you want to put her in that dress?” (laughs).

Drawing the characters

Once you have decided where a series is going, the drawing part becomes an easy task, right?

Ohkawa: No, because those in charge of the drawing don’t know beforehand how the story will continue.
Nekoi: We get the scripts in parts, and we only know what happens in that chapter. For example, if a shadow appears at the door, the normal thing would be to ask: “Nanase-chan, whose shadow is that?”. Even though the answer may be: “You’ll find out in the next chapter” (laughs). That’s why Mokona, Igarashi and I are always the first readers. In fact, while we sharpen our pencils we do nothing more than thinking how to give an interesting twist to the next chapter.
Mokona: That’s true, a lot of times I can’t help but cry while reading the script for a chapter (laughs).

Do you always plan the appearance of guest characters?

Ohkawa: These appearances are decided depending on the characters. In case it’s an important guest character, that is decided beforehand. For other cases, we do after we have designed the main characters, if there are any gaps. There are also last minute decisions (laughs).

Have you already thought ahead who would be the owner of the bakery that appears in Chobits?

Ohkawa: Yes, we had thought about him since the beginning although we didn’t know what his relationship with Chii would be. When we started we only had a clear idea about his relationship with Hideki.
Mokona: We hadn’t planned either that Sumomo would carry tambourine with bells. That was a last-minute decision.
Nekoi: And the whistle that is hidden somewhere (laughs).

Is there a reason for those surprises?

Ohkawa: It’s not good for Chii’s design to carry all the weight of the story, that her design is the most detailed one. Because of that, we take into consideration everyone’s ideas when creating the characters, they are more balanced that way.

Do you make any kind of adjustments or corrections for the tankobon?

Igarashi: For RG Veda and Tokyo Babylon we did a lot of them.
Mokona: There are also cases where the tankobon has things that are completely different than the magazine version.
Ohkawa: For at that time we were still learning.
Mokona: What I mean is there were things that we would see published in the magazine and would make us think “What the heck is this?” (laughs).
Igarashi: But right now we don’t make a lot of corrections.
Nekoi: We only fix the most obvious mistakes.
Igarashi: Even though there shouldn’t be any by now, but oh well… (laughs).

The realization

What influenced your characters’ drawings?

Mokona: I don’t know. When I was little I really liked the drawings of Reji Matsumoto, which were very characteristic, with very peculiar eyes. My first drawings have large hands and stylized bodies due to his influence.
Nekoi: I don’t know if you can find any trace of influences in my current drawings, but in my case were Yuji Nigita and Rumiko Takahashi.
Igarashi: Rumiko Takahashi’s influence can be seen on the legs of female characters in your early drawings.
Nekoi: Yes, I think it’s pretty obvious that their the legs have gotten fatter with time (laughs). I really liked her characters’ structure, with long legs up to their knees and a bit short below the waist.

What do you think about the erotic scenes?

Ohkawa: I love them.
Igarashi: We love eroticism (laughs).
Nekoi: Although there are many male readers who think that erotic scenes drew by female mangakas are not erotic enough.
Mokona: The truth is that we drew scenes that we are satisfied with, that we can think about the beautiful colors and how good they look when we look at them.

What do you mean by that?

Ohkawa: For each individual, the meaning of erotic can be different. For instance, some like to relate beauty with decadent.
Nekoi: Or that although you’re fully clothed, you can have a few unbuttoned garment as
if you start to undress.
Mokona: Or that a bit of breasts can be seen through the neck of the shirt.
Igarashi: Or instead of having your pants fully open, making it so you can see just a little, like a clue (laughs).

How about having assistants?

Mokona: We still don’t have any.
Ohkawa: Igarashi, Mokona and Nekoi are in charge of the drawings, while Igarashi and I are in charge of the design.

Isn’t it too complicated working alone?

Igarashi: It is, but by now, if we added anyone else we wouldn’t be able to work in the same speed as we do.
Mokona: We took more than 10 tears working like this, we are experts by now (laughs).
Nekoi: Actually we do everything by force of habit, not that we realized that more than 10 years ago (laughs).

What is your background music while working?

Nekoi: Since we all work in the same place, we have to listen to music individually.
Mokona: I am happy with listening to the TV, MTV or Fox channel. I also see the news.

The coloring

What can you tell us about the paintings?

Mokona: Sometimes we do it in color and sometimes black and white. Ohkawa usually starts with the concept. In Card Captor Sakura we basically used color ink, but for Chobits we are using more guache.

Do you use the computer?

Nekoi: With Gouhou Drug we began coloring digitally for the first time.
Mokona: Takeshi Okazaki-san and Katsuya Terada-san did wonders (laughs).
Nekoi: Although the weight of the work fell to Okazaki-san, Terada-san was responsible for adding the soul.
Mokona: And Igarashi likes to use Photoshop.
Igarashi: I learned a lot about Photoshop thanks to Takashi Yamazaki.

Mokona, you don’t like working with computers?

Mokona: I haven’t tried it until now. But it’s better this way, I’m a complete wreck with machines (laughs).
Ohkawa: Exploring digital media is very important for the creation process, but at the moment we do not plan anything in that field. Although maybe the digital work that Nekoi does in Gouhou Drug is something new.

The Chobits poster for the opening of the Morimoto manga-specialized store in 2001 had beautiful colors.

Mokona: Thank you very much. But the original drawing was very small (laughs). It seems incredible.

Do you work better in small sizes?

Ohkawa: Certainly. In this case the merit goes to the printer.
Mokona: I used to think that if the poster were in size B2, the original had to be done in size B2 or bigger (laughs).
Igarashi: In reality if it isn’t done this way, it turns out more complicated.
Nekoi: But it turned out really well, right? The colors are very peculiar.

The colors used in RG Veda were mostly impressive.

Mokona: I was really into H.R. Giger at that time so I used a lot of airbrush. But I like Gerard Di-Maccio even more, an author from the same time as Giger.

The design

Do you think of the cover design from the beginning?

Ohkawa: With the Kadokawa mangas we work in a different way, but we usually do in the beginning, Igarashi and I.

Why is that?

Ohkawa: We consider the comics and the work itself as a single thing, and we want to have full control over it.

In Card Captor Sakura you have dared to introduce innovations in the drawing of a gender that has already a certain tradition.

Igarashi: For that we have received unconditional support from our editor.

Many people liked it.

Ohkawa: We are certainly very happy with the success and acceptance the work has received.
Igarashi: We put a lot of effort to create it.

This time the drawings were based in Ohkawa’s designs, right?

Mokona: That’s right.
Nekoi: That’s her merit, specially for the covers.

Homepage

Since when you do have your website?

Igarashi: Since April 1997. After that it changed its title once.

Wasn’t it too complicated to manage a website on top of it all?

Igarashi: Yes, so much that we don’t remember how we made it (laughs).

Do you update it regularly?

Igarashi: The last thing we did were some minor revisions in the new contents, after the major renew in May 2002. Next time we want to add images to the small TV. I don’t know how we’ll do it (laughs).

Chobits

What can you tell us about the experience of publishing a weekly series?

Ohkawa: With Sakura we did 40 pages each month. With Chobits it’s 14 pages each week, which results in 56 pages monthly. The truth is that we were in a much better situation before (laughs).

Has it turned out harder than the other serializations?

Mokona: Much harder (laughs).
Igarashi: We draw like crazy every week (laughs).
Nekoi: Before, we only had to be worried at the end of the month, but with Chobits, when the end of the month comes, we’ve already gone through 3 ends of the month. It can be very desperate (laughs).

This was your first seinen (young males) work. Is there anything from the series that made you conscious about this difference?

Ohkawa: After we were done with Sakura, we talked with Kodansha about future projects and as it turned out, we had an idea that had been circling us for a long time in which we wanted to start working. When we talked to the publisher we thought there wasn’t an appropriate magazine to run something like that and they offered us Young Magazine, which is a magazine targeted at young male readers. So the fact that we were being published in this magazine reminded us that we were working on a new genre, rather than differences in the story.

Do you think the style of the drawings is different from the rest of your works?

Mokona: That was also Ohkawa’s decision. Yes, it is different. When you compare the character designs, they now have shorter arms and legs, the shoulders aren’t as wide, and there are more differences. All these points have been Ohkawa’s suggestions.

Like the shape of breasts?

Ohkawa: Basically they must be big and round (laughs).
Mokona: Round, above all (laughs).

What can you tell us about the theme of this work? At first there was criticism in the press saying that it was a kind of female version of Doraemon, but they soon faded. Did the comments influence the development in any way?

Ohkawa: In an interview that we had, a journalist asked us if this was a horror series. I was shocked. I don’t know why there is the impression that because we are women, we cannot draw with realism when it comes to male characters. Fortunately, the reaction from female readers was somehow to consider it different from the things that male mangakas do. I suppose that since the beginning we were aware that Chobits would have a lot of female readers.
Nekoi: We received letters from girls who had never read other CLAMP works before.
Mokona: They had bought Young Magazine in order to read it.
Igarashi: A lot of young female workers.
Mokona: That’s what the publisher told us.

Do you think men are softer than women?

Nekoi: Surely girls go through a lot more than men (laughs).

Rumiko Takahashi already showed that in her work, Maison Ikkoku.

Ohkawa: And in Urusei Yatsura, if you pay attention, the female characters are all… wow.
Nekoi: Yes, if you compare them to Ataru and Lum, you can only have one conclusion.
Igarashi: Lum is better (laughs).
Mokona: And Ataru has a very difficult temper (laughs).

Chii’s changes of clothes are very impressive.

Ohkawa: That sort of comment could only come from a woman (laughs).
Mokona: A guy could wear the same clothes every day, as long as it’s washed clean, of course, but for a girl, that doesn’t seem very nice (laughs).

Chii has a lot of white in her clothes.

Ohkawa: That’s is because she is a very special girl (laughs). If you put a white lace dress, the complements can not be other than a white umbrella and a white hat, don’t you think?

How come her parents are not what we have imagined?

Ohkawa: That’s what special girls have (laughs).
Nekoi: Wearing white seems to be the latest trend, but in fact it represents purity.
Igarashi: Although in reality I wouldn’t wear it, it gets dirty easily.
Mokona: That is precisely its charm.

Is Minoru Kokubunji attractive to female readers?

Ohkawa: No, it’s a character that we planned from the beginning. But now that you mention, not only him, but also Hideki Motosuwa, Shimbo and the bakery owner are very popular among female readers.

Chobits served as the basis for some storybooks, right?

Ohkawa: The short story books we planned as a separate story. We introduced a few elements here because it would be useful to the story.

Like this rabbit, for example?

Nekoi: It’s Atashi.
Igarashi: At first we called it “rabbit”. But it appeared in the series once as “Atashi” and now it’s in Kodansha‘s catalog with this name.

It’s a big design exercise. It also goes well as a decorative accessory.

Nekoi: Thank you. Although people told me recently that it looks like a small lizard (laughs).
Ohkawa: Nekoi is the one in charge of the short story books.

I get the impression that Chobits has meant something big for you.

Ohkawa: From the thematic point of view I think we’ve set a precedent. It’s a minimal story that raises big questions: can something that is not human able to feel love? That’s the main theme.

I’m dying to know how the story will continue.

Igarashi: Just the thought of it makes me cringe (laughs).
Mokona: So much work (laughs).

Volume 5 comes with a jigsaw puzzle.

Mokona: Yes, with Chii dressed as a nurse.
Ohkawa: I also like it when she’s dressed as a maid but in the end she looked better as a nurse (laughs).

Chobits, the TV Series

Right from the opening scene you can tell that the series is very different from the manga.

Ohkawa: When they told us that it would start in April, it occurred to us that Motosuwa must have suspended the admission exams for university. After that we talked with the director about possible changes. He also helped us a lot to prepare the material for the animated version. In fact we were doing everything as we were requested by the director, the scripts, the sketches and all that stuff (laughs).

The episode chapters are easy to understand.

Ohkawa: They are very cute. That was the animation staff’s idea. We have drafted a scheme of Chii’s evolution and they told us they were going to use it.

Do all your works end up getting an animation?

Ohkawa: That is something that we have talked about in previous interviews. We were convinced that Chobits was not appropriate to be animated. Specially because of the demanding job that would entail (laughs), but in the end TBS-san convinced us.

What do you feel when you see your characters moving around?

Mokona: I watch the anime with different eyes, since it’s a different media from the manga. I become a spectator.
Nekoi: I also I become a spectator and just think, “Oh, how nice!”.
Ohkawa: I think when it comes to animation all of us can be considered as simple spectators.
Igarashi: And when we help creating it, we do it thinking ourselves as animators.

Were you in charge of the DVD covers?

Mokona: We were in charge of the DVD covers and the CD cover for the Opening theme song.

Other projects

What can you tell us about the Chobits artbook?

Mokona: We’re on that. But it’s gonna take a little while. As a shonen work, there are very few color illustrations.

Recommendations

Nekoi: Onihei Hankacho, by Ikenami. Although I’m reading it slowly, I’m really enjoying it. Kichiemon Nakamura is perfect in the role. I also bought the DVD (laughs).
Igarashi: I’m collecting the series of Janapese animals that come in chocolate eggs. Lately I’ve only gotten bugs (laughs).
Mokona: I would recommend Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Ohkawa: I didn’t watch it, but I really like Voyager. I love Janeway Katheryn.
Nekoi: In the last revival of Voyager, I was very surprised that Chakoty and Seven of Nine got along so well. What happened to Kim? (laughs).
Igarashi: Kim and Seven of Nine could be partners, that would be nice.
Ohkawa: I also follow Deep Space Nine, but the story is more complicated.

As any natural Kansai appreciate, you must like foreign series.

Nekoi: Yes, and the old ones. Kansai is the paradise of everything historical. There are always reruns.
Igarashi: You can bet that when we return they will be airing Jarin-Ko Chie again  (laughs).

 

Translator note

I primarily used the Spanish translation by Norma Editorial to translate this interview but there were several parts which seemed very off to me, so I’ve consulted the original Japanese text and used my very limited Japanese language knowledge to fix those dubious parts — there were even missing sentences! Please keep that in mind while reading it.

 

Translated from Spanish and Japanese by Chibi Yuuto.

 

Source

Interview originally published in CLAMP No Eshigoto North Side (Kodansha), released on August 21, 2002. Original text available upon request.

 

If you found mistakes in this translation or would like to contribute with translating other interviews, please contact me.