Atsushi Ohkubo is among the guests of Lucca Comics and Games 2022 that we had the opportunity to interview during the kermesse, telling us something more about his works. Author of the famous manga Soul Eater and the most recent Fire Forcewhich has gained an additional slice of the public thanks toanime adaptation that was taken from it, Atsushi Ohkubo spoke to our microphones to deepen his work on these manga, the choices made for their realization, the inspirations and mutual influences between one work and another (currently published by Planet Manga ). Through our report, all that remains is to discover the work of Ohkubo, a Japanese author among the most innovative of the last decades.
Who is Atsushi Ohkubo
Before we forward the statements provided by Atsushi Ohkubo on the occasion of his meeting with the press at Lucca Comics and Games 2022, let’s briefly get to know the author. Japanese cartoonist attracted to drawing since his youth, at the age of twenty he finished his studies in a manga school and shortly after he published his first manga in four volumes. B. Ichiwinner of the Square Enix’s Gangan Magazine award. The real success comes for Ohkubo since 2004, with the publication in the magazine Monthly Shonen Gangan by Square Enix of the manga Soul Eaterconsisting of 25 numbers. Soul Eater he also managed to get a great success worldwide with the airing of one of his anime adaptations made by Bones studyaired for the first time in 2008 on TV Tokyo.
Manga 
For Atshushi Ohkubo, the success was replicated starting from 2015, with the publication of his new manga work entitled Fire Force between the pages of Weekly Shonen Magazine. The series ended in February of this year, with a total of 34 volumes, but on par with Soul Eater also Fire Force received his own anime adaptation starting from 2019, made by David Production studio. The response from the public has so far been so positive that it has guaranteed the production of a second season for the anime, with a third announced this year, the release date of which is still unknown.
Let’s meet the author at Lucca Comics and Games 2022
During the meeting, the curiosities about a lot Soul Eater how much Fire Force there have been many. First of all, the one concerning the choice to dedicate an entire manga to vicissitudes of a team of firefighters:
There are so many manga in the shonen genre and I wanted to write something new. The shonen are obviously characterized by the presence of a hero and I wanted to talk about a main character who was a hero, but also a person close to us. And since so far there had never been any manga that talked about the firefighters, I decided to use this figure as the protagonist of the series. Also because I really like uniforms!
A shonen manga, the one titled Fire Forcewhich is about fires and that in some respects evokes the numerous by mental association fires that have hit our planet because of the climate change. It could be an element that influenced the making of Fire Force?
Climate change and fires are something widespread and frightening, it is something that I felt to link to the theme of the Burned: something that is scary, inherent in fire. At the same time I thought of using the flames also as a power, the one in the hands of the protagonists of Fire Force, therefore an element that can also be used positively. Yes, I think there are references to this issue.
Manga 
In addition to telling more aspects deep And scary reality, Atsushi Ohkubo also makes extensive use ofironyboth in Soul Eater that in Fire Forceinside dark atmospheres And often very sexy characters. What were yours inspirations in this sense? And how does it manage to combine such elements why?
I have some landmarks, like Dragon Ball And Dr. Slump and Arale by Akira Toriyama, and my main goal is to entertain the readers. And to entertain I tend to use this combination of comedy and seductive characters in a dark atmosphere.
Regarding the real realization of the manga, we asked the sensei if in the course of the writing from Fire Force was conditioned by Soul Eater and how complicated it was switch from one scenario to another:
Yes, I was definitely conditioned by Soul Eater. When I wrote the latter, the manga revolved around the theme of the importance of life, playing on the issue of death and these characters acquiring anime. In Fire ForceI tried to create a completely different but complementary world: if in Soul Eater in fact they tried to save souls to kill the enemy, in Fire Force instead he kills himself to save individuals. It was therefore relatively easy to create something that dealt with similar themes, but at the same time there were certainly difficulties in creating such a different world..
And how, once we come to the conclusion of Fire Forceelaborated a the final that hinted that the plot was a prequel a Soul Eater?
I’ve always had the intention of connecting Fire Force to Soul Eater, but I didn’t have a clear idea from the start on how to develop this bond to the end. It was something that I matured over time, with the intention of conceiving a universe that was halfway between our present and the future time of Soul Eater.
A job, that of the mangaka, which can certainly provide “Pleasures” and “pains” during the making of a work: which were those of the author and which of his characters did you prefer to draw?
The parts I definitely enjoyed drawing the most were the Black Star vs Mifune fight in Soul Eater and the one between Arthur and Dragon in Fire Force. I think my favorite characters are just Black Star, Mifune and Arthur, because they are very direct people in their approaches. I honestly don’t remember what the hardest moments were, because I tend to put them aside, but I can say with certainty that I really enjoy working on the illustration of the fights.
Manga 
In the two famous manga by Atsushi Ohkubo then a topic that unites the two works recurs: the folly. What does the sensei think about it?
There is a bit of madness in all of us, especially when we get angry and perhaps tend to even want to hurt others. However, I believe that, despite this, a bit of madness is necessary for everyone because it is one of the engines that push us to do, to create. If there weren’t a little madness in us, we’d probably die.
Finally, it is inevitable to try to learn more about the future of work of the author, since he had recently stated that Fire Force it would be there his latest work as a mangaka. In this regard Atsushi Ohkubo stated:
I am currently undecided. Even during the making of Soul Eater there was a moment when I felt I had reached the maximum of my abilities and wanted to quit, however I am quite undecided on what to do. I think I would like to dedicate myself to other projects as well, but I could also use bots to draw.
