Tokyo Ghoul - Sui Ishida Interview (3/4)

I don't really remember what days of the week I was working...
I just know I spent five to six days each week working all through the night, since it took so much time to draw everything.
I was probably working at least twelve to thirteen hours per day.
Then at ten in the morning, the whole staff would meet and spend somewhere from thirty minutes to an hour storyboarding.

I wanted to work in Fukuoka, but realized that sending the original drawings physically by mail would've been both time-consuming and a major hassle. So as soon as I got the green light for serialization, I settled on digital. With digital, too, I can fix mistakes so much more easily; it gives me the ability to try things that working physically simply wouldn't allow for.

PC specs and health, accessories, and tools have a huge effect on efficiency, so yes, I regularly check for anything I can use to improve my workflow.

Well, the storyboard comes first, naturally. If I don't have any confidence in that, I can't produce my best work. So I always put my all into the storyboarding process. (Now, anyway; it wasn't always like that.) The exception to that is when I was making "Tokyo Ghoul". Back then, I often settled for "good enough," even if I hardly spent any time at all on a particular illustration. I think I was just overconfident. At the final stage, what's most important are the finishing touches, and reviewing everything carefully before submission. It really is crucial; I may add in a few lines, or I may even rewrite all the dialogue entirely. You never know! The things I do at this stage can change the experience of the reader or alter the story's meaning, so I make sure to put my full care and attention into it.

I reference whatever I think looks cool at that particular moment in time. As a few examples—and this was a while ago, mind you—I used works by Pinfan and Chen Shufen, as well as David Downton, for reference. As for goals, I don't really set any goals other than just trying to steadily improve my work.

I ran into a lot of issues with the plot when it entered the endgame, and really felt like I had my back to the wall before turning to both a trusted friend and my older sister for help and feedback. But that helped me realize how much fun it is to think up ideas together with other people, which led to a huge change in mindset for me moving forward.
So now...I think everything's gone back to normal for me, really. I strive to learn something new every day, and have fun doing it.

The fact that something I've written, as a person born and raised in Japan, could reach and be enjoyed by people across the globe still astounds me, and I'm truly grateful for it. Fans from overseas even go so far as to send me letters, which really shows how expansive the series' reach has gotten.
One kid even included their holographic Pokémon card, with a note saying, "This means a lot to me, but I want you to have it." Isn't that just super cute? I still treasure that card to this day.

As a Japanese man myself, I naturally tailor my work to Japanese readers.
I don't have enough knowledge of all the diverse cultures and belief systems around the world to be able to write something with universal appeal. But even if I were some kind of multicultural expert, I could never change my writing style just to suit a broader audience like that. Best I can do is focus on writing for those within the scope of my familiars, as I have been.
But I will say, there are certain aspects of the human experience that are shared among us all, regardless of nationality and culture. And a good work of art will speak loudest to those parts of us.