Manga Interview of Harimaru, the author of Suicide Red . Last July, the Ki-oon editions invited to Japan Expo the author of their new original creation Suicide Red : the Japanese mangaka Harimaru. Former chief assistant of the famous Yûsuke Murata (illustrator of Eyeshield 21 and One-Punch Man ), the author signs his very first personal series here. The sketches of his project were born in 2022, and he chose Ki-oon editions to develop it. Obviously, the occasion was ideal for us to meet the artist, for an interview. Impeccably dressed in an elegant Gremlins shirt for the occasion, the artist answered our questions with a smile. And on the occasion of the release this week of the second volume of his series, we offer you today the report of this interview! In Suicide Red, ten years ago, rifts to another dimension opened above Tokyo, pouring a flow of magic. The city was invaded by goblins, zombies and other creatures, and some humans acquired special powers... Madoka is one of them: she wields fire... and often hurts herself in the process, to the point of being nicknamed "Suicide Red." The young girl earns her living as a treasure hunter but dreams of joining the teams responsible for the worst monsters, those of the closed underground areas inaccessible to the common people. That's where she lost track of her grandfather, her only remaining family. A stroke of luck or a curse, a mission leads her deep into the forbidden zone, facing a giant hydra... Before searching for her grandfather, she must first save her life! Harimaru, hello and thank you for accepting this meeting. It was in 2022 that you posted on the Days Neo platform a prototype of Suicide Red. What were the bases of this prototype, and its differences with the series published by Ki-oon? And how was the project received at the time? Harimaru: I don't remember precisely the reception because it's been a while, but I think this prototype ranked first among the works presented. I then received offers from several Japanese publishers. The core of the story has not changed between the two versions, and Madoka remains exactly the same. But I obviously had to adapt it to become a long story, and in this process of arrangement, it was necessary that my heroine evolve, grow and have exchanges with other characters. I therefore added trials, I made sure that her surroundings could make her change humanly. In summary, I made the stakes more important, and I increased their level of difficulty. Following this prototype, you began to attract more and more attention from several publishers, but you chose Ki-oon to develop your first series. What convinced you to choose a non-Japanese publisher, and to want to publish your first series first in France? When I posted my story on Days Neo, I received quite a few offers, but only Ki-oon approached me via two editors at the same time, and I then felt a real editorial motivation to develop an entire project together. Moreover, when you post on Days Neo you can receive advice to improve, and those I received from Ki-oon reflected a slightly different point of view from mine, providing me with real relevant opinions on what I was missing as an author to improve my work. These two factors made me retain Ki-oon's proposal. And in addition, it remains quite rare, for Japanese authors, to be published abroad first. The process to get a chance in Japan can be long and complicated, you need to have a certain level. So rather than going through this classic process, I thought it would be faster to work directly with a non-Japanese company. And when I see today that I am invited to France for the launch of Suicide Red and that I am interviewed, I think I really made the right decision! The series plunges us into a post-apocalyptic metropolis of Tokyo, divided into danger zones since the appearance of powers, monsters and metamorphosed humans, and brings us close to a heroine with a strong temperament, a bit reckless, and wanting to find her missing grandfather. How did you imagine the main concepts of this beginning of the series? What came to you first? Everything came during the design of the prototype, with the themes of constraint and then liberation. The power and character of Madoka are linked to this dichotomy: an intense constraint, then an explosive liberation. In the prototype, a special item was needed to reach this liberation, and it was a kimono. The idea of the kimono came from a personal event: a long time ago, my grandmother made a kimono herself for my mother's coming of age ceremony, and after my grandmother's death it was passed on to her, then to my sister. It is through this personal inheritance nourished by the feelings of several generations that I began to imagine what specific powers it could transmit if it were a supernatural item. Concerning the heroine Madoka, we feel that you wanted to create a girl rather badass and impetuous, with a temperament as fiery as her power and her red hair, which is clearly not to our displeasure. What did you like most about the idea of proposing such a heroine? Given that the character of Madoka came from the subjects of constraint, pressure and liberation, I think no one wants to see someone who gives up in the face of such issues. I therefore made her very strong, with an upbeat character that allowed her to resist an unusual pressure. And my wish is that this heroine can be inspiring and give courage to readers who need it. The other key character of the volume, which is becoming increasingly important, is Kid, who creates with Madoka an unexpected pair, given the differences between them, the complete opposition between their powers, the way Kid could channel Madoka, and the subjects that this could bring around the nuances on monsters and metamorphosed people. So simply, how did you think of Kid to make his link with Madoka work well? In what order did the creative ideas for this character come to you? Kid is indeed a very symbolic character in my work, since he is a gremlin, and gremlins are, in my universe, creatures that caused the world to collapse after the apocalypse that made electricity disappear. In addition, he is a child who was transformed into a gremlin, so he has a quite hard background. But at the same time, he becomes a kind of little brother for Madoka, who allows him to grow and gain maturity. In addition to that, he acquires a supporting role for Madoka in combat moments. As for his ice power, I had the idea by reflecting on the type of ability that a gremlin could have, and by researching the various myths about them. I finally found a story saying that during World War II, there was a spandule, so a kind of gremlin, who trapped a fighter pilot in the ice, and since that time pilots put candies in their cockpit as offerings so that these creatures would leave them alone. And that's also why in Suicide Red we see Kid giving candies to other gremlins to pacify them. In addition to that, Kid's design stands out easily with his build, his wings and his slightly punk crest. Why these design choices? I really like Kid's design, I have to admit that I am quite proud of what I managed to do with him! For example, the idea of putting him in a 'hell' short to pass his tail, is the kind of detail that I was delighted to find. In addition, I like to make designs with contrasting elements. For example, a cute element that is married to something darker or cooler, is something that appears quite a bit in my work. Still on the subject of designs, we notice that your bestiary is already very varied and sometimes surprising between the types of zombies, three-headed hydras, animated toys, ant colonies merging to take intimidating shapes, giant models with mecha-like appearances... not forgetting the omnipresence of gremlins, these folklore creatures that have been popularized by the indispensable film of the same name. First of all, what convinced you to give such an important place to gremlins? And then, how do you imagine your monsters, and what are your influences for their design? First of all, I think you have understood by looking at my shirt, but I am a huge fan of the Gremlins movies! (laughs) The basic concept is a contemporary Tokyo filled with monsters. And to build this contemporary post-apocalyptic world, it was necessary to get rid of a bit of everything that makes our civilization, such as electricity and modern machines. I then wondered what could destroy most of our infrastructure, and I came back to the idea of gremlins as they are known in pop culture, because they reproduce at such a speed that finally, with them, the domino effect starts very quickly and the threat becomes quickly uncontrollable. Already in the movies, I wondered what would happen if they could spread beyond the United States and invade the whole world. Regarding the monsters' designs, I think they are not so special. I didn't want to make too much of them, in order not to lose readers by combining too complicated designs in a post-apocalyptic context already intense. Overall, I therefore preferred to stay on common references. Finally, regarding the settings, we feel a desire to revisit the very urbanized framework of Tokyo in a more fantastic and post-apocalyptic context, notably with its share of partially ruined buildings. On what do you rely to design these settings? When I worked for a Jump series as an assistant, every day I drove along the perimeter that surrounds Tokyo, and I made up stories in my mind. For example, if there was a slum in this place, what could it give? It is this kind of wandering ideas in my mind that fed my post-apocalyptic vision. And I chose Tokyo because, when I decided that in my series the magic particles would be heavier than air and could descend deep, I thought that this metropolis was perfect because it is full of gigantic underground infrastructure.