Interview: TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You Creator Kenjirō Hata

TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You is a currently airing anime about the sweet everyday life of a young married couple. In anticipation of the anime's premiere, manga creator Kenjirō Hata spoke to Anime News Network about the inspirations for the story and its relationship with his previous work, Hayate the Combat Butler.

Your previous series Hayate the Combat Butler was more of a comedy than a romance, so what made you decide to focus more on romance this time?

It's true that when I was drawing Hayate, I was trying to put in at least one funny scene per page. But after I concluded Hayate, I tried rethinking the extent to which “laughs” are necessary in my manga. As a result, I decided to try a method different from that, and started drawing TONIKAWA.

So far, TONIKAWA is more about the two main characters than the ensemble cast. Is it easier or more difficult to write jokes with a smaller cast?

If I had to say which, a small cast is easier to draw, but it's harder to make a lot of jokes. The reason I went this style this time was because I wanted to make the characters have deeper conversations compared to Hayate. I think that in life, you can have all sorts of conversations with people of all walks of life, but there are deep conversations that you can only have with a spouse. I thought it would be nice to depict that in a manga, and it's one of the reasons I went with a story centering on a small cast.

When you designed Nasa and Tsukasa, to what extent did you set out to make them different from the characters in your previous work?

It wasn't particularly something I was consciously trying to do. I didn't set out to draw characters who look different; Nasa and Tsukasa were what came out as a result of thinking about which kind of characters would be easy to move and express emotions. So if they ultimately ended up different from characters I'd drawn before, it was not out of a conscious desire to make them different.

How much is the manga's depiction of married life inspired by personal experiences?

I don't know what the degree is, but I think it's undeniable that my marital status has exerted an influence over this manga.

Your initial plan was to reveal Tsukasa's identity early in the manga. Why did you decide to change this?

Tsukasa's backstory is rather heavy, so out of the thought that readers wouldn't be inclined to follow the manga if it were included at the start, I decided to parcel out the information gradually.

On some of the tankobon covers and in the anime's key visual, Tsukasa is shown wearing a white wedding dress. As a Japanese person, what do you think is the appeal of a Christian-style wedding?

I believe that the design of a wedding dress represents one of the pinnacles of women's clothing developed by humanity. A pure white dress with large frills and laces. From a visual perspective, I think it's beautiful. Incidentally, the Japanese style (shiromuku) isn't really that popular in Japan.

TONIKAWA has featured some occasional cameos of Hayate the Combat Butler characters. To what extent do you plan to incorporate Hayate the Combat Butler into the world of TONIKAWA?

I haven't thought about the extent, when I feel like it I make them appear. I don't think of cameo appearances as fanservice to the readers. When they appear, it's because it naturally fits the flow of the scene in my view. I'm conscious of that. Accordingly, I believe there's a possibility that more cameos will happen occasionally in the future depending on my whims.

Your unique naming sense for the titles of your chapters is a trend across your work. How do you get the inspiration for the chapter titles?

For the most part, I simply come up with them on the spot. Also, since I normally use quirky titles, whenever I use a serious one the readers might realize that the story is serious this time. Whenever I'm doing a serious story, I make sure to use a serious title.

Do you ever worry that your readers won't grasp the pop culture jokes in your work?

There are many times when the joke doesn't get across, so I don't worry about it anymore.

Your male characters are often just as cute as your female characters. Do you have any sort of philosophy when it comes to creating characters?

It's hard to put it in words, but what's important to me when it comes to characters is that I can't make them lie. I always take care to make them express their true feelings as they see it, so that, from both my perspective as the creator and through the characters' perspective, they're not saying things that don't have any heart in it.

Regarding the characters' appearances, there's like a radar in me that reacts, and I think it's important to make the visuals pull at me. I'm also conscious of giving my characters attractive appearances with an aura.

How does your experience with the anime adaptation of TONIKAWA compare to Hayate the Combat Butler and Seiyu's Life!?

From my past two experiences of having my work adapted into anime, I have come to know many reliable people among the anime staff, so it feels like I'm handing off the entirety of TONIKAWA to those people for them to make it. That's why, as an audience member, I'm looking forward to the anime even more than I was compared to my previous works.

Is there anything you're particularly looking forward to seeing in the anime?

The anime staff is working on the show while knowing information and truths that haven't yet been revealed in even the manga. That's also the case for the OP and ED songs. So I'm looking forward to seeing how these people who have such a deep understanding of the work express it through animation.

Finally, do you have a message for your international fans?

As grateful as I am to have received so many messages from fans overseas, it hasn't quite sunk in for me that people outside Japan would read and love this manga which, on top of not being a fantasy, is deeply embedded in Japanese culture. As a result, I'm truly happy that it has become popular even overseas. By all means, I hope you can check out both the manga and anime.