Boys Love Mangaka Fan Q&A at MangaNEXT

Just a week ago.. I was in New Jersey listening to the Saturday Fan Q&A panels for Tomo Maeda and Makoto Tateno. I ended up tweeting my way through the two Q&A’s, so here are my tweets and explanations in a linear fashion.

animemiz: Sitting at Makoto Tateno q&a..

animemiz: Correction at Maeda-sensei panel.

My game plan for Saturday was to stake out Panel 1, after my morning’s interview with Felipe Smith. I kept on thinking that Makoto Tateno’s panel was going to go first, when several other tweeters like @Toukochan and @Kaminomimemo were asking about it. So I made clarification.

animemiz: @JManga_official’s Robert Newman presiding at panel alongside the Japanese mangakas.

So getting back to the tweeting.. Robert Newman for Jmanga.com was presenting the mangaka’s panel.

debaoki: @animemiz you should tweet w/ the #manganext hashtag. 😉

animemiz: @debaoki thanks.. ^_^

As a tweeter and at events, I end up tweeting a lot as I hear of good clips and notes. Normally on the social medium of Twitter, would be good etiquette to use a hashtag. I normally forget, so Deb reminded me… Though at this point, might be better to see this on a PC.

The following are tweets I made, as fans asked questions. Since there was already another Fan Q&A session on Friday, questions were slow to come. Hopefully the tweets are pretty self-explanatory.

animemiz: Maeda-sensei gets ask what made her decide to be a mangaka? She drew for a long time and decided to continue when she debuted. #manganext

animemiz: She didn’t consult her family, since they are a different generation and doesn’t read manga.. but they are supportive. #manganext

animemiz: She gets an average 5-6 pages done. Only has an assistant when she is really busy. #manganext

animemiz: Since her editor is nearby.. Maeda mentions being an honor student on making deadlines. #manganext

The last tweet was made because a fan asked if there was a memorable situation on her as a mangaka not being able to make deadlines, as the anime Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi portrayed.

animemiz: She likes to read many artists from Shonen Manga. But lots are older.. and there are so much that there are no specifics. #manganext

animemiz: Watching Maeda-sensei at work. #manganext http://t.co/y8hfdmvn

animemiz: Tateno-sensei panel now. #manganext

animemiz: Tateno -sensei has 3-4 assistants on a rotating schedule. But she has about 10 so far in her drawing career. #manganext

animemiz: Tateno like to drink. ^_^ #manganext

animemiz: Tateno-sensei uses anime as a reference to draw. At times for series like Happy Boys or Nighthead, used live models. #manganext

animemiz: She’s always wanted to be a mangaka. So no other career choice. #manganext

animemiz: She loves to draw baddies.. ^_^ #manganext

animemiz: She got into bl genre as a freelance assignment. #manganext

animemiz: Tateno-sensei wants to try drawing Vocaloid, but editor rejects. So then how about bl Vocaloid? @JManga_official inquires. #manganext

animemiz: She love visual kei, anime and @LArc_official as music to listen to. #manganext

So the highlight for a lot of people in the panel was to see Tateno and Maeda sketch, and these were offered as raffle prizes.

animemiz: This is silly… 5mins and a photo I took still not tweeted.. >_<

animemiz: Raffle.. #manganext http://t.co/kB0A4uNE

It took a bit of a time to be uploaded, but I took a picture of the interpreter announcing the winning tickets. She went through a couple without any winners, therefore saying “Really.” It became a joke for the moment.

After these panels, there were autograph sessions. So hopefully this entry review wasn’t as hard to read, and definitely fans present for these panels were pretty happy. It really is not often that a mangaka ends up around an area where you live, so the the experience was pretty magical.

Author: Linda

Linda is a life long fan of anime, and dabbles in a lot of things. She writes with a tentative neutral voice.. and as for that three year anime blogging mark, she tries to defy that as she is gaining a voice in other mediums ie: Twitter. Find her at other places online. "They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." -Terry Pratchett