Thursday, September 3, 2020

Interview With Hitoshi Ariga: "I Will Be More Than Happy to Work On a Mega Man Manga Again"


Hitoshi Ariga was interviewed by Twitch channel FikraKW (the official home of GAME Expo (GX) and Kuwait Battle Royale (KBR)) a few days ago and we had the chance to ask him a few questions. It was a spur of the moment thing, so we didn't have time to prepare beforehand. Nevertheless, you may find it interesting.

You can read the interview after the break!


The first two questions were asked by FikraKW and the rest were by us, Rockman Corner.

If I'm not mistaken, you are known for illustrating and drawing Mega Man or Rockman in Japan. Do you have a favorite illustration that you have done for Rockman?

I have a lot that I like but I think my favorite might be this one:



I really like this because this was drawn for Mega Man Gigamix, the very final volume of that series. And the idea was to show Mega Man as he was defending a bright blue earth. And you will see that Mega Man looks a little beat up in this illustration because he has gone through a lot.

Would you say you have more freedom working on manga than video games? 

For example in the Mega Man comics I was given a lot of freedom to illustrate them they way I wanted so I was very happy and lucky to have gotten that kind of work.

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Did you play Mega Man 11? What do you think about the game and the new design for Mega Man and Roll?

Yes I did play it and I did beat it. All of them (designs) were very good and I liked them a lot. I think they were updated very well and they did a good job modernizing Mega Man.


Any chance you will work on a Mega Man manga again?

I would love too. Capcom and I have a very good relationship but I can't obviously go off and write it on my own without permission, but if Capcom ever does come to me with another offer, then I will be more than happy to accept.


Have you read the Mega Man Archie comics? If you did, what do you think about them?

I did read them and I think they were great.


Can you give us an update about the Mega Man X: Mega Mission manga? Is the project still active? It was announced by Udon two years ago but it was never released.



I did finish my work for it but I have to imagine that maybe Udon is busy coloring the manga because I made all my illustration in black and white, there is no color. I think maybe is just the fact they are not done coloring my manga and that's why is not out yet.

What is his your opinion about Mega Man Mastermix coloring job?

The person that colored it was Josh-Sensei (Josh Perez) who also worked with me on the Klonoa manga so I feel very assured when I'm working with him on coloring.

I'm very satisfied working with him because there are times when I needed revisions to be made and Josh-Sensei was very responsive to my feedback. For example, Josh-Sensei sent me a complete colored page and I requested some small changes and they were done, it was very nice.

You had a close relationship with Inti Creates in the past. Any chance of working with them again, maybe on a Gunvolt manga?

I guess it depends on what Inti Creates wants, I can't decide that on my own but if they are down with it, I will love to work on this. I think Gunvolt is a pretty interesting series.

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In case you are wondering about the Mega Man X: Mega Mission manga, it was first announced on July 2018 with a planned release date for January 2019. The comic was never released.

In April 2019, we asked Udon's Matt Moylan about it. He told us, "It's going to happen, we just won't rush it. It is translated.". It's September 2020 now and the comic has yet to hit shelves. Will it ever happen? Well, we'll keep you posted!

15 comments:

  1. I give my full support to Hitoshi Ariga for more of his Mega Man Manga!

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  2. You gotta love Ariga-san. He seems like such a nice dude and you can easily tell he genuinely loves Mega Man as a franchise. I do hope the Mega Mission manga comes out soon and the Mastermix volumes pick back up, I can re-read these stories annually they're so good.

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  3. I’d buy whatever next MM manga he made on the spot. Megamix and Gigamix were great reads and really captured the charm and spirit of Megaman. Love to see him possibly continue off from Gigamix or even more so, tackle another series!

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  4. This is Mega Man merch I would buy in a heartbeat if it ever came to happen.

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  5. Pokemon Mega Man. That's what I think of when I see Ken Sugimo-err I mean Hitoshi Ariga's art for the series. The stories I could never really get into but they are harmless and inoffensive I guess.

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    1. What? You sure you're not confusing it with another illustrator?
      Ariga's art looks nothing like Sugimori's.
      If we're talking about MM artists with a style that looks like Sugimori's, Hishikawa Hideki (no wonder he is doing illustration for the pokemon TCG) or the illustrator for Star force would be a closer pick.

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    2. Heh, I know people love to attribute everything Battle Network and Star Force with Pokemon for some odd reason but no Star Force artist illustrates or shares an artstyle that looks JACK and I do mean Jack s*** like Ken Sugimori illustrations.

      Hideki Ishikawa is the prev that loves to draw hentai of Rockman/Megaman lolis so I have no love for the guy and fully understand why he is now illustrating for Pokemon but even he doesn't illustrate jack s*** like Ken Sugimori, even when he is illustrating for Pokemon.

      Ariga on the other hand https://imgur.com/a/mtICVo0 has not only drawn officially for mainline Pokemon video games he is basically indistinguishable from mainline Pokemon video game artists, like Ken Sugimori outside of the fact that he's generally more proficient at it.

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  6. Many years ago, I checked out the auctions at the Japanese Yahoo site for Megaman-related stuff, and I kept seeing several auctions selling copies of issues from Archie's Mega Man series. It makes me happy to hear that Hitoshi Ariga thought it was great (Take That, Professor Megaman).

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    1. Did he put words in Ariga's mouth and claim it was not popular in Japan or something?

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    2. The last part of my comment wasn't specifically about Ariga, but about the Archie Comics version of Mega Man. the user I mentioned had made no secret he absolutely despised the Archie Comics run. I can't speak on why he did (especially when he just kept repeating that he hated it and didn't explain why he did). He made it sound as if the comic series was ruining the franchise reputation and preventing the release of a "legit TRUE Mega Man game"... Sound familiar, lately?

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    3. I can't say I'm a fan of the comic myself. I know who you're talking about but he might be better off doing what I do and just pretend it doesn't exist.

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    4. Staying with comics, If you must know why Fully Charged is absolutely despised, I'll tell you.
      Having been following this series since the 80's and seeing what happened to it in the 2000's with multiple spinoffs and massive bloating, Fully Charged is more bloat at a time when the franchise should be more focused. That's all we seem to be seeing right now is bloat and we are told we should be grateful for it and buy it so we can get a game which has no relationship outside of the name anyway. No matter how much merchandise and nonsense, Mega Man is about GAMING.
      And also, having following it since the 80's, the show doesn't appeal to me at all.
      Finally, they created yet another new cast in another new world. It just is absolutely 100% unnecessary and not what any fan has asked for in the last decade.

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    5. "Mega Man is about GAMING."
      Everyone also said that Ninja Turtles was about Merchandise. Everyone said that Spider-Man, Batman, & Superman was about Comics. As the years passed, they have evolved outside of the original mediums and gained new fans across the generations. To say that fan interests in a new game "has no relationship outside of the name" is to feed into the stereotype that companies should only appeal to the 40 year old hardcore fans that would eventually drift away and leaving no new fans to continue the interests and pass away, something that the comic industry is facing even before the global pandemic.
      "they created yet another new cast in another new world. It just is absolutely 100% unnecessary and not what any fan has asked for in the last decade."
      Isn't that what a lot of the criticisms of several game franchises have, that it's simply regurgitating the same old, same old? One fan in particular has constantly said that he prefers having new stories, new settings, new characters because he finds it appealing for a franchise to explore things that are new to them.
      Speaking for myself, I was in high school when I saw the reveal of the Battle Network series. Having known the Mega Man series since I was five-years old, I was initially apathetic towards the design and the concept of how it played. However, I watched reruns of the first season of the Pokemon anime the year before and through the series. I got how the games were popular. Eventually, it helped me understand how the game play worked and gave me a new series that I enjoyed playing even into my college years.

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  7. There have been a few more megaman games since he last worked on it. There's room to adapt more.
    I'd be more in favor of it.

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