I was drifting in and out of sleep in my kotatsu last night when I got a text message from my buddy Erik telling me that NHK was broadcasting a documentary on Urasawa Naoki. I immediately flipped on the TV and sat mesmerized for the next half hour. The program was about 44 minutes and I caught the last 2/3 of it but it was a meaty 2/3, let me tell ya. The program is hosted by 2 anchors and they interviewed him while they showed documentary footage of him at his studio, working out story with his writer and editor and finally, jammin' on his guitar at a small club in Tokyo. If you click on the links above you'll see a few pics. Unfortunately, the text is all Japanese but I'm sure an online translator will help you understand the jist.

He did some live inking and it was awesome seeing just how rough his under-drawings were. I'd say pencil is really just a step to help him place his figures and the true drawing happens with the ink. It looked like he was wingin' it but you wouldn't believe how everything came together in the end.

Like, dude...

Edit: Thanks to a comment by Tew, you can see the video here. It's in Japanese unfortunately but hopefully there will be a subtitled version up soon. I've also found that a quick search on YouTube will give you the program in 5 segments. Just look up "Urasawa". Thanks, Tew.

TAK