The Jakarta Post – June 8, 2016 – Japanese manga artist Gaku Miyao sketches Aoba inside the cover of a volume of his Aoba the Cycle Shop comic book series.
Have you ever loved something so much you turned it into a story? If your answer is yes, then you’re not alone.
Japanese comic artist Gaku Miyao has yielded 400 episodes’ worth of manga from his love of bicycles.
First published in 1999, Aoba the Cycle Shop is a slice-of-life comic about a young girl Aoba whose Dad owns a small bike shop. The focus of the story is on the store’s guests that come and go.
“I like to take a stroll sometimes in the city, and would often times encounter bikes. And whenever I see bikes that have problems — like broken parts, for instance — I’d think to myself, hm, what’s the problem with that bike?” Miyao said on the early days of his love of bicycles and his inspiration for the comics.
“I believe that there is a bicycle in every person’s life; meaning that bicycles are not far off from people’s lives. So if you like humans, then you should definitely read [my book],” said Miyao, who had flown all the way from Tokyo to Jakarta to be a guest speaker at ComicFest ID late in may.
Judging from the title, one would assume that Aoba must be the main character of the story. But Miyao confirmed otherwise.
Aoba the Cycle Shop
“Aoba is someone who guides the people who visit her Dad’s shop,” Miyao said. “But the main characters of this story are none other than the visitors themselves.”
The character Aoba is based on, Miyao added, is his daughter who unlike him, doesn’t really like drawing that much.
The first series of Aoba the Cycle Shop was published from 1999 to 2007, compiled into 20 volumes.
Then, the sequel came out in 2007, in a series that ran until 2012 and was, like the first series, compiled into 20 volumes. The third series came out in 2012 and is still ongoing, with 13 volumes published as of December 2015.
With a total of 53 volumes, Aoba the Cycle Shop is Miyao’s flagship work and has been published in France, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
But while it is the comic with the most volumes and the one currently still ongoing, Aoba the Cycle Shop is not Miyao’s only work.
In the past, Miyao has published other works, including Kazan, Mamono Hunter Yohko and Pepper Beauty Unon, with Pepper Beauty Unon being his debut, published in 1991. To date, the number of volumes of all Miyao’s works has reached 80 in total.
“I’ve liked drawing since I was 5,” said Miyao. “But I only started going deep into it when I was 15. Then, I became an animator, so I got to practice drawing a lot. I really love the art of illustration.
“And then there was a point where I wanted to be a mangaka, in order to explore the art of storytelling. But I realized that being a mangaka is no simple matter — you have to create your own story. It took time to realize that dream, but I finally got my first comic released in 1991,” said Miyao, mentioning that other mangakas like Osamu Tezuka, Fujiko F. Fujio and Nanae Haruno really inspired him.
Like every other profession, being a comic artist has its own ups and downs. And having been a mangaka for 22 years, Miyao is no stranger to beating deadlines.
“There was a time when my father was hospitalized. I had to care for him, but at the same time I had to finish the manga. So I drew in the hospital,” he said when asked about the most challenging moment from his journey as a mangaka.
In general, Miyao has to draw around 30 pages per week. “But then I go to the bookstore, and see my books there, and then return to the bookstore later and see less of my books. This really makes me happy, to think that people are taking pleasure in what I create.”
Volume 1 of Gaku Miyao’s manga series Kazan
Another challenge that comes with being a mangaka would be the inevitable — mangaka-version of “writer’s block”. When this happens, Miyao likes to take a stroll, or of course, ride his bike around the city. “I think getting fresh air is very important,” he said with a smile.
From his experience, Miyao said the most important duty of a mangaka was not drawing, but understanding people.
“Every person has a wide variety of emotions — sadness, anger, happiness, to name a few — and a mangaka’s duty is to translate those emotions into pictures. So it’s a combination of both [drawing and understanding], but understanding these emotions is the most important part.”
The key to producing an interesting work, he said, is by creating something that represents our own unique style.
“What matters is that you really think through […] through your techniques, what you can create. Look around you, and create something that is uniquely your style. It is also important to have interesting experiences. So experience interesting things, meet new people and have amusing friends!” he said.
If he were to create another story, Miyao said that he would be interested in combining bicycles and fantasy, having previously written a fantasy comic. But for now, he is going to focus on producing more Aoba the Cycle Shop.
“I will be a mangaka for as long as I live,” he said. “And as long as I still have a love for bikes, and as long as there are still people out there who love bikes, I will continue working on this story.”