Del Rey Manga / Hiro Mashima is starting in about fifteen minutes…then I have Shojo Beat, then a break until Yen Press. Whew!

They’re giving away more slap bracelets…looks like there’s some kinda prize involved with them. Pretty sure mine doesn’t have any identifiable markings on ‘em– alas!

No hat on Dallas this time, but there he is. And there Hiro Mashima is! Damn he’s cute! Can I take him home? He greets us in English and hopes we have a rockin’ time.

When Mashima-sensei was a child, his grandfather would bring home thrown-away manga for him to read s he always wanted to make manga.

Inspiring manga for Mashima…Dragonball is all he says. He loves fierce battle scenes. His first debut work was called Magician. He created a 60-page audition work which won an amateur manga contest which led to his debut in 1999.

Mashima is doing two manga at once right now: Fairy Tail and Monster Hunter Oranj (sp?). His schedule is difficult but Monster Hunter is monthly and Fairy Tail is weekly, which helps. He does Fairy Tail on weekdays and Monster Hunter on weekends, so yes, he works seven days a week. Mashima is a big fan of the Monster Hunter game, so he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do it.

Plue– a small, vaguely snowman-like creature– appears in many of his manga. Mashima says he imagines Plue as a creature that could exist anywhere, including our world.

On the plot vs character debate, Mashima says that both are important but if he has to pick it’d be characters, because you actually have to think of a plot buthe can pull characters from real life…and Fairy Tail’s Natsu is based on Mashima’s young self, and other characters are based on friends, coworkers, etc.

Mashima likes Spiderman, fyi.

Mashima was a judge picking new manga for Shonen Rival, the monthly that features Monster Hunter. They judged about thirty submissions; Mashima met with other editors and hashed them out and picked the best. One of his assistants submitted too, so he was worried about nepotism, but it was an awesome series so it got in fine.

On names, he thought western fantasy names would be too tough for Japanese fans, so Rave’s Haru is a spring-like character, Natsu is warm and fiery like summer, etc. When he runs out of names– and he used Fuyu, winter, and Shiki, season, in other works –so he is already out, except maybe Sezan, French for season.

How would Mashima cast a Hollywood Fairy Tail movie? That’d make him happy he says he’d put Johnny Depp in as Happy, the cat…he doesn’t know many young American actors. Hm.

Mashima is going to do a drawing demo for us, sweet! Whew, he’s fast! I took video but I’m going to ask and make sure it’s okay to post.

Favorite character to draw? Natsu. Does Mashima worry about hand injuries? When he was younger it was hard but he’s learned to work with it.

If Natsu is Mashima, does Mashima get motion sickness? He’s scared of heights and airplanes but has no motion sickness problem..that came from a friend of Mashima’s.

Harder question, about whether he starts drawing and runs with it or if he does character studies first. He doesn’t really do studies, he’s always been fast so he usually runs with it.

How far out does he plan stories? Generally he thinks of the next issue as he works on the one before but sometimes he has writers block and sometimes stuff just comes to him when he’s on the toilet.

Movies inspire him, so he looks at camera angles and mentally rotates the camera..like Kubo. Someone asked about character reuse…to a degree the similarity of characters is a service for fans, plus nostalgia and homage.

What kind of music does he listen to while working? Rock and punk, he loves Green Day.

Does he have a friend like Gray who likes to take off his clothes? Heanswers “me.”

I’m askuing about where he shops, the answer being Shibuya and Amazon.com. He’s got awesome jewelry.

Any other artists he’s inspired by? Akira Toriyama of course.

This is Mashima’s first comic-con and he likes the cosplay and is thrilled to find so many manga fans.

Weird stuff from fans? He does get stuff, but the best was a muffler from a fan at yesterday’s signings– they’re here in cosplay today.

Who would he cast in a Fairy Tail jdrama? He’s not sure…maybe Arashi’s Ninomiya(?) as Natsu.

Where did the idea for Fairy Tail come from? He games with friends in the wee hours, and he wanted something with that cameraderie, like if he and his friends were wizards.

He has a twenty-tatami (8000 sq ft) area with seven desks, a sofa and tv. And presumably a game machine.

How did Natsu get his neck scar? Still a secret but good attention to detail.

How many assistants does he have and what is their role, do they contribute story ideas? Six, and the storyline is all Mashima and editors but he appreciates his assistants very much.

Advice for aspiring manga artists? It’s important to be passionate about manga, but get inspiration from other media as well.

Will Lucy ever be unable to get into her apartment because everyone’s there? Great idea, maybe he’ll use it!

What anime studio would you like to work with, presumably if there as a Fairy Tail anime? He says Pixar. Heh.

Did he go to art school or is he self-taught? At first he thought school was important so he went to a manga school for a while, then quit and taught himself.

Any special mangaka hangouts or hotspots in Japan? No set place but he does hang out with other artists.

Any romance in Fairy Tail? Do we have suggestions? Someone shouted Lucy and Erza, which he liked. Does he evveer cosplay? He’d like to try but not yet…maybe as Happy. Blue face and rock it!

I asked who he hangs out with among artists. He says Miki Yoshikawa who hasn’t debuted in the States yet.

Final comments from Mashima: he says thanks everyone, and please wait for volume ten, which will kick butt. Even though we’re only on 3.

The end!

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