So I’ve had a few people come to me (or comment, or whatever) to say that Hiromu Arakawa isn’t really the creator of Jyushin Enbu. “She’s only the character designer,” some say, or only the artist.

There IS an English-language fansite out there which talks about Arakawa’s non-FMA works, one of which includes a doujinshi called Shishi Jyushin Enbu. Although very different from the Jyushin Enbu published in 2006 (and now being developed into an anime), it is this doujinshi that eventually became the series we’re now seeing.

The site notes that the original doujinshi was created “as an accompaniment to Zhang Feilung’s novel of the same name.” I remember hearing that Zhang Feilung is probably a pen name, but can’t really find any information on it. Anime News Network gives the name differently (they spell it Jin-Zhou Huan), and they also note that if you rearrange the kanji it reads the same as Golden Week, so it seems pretty clear that Zhang Feilung is either a Japanese person or a Chinese person who knows Japanese. (I can’t help but wonder if it’s Arakawa’s herself– she’s always been into Chinese stuff.)

That site does not mention Zhang Feilung in the paragraph about the new Jyushin Enbu manga. And allow me to share another item: the Amazon.co.jp listing for the manga. There is only ONE creator listed for the manga, which is 荒川弘, Hiromu Arakawa– again, no mention of Zhang Feilung or anyone else.　Zhang Feilung is listed on the cover (in very small print under Arakawa’s), but only as the person who created the original text– not as someone actively involved in this iteration.

Some people cite the Hero Tales official website’s staff page, which lists Arakawa as the character designer, as proof that she is ONLY the character designer. However, even when an anime is based on a manga or game, there is generally someone in charge of adapting the manga’s characters into anime characters– the character designer. I’m inclined to interpret this factoid as meaning that Arakawa herself performed this particular duty. But it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s the ONLY thing she’s done.

So, given all of the above, I’m inclined to call Hiromu Arakawa the creator of Jyushin Enbu. Here, have an analogy: if Arakawa decided to create a manga loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, would we call her only the artist of the story? No, because she’d be doing the actual scripting and adapting herself, not to mention probably changing all sorts of things (oh, Japan). So, there’s my little essay on why it is perfectly fair to credit Jyushin Enbu to Arakawa.

Posted by gia in Misc • Comments (2)