"Apprentice" - Showa Era Assistant Struggle Log - EP8 "Yujiro of Kamata" - Entering the manga world at 20... What was gained and what was lost in a changing era...

——Kamata's Yujiro, who was even popular with famous actresses——

"NAGAHAMA!"
Ishii's open hand strikes Nagahama-cho's left cheek!
His black-rimmed glasses flew off.

The week when weekly and monthly deadlines overlap becomes quite a battlefield at Ishii Pro.
The young editor for "Square Sunny Sky," who had come to pick up the manuscript in the early afternoon, started getting restless once dinner time passed. Ishii, who had been gripping his pen while chain-smoking with a furrowed brow the whole time, finally stepped away to join in on the finishing touches himself...
Since the editor had been waiting for over six hours, there was no break time... They were putting all their effort into finishing the manuscript even one minute faster——
Yukio and the others were also desperately rushing to apply white-out... Yukio was using the same ultra-fine coloring brush as his master——... Perhaps because he had gotten used to it, he had become quite adept at applying white-out, but——...
(There's not even time for a smoke break... ugh... the editor's gaze is stabbing into my back like daggers...!)
Following Ishii, Nezaki also finished his task and moved to the finishing work. Seeing that Yukio was almost done, he leaned over and looked anxiously at Nagahama-cho's work across from him, reaching out and saying, "Ah... Cho-san... I'll do it."
Nagahama, as if ignoring him, reached for his black-rimmed glasses and moved his white-out brush. The editor at the dining table in the next room also stood up and looked at Nagahama——...
Ishii also looked to his left and back with an irritated expression, saying, "Nagahama. Let him take over." Nagahama ignored him too, with an angry expression.
"Cho-san... let me have it!"
Nagahama still ignored him——...
"NAGAHAMA, GIVE IT HERE!"
Ishii tried to hand the manuscript to Nezaki, and Nagahama tried to pull it back, perhaps out of a conditioned reflex—— "NAGAHAMA!"
After being slapped by Ishii and having the manuscript snatched away——...
Nagahama-cho silently picked up his glasses that had flown off...

Yukio, who had never seen his master slap anyone or wear such a scary expression, was flustered.

Even so, Yukio finished the white-out and checked the pages while gathering the completed manuscript... He stole glances at Nagahama, who was silently fiddling with his knocked-off black-rimmed glasses...
(Was it out of spite for being scolded several times a few hours ago... or because of the humiliation...!?)
Nagahama-cho, who had stubbornly refused to let go of the manuscript...
"Cho-san is seven years older than me... the top apprentice... of the teacher. He even has connections... It seems he's been at Ishii Pro for about 10 years..."
I heard various other things from Nezaki.
Relying on a relative or acquaintance, he came to Tokyo from Kyushu, rented a room nearby as an uninvited apprentice, and just stayed there.
Nagahama was 16 or 17, and Ishii was around 21 or 22. The workplace was a room in his parents' house.
He helped out a little bit, but Ishii, who was in university and at the peak of wanting to play around, had no intention of taking on an apprentice. He tried to persuade Nagahama-cho to return to the countryside several times, but he wouldn't listen.
As long as he stayed in Ishii's parents' room, he wouldn't have trouble with meals. He wanted to be a manga artist, but he didn't put in any particular effort and just spent his time lazily... and so 10 years had passed, feeling somewhat like a family member...

It seems the frame of the black-rimmed glasses was slightly broken.
Nagahama-cho, who was silently repairing it with Scotch tape,
looked like he was crying, and Yukio felt unbearable.
(Just a little... just a little, but I... I think I understand how Nagahama-san felt just now...)

Having handed the manuscript to the editor and finished dinner, Ishii, Nezaki, Yukio, and Nagahama-cho were silently starting on the next "Higher Notoriety Tale."

They even forgot to turn on the radio, and a heavy silence continued...

"Nezaki...!"
At Ishii's sudden voice, the three assistants looked up, startled.
"Is it 11 o'clock?" He looked at the high-end Seiko watch placed beside him.
"The public bath was open until 12, right?"
"Yes...!"
Yukio answered immediately.
"Alright! Everyone, let's go to the bath!"
"Yes!" Yukio stood up first, looking happy.
Nezaki also followed Yukio, who went to get his bath goods, looking relieved.
Nagahama-cho was being called over by the teacher.

There are several public baths around the workplace, which retains a downtown feel, and it is also known as a town of black-water hot springs. In an area where there are quite a few apartments and houses without baths,
the time from 10 to 11 o'clock is the most crowded.
Both Ishii's parents' house and his current home have baths, so he rarely goes to public baths, but when work piles up, he would occasionally invite his assistants to go to the bath as a change of pace.

When Yukio and the others arrived, the changing room was still crowded with many customers who had finished bathing,
and Ishii was chatting familiarly with an elderly bookstore owner while taking off his clothes.
Even though he had left his parents' house, he was still a local, so he was being greeted by acquaintances here and there. Nagahama-cho had not arrived yet.

When Ishii came out of the bathtub, Yukio went behind him and put a towel on his back, saying, "I'll wash your back!"
"Oh, thank you..." Although he kept his face down, I could tell Ishii's cheeks were relaxed.
(...Ah, this is it! Hehe... It feels like I've become an apprentice!...)

Isamu Ishii was a playboy before he got married and was very popular. Because his looks resembled a young Yujiro Ishihara, he was called "Yujiro of Kamata" (self-proclaimed? or called by others?).

Manga authors Ikki Kaji and Hisao Maki were also childhood friends who lived in the neighborhood. He debuted as a manga artist in high school. Because he was good at tinkering with machines in addition to drawing, he attended an industrial high school in Tokyo, and it is said that he continued to draw manga while watching the Tokyo Tower being built day by day.
It was also around this time that he rode around on motorcycles as part of the "Thunder Tribe," and because he had learned judo, he was sometimes dragged into school and group conflicts, but after witnessing a friend's accidental death, he got off his bike and left the group.
He deepened his friendships with Hiroshi Kaimori and Toshio Shoji, whom he met through manga fanzines. When Kaimori started to sell, he continued to announce his own work while working as an assistant for Shoji and others.
When he advanced to university—Nihon University—his playfulness accelerated, and he often abandoned the work he had accepted... It seems that around this time, Nagahama-cho came to Tokyo, wandered around Ishii's parents' house... and eventually became an apprentice.

His circle of friends expanded, and he frequented Studio Zero, where Fujio Akatsuka participated. When Osamu Tezuka was in a pinch, Ishii helped with the backgrounds for "Flying Ben" when many young people with free time were called up.
It seems a certain manga artist who was a member of Studio Zero boasted that "Ishii was my apprentice," but Ishii denies this.
He became as close as a brother to Fujio Akatsuka, and—they even looked alike—
it is said that they even passed as "brothers" at bars.

Ishii witnessed his playmate, racing driver Shoji Sakai, drive a Porsche Carrera 6 at the 4th Japan GP at Fuji Speedway and crash heavily at the devilish 30-degree bank just before winning, while he was there to cheer him on.
At that time, the Japanese racing world was glamorous, and Yukio also watched that scene on TV.
Ishii thought he had "passed away," but his friend returned to racing a few months later with arm and leg injuries after being taken by ambulance.
——He won the first Fuji Grand Champion overall title in 1971——.
Nagahama-cho witnessed him bringing an actress T—who had made a name for herself in movies and television, and later married actor M.T—whom he had picked up in Shinjuku (according to him) and was dating, to his parents' house several times.
Around this time, when he was playing around wildly with Shinji Nakajima, also known as Dan-san, whom Ishii was a big fan of, his work became busy enough to have a weekly serialization. With his engagement to his current wife as a turning point, he broke up with actress T, and was persuaded by Dan-san, whom he "respected," saying, "Since you're going to have a family, break up with us and concentrate on your weekly serialization," and he retired from his wild play.
It seems it was also around this time that Mitsuru Adachi, who Ishii said "was better at drawing than me," started coming as an assistant.

Out of the 28 pages of "Higher Notoriety Tale" due the next day... at 2 o'clock during the midnight snack time, there were still 15 white pages... and Ishii's hand stopped moving...
——When Ishii's pen doesn't move, he leans on his left elbow and faces the paper painfully. When he's in good form, he chain-smokes and chats with his assistants——
For the midnight snack, everyone had hamburgers from a vending machine.
Nagahama-cho, who was designated to go buy them, went out looking a little happy,
and when he came back carrying enough for everyone, he had a big smile on his face, and his mood seemed to have completely recovered.
(Nagahama-cho is 27 years old now. It's an industry consensus that guys with a long history as assistants can't make it as professionals... I wonder what Cho-san intends to do from here on out... My father told me to do my best for 4 years as if I were going to university, but if possible, I want to become independent in 2 years... no, 3 years...)

*This work is the Apprentice training era edition that follows "Showa Kitan".
While incorporating some fiction, it depicts the behind-the-scenes of the industry and the atmosphere of the era.

——Next is the happiness of an apprentice who can sleep next to their master who is taking a nap——

EP8 "Yujiro of Kamata" to 2

#MangaArtist #Apprentice #Assistant #1970s #AutobiographicalNovel

#Battlefield #ChainSmoking #UP #BreakTime #WhiteOut #EditorInCharge #UninvitedApprentice #DowntownFeel #BlackWaterHotSpring #YujiroIshihara #ChildhoodFriend #TokyoTower #ThunderTribe #OsamuTezuka #FujiSpeedway #PorscheCarrera6 #30DegreeBank #Shinjuku #PickUp #WeeklySerialization #MitsuruAdachi