How my hobby of drawing movie illustrations led to work on the longest-running Japanese film series

I have loved movies since I was a child

I love movies. As a child, I was the kind of elementary school student who would glue myself to the TV for weekend night movie broadcasts, watch recorded tapes over and over, and take a bus ride that took an hour each way with a rice ball in hand just to get to the movie theater.

In junior high, I submitted caricatures to the now-defunct movie magazine 'ROADSHOW',

I wanted to work in Hollywood in the future! If I was going to do that, I had to learn English, so in my second year of high school, I obtained a grant from Saga Prefecture to study abroad in the U.S. for a year. I also became interested in how movies were filmed, so I chose to enter the Cinematography and Sound course at the Nihon University College of Art because I wanted a university with a film department. Movies have influenced my life at every crossroads.

In the end, I chose a career in advertising and commercials, but I make sure to go see movies I'm interested in on their release day, and it's a habit for my family to watch a movie together every weekend.

Starting the Four-Panel Movie series

I quit my job at a commercial production company, started working as an illustrator, and got married. My wife, who handles our bookkeeping, said to me:

Why don't you draw movie illustrations so we can write off movies as business expenses?

I thought, 'That makes sense.' Around 2014, I started posting illustrations and four-panel comics of movies I saw in theaters or movies broadcast on 'Friday Road Show' to my blog. However, at this time, it was very irregular and I wasn't really committed to it; I only started drawing them habitually in 2016.

That year, while visiting my hometown of Saga, I stopped by Fukuoka and was wandering around Ohori Park with my wife pushing a stroller when my email notification sound went off.

'Four-Panel Movie'—would you like to serialize it?

That was the invitation.

'Four-Panel Movie' is, quite literally, a site that introduces movies in four panels. I was already doing something similar on my blog, so I thought, 'If I'm going to draw them anyway, it's definitely better to get paid for it!' and I readily accepted, starting a bi-weekly series for Four-Panel Movie.

Recently, I've been too busy to update it, but between 2016 and 2021, I introduced 77 movies.

The unexpected Tora-san.

Last April (2024), an email was sent to the inquiry form on my website. The sender was Shochiku.

To summarize very roughly, that was it. The person in charge was someone who had read my Four-Panel Movie series and books I've illustrated, such as 'The Amazing Poisonous Creatures Encyclopedia'.

They were looking for an artist to help turn all 50 films of "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" (It's Tough Being a Man) into a manga introduction, and that's how the spotlight fell on Uraken.

Not as a four-panel comic, but as an illustrated guide.

To commemorate the 55th anniversary, the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" series will be broadcast every Saturday at 6:30 PM on BS TV Tokyo. This project is timed to coincide with that. After various meetings, it was decided that instead of a four-panel comic, I would draw the following four items as "Illustrated Tora-san".

These will be released sequentially in line with the broadcast on the official X,Facebook,and Instagram accounts.

I had never seen "Otoko wa Tsurai yo"!

So, I will confess here: although I said at the beginning that I love movies, I personally...

had never watched a single film in the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" series!

I only had fragmented knowledge: the characters, the melody, that famous opening monologue, the fact that his family home is a dango shop in Shibamata, that he's a street vendor who often falls in love and gets rejected, and that his sister's name is Sakura. I had never actually watched a full movie.

Also, to be honest, the title "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" just seemed to have a very Showa-era vibe, or like a movie with outdated values, so I had completely judged it without trying it.

That's right. I was the exact target that Shochiku wanted to reach.

Well, it's worth watching a series that has lasted this long. I feel like I finally solved the mystery of why this movie has been so loved and continued for so long around the 10th film.

While this movie bears the title "Otoko wa Tsurai yo," it is actually a work that applies the various difficulties of women's lives in that era to a different Madonna each time, weaving the story around Tora-san.

In the first film, Tora-san's likability plummeted within 30 minutes and I wanted him to never come back, but I gradually began to understand why he is loved.

Also, I only recognized Sakura as his sister, but I finally grasped the fact that they are half-siblings—something that is common knowledge for fans—after watching the first film.

Also, looking at the family tree, while the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" series seems to depict family bonds, the blood ties are actually not that strong; in fact, they are quite thin overall. I realized that this is a film series that portrays the idea that family isn't just about blood relations, which completely changed my impression of it.

Man, though, the overall way of thinking about family and how women live their lives is so cutting-edge—it's exactly the kind of thinking we need in the current Reiwa era. It makes me groan and think, 'Is Director Yoji Yamada really 93 years old this year?'

As research, I also read 'Akudo: A Novel - Torajiro's Confession' which is a novelization by Director Yoji Yamada of the story before the first film, and I cried my eyes out. It's a book where Tora-san tells his own backstory in the first person, which isn't covered in the films. It's a book I want both people who know Tora-san and those who don't to read. It's highly recommended.

Tora-san marathon, halfway point!

The 50-film "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" series. I just finished drawing the Madonna and highlights for the 25th film, "Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro's Hibiscus".

W-we've finally reached the halfway point! There's still half left! The road ahead is still incredibly long, but since this is an opportunity I rarely get, I'll do my best for the remaining half! But honestly, it's a bit tough! Watching every single movie, deciding which highlights to extract, which expression and line to use for the Madonna, which quote to introduce, and what to cover in the diagrams—doing this for 50 films is honestly tough!

So, I have one request for the Tora-san fans reading this note!

Marathons and relay races always come with cheers. Please support me! Please give me your support! Follow the Tora-san account on X and write something in a reply! Even just a like or an RT is fine! The number of likes and RTs will be the energy I need to run the remaining half!

10 years since I started posting movie illustrations

I first posted a movie-themed illustration on my blog in July 2014. And the request for the Tora-san work came in 2024. It's exactly 10 years, a nice round number.I never imagined that that post would lead to work on the longest-running Japanese film series after 10 years.It's surprising, isn't it?

They say persistence pays off, but it's interesting how life works, that movie illustrations I started drawing to write off as business expenses would lead to this kind of connection. Your hobby might also lead to an amazing connection 10 years from now.

Well then, thank you for reading. I would be happy if you could leave a comment.

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