On the occasion of the release in France of their manga in a luxurious edition signed Mangetsu, the scriptwriter and the Japanese cartoonist responded enthusiastically to questions from Linternaute.com.
Released on March 29, 2023, Bibliomania revisit Alice in Wonderland in horror mode. Her heroine must escape from a “manor“of which each”bedroom” portrays a great fear of contemporary Japanese society. Visually grandiose, narratively very clever, Orval and Macchiro’s manga immediately imposes itself as one of the essentials of 2023. The duo bowed to the game of the interview with communicative pleasure.
Linternaute.com: Hello everyone. Can you introduce yourself ?
Orval: Hello to all French readers! I am Orval, screenwriter of Bibliomania. On a professional level, I do project management and artistic direction in the fields of television and advertising. At the moment, I am involved in the production of an educational program for toddlers on the subject of sounds called Otopp. I am responsible for the direction, character design and lyrics of this show, which has been on the air since 2017 and is hugely successful, with around 200 million views on YouTube.
It is not available in French, but do not hesitate to take a look if you have children. I know that Bibliomania declines an extremely dark subject, but rest assured, Otoppe is a joyful and luminous cartoon (laughs). I’m also working with Macchiro on a virtual reality version of Bibliomania. If you enjoyed the manga, don’t hesitate to check out our work in VR. It should be released between 2024 and 2025.
Macchiro: My name is Macchiro. I live from my illustrations. I like drawing. It’s a fantastic means of expression for me, since all I need is a sheet of paper and a pencil to put down on paper the universe that I imagine. The more I draw, the better I get, which is a great source of fun. Like I said, I like to draw a lot. And I love my peers and their work just as much. Art is an invaluable companion in my life. But I have to tell you secretly that I don’t like my job. I’ve been drawing for my own pleasure since I was a kid, so I don’t really enjoy drawing for other people. I don’t have much of a sense of service. And I hate deadlines, because I hate running after time. I think I kinda curse the person who invented deadlines. I wouldn’t be against kicking him in the shin, with really hard-toed shoes. Or hide his second sock. That’s the kind of person I am.
Bibliomania was pre-published on a website, Manga Hack. What were the consequences in the way of conceiving your work and in its reception by the public?
Orval: In fact, the book was pre-published on the website KAI-YOU.net. As I explained in my presentation, I’m not a full-time manga scriptwriter, and Macchiro, who did the drawings, is an illustrator. I worked on this project in my spare time. We therefore felt that our schedules did not allow us to aim for publication in one of the major manga-dedicated media outlets. Macchiro’s illustrations are unique and I couldn’t imagine anyone else to translate my script into images.
At one point, I was somewhat hesitant about how to publish our work, because I was convinced that his boards would be sublime. And then, one day, I showed some of his storyboards to an acquaintance and explained to him that we were thinking of making a manga out of them. This person was immediately conquered and replied that it promised to be great. We were therefore extremely lucky that she introduced us to the editor-in-chief of Japan’s largest cultural portal, KAI-YOU.net, who really liked our storyboards and who agreed to give us a space to publish our story, stating that he absolutely wanted to work with us, whatever our pace of work!
From the first chapters, Bibliomania received an extremely warm reception from readers. KAI-YOU.net is not a platform dedicated to manga, but a pop culture site from all walks of life and I think it was the perfect setting for our work. It even seems that we were ranked number 1 of the pages consulted by Internet users. I am very grateful to our readers.
Of course, it would have been possible to publish our work on a personal site or on the networks, but the opportunity to distribute it on a site as popular as KAI-YOU.net increased its visibility and guaranteed it tenfold recognition. This allowed the digital edition via Manga Hack, as well as the French publication of which this article is the subject, to see the light of day, and we are very grateful for it. Incidentally, we were surprised to learn that the publisher of the Spanish version, which came out at the end of last year, had made its second reprint of the volume only a month after the launch, and we are very happy that our story can be read by so many people outside of Japan.
In Bibliomania, Alice never loses her temper, despite the scary things she encounters. The reader thus directly receives a deluge of negative energy without filter. Was it a conscious will on your part?
Orval: Yes, indeed. The fact that Alice keeps her composure in all circumstances, given the profile of the character, was my very first narrative requirement. Of course, I also thought a lot about the readability of the story by establishing the contours of his personality and, as a screenwriter, I’m happy that you take it up. I think Alice’s temperament contributes a lot to the pacing of the story.
Macchiro, how did you work with Orval? Do you have leeway on the plot or the content of the story?
Macchiro: I don’t have a very good memory, so I don’t know if I’ll remember everything, but I’ll try. Orval gave me a scenario in which there were only stage directions and dialogues which served as a basis for me to create the universe as well as the characters and to develop the storyboards. It seems to me that I also rearranged certain elements of staging. Writing and drawing are of course two distinct tasks, but I happened to point out the elements of the scenario that lacked clarity, just as it was possible for Orval to point out the storyboard pages that had flaws.
When I had a tendency to take shortcuts in my drawings, Orval noticed it right away and sent me back to the ropes, which happened a number of times, I must say. Orval never does things by halves. While I do, whenever I get the chance. Conclusion: if some readers are impressed by the precision of the drawings of Bibliomaniait is Orval that we must thank.
With its animal and ornamented structures, the vanished civilization evokes pre-Columbian cultures… Why this choice and what were your sources of visual inspiration?
Machiro: Bibliomania is about a world in which magic exists. This is the reason why I needed to rely on ornamental motifs with lines both endowed with great regularity and imbued with energy. I wanted to give them a mystical and enigmatic aura in order to create an atmosphere in which it would not be aberrant for magical elements to appear. That’s the rational explanation I came up with, but deep down, I think I especially wanted to try my hand at oriental patterns. This choice brought me full satisfaction, because it was fun and stylish.
What were your biggest drawing challenges?
Macchiro: When Orval entrusted me with the project, I only received one request from them. I had to impart a look that most would consider “cute” to Alice. For the rest I had carte blanche and that’s the reason why I accepted. At the time, the idea of drawing an adorable heroine did not interest me much, so I fought a lot This difficulty stuck with me throughout the project.
The face of the character also tends to change slightly over the course of the story, due to my trial and error. It is not easy to draw while trying to satisfy the intentions of someone other than yourself, it takes practice. My other difficulty was with the deadlines, because I had a lot of work and I’m not someone who draws quickly. Did I tell you about my desire to go back in time to ask the person who invented deadlines to stop it right away? I want to pinch the skin of her thighs really hard.
The last part of the story offers a surprising twist that leads to a very nihilistic conclusion. Why such a dark ending?
Orval: The central subject of this story is human fears. The pages of Bibliomania are studded with these different anxieties. At the very end, a creature that symbolizes ultimate fear appears. I also think that each reader will have his own interpretation of these images of dread.
The end is therefore dark, but the theme of the story being fear, its conclusion can only be terrifying. Otherwise, it would betray the concept. However, I want to remain faithful to him. That said, in the eyes of one of the characters, it’s a happy ending without common measure, since his personal goal is achieved. I wonder how our esteemed French readers will receive this outcome. I can’t wait to hear their reactions.
Bibliomania, by Orval (screenplay) and Macchiro (drawing), translated by Anaïs Koechlin, Mangetsu, 336 pages, 22.95 euros.
Many thanks to Anaïs Koechlin for translating the interview.