“I go through a lot of trial and error”: Fairy Tail Author Hiro Mashima’s Process of Creating Manga is the Exact Opposite of Tite Kubo’s
Manga author Hiro Mashima is most renowned for creating the beloved shōnen series Fairy Tail, although he has also written and drawn Rave Master and Edens Zero. While most ardent fans find greater enjoyment in understanding the behind-the-scenes details about the author and their creative process, any shōnen fan can still appreciate works like Fairy Tail without knowing them.
Born in 1977, Hiro Mashima began his career in manga in 1999 with the publication of Rave Master. Fairy Tail ran for an astounding 63 volumes and sold 72 million copies worldwide, earning him great mainstream success. Mashima is truly devoted to his work, which is reflected in all of his works. A master of his craft, Mashima found his true calling in creating manga.
Hiro Mashima Discloses His Manga Creation Process
In an interview with Kodansha, Hiro Mashima disclosed his manga creation process, which is distinct from Tite Kubo’s process of creating manga. The interviewer asked Mashima which one came more naturally to him: story or art, and this is what he said:
That’s a tough one. They are both really fun. When I make a story, I’m rolling out my imagination to figure out what’s going to happen, and that’s really fun. When I draw, I go through a lot of trial and error to get something to look cool or cute. That’s also fun. I love and am fascinated by the whole process of making manga.
If nothing else, this proves how passionate Mashima is about crafting manga. It also showcases how every mangaka has a process of their own. Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach, works in an entirely different way; he relies on the character rather than the story. Kubo allows his characters to set the mood and pace of his story rather than vice versa.
When asked whether he thought about anything in particular while drawing, Mashima revealed that he was actually not very good at drawing female characters. He said that he wanted to draw the female characters cute, so he felt a lot of pressure drawing them. He further mentioned that in contrast, it was easy to draw male characters.
Fairy Tail Was Inspired By One Scene From Rave Master
In response to a question about when he started drawing, Mashima stated that he had been doing it for as long as he could remember. He recalled an early memory when his grandfather had shown him a manga magazine that he had found somewhere. Mashima wanted to replicate the drawings because he thought they were so cool, and that’s when he discovered he loved to draw.
When the interviewer questioned him about how he came up with the Fairy Tail universe, Mashima said:
It actually goes back to the series I worked on before, Rave Master. In one episode, there was a scene where a group of guys are hanging out at a bar. That was fun to draw. So I wanted to draw a manga with the feel of guys hanging out at a bar. I thought it’d be interesting to enter a world where characters have established relationships, like friendship.
Usually a shonen manga starts with just a main character, who then slowly accumulates his or her allies as the story progresses. But in the world of Fairy Tail, everybody pretty much knows each other at the beginning. That was sort of what I was going for.
Hiro Mashima shared this amusing detail with his readers, providing a viewpoint and an understanding of the mangaka’s inspiration behind such a vibrant series full of enjoyable adventures, endearing characters, and of course, a captivating plot.
