It was very easy to convince me to take on the job of character designer for 'Dragon Quest.'

I'm not good at doing the same thing over and over again.

Designing characters for 'Dragon Quest' is fun but difficult work.

I'm personally not terribly interested in designing wholesome characters, so I don't have many variations to offer.

Since I'm a contrarian, I don't want to go along with what everyone else thinks.

I guess I like Piccolo the most after all. Out of all the enemies, Piccolo Daimao is the one I like most, and even after that, I like Piccolo the most.

I like Piccolo about the same as I like Goku.

With enemies, it's easier to just have them be straight-up bad guys so they can just get beaten up.

I'm not very good at depicting the characters' psychology on the page.

In the beginning, I was planning to end 'Dragon Ball' when all seven Dragon Balls had been collected.

I'm always impressed with the work of animators. You have to be able to draw the scenes in between movements. I'm impressed with the way they can do that - I don't think I could.

If you want to depict something exactly the way it is, it takes a tremendous amount of time. If you don't get the details right, the inaccuracies will accumulate somewhere.

I really like the story of Bardock, Goku's father. It's quite dramatic and the kind of story I absolutely wouldn't draw if it were me. It was like watching a different kind of 'Dragon Ball' in a good way, so I thought it was nice.

I've always liked to draw.

The method of producing comics in Japan is very hectic, but it's also rewarding because it's possible to do both the story and art all by yourself.

It's been a habit of mine since childhood to always be looking around. When I go shopping, I have more fun observing the town than shopping.

I probably have the most fun thinking up original vehicles. I usually consider details such as how to get into them and where their engines are. When you draw a real-world car, you have to obtain some references. I'd hate to have someone point out that I'm wrong. But if it's something I invented, I can have it my way.

Do you remember 'Super Saiyan 3?' I forgot about it, and I thought that was 'Super Saiyan 2,' even though I created those characters.

Saiyans don't have much of a concept of 'family.'

There's how, basically, Son Goku from 'Dragon Ball' doesn't fight for the sake of others but because he wants to fight against strong guys. So once 'Dragon Ball' got animated, at any rate, I've always been dissatisfied with the 'righteous hero'-type portrayal they gave him.

Most Saiyans are born with a talent for battle, but they still need to be taught the trick behind flying and stuff like that.

Inside me, 'Dragon Ball' became a thing of the past, but later, I got upset at the live-action film, revised the script for the anime film, and complained about the quality of the TV anime. I guess, at some point, it became a work that I like so much that I can't leave it alone.

I am not at all particular about things like hair styles and colors. Especially with women, changing their hairstyle or color is a bit too commonplace, don't you think?

It's a pain to draw different-looking humans.

I'd want to be born once more as myself, but more talented.

I like efficient people. I'm pretty impatient, so I can't stand people who putter around.

A good aspect of me is that I'm not too particular about things. A bad aspect is that I'm indecisive.

After graduating from high school, I worked at an advertising agency as a designer. After I left, I spent a year doing nothing in particular. At age 23, I drew my first comic.

I'm an economic human without any likes or dislikes!

I love girls, whether they wear glasses or not!

I prefer things nice and simple.

At one point, I had close to 100 birds.

I liked how 'Star Wars' felt both old and new. I even built a model of R2-D2, taking about two months mixing two kits to make one that looked just like the real thing. I'm the kind of person who gets really into it when I do something like that.

The nice thing about gag manga is how it has this aspect where, at the very least, you're permitted to come out with anything. In my case, anything can talk. Like the mountains.

I have memories of reading comics when I was in primary school, but that's about it.

I'm not the kind of person who enjoys big crowds very much.

There have been times when I didn't quite make my deadline.

I've been really frugal with money since way back, so I can't buy something if it's too expensive. I'm not that brave.

I wanted to change up the tempo and setting of my comics in the sense of giving them some variety, for one thing. So where, for 'Slump,' the art was very America-esque, in the case of 'Dragon Ball,' I made it as Chinese as could be.

I'm flying by the seat of my pants, never creating with a thought to what's up ahead!

Back when I watched 'Future Boy Conan,' I thought I might like to try my hand at animation, but now, not at all.

It's a secret, but when I decided to apply to 'Shonen Magazine,' it was already past the deadline, so I had no choice but to go with 'Shonen Jump.' My motivation for becoming a cartoonist was... to put it bluntly, the ¥100,000 prize money.

The setting of 'Dragon Ball' has a sort of Chinese feel to it, but it's not necessarily limited to China. For the time period as well, exactly when it takes place is indeterminate.

If you make friends with dogs, they can be really cute!

Back before I entered primary school, I liked to draw, even though I was a brat. I especially liked animals and vehicles, and I drew that sort of thing constantly.

In spite of being so absorbed in comics when I was in primary school, for whatever reason, I stopped reading them that much once I started junior high. I think it's probably because I got caught up in movies and TV.

Since I liked to draw, I entered a design-oriented high school.

I was one of the more talented ones at the design firm I joined, so I conducted my work pretty shrewdly. Except I wasn't a morning person, so I was quite frequently late for work. On top of that, it was a fairly big company, they were fussy about the dress code, and I got chewed out quite often.

If you're doing gags, I think it's important to have characters who are as strong-willed and impactful as possible.

Rather than deliberately trying to draw something, use something you yourself like and want to draw, and I think the characters that come out of that will really have their own individuality.