Yazawa, Nao-sensei, the talented creator behind the Wedding Peach manga agreed to do an interview with me recently. I was overjoyed at the prospect and set about constructing a list of questions right away- the resulting culmination is a combination of queries that others and myself have had over the years. Please Enjoy reading this interview, hopefully it will help answer some of your questions about the series. To gain further insight into the title why don’t you check out Yazawa-sensei’s page [link to the left]. Now, let's get on with the interview!

Shiori: Yazawa-sensei, thank you kindly for agreeing to do this interview with me ^^

Yazawa-sensei: I'll do my best in my English skill (laughs)

Shiori: (laughs) You’ll do fine, I’m sure! You only have to answer as many questions as you like and if you don't want to answer a question, just say so, and we will move on. Is that ok?

Yazawa-sensei: Sure.

Shiori: Ok! First Question! Yazawa-sensei, could you explain the process of creating Wedding Peach? Just how did the story get written?

Yazawa-sensei: At the beginning, Tomita-san brought the idea to Ciao, then the Chief Editor of Ciao chose me to write the manga. We (Tomita-san, editors and I) had many meetings to plot details and an outline of the story. The story was made like this; first Tomita-san, the editor and I had a meeting to make the plot. Secondly, he wrote a script and lastly I made a manga based on the script. Because he let me make the manga very freely, I really enjoyed working on it.

Shiori: That’s quite an interesting process, being given such freedom to work on the manga must have been very liberating for the creative process. Now, Yazawa-sensei the characters’ attack and transformation sequence have very unique names- how exactly were these thought up? Were there any names that were rejected?

Yazawa-sensei: The names were mainly made up by Tomita-san. He told me that he had a dictionary (it was some kind of Japanese-some foreign languages one) and he got a lot of names which sounded cool from it. Of course, he chose the name based on character's meaning. Such as Suima-zoku (water-demon-tribe) -Potamos (river). Then of course mirror, lipstick, wristwatch, and so on- he chose the articles little girls like. Also, he has another method of naming, that is the pun ^^ For instance, I wonder if you know, "Oman-ma"(#7). She(?) is Ojyamazoku as same as Jamapi, meaning is "Omanma"="rice" and "ma"=devil. Tan-ma(wait a sec), Pajya-ma (pajamas) ...they are same! Yes, Jamapi is different because his name was "Ojyama" at first. Ojyama of the Jamapi tribe. In the end we thought Jamapi was prettier than Ojyama so we switched them.

About rejected names… I remember there were some rejected attacks and items. Saint Camera and the Ojyama-tribe's symbol (on their tummy) were used only in the manga. Wedding Swords which were owned by each Love Angel---only Peach's one appeared in manga one time---were rejected in both manga and anime (the idea came from other staff) .Tomita-san and I were not so keen on the idea of Love Angel that fought with swords. But and then a sword was given to Salvia.

Shiori: What a story! Tomia-san must have had a lot of fun thinking up such distinctive names! Speaking of Tomita-san- are either he or yourself fans of "Gone with the Wind" ? Because a lot of fans are very interested to learn how Scarlet got her name! (laughs)

Yazawa-sensei: Needless to say, "Gone with the Wind" is very popular in Japan- of course we also love it. In fact, at the beginning Tomita-san was keen on the name "Salvia"(for this name has such a passionate feeling), but we didn't have any idea for her human name. Though we (the editor and I) suggested other names to him, for example “Violet” (Japanese-human-name is "Sumire"), he didn't agree. And...you know what was after that, don't you? Now I admit heartily "Salvia" is a very good name for her. And, speaking of Scarlet- if her name wasn't Ohara Scarlet, she wouldn’t be a half American returnee student.^^ (only in manga, you know.) *read the bottom of page "Scarlet " in character section.

Shiori: In the end I don’t think I could imagine her with any other name, it is very fitting. Onto a slightly different topic- how do you feel when Wedding Peach is compared to the series, Sailor Moon? Do you think it is fair when the two titles are compared?

Yazawa-sensei: Well, this is a difficult question (laugh). I can't deny that Wedding Peach has many points which are very similar to Sailor Moon. One reason is that Tomita Sukehiro, was the chief scriptwriter of Sailor Moon (- he was also the chief script writer on Wedding Peach as well). He used some similar ideas in both series, for the idea is his credit. Tadano Kazuko too, did the character designs of both anime. In spite of that I feel they have lots of different points- such as characters, human relations, the theme, etc. Therefore, I don't think Wedding Peach is a copycat of Sailor Moon. In short, there is a genre of "the group of fighting-magical-girls ". But if a work is announced, or broadcast, you can criticize it freely. That's it.

Shiori: Very well said, Yazawa-sensei. How much, (if any) input did you & Tomita-san have in the animated Wedding Peach series? Were many original ideas changed?

Yazawa-sensei: Yes, many "original" ideas changed- this is quite complicated to explain. As I said, Tomita-san is chief anime-scriptwriter. So he put some ideas I changed or rejected in the manga into the anime instead. Which is original idea? ^^ I don't know! And of course he used some of my ideas in the anime-script, too. As for characters designs- sometimes anime staff took my design (such as Sandora and his men, Igneous, etc.) and sometimes they changed mine (Aphrodite, Momoko and Hinagiku's families etc.). I did the same too. Sometimes I took the anime design (Potamos, for example, was designed by anime staff ) but other times I ignored them (Viento & Uragano, you know^^ ). They are typical examples- just my taste! Do you get it? ^^;;

Shiori: Yes, there is certainly a lot of creativity involved in the process of design. One of the aspects of the animated series that fans love is the beautiful music! Do you like the music that was written for the series? Do you have a favourite song?

Yazawa-sensei: Yes, I like them all. My favorite song is "21 Seiki no Jyurietto"(“Juliet of the 21th Century“ - first ending theme). The melody is pretty good and the lyrics are very suitable for the theme of Wedding Peach, I think.

Shiori: So do I ^^. My personal favourite is Wedding Wars but all the songs reflect the series well. Many fans are interested in knowing whether or not you have a favourite Wedding Peach Character? If so, who are they and why are they your favourite? ^^

Yazawa-sensei: I love them all, but if I had to chose my favourite character it would be Fuuma Yousuke. I was a little disappointed with him in the anime because he lost his memory and fainted---- too often ! (laughs) In addition, Scarlet and Uragano (in the manga), they both made deep impressions on me because they were very different from anime.

Shiori: Poor Yousuke did faint a lot in the anime, that’s very true! Wedding Peach has been released in many countries, would you like it to one day be released in America?

Yazawa-sensei: Of course I would! If the videos are released in America, I'll buy them at an Internet-shop! ^^

Shiori : Hipefully one day, Wedding Peach will gain a responsible English release! (EDIT- This has now happened, make sure you pick up the DVDs and manga volumes from your favourite store). My final question for this interview is a fairly simple one. Did you enjoy working on Wedding Peach? And do you have any new manga/doujinshi series that you are working on currently?

Yazawa-sensei: I definitely did. Though there was some difficulties, I enjoyed that work very much. Now, my present work is only doujinshi (original manga for the adult but not sexy, I'm still writing it), the story is very serious unlike Wedding Peach..*you can read something about this work "Shinku-Chitai" at My Works and The Party Zone in Manga Bangaichi.

Actually, I spent this year idly, so I could open my website. And now, I have a plan to write a short story manga as a business, but it isn't shoujyo-manga, I'm afraid.

Shiori : I'm sure no matter what it is, it will be successful. You are amazingly talented, Yazawa-sensei! Thank you kindly for agreeing to do this interview. I'm sure many people are happy now, because some of their questions have been answered. Thank you so much for your time, I hope we can do this again someday!

Yazawa-sensei: You are welcome. ^_^


INTERVIEW END---+