Urasawa Naoki is a respected Manga artist and writer. He also has a Radio Show, and the wonderful Manben (Manga Study) series on NHK TV. He also has a very serious hobby as a musician, singer/song writer. He released his Love Songs CD earlier this year, his 3rd album(?). The story telling songs of Bob Dylan & John Lennon are significant influences.
So when he announced an Osaka Show for his "Rhythm & Drawing" I thought I wouldn't mind seeing that. On YouTube I had previously seen videos of such events he did solo in Europe.
I didn't rush to book a ticket though. A few days later when chatting with my wife, she offered to buy me a VIP seat as a 40th Wedding Anniversary gift. On the same day she would be going with her sister and friends to OSK. One of her friends daughter is one of the "stars".
Hadn't been to the YES THEATER before, but it is in the connected maze of Shotengai to the east of Namba Station. It was a public holiday and everywhere was crowded with tourists and Japanese alike. Lots of places to go and lots of cafes/restaurants.
The forecast was for rain from noon. Darn... a character from his current ASADORA!
But it didn't rain enough to need an umbrella and most of the streets are covered in the area anyway.
I had a front row seat. The theatre seats 300, but there was a disappointing turn out of only 60, so just the first few rows had any audience in them. After a full theatre in Tokyo:
He joked about some mistake criticism of OSAKA EXPO, or it is finishing soon for so few people. Urasawa san must have been gutted, and he looked that way when they came on stage. π And next week is Kobe, an even smaller city. Maybe bigger manga fans.
The show was really good. They played for over 2 hours. No photos or video allowed, but venue staff were taking video and photos, these from Urasawa's post on X about it:
The band are all great, and Urasawa himself is a much better guitarist than I expected. He can also play and sing at the same time, I can't do that at all π.
Not just strumming chords on an acoustic or semi electric but doing solos on his Telecaster, through his VOX amp, too. Front of stage, in front of me, with his guitarist.
He didn't just leave all the fancy playing to his support band of pro musicians. Sounded to me like he had quite a thickening delay and something on his vocals.
During many of the songs, the band would do an extended instrumental in the middle and Urasawa san would come down the front stage steps to a table with a camera set up and draw characters and scenes related to the songs.
Like during his song Mr. Postman, he drew a traditionally uniformed Postman running to deliver a letter, sealed with a heart.
He related how the death of author Ray Bradbury impacted him. His novel Something Wicked This Way Comes was inspirational and what his song γ«γΌγγγ«γγγ£γ¦ζ₯γγΏγγγ (Kanibaru ga yattekuru mitaida) is about, and the significance of the harmonica.
In his introduction to his Manben TV show theme, he said he had just finished filming yesterday for a show for November broadcast. A really big well know artist, but NHK wouldn't let him say who it is (I would love to see Masamune Shirow and Mamoru Nagano who both put on exhibitions in the last 2 years).
He said NHK doesn't give him any real assistance with the show. He has to get his own introductions to the Mangaka, then keep going back to them as they always so no, they don't want to be on his show. He has to be persistent. When he finally arrives, by his own car, to the place the final interview will take place, NHK staff put a radio mic on him, they say "go!", and he just as to make up on the spot the introductions we all see. He has to write what the narrator says, and correct her pronunciations.
He thinks NHK maybe losing interest in Manben Neo, "but we haven't, have we?!". No we haven't!
The last image he drew:
There was a "sign kai" after the show, for those that had purchased merchandise. They fenced him in with a table, and barriers each side. Was this to stop him from trying to escape? I wondered to myself, loud enough for a staff member to hear π
I bought the LOVE SONGS t-shirt with the SOBA GIRL on the front, and his 8 year old MANON CD.
He wouldn't take any photos with anyone today. That seemed strange to me, and didn't impress my wife at all. I had talked to others waited to get into the theatre with me and they said sometimes he will take photos, other times not. The ones I talked to were there because of the manga artist he is, not for the music. They also didn't follow his recent works though, but loved older stuff like MONSTER and YAWARA!
The gifts included with the VIP Seat and my signed MANNON CD:
Everyone got a really brief time to chit chat and get something signed. You were given a piece of paper by staff with instructions to put on it the name etc you wanted him to write. When giving him the paper, have it the right way round. π That may be normal, but it isn't something I have experienced before. Never been to a Sign-Kai before, anywhere.
He chatted he had just met and done something with a drummer/percussionist XXX, but that name didn't ring a bell with me, but it could have just been his pronunciation. The same way he has no idea who Mattias Eklundh is...
Weeks ago, on an X post that the band had finished rehearsals for the first Tokyo gig, I replied I had a VIP seat for the Osaka show, and added my 60 second music+comic of my English version of his song Yurei.
Then he shook my hand, and my turn with Urasawa san was over. Next.
Yurei was the second song in the set last night. The live band seems to make all the songs seem more Rock'n Roll.
I don't know of anyone else having a gig with music and drawing like this.
So my big events for 2025: Sound Messe Osaka 2025, Freak Guitar Camp in Japan weekend, Masamune Shirow exhibition in Setagaya Tokyo, Freak Kitchen + Rikugo and Urasawa Rhythm & Drawing concerts are all concluded. This has been a really big event year for me. For decades I went almost nowhere.
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