Destroy All Humans writer Ise Katsura's comments on volume 14 (after release)
This is a commentary by the original author to commemorate the release of the 14th volume of "Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated."
Episode 53 "The End of Our World (Part 2)"
This is the second part of the battle between Cloud Zero and Angolmois. The color illustration at the beginning of the comic was published in Monthly Shonen Ace, which also contains this episode. As a sequel to the color illustration (front of Volume 12) with the theme "If Emi were a junior high school girl in the Reiwa era," we asked Takuma Yokota to draw it on the theme of "Gaming Yakumo."
In actual history, Twisted Black rose to power a little later than this episode, in the environment after the release of Mercadian Masques. If the decks and cards used in the story did not change, the game developments would all be similar, so we adopted it ahead of schedule. The most important topic in this episode is the appearance of the four members of GLAY. I made an offer to their agency through my editor over a year ago, and I was surprised when they said yes! Maybe my "pure soul" message, which said I've been listening to them since I was in elementary school, reached them!
TERU's MC quotes his actual comments from "GLAY EXPO'99 SURVIVAL". If you have the DVD, please check it out.
Episode 54 "Our World Will Not End"
This episode is the climax of the 7.31 Ending Arc, which took a year to draw, with nine episodes in total, including hiatuses and split publications. At that time, my editor was infected with COVID-19, and I remember Yokota and I discussing it together.
Kanou Ikari's character design was influenced by a character from the movie "Sing Street". At the beginning of the series, I wanted to make him a bad cop, but due to my "mental confusion," he ended up becoming a genius hacker who loves shojo manga.
The 90s was still a time when there were charismatic rock stars, and in the fashion magazines of that time that I collect 10% for reference and 90% for fun, they often feature rock musicians with a strong bad character, starting with Kiyoharu. I put my admiration for that era into Ikari. This work is a collaboration with Yokota-sensei, so I try not to bring in my own ideas too much, but I only allow myself to do so in Ikari's lines.
Having Ikari appear as a key figure in the 7.31 Endgame arc, and the origin of his name (those familiar with Magic: The Gathering will know), was meant as a cool surprise for me. He's one of my favorite characters.
Episode 55: Our New Start
This episode is a swimsuit episode that pretends to be the start of the 99th World Championship arc, but is a full-on romantic comedy. All of this is solely for the purpose of unlocking the achievement of "making all the heroines swimsuits by the final episode." While I was at it, I also had the married woman (Rie), who is too hot to work with to wear a swimsuit.
"Game Gather", which is also depicted in the cover illustration of the comic, was launched when its predecessor "RPG Magazine" was renewed to focus more on "Magic: The Gathering". Tanaka Kunihiko's "Gathering Girl", who appeared on the cover of every issue, is still loved today. I was in my teens at the time, so I was embarrassed to take it to the cash register. The fact that such a guy is now writing the original story for a manga with a beautiful girl on the cover!
According to the character setting I wrote shortly before his first appearance, Sawatari Kyouhei was originally intended to have a visual like Talking Heads' David Byrne (mainly during this period) or the glasses-wearing boy who appears in the works of Yama Yama-sensei. I gave him a disadvantageous role, but I don't intend to portray him as unfit to be a father. If I dig deeper into this, I'm sure I'll be criticized for not raising a child, because I can only write about things that manga artists have experienced.
A side note
In this volume, the series has passed the important milestone of "July 1999". There are many stories about Michel de Nostradame's "Centuries" (the great prophecies of Nostradamus), from ancient times to the present, but I don't think there are many works that have a punch line. When I wrote the monologue, "And then we reached the eighth month of 1999," my brain juices were flowing.
From the planning stage to the beginning of the series, I didn't intend to depict "July 1999" on such a large scale. I thought it would be enough to think of it as just a spice to liven up the story. However, as the number of volumes increased, the expectations of the readers rose, and the atmosphere became such that mere spice was no longer acceptable. In other words, it was you guys who crashed the satellite and caused the cult group to riot! Think about the reality line? When you consider that there are a lot of girls who play Magic: The Gathering in this work, it's as if such a thing doesn't exist.
Jokes aside, I am proud that with the support of all my readers, and with the help of my previous editors and Yokota-sensei, I was able to write a story that even I couldn't have imagined at the beginning. However, the story is not over yet.
Hajime, Emi, Yakumo, Lou, Kuon. I'm sure there are many readers who are wondering what will happen to the other characters. From the next volume onwards, I intend to clear up those doubts and get closer to the meaning of the title, "Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated."
I hope for your continued support.
I am relieved that I was able to finish writing this author's commentary just before the end of the year.
The next volume will finally be the 15th volume. When I think that we've made it to the point where the Jigen Sword appears in Yu Yu Hakusho, I feel a surge of courage and power, and it makes me feel like I can accept the live-action version on Netflix.
So, everyone, have a happy new year!