Hajime Musashino, the author behind sports manga Burning Kabaddi, was recently interviewed by Mipon. Among other things, Musashino was able to share various stories and tales spanning his whole career. He talked about his inspirations for drawing manga. He discussed his thoughts about sports stories and the difficulties of writing them. The author also airs his thoughts about the anime adaptation of his story.
An interesting point Musashino talks about in the interview is the manga inspiration behind Burning Kabaddi. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the kabaddi manga series has its creative roots in other sports manga of the past.
Musashino mentions that Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk was the biggest inspiration behind his writing. He then even went as far as to call the basketball series the “gold standard” for various aspects of storytelling. Musashino also claims that Slam Dunk is an excellent model even for stories beyond sports. To him, the manga was a huge part of his learning experience.
Additionally, Musashino also praised author Yoshihiro Yamada’s work. In particular, he praised his work on Decathlon, citing the manga as inspiration for his craft. Musashino clearly holds Yamada’s art in very high regard, applauding his skill at expression emotion through his visuals.
Later the interview, Musashino also shares that a genuine curiosity about kabaddi inspired his writing too. To him, there was an element of the sport that was so appealing. He quickly noticed the aspects that could play a role in a great story. The potential for drama and action was clear when watching the sport.
These are just a few of the interesting tidbits that arose from Musashino’s interview! The full interview is available on Mipon’s official website. Feel free to check it out!
Burning Kabaddi is also available to watch on Crunchyroll! The show’s plot description is as follows:
Yoigoshi Tatsuya was a star soccer player known as “Yoigoshi the Unstoppable,” but when he entered high school, he severed all involvement with sports. Now, he has been invited to a certain sports team. In these matches, victory is achieved through teammates working together to catch and defeat the opponents invading their territory… You could call it a sort of running combat sport. And the name of this game is…Kabaddi.
©2020武蔵野創・小学館／灼熱カバディ製作委員会
Source: Mipon