The TV anime "Left-Handed Ellen," based on the manga by Kappy, which was also adapted into a drama series, is currently airing every Tuesday at midnight on TV Tokyo and other networks. The original manga is a coming-of-age story about creators that began serialization in March 2016 on the online magazine "cakes" (which ceased service in 2022), and has garnered popularity with a cumulative total of approximately 250 million page views. With the tagline "To all those who couldn't become geniuses," the raw and realistic portrayal of the "youth" of creators will resonate deeply with anyone who has ever been pushed to their limits or experienced setbacks at work. We spoke to the author, Kappy, about the secrets behind his creation and his thoughts on the anime adaptation.
◇It all started with a "letter" to a colleague who was leaving the company.
"Left-Handed Ellen" is set in the world of creators and depicts the struggles and setbacks of Koichi, an ordinary man who dreams of becoming something despite struggling with the limits of his own talent, and Ellen, a solitary genius who suffers because of her overwhelming talent, as they continue to challenge themselves. Koichi, who chose the path of a designer, encounters seasoned creators in the advertising industry, while Ellen, who has jumped into the global art scene, encounters monstrous artists.
The author, Kappy, like Koichi, used to work as a creator at an advertising agency, and that experience influenced the creation of "Left-Handed Ellen." Apparently, when he was little, he aspired to be a manga artist, but from high school onwards, he aimed to become a creator in the advertising industry and joined a major advertising agency. There, he "felt he had reached his limit in doing things by hand," so he changed jobs to Kayac Inc. as a planner. It was there that he started drawing manga.
"I changed jobs because I wanted to compete in the area of ideas and planning, and also because I wanted to shift to the internet. As for why I started drawing manga, I initially started drawing it as a way to introduce myself so that everyone would remember me. I thought I'd try attaching manga to the emails I sent to everyone for my daily reports. Since it was a company that was strong in the internet, I drew manga that featured common internet experiences and gag manga that made fun of fashion."
Amidst all this, a designer who was the same age as Kappy decided to leave the company.
"He wasn't just changing jobs; he was quitting being a designer altogether. I'd quit being a designer myself, and with a similar background and age, when he decided to quit, I thought I'd draw a manga instead of a letter on his last day. That was the first one-shot version of 'Left-Handed Ellen,' and I wanted to say something positive about quitting, like, 'If you've given it your all, it's okay to give up.' I wanted to say, 'You worked hard enough to be able to say you're quitting, you're giving up, with your head held high.' While I drew it for him, I also drew it for myself, and it helped me to come to terms with things."
Afterward, Kappy submitted the one-shot manga to a contest on "cakes," won an award, and secured a serialization deal.
"When the serialization was decided, I realized that this message wasn't just for me and that guy. I came up with the tagline 'To all those who couldn't become geniuses' at that time. There are people who are working just as hard as I am, but it's not working out, they can't break through, and they're wondering how long they should keep going. The world is full of messages saying 'Don't give up on your dreams,' but I felt there weren't any messages saying 'It's okay to give up if you do this, and then you can live with your head held high.' That's what I wanted to say. So, I started drawing for those people, and for myself as well."
◇At the beginning of the series, it was drawn in one go without storyboards. "I was drawing while being tossed around."
In "Left-Handed Ellen," Koichi, who has joined an advertising agency, works tirelessly to create materials for a presentation, which proves successful and leads to a contract in a competition. However, he is removed from the team due to his lack of experience. Kappy also had a similar bitter experience during his time at an advertising agency, where "work he thought he would be given was given to someone else."
"When I was working at the advertising agency, it was fun, but there were also a lot of tough times, and I cried a lot. It's embarrassing for a grown man in his twenties, but I often cried in the smoking area. The feelings I had back then, like 'That was my job' and 'That was a job I should have done,' are really reflected in 'Left-Handed Ellen.' That kind of thing is really frustrating, isn't it? It's the feeling of someone who wasn't chosen. I think that's something people can relate to."
Based on his own experiences, he says that he "never got stuck on the story" when creating "Left-Handed Ellen," but at the beginning of the serialization, he only decided on a rough timeline and didn't even have storyboards (rough drafts of the manga), saying that he "drew directly on paper with a ballpoint pen."
"Nowadays, I definitely write the storyboards in text, finalize the dialogue, and decide on the number of pages per chapter before drawing, but back then, I didn't do any of that. I drew each page individually. It was truly a one-shot process. So, I didn't know how many pages it would end on, or what I would draw on the next page. It was a really nonsensical way of drawing (laughs). I was drawing live."
Amidst all of that, there were moments when the characters "came to life" against his own intentions, and he reflects, "I could see the timeline of the story, but it was only when the characters started to move that I knew how it would unfold. I was drawing it in that way, so it was really interesting."
While there was joy and excitement in creating a serialized manga, I also feel that I was "drawing under dangerous conditions" at the time.
"Even now, about once a year, there are times when I think, 'I can't draw,' or 'I can't do this anymore,' but I'm always able to recover with the help of various people. It might have been especially frequent in the beginning. The first part of 'Left-Handed Ellen' was the most emotionally unstable. I didn't know what would happen to my career, I didn't know which way my emotions would swing, and I didn't know how the story would turn out. I was being tossed around while drawing in a state of not knowing anything, so I guess it's understandable that it would turn out that way."
◇Thoughts on the anime adaptation: "They overdrew it, I've been beaten."
When the anime adaptation of "Left-Handed Ellen" was announced, Kappy commented, "This is the 'Left-Handed Ellen' I wanted to draw." Behind that comment was the feeling that "anime is the most advanced."
"These days, the quality and expression of anime have evolved tremendously. Today's anime is so complete, in a sense. Weekly manga, even if my method is extreme, is drawn with a certain degree of immediacy. When I talk to various manga artists, I hear that even brilliant plot twists and resolutions that seem like they were done with absolute calculation are all born from that immediacy. That's what manga is all about, I think. It's interesting because we're doing that kind of immediacy weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly. We're basically taking something we've pulled from our own repertoire and cooking it up with a 'wow' kind of energy, but anime is a form of expression that interprets what's been released into the world, sets the setting, and solidifies it. What was drawn with a sense of immediacy, nuance, atmosphere, and momentum is, in a way, affirmed by anime. I think anime expression has the potential to surpass the original work."
Kappy said that after watching the anime adaptation of "Left-Handed Ellen," he was reminded of how great the characters were.
"I was able to look at it objectively. As a viewer, I thought, 'This character is great,' and then, 'Oh, I was the original creator. I did it.' It was also encouraging. In 'Left-Handed Ellen,' there's a line that says, 'There's an unwritten rule that only the more skilled person is allowed to overwrite the graffiti,' and when I watched the anime, I felt like, 'They've overwritten it, they've beaten me,' so I feel like I have to fight back from here on out. I felt the same way when it was made into a drama, and when the remake drawn by nifuni started, and I feel that way every time it's adapted into media, so I think it's a good cycle."
◇The satisfaction of spitting out something murky: "Left-Handed Ellen" is my life's work
"Left-Handed Ellen," which began serialization in 2016, has continued its story with parts 2, 3, and side stories even after the completion of Part 1, which is now being adapted into an anime. Kappy says that "Left-Handed Ellen" is "a life's work for me. I have to keep it going."
"The beginning of Part 2 starts with a mysterious character resembling Ellen appearing, and the question is, 'Who is she?' Originally, I had planned to depict the story after Koichi and she met. So, I've now serialized 40 volumes of the manga, but Koichi and she haven't even met yet. In other words, I'm currently drawing the part that was added to the beginning of Part 2. In movie terms, it's the opening scene before the title appears. I was wondering what to do (laughs)."
In the second part, the plan was to depict what was left unfinished in the first part, but as the author delved deeper into the characters, it ended up becoming 40 volumes long. Perhaps such in-depth exploration is necessary to depict the life of one person and their way of life as a creator.
"Because I'm creating it myself right now, there are new negative emotions, or rather, a thick, undiluted liquid, every time. It never runs out. Maybe for me, creating things doesn't offer catharsis. Back in the day, during a job interview, I was asked, 'When do you feel a sense of accomplishment?' and like some kind of adolescent teenager, I said something like, 'I've never felt a sense of accomplishment,' and I thought, 'That was a cool thing to say,' but it's really true even now; I rarely feel a sense of accomplishment. When I'm working on manga and people ask me, 'When do you feel a sense of fulfillment? Is it from the readers' reactions?', by the time I get readers' reactions, I'm already drawing the next chapter and don't have time to look at them. So, what do I find enjoyable? It's definitely when I'm squeezing it out. I feel catharsis when I'm squeezing out the murky, negative parts."
The title of the currently serialized spin-off, "Left-Handed Ellen SICK," also uses the word "SICK," which refers to "vomit" or "vomit."
"It's the English word for vomit, and it sounds really awful, but it feels good when you're throwing up (laughs). I think the line in the story, 'You have to eat in order to throw up,' is quite symbolic, and Yanagi's life in 'SICK' is 'SICK.' He's sick, he throws up, and he's a hellish creator who eats in order to throw up, but I think the joy I feel is similar to that. People sometimes ask me, 'Don't you get tired of drawing such filthy stuff?' but I think, 'Vomit is filthy, isn't it? Why would I draw pretty vomit?'"
"Left-Handed Ellen" is a story that has truly been written with immense effort and dedication. While there are many heartbreaking scenes in the story of Koichi and others struggling desperately in the seemingly glamorous world of creators, there are also moments that feel like they give you the strength to live your daily life. I want to savor this story that is directed "to all those who could not become geniuses." (Shiroinu/MANTANWEB)
