@Ultrakyriel Sometimes I think that the image of Japan held by westerners today plays a role similar to the one that the image of Europe plays in shojo manga and isekai stories.
@MelonsinmyAttic Japan might not have placed such heavy emphasis on the "Big Three," but specifically regarding Jump, it is hard to deny the special role Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece played during the 2000s. One need only look at the joint covers from that era.
@viwer_@ShonenSalto In early interviews (around 1996), Kubo named Kouga Yun as one of his favorite manga artists. Unfortunately, there are no direct links or scans, these are very old materials, but Japanese wiki confirms this.
There’s one thing I don’t get. Wakabayashi makes excuses, claiming he hadn’t worked with digital animation before and didn’t have the chance to check all the animators' work—but didn't the aesthetic of his episodes already resemble the webgen style back in the Yu Yu Hakusho days? Was he just coming up with a convenient excuse, or did the experiments of Yamashita and his colleagues genuinely not appeal to him?
30 kaiki movies (怪奇映画 — a broad concept encompassing weird horror, the supernatural, and the paranormal) + 3 directors + 6 TV series + 2 books + 1 manga artist that influenced or were enjoyed by Akiyuki Shinbo (via the joint special issue of Eiga Hiho × Otona Anime).