Black Clover is keeping busy these days with one of its biggest battles yet, but right now, fans are looking to its creator rather than Asta. The boy is fighting Lucifero these days with Yuno, so you know the manga has been pushing out as much action as it can. In the meantime, Yuki Tabata has been busy himself chatting with fans about Black Clover, and he recently penned a letter outing his own origin story just like any good shonen hero should.
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The origin story was made public by Tabata himself as he penned an extra-long letter to fans recently. The lengthy message explains the artist’s first introduction to art, and he stressed how important stories like Dragon Ball were in his development.
“As a nursery school child, I loved drawing Dragon Ball. Then I learned about Weekly Shonen Jump and about being a mangaka and thought, ‘Isn’t that the greatest job?!’ So I decided to become a mangaka,” he wrote. “I used to draw manga-like drawings of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho on papers with a pencil and then taped or stapled them together to make volumes for myself.”
As you can read here from nite_baron, the letter goes on to explain how Tabata despaired over his art as he grew older and more critical. The artist faced a lot of challenges when learning to ink artwork, and his desire to make original stories pushed him to enter middle-grade contests during school. He submitted a number of original manuscripts to Shonen Jump in hopes of winning, but it wasn’t until Tabata entered high school that his dream took its first step into reality.
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According to the artist, he was contacted by Shueisha after winning a jury prize for a manga he submitted to a contest in Grade 10. Tabata said the call came from the publisher’s editorial team, and the person who dialed him up would become his first editor at Shonen Jump. Sadly, Tabata had to cut off his origin story there for space’s sake, but the artist is not done regaling fans just yet! The artist said he may finish up his origin story at another time, and honestly? Fans would love to hear it as Tabata’s history is just as motivating as one belonging to a shonen hero.
What do you make of Tabata’s words here? Which moments from the artist’s career stick out to you…? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
