Defenseless City manga, Act 5
Story by Hiroshi Yamaguchi
Art by Fumiaki Shibata
Read Act 1 here
Read Act 2 here
Read Act 3 here
Read Act 4 here
Originally published in Cyber Comix Vol. 46 and 47 (Bandai, September & October 1992)
To preserve better reproduction quality, these pages were scanned from the collected edition.
Afterword
Fumiaki Shibata, Artist
It all started about two and a half years ago, when I was working for a certain manga information magazine. In one of the columns, I wrote this introduction, which was cut: “I like Armor Hunter Merowlink very much. Please take a look.” An editor who saw it happened to be acquainted with Mr. Yamaguchi, who was in charge of the script for Merowlink.
I was happy when this project was brought to me, but also a little nervous. I could not accept this project lightly, because I liked the scripts written by Mr. Yamaguchi, and as a fan, I could not resist the temptation to see the new Votoms/Merowlink world. Therefore, I asked Mr. Yamaguchi to write the original work in “full script” format, and he responded to my request. So, “story draft” is a lie. (Laughs)
Of course, I didn’t want to change the dialogue when making it into a manga. “Kiek puts away his gun and takes out a cigarette in a continuous motion. He lights up to take a break.” There was no reason not to draw exactly what was written, but I suffered from such thoughts as, “A horde of Fatties is coming.” (Laughs) Then there were things like, “this is moving and a voice comes out.” (By the way, I heard Setsu Taniguchi as Bellack’s voice in my head, but what do you think?)
I often wondered how much fun it would have been if this was in color, but the script was so complete that I couldn’t help but see the pictures. It was funny that Mr. Yamaguchi and I have such similar tastes in movies and manga. I think it might have had a positive influence on this work.
At any rate, I feel very lucky to have been able to do a job that was basically my hobby, and I sincerely hope that Votoms and Merowlink fans enjoy it as much as I do. Finally, I hope Mr. Yamaguchi will be able to work on Votoms-related projects again someday. Until then, let’s talk about old war movies.
Fumiaki Shibata profile
Born in 1966 in Kanagawa Prefecture, type AB Scorpio. Soccer Boy will be published by Shinshokan this spring. She is currently preparing to start a serialization of an original story by Hiroshi Aramata in Mediaworks’ Monthly Dengeki Comic GAO!
Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Story Draft
First of all, Ms. Shibata, thank you for your hard work.
Looking back, Merowlink was my first work as a scriptwriter. Ryosuke Takahashi, whom I had met through interviews at the time, suddenly asked me to work on it. I still remember the conversation with him as if it were only yesterday. I was in charge of 5 scripts for Merowlink (which totaled 12 episodes). The basic know-how that Ryosuke taught me at the time is still useful for me when I write. Merowlink taught me the joys and pains of writing scripts.
One day, I was asked if I would be interested in writing an original manga. At first, I said something like, “Wouldn’t it be better to ask Ryosuke-san to do it?” But due to various circumstances, I ended up writing it myself. It was also around this time that I met Ms. Shibata for the first time. She had a deeper knowledge of Merowlink than I did as a staff member, and I heard that she was also a big Kiek fan.
I wrote an original story of about 50 pages with Kiek as the main character. At least, it was only intended to be about 50 pages. However, when I actually started to work on it, I found that Ms. Shibata’s passion and energy were extraordinary. (Laughs) The first half of the story alone reached 50 pages. I thought to myself, “Wow, if this is the case, I should have written a little more content!” But by this time the story I had written was enhanced dozens of times over by Ms. Shibata, and was finally compiled into a single book.
Somi, who had little presence, became a real girl with rich emotions, and you can almost hear Akio Otsuka’s voice for Kiek. (Laughs) Bellack became a truly human character, carrying sadness and pathos even in the midst of his madness.
Ms. Shibata, thank you very, very much for your hard work. It is entirely thanks to you that this was finished at all. I’ve done several original manga productions in my career, but I can say without a doubt that this is the best work among them. If we have a chance, let’s work together again.
PS: Lastly, some spoilers. The title of this piece is from my favorite song of the same name by Moon Riders. If you have free time, please look for it. Bellack’s name was taken from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also, please check out my new work, Dominion, for which I am in charge of series composition.
Written in December, in the snowy suburbs of Sapporo
Hiroshi Yamaguchi Profile
Born in Tottori in 1964, type O Leo. Made his debut as a scriptwriter on Merowlink and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083, and the novelization of BASTARD!
Additional Comments
Published in a booklet included with the 2006 Merowlink DVD box set:
Hiroshi Yamaguchi
I remember being approached about this project by the editorial department of Cyber Comix, which was published by Bandai at the time, and since it was my debut work as a script writer and I had a strong attachment to it, I accepted without hesitation. I was asked to write a spinoff story for Merowlink, but since the original author Ryusuke Takahashi wrote a novel with Merowlink as the main character, I couldn’t do the same thing. So I decided to make Karadyne, who was originally a minor character, into the main character. And I mixed in some hard boiled elements which I personally like.
Those who know will understand, but the idea of a younger sister coming to request the murder of her older brother is just like Gavin Lyall’s The Most Dangerous Game. Well, I was a young man, and I still am, but it’s a pathetic rip off. My only original idea was the introductory part at the beginning, and after that, since Kiek’s character was already solidified in the anime, I just had to prepare a certain amount of circumstances, and the story was solidified without any problems. To be honest, I had fun writing the actual script as well.
Perhaps the most important thing is that the artist was Fumiaki Shibata. Above all, she was an avid fan of Merowlink, and despite being a woman (excuse me!) she has a deep knowledge of firearms, which allowed me to strangely focus on depicting that type of weapon in the script. It was through this connection that I asked her to do the character design for the Bounty Sword game series, which I wrote and supervised a few years later.
This work is something I will never forget for two reasons: I was able to enjoy writing the script, and I was also able to build relationships that led to my next job.
Fumiaki Shibata
At the time, I was a budding manga artist and a huge fan of Merowlink, so when the offer to turn it into a spinoff manga came out of nowhere, I was honored. But at the same time, it also came with a lot of pressure. As a fan, I really wanted to see a new story, so I asked Yamaguchi-san to write a complete original story in the form of a script. When I received it, it was full of elaborate and detailed devices, just like the episodes for which Yamaguchi wrote in the main anime series, and I keenly felt my own lack of ability to express it in pictures. But, driven by a passion that I don’t quite understand, it was really fun for me to draw.
After that, Yamaguchi-san invited me to other jobs, and I was able to see a different world from manga and gained a lot of experience. Thanks to that, I think I could’ve drawn Somi even cuter now, but I can’t redo the drawings. I hope you’ll take this opportunity to use your imagination and enjoy another Merowlink story.