The current issue of haruca (out this month) features Aki-sensei. The Aki special consists of a long interview, snapshots showing her color illustrations being painted in stages, snapshots explaining how she draws her b&w manuscripts, rough sketches and storyboards for her “Erhanburg no Tenshi”, and photos of her workplace.

The feature ends with an introduction to her various works, together with Aki-sensei’s comments.

Her comments for Olympos are that she likes Apollo and Hades, but enjoyed drawing Apollo most. She made Apollo’s hair accessories different every time he appears because a god can do anything, and because she simply wanted it that way. His hair is always billowing because Aki-sensei wanted it that way as well.

Some of what she mentions in the interview are:

That she initially did not consider making manga her profession, because she felt what she draws wouldn’t be widely accepted. Thus she felt she wouldn’t be able to draw what she wants to draw if she became a full-time mangaka.

That she doesn’t care where she publishes her work, as long as she can draw what she wants to draw. So if there’s no more demand for her works in commercial magazines, she’ll work part-time and publish her works in doujinshi.

That Zeami has been a huge influence on her. (Zeami is the noh actor/creator who established the basics of noh and perfected it as an art form.)

That there’s probably only one work she wants to draw, and that she wouldn’t need to draw anymore if she can draw that one work. So she keeps drawing, yet it’s not quite enough, and her works end up being similar to each other.

That a clear-cut ending isn’t what she wants to draw. She believes the conclusion should be left up to the readers, and that her works succeed if the readers begin to think “Then what about that?” by reading her works.

Aki-sensei’s new series will begin with the next issue of haruca (out in June).