Exclusive Content: NieR: Automata Doujinshi Storyboards (3/3)

In just two more years, NieR: Automata will celebrate its 10th anniversary.
And yet, it still feels so fresh—almost as if it was released just yesterday.

Over the course of my life, I’ve witnessed many shifts in anime-style trends. From the 80s to the 2010s, the prevailing art style seemed to change every three years. I can only imagine how exhausting it must have been for the veterans of those eras to keep up.

But I’ve noticed that this cycle of change has almost come to a halt in recent years.

Luckily for me, my art style is still relevant today. From my debut in 2011 to now, it feels like I haven’t been worn down by the passage of time. If anything, younger artists today seem to have developed an interest in the classic aesthetics of the 90s, studying them and incorporating them into their own primary styles.

It reminds me of a line from Anthony Hopkins’ character in Westworld, which goes something like this:
"We stopped evolving because we have reached our peak."

For the anime industry, perhaps this isn’t a bad thing. It could mean that our period of exploration is over, and that the best of everything is already before us—like a museum. Instead of being constrained by current trends, we can simply browse the exhibits of time and choose our favorite pieces.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about drawing more manga. Looking through my old storyboards helps me recall how I once arranged panels and structured my content. In this regard, whether the work is NSFW or not doesn’t really matter. In my books, you could replace a sex scene with a fight scene, and the storytelling would remain intact. The only real difference is that sex involves more joint locks than wrestling does.

Maybe I really will do it—swap out the fan characters for OCs, turn the sex scenes into wrestling matches. The result might turn out surprisingly interesting. Right now, it’s just a vague thought, but once it takes shape, I’ll be sure to share it here.

I’m also thinking about which storyboard to release next month. My first thought was Kemono Friends, but I might end up choosing something else instead.