This is a copy of an interview I conducted with Yazawa Nao, mangaka for Wedding Peach, over 20 years ago. I was a teen when this interview took place so it is quite immature and primarily focuses on questions from friends or those left in my previous site’s guestbook. In this republished 2024 version I have amended grammatical errors/typos/the like to improve readability. Unfortunately I can’t get rid of how childish and cringe I was, but I feel there are still valuable thoughts from Yazawa-sensei in here that people may enjoy.

If you’d like to read the original version with typos and all, Yazawa-sensei has very kindly kept an archived version here.

Interview with Yazawa-sensei

Yazawa Nao-sensei, the talented creator behind the Wedding Peach manga agreed to an interview with me recently. I was overjoyed at the prospect and set about constructing a list of questions right away. Please enjoy reading this interview, hopefully, it will help answer some of your questions about the series. To gain further insight into the title, please check out Yazawa-sensei’s page here. Now, let’s get on with the interview!

Shiori: Yazawa-sensei, thank you kindly for agreeing to do this interview with me.

Yazawa-sensei: I’ll do my best with my English skills (laughs).

Shiori: You’ll do fine, I’m sure (laughs)! You only have to answer as many questions as you like and if you don’t want to answer a question, say so, and we will move on. Is that ok?

Yazawa-sensei: Sure.

Shiori: Ok! First Question! Yazawa-sensei, could you explain the process of creating Wedding Peach? How did the story get written?

Yazawa-sensei: In the beginning, Tomita-san brought the idea to Ciao, and then the Chief Editor of Ciao chose me to write the manga. We (Tomita-san, the editors, and I) had many meetings about plot details and outlining the story. The story was made like this;

1. 1) Tomita-san, the editor, and I had a meeting to make the plot.
2. 2) Tomita-san wrote a script.
3. 3) I made a manga based on the script.

Because Tomita-san let me make the manga very freely, I really enjoyed working on it.

Shiori: That’s quite an interesting process, being given such freedom to work on the manga must have been very liberating for the creative process. Now, Yazawa-sensei the characters’ attack and transformation sequence have unique names. How exactly were these thought up? Were there any names that were rejected?

Yazawa-sensei: The names were mainly made up by Tomita-san. He told me that he had a dictionary (it was some kind of “Japanese to foreign languages” one) and he selected names that sounded cool from it. Of course, the names he chose were based on the character’s theme or motif. For example, Suima-zoku (water-demon-tribe) + Potamos (river). Then of course mirror, lipstick, wristwatch, and so on – he chose items that little girls like.

This was only one way of naming, another method for naming characters in Wedding Peach involved puns. For instance, I wonder if you know, “Oman-ma”(#7). She(?) is from the Ojyama-zoku as same as Jamapi, but her name meaning comes from “Omanma”=”rice” and “ma”=devil. Tan-ma (wait a sec), Pajya-ma (pajamas) …they are same! Jamapi is different because his name was “Ojyama” at first. The character was “Ojyama” of the “Jamapi” tribe, but in the end, we thought “Jamapi” was prettier than “Ojyama” so we switched them.

About rejected names… I remember there were some rejected attacks and items. Peach’s Saint Camera and the Ojyama-tribe’s symbol (on their tummy) were only used in the manga. Wedding Swords, which were originally owned by each Love Angel, were rejected in both manga and anime (the idea came from other staff). In the end, Peach’s sword only appeared in the manga once. Tomita-san and I were not so keen on the idea of Love Angels that fought with swords. But then a sword was given to Salvia.

Shiori: What a story! Tomita-san must have had a lot of fun thinking up such distinctive names. Speaking of Tomita-san and character names, are either he or yourself fans of Gone with the Wind? Because a lot of fans are very interested in learning how Scarlet got her name. (laughs)

Yazawa-sensei: Needless to say, Gone with the Wind is very popular in Japan – of course, we also love it. In fact, at the beginning Tomita-san was keen on the name “Salvia” (for this name has such a passionate feeling), but we didn’t have any idea for her human name. Though we (the editor and I) suggested other names to him, for example “Violet” (Japanese human name is “Sumire”), he didn’t agree. And… you know what was after that, don’t you? Now I admit heartily “Salvia” is a very good name for her. And, speaking of Scarlet, if her name wasn’t Ohara Scarlet, she wouldn’t be a half American returnee student. (Only in manga, you know.)

Shiori: In the end I don’t think I could imagine her with any other name, it is very fitting. Onto a slightly different topic, how do you feel when Wedding Peach is compared to the series, Sailor Moon? Do you think it is fair when the two titles are compared?

Yazawa-sensei: Well, this is a difficult question (laugh). I can’t deny that Wedding Peach has many points which are very similar to Sailor Moon. One reason is that Tomita Sukehiro was the chief script writer of Sailor Moon, and he was also the chief script writer on Wedding Peach as well. He used some similar ideas in both series, for the idea is his credit. Tadano Kazuko too, did the character designs of both anime.

In spite of that I feel they have lots of different points – such as characters, human relations, the theme, etc. Therefore, I don’t think Wedding Peach is a copycat of Sailor Moon. In short, there is a genre of “the group of fighting-magical-girls “. But if a work is announced, or broadcast, you can criticise it freely. That’s it.

Shiori: Very well said, Yazawa-sensei . How much, (if any) input did you & Tomita-san have in the animated Wedding Peach series? Were many original ideas changed (from concept to execution)?

Yazawa-sensei: Yes, many “original” ideas changed-  this is quite complicated to explain. As I said, Tomita-san is chief anime script writer. So he put some ideas I changed or rejected for the manga into the anime instead. Which is the original idea? I don’t know! And of course he used some of my ideas in the anime script, too.

As for characters designs, sometimes anime staff took my design (such as Sandora and his men, Igneous, etc.) and sometimes they changed mine (Aphrodite, Momoko and Hinagiku’s families). I did the same too. Sometimes I took the anime design (Potamos, for example, was designed by the anime staff ) but other times I ignored them (Viento & Uragano, you know). They are typical examples – just my taste! Do you get it? ^^;;

Shiori: Yes, there is certainly a lot of creativity involved in the process of design and the line can blur between mediums. One of the aspects of the animated series that fans love is the beautiful music. Do you like the music that was written for the series? If so, do you have a favourite song?

Yazawa-sensei: Yes, I like them all. My favorite song is “21 Seiki no Juliet” (“Juliet of the 21th Century” – first ending theme). The melody is pretty good and the lyrics are very suitable for the theme of Wedding Peach, I think.

Shiori: I like them all, though my personal favourite is “Wedding Wars”, I feel all the songs reflect the series well. Many fans are interested in knowing whether or not you have a favourite character from the Wedding Peach cast? If so, who are they and why are they your favourite?

Yazawa-sensei: I love them all, but if I had to choose my favourite character it would be Fuuma Yousuke. I was a little disappointed with him in the anime because he lost his memory and fainted – too often! (laughs) In addition, Scarlet and Uragano in the manga. They both made deep impressions on me because they were very different from the anime.

Shiori: Poor Yousuke did faint a lot in the anime, that’s very true! Wedding Peach has been released in many countries, would you like it to one day be released in America?

Yazawa-sensei: Of course I would! If the videos are released in America, I’ll buy them at an Internet-shop! ^^

[Note: This interview took place a year or so before the US licensing and release of both the Wedding Peach manga and anime series.]

Shiori : Hopefully one day, Wedding Peach will gain a responsible English release! My final question for this interview is a fairly simple one. Did you enjoy working on Wedding Peach? And do you have any new manga/doujinshi series that you are working on currently?

Yazawa-sensei: I definitely did. Although there was some difficulties, I enjoyed that work very much. Now, my present work is only doujinshi (original manga for adult readers, but not sexy – I’m still writing it). The story is very serious unlike Wedding Peach.

[Note: The series Yazawa-sensei is referring to is her now completed opus, Shinku Chitai or The Isolated Zone which has since been published in Germany and France.]

Actually, I spent this year idly, so I could open my website. Now, I have a plan to write short story manga as a business, but it isn’t shoujyo manga, I’m afraid.

Shiori: I’m sure no matter what it is, it will be successful. You are amazingly talented, Yazawa-sensei! Thank you kindly for agreeing to do this interview and for your time, I hope we can do this again someday!

Yazawa-sensei: You are welcome. ^_^