Many manga writers take inspiration from other stories, personal experiences and real life too. No one knows what is going on in the brilliant minds of mangakas when they develop their plot, characters and meaning for their mangas. To imagine a legendary battle, or a tragic scene and to develop them into images and scriptures is definitely a talent only few possess. One of them is the creator of one of the biggest anime/manga series on the planet, Tite Kubo. Tite Kubo is the creator of the currently trending anime series Bleach. The Japanese Manga artist has sold over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022.
The mind of such a big manga writer is definitely a rare one. His thought process and imagination is totally different from that of a normal human being. While talking about the inspiration for Bleach, Mangaka Kubo explains how he got the inspiration for the character of Kon from real life.
Stuffed Bear Was Inspired from a Real Life Scenario
Kon is an Underpod Modified Soul who was produced as part of Project Spearhead. Spearhead is an operation that creates Artificial Souls aimed to improve Human physiology and place them in dead corpses to aid the Shinigami in their war against Hollows. His name is an abbreviation for Kaizo Konpaku. Kon is highly perverted, spending much of his time focused on sex. He will frequently try to use his plush animal body to attract girls to hug him. Kon usually takes the form of a plush lion, but he also serves as a Soul Candy pill for Ichigo Kurosaki, controlling Ichigo’s Human body on occasion.
Mangaka Kubo in an interview explained how Kon was just a mixture of random things put together. He said:
“I wanted to create something that looks fake, that looks like something that was just random things put together. Normally you don’t have a sewing line in the middle of a stuffed doll’s face unless it’s done to make the face look more three-dimensional. But look at Kon! His face is flat so that line is unnecessary — so I kind of like that fact.”
According to him, he once witnessed a young child cry and act negatively after receiving an unattractive stuffed animal at a festival, even throwing it away at one point. Kubo was inspired to create Kon as a result of this.
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The Backstory of Kon, The Stuffed Bear
While talking about the inspiration of Kon, Manga writer Kubo explained the importance and back story of Kon. He also talked about how he would switch places with Kon because he was so carefree and though he was a pervert, everybody loved him. Explaining his backstory, Kubo said:
“Ichigo and Rukia first find Kon on the street, so I made up a backstory about how he got there. At a festival, a child wanted a stuffed animal, but since the one that he wanted was too expensive, so the parent bought a cheap one instead. The child didn’t like it and threw it away, so that’s why the Kon doll was found on the street.”
You never know, from where a manga writer can grasp inspiration for one of his characters and make it an important part of his life work. According to writer Kubo, just like Kon, there are many characters who have been inspired from other scenarios, mangas and real life situations.
Source: ComicBook
