—— J: Now we move to the final subject matter, these are questions regarding "BURN THE WITCH" contained in the booklet.

Q.50: Around when does the setting of "BURN THE WITCH" occur in relation to "BLEACH"?

Kubo: "BURN THE WITCH" is a tale that takes place 12 years after the final battle of "BLEACH", and 2 years after the concluding chapter.

Q.51: The West Branch [of Soul Society] was revealed in "BURN THE WITCH", but what kind of world is the North and South Branch?

Kubo: From the start it was a manga I had drawn solely for the purpose of declaring that "hey there's also a branch in the West." I drew it in order to get the readers to expand their imagination by asking "if there's one in the West, could there not be more in other places too?"

—— J: Is "BURN THE WITCH" an idea that had been kneaded out during the serialisation of "BLEACH"?

Kubo: That's right. The "East Branch" appears in only a single mention within bleach, although the concept had been established at the time, I felt that the main plot would be unable to progress if I proceeded to draw as far as both East and West. I tried not to dwell on it because otherwise I'd grow worried thinking "when will 'BLEACH' come to a conclusion!?" So I thought perhaps there is no longer any need to depict the subject of East and West. 

Then, the current editor-in-chief Nakano-san came with a request saying that he wants me to draw a one-shot composition on this occasion; when he asked me, "do you want a continuation of 'BLEACH', or would you prefer a new work that's entirely separate", I said "naturally, I want to try my hand at a new work as well, but there's a live-action movie adaptation too so I also want it to be 'BLEACH'. In that case may I draw two pieces?" (Laughs)

So I composed it after saying "well then I'll draw something that can be read like a new work, but it will develop into 'BLEACH'." Though, I think I had no idea what I was even talking about until I was finished.

—— J: The space in the title at the end of the manga has been shaded in so that it can be read as "BLEACH", I didn't notice it at first.

Kubo: Seems like there's quite a number of people who aren't aware of it. However, I think it would be nice if those who haven't noticed go "no way!?" after hearing this information from somebody else. It started with devising the title of "BURN THE WITCH" first, I reached a result after wondering whether or not I could somehow connect this to "BLEACH", I thought it would be cool to scratch the letter "W" here. It was a good idea to create this using the typeface design, but after thinking that the way it's revealed during the action is what leaves an impression, I incorporated it into the story. 

—— J: There are many cute designs for the accessories too. Their guns for example are especially cute.

Kubo: They were originally horns rather than guns. I decided that "the rearing of dragons would make a good story'', I thought "speaking of 'rearing', isn't that kind of like a shepherd?" and that's when I had them carry horns. Then, I was struck with an idea thinking "if I turn the horn upside down, it ends up looking like a gun", which is how it evolved to this current form. Incidentally, I was thinking about their outfits at the same time too, so the pattern on their capes became a shepherd's plaid. 

—— J: Is the title "BURN THE WITCH" from a Radiohead song?

Kubo: That's right. After hearing the original title, I thought it had a nice ring to it. The contents of the story is completely unrelated to the contents of the song though.

—— J: Some points of similarity between Hollows and dragons have also been vaguely depicted, right?

Kubo: Upon reading it back, I was pretty much like "oh, come to think of it, these things remind me of Hollows." I thought, if anything, the dragons should have a design that didn't overlap with Hollows, the mere fact that they 'have horns' was made into a distinct characteristic of dragons. The scene where all those dragons appear was composed after I hoped to achieve a game-like feel, or the atmosphere of a game similar to "Monster Hunter" or "Dragon Quest Builders". That was a lot of fun for me because it was a concept introduction page, something I didn't get to do much of in the original story of "BLEACH".

—— J: I did get the impression that the more enjoyable aspects are portrayed in the worldbuilding rather than the battles.

Kubo: Yes, that's true. I tried to keep battles to a minimum. Although I sensed that I started with some reluctance after receiving this task, it was more enjoyable than I expected once I began drawing. I suppose this is because I was able to put forward concepts that could not be made to appear with regard to the flow of the story in "BLEACH".

—— J: So did it feel like you had wrapped things up in one go? 

Kubo: As a matter of fact, only the opening monologue had been drawn instantaneously. Before deciding on the characters that I would have enter the stage, the words "I like uniforms" sprang to mind, when you hear the line "I like uniforms", it sounds like a lewd remark, however I wondered whether or not there could be some different justification behind it. Like asserting that "one likes uniforms" with a distinct set of values. Noel was born as the character who possesses that set of values. After sketching this scene on one or two pages, I left it to the side, as is, for a long time…. Then, I pretty much began drawing when the deadline eventually got too close for comfort (laughs).

—— J: This applies to the logic you mentioned earlier, 'after observing the incident, after giving it careful consideration, if this individual was not the culprit, then in what way will the situation come to develop?' [1]

Kubo: 'Even though everyone is saying it's like this, what if it's the case that it's nothing like that?', there's a fair few things that come to mind from considering this side of the equation.

—— J: After reading a few pages, I immediately got the impression that "Kubo sensei has returned!"

Kubo: I think people who like my manga, will likely be touched by the monologue here. Even if one tries to interpret the word "uniforms" alone, the feeling that "there's various ways of considering this huh", I want the audience to experience that when they read my manga. The same goes for the lyrics of a musical composition. And it's also true of Shakespeare's poem which I talked about at the start. "They have o'erlooked me and divided me" is what everyone regards as the main point, but from "one half is yours" to "the other half also yours", these lines present one with new findings. [2]

—— J: And so we conclude by showing our appreciation to Kubo sensei for answering everyone's questions which were received in various languages from around the world. Allow me to express my gratitude one more time.

Kubo: I am very grateful to have received so many questions!

Translator’s notes:

1. See Q.41