We interviewed Tomokichi and asked about his career! To commemorate Tomokichi’s interview, Tomokichi has very generously made two titles “Free to Read“! The Horny Elf and the Gentleman Orc 1 and When A Charismatic Male Pornstar Is Reborn In Another World As A Stamina Daddy Orc 1 will be free to read! You can, of course, choose to buy either or both!
Irodori Comics (IC): Hello! Thank you for taking the time today for this interview. Could you please introduce yourself?
Tomokichi (T): Hello, I’m Tomokichi. Thank you for having me for this interview.
(IC): You’ve been working as a doujinshi author for a long time. When did you start drawing doujinshi, and how did you get into it?
(T): I started drawing doujinshi when I was a high school senior.
I had a couple of friends who were interested in doing doujin activities, and we were talking about how we could draw a doujinshi and release it together. That was my start.
At the time, it was completely a hobby, but after passionately putting myself into it for a few years, it eventually became more than just a hobby.
(IC): You have a history of drawing parody (non-original) works before shifting to original titles. What was the reason for your shift?
(T): Thanks to my doujin career as an indie artist, I was able to break out into the commercial industry to draw original works. That was when I felt that original works that I create from the ground up have a wider range of what I can draw than parody works. That was how I gradually turned away from parody to original works in my doujin activities as well.
Of course, it was fun to draw “what if” stories of my favorite characters from existing IPs, but after drawing them for 10 years, I felt like I had drawn everything that I wanted to under the parody category.
(IC): You have a very unique “Comedy-centered” plot for your erotic and general-audience works. What are some of your inspirations for comedy?
(T): I’ve always loved comedy manga ever since I was a child, and I believe I’ve been influenced by them since then.
Specifically, I think I’m most influenced by works from Kyosuke Usuta sensei and Hiroyuki Eto sensei, which I’ve been reading since my youth.
Ever since I started my career as a doujin artist, I think I’ve been greatly influenced by Hiroyuki sensei’s works, too.
(Translator’s note: “Hiroyuki sensei” is in reference to manga artist Hiroyuki, who is known for works like Two-Timing Fair and Square, Of Girls, Love, and Money, and Angel Girl, which are all available on Irodori Comics! You can check out Hiroyuki’s works here!)
(IC): You also have a good amount of general-audience works along with your hentai catalog. Since both genres of works still retain your “comedic” form of writing, how do you decide which plot becomes an adult-rated work and which one becomes an all-ages work?
(T): When I’m planning the plot for a project, I always decide whether the work will be general-audience or adult first, then go into the details, so I never choose whether a plot or a story will be general-audience or not after it has been planned.
As a general rule, I first decide on whether a project will be all-ages or adult-rated, then think about what kind of comedic elements will be the best for that particular project.
(IC): Do you think you’ll draw a “non-comedic” story one day?
(T): I love comedy, so I tend to draw a lot of comedic works, but I want to try doing some projects without many comedic elements (in both general-audience and adult categories) that differ from what I’ve done so far in my career.
(IC): Is there an “origin story” for your orc character? You’ve made many works with orcs in them. What was the reason for starting them?
(T): I was always into fantasy works and harbored the desire to eventually draw them. On top of that, I thought a rom-com featuring discrepancies in characters’ personalities and their external looks would be hilarious, and that’s how I came up with “The Horny Elf and the Gentleman Orc” series.
Ever since I drew that series, drawing orcs and elves became really enjoyable for me, and that was how I ended up drawing orcs and elves in other projects, too.
(IC): Sometimes your works are in full color, and sometimes they’re in black and white. As a mangaka, what’s the thought process behind deciding to make something a full-color work or a black-and-white work?
(T): Originally, I only drew black-and-white manga, but regardless of commercial or doujin industries, increasingly more people are reading e-book formats in recent years, and full-color manga works have grown in numbers compared to previous times.
I decided to go with the flow of that trend and tried out drawing some full-color projects. The responses from the readers weren’t bad either, so I’ve been drawing more full-color manga lately.
I feel that full-color manga looks more high-quality in the readers’ eyes, which is what I’ve expected from before.
(IC): A lot of your new works incorporate “current” subjects in real-time like “Squid Game” and “ASMR/ Streamer culture.” Do you find these “real-time subjects” to be something that catches the attention of readers? Also, what kind of current trends/topics would you like to draw about in the future?
(T): Honestly, I don’t plan my projects with the intent of following what’s popular right now. I only try to incorporate something into my work if a topic happens to be something that I’m really into at the time or it’s intriguing to me.
Although, I do realize that this policy of mine has ultimately led to the creation of works that jump onto the bandwagon at times.
So, I think that some of my future work will continue to incorporate trending topics as a result of my policy.
(IC): You’ve been releasing some stand-alone works since you finished with your “When A Charismatic Male Pornstar Is Reborn In Another World As A Stamina Daddy Orc” series. Do you have plans to start a series again?
(T): Yes, I’d like to continue drawing more and more series, and I’m trying out various things.
Right now, I’m at the stage of testing out a wide range of stories. I always have the serialization of a story in the back of my mind.
(IC): Thank you for taking the interview! Do you have any messages for your fans outside of Japan?
(T): Thank YOU for having me for this interview!
I hope I can continue to create works that international fans will enjoy as well.
I want to create a place where I can interact with fans outside of Japan too, and I’m trying to figure that out.
Thank you, and I hope you can continue supporting me!
Read Tomokichi’s Hentai Doujinshi For Free!
To commemorate Tomokichi’s interview, Tomokichi has very generously made two titles “Free to Read“! The Horny Elf and the Gentleman Orc 1 and When A Charismatic Male Pornstar Is Reborn In Another World As A Stamina Daddy Orc 1 will be free to read! You can, of course, choose to buy either or both!
Did you know we have a catalog of FREE-TO-READ doujinshi and a collection of works available for 99 CENTS each? Check them out!
If you enjoyed this article, you can support us by buying our officially localized English Doujinshi at our Irodori Comics Store! Works are uncensored and DRM-Free for you to keep!
When you buy works on our website, up to 60% of the selling price goes directly to the artists as royalties!
You can check out other interviews here!
