I began with the situation at-hand: the mural work for the upcoming restaurant, Archipelago -- a French/Japanese place opening down in the West Village. Otsuka was in the process of painting one of two murals in the restaurant -- one on the main column in the room, and another panel of canvas off to the side. "The theme here was pretty well-set," said Otsuka, swirling around his drink. "The owner wanted a theme based around archipelago and islands, so I went with painting islands and mermaids in a mix of ukiyo-e and French line-work." The job was just that -- a job. He was approached by the owner of the restaurant to do this, and the topic seemed to not hold much interest for him.

So, to switch to the other main topic we had in common: porn.

Getting into ero-work is not a typical occupation, but when you're looking for work, you'll take whatever opportunities you can get. "Well, I got into ero-manga 15 years ago. At the time I was looking for a job, and I was approached by an editor while at Comiket because he really liked my work." And thus began Otsuka's jump into the world of professional porn. But it's not like he's done with Comiket. Otsuka had a smile on his face when he said, "Oh, I'd love to go back to Comiket sometime. It's so much fun there."

So, just what kind of manga does Otsuka-san draw? "I like to focus on women having pleasure in my manga. There's plenty of ero magazines for men where they can just sit there and read it in public, but women can't do that -- it's too embarrassing. So, I want to draw something that women can look at and find pleasure with," says Otsuka, his face aglow with a certain sort of pride in what he does.

"You've been at this for more than 15 years. Is there anything you won't draw?"

"Rape." He said, sobering up right away. "It's really not something that's pleasurable for women. Really, it's the pent up sexual frustration of someone who doesn't really have much, if any, experience with women that draws this sort of stuff." It surprised me that he was so strongly against it -- not rape itself, but it's use as a plot device in any sort of erotic work in Japan. The trope is so ubiquitos that there's even The Rapeman. But not for Otsuka. If there's going to be sex, he wants there to be some sort of meaning to it.

After we spent some time looking at his past, I turned to the future. Otsuka has been living in America for six years now, and really seems to like it. Talking about his next manga idea, "it would be about all the different types of people here in New York City, each with their own lives and relationships. It would focus on the sex these people have, because you can tell who a person really is through sex -- you can see when they're angry or frustrated, full of anxiety or just plain happy. And not just heterosexuals, either. Bi-sexual and homosexual sex is a part of life here in the city, so I would want to explore that too." To me, it sounded like a fascinating read. Perhaps he could work with an American publisher, I suggested.

Looking away, he said, "no, I'll definitely be going back to Japan to do this." Otsuka had previously worked with Tokyopop on Boys of Summer as part of their OEL manga program, but the project was abruptly canceled, he said. Moving on, we got on the topic of conventions here in the U.S. Otsuka has appeared at MangaNEXT, the sister con of AnimeNEXT, several times, and really enjoys the sort of environment there. He often talks about being a manga artist there. "What I tell them is to just find someone you like, and imitate them. You'll eventually grow into your own style from there, I tell them."

From there, Otsuka and I talked a bit about life in Japan, the U.S. manga industry, and how much fun Otakon is. It was about time for him to get back to work, and so I bid him farewell. Hiroki Otsuka was a really fun guy to talk to, and I look forward to running into him again. I'd like to thank Kristen Fritz and Hiroko Yamamoto from Dentsu Communications for setting this up, and Hiroki Otsuka for taking the time to speak with me.