To Mr. Inoue Takehiko

Dear Mr Inoue

I'm hoping that you can read english. This is a letter of thanks. I discovered you as a manga artist because of the title "Vagabond" which sounded interesting. Plus it was about a person I've heard about, so it piqued my interest. I admire your ability to exploit themes in your stories, because they are themes that everyone can relate to and yet everyone pulls their own meanings from them. I won't talk about those meanings, because you know them all better than I do. However, I will say one thing; I have a handicapped twin brother, and one of the things I've pulled from REAL is a deeper understanding of what my brother might feel like. But that's not what I'm thankful for, of course.

You see, I like stories, and I like drawing. I'm average at drawing and not very good at writing stories. It's easier to make a drawing than write a story, I suppose. Not too long ago, I liked reading shonen manga, and then I read Ichigo 100%. The ending piqued my interest for stories that make the reader think about his or her own life or appreciate a different take on life, like yours. I decided that those were the kind of stories I wanted to pass on, be it through manga or something else. I'm in art school, right now, in the far north of canada, and a chapter I read at 2am reminded me of my dream. So thank you, for making comics that are meaningful. And for reminding me. You don't have to answer. This page won't show up if you type in japanese. But maybe, for some reason, you'll come across this post and smile in the corner of your mouth. Perhaps your goal was to draw stories that make people think about themselves, too. I'd like to think that.

Gab