Every lunch time in Japan dozens of people of all ages and walks of life, huddle close together and silently read magazine in shops across the country. While many focus on the sports or entertainment weeklies, the majority read manga. This scene might not be unique to Japan for long. Elsewhere in the world interest in manga is booming. Toshio Maeda's groundbreaking manga series Urotsuki Doji from the early '80s firmly placed him in the history books - in Japan and abroad - as the pioneer of the genre known as hentai, or perverted. This work featured violent and graphic images of shapely young women being probed, felt, and fondled by the tentacles, elongated tongues, and miscellaneous extensions of creatures and men alike. Manga would never be the same again.

You have said that your influences were not Japanese comics but rather Mighty Mouse, Spiderman, and Batman. Can you talk about your influences?
“I was influenced and fascinated by the American style. They are all living inside of my work.”

In American comics there is the hero, but in manga it is different - there are no heroes or bad guys. Can you explain that?
“People in Japan got fed up reading the same style of manga. In the U.S. stories should be simple - good guy fighting bad guy - because certain ages of kids read it, right.
If Americans created a complicated story kids would not like it. We have to educate the reader and ourselves as to what type of manga we should create in the future.
Instead of reading literature, we Japanese simply read manga for grownups. I strongly recommend to youngsters: read literature.

What kinds of literature?
“Any classics...any kind of genre, including obscene books. I believe reading books makes you different. Reading only manga will get you nowhere (laughs)...Even though I am a professional cartoonist and it is my meal ticket to sell manga.

When you were 16 years old you came to Tokyo to be an assistant to a professional cartoonist. What were those days like?
“At that time, I already knew all about manga. I was self-taught. I learned a lot just through reading manga. Since I was 5 or 6 I had been reading a lot of manga. I was crazy about manga - a manga geek or a manga buff, I was.”

Can you talk about how the tentacle came to be used in your work?
“Pre-Urotsuki Doji, it was illegal to create a sensual scene in bed. To avoid drawing such a normal sensual scene - I created a creature. The tentacle is not a penis - it is just a part of the creature. The creatures don't have a gender. A creature is a creature. So it is not obscene - not illegal.
Drawing intercourse was, and is, illegal in Japan. That is our big headache: to create such a sensual scene. We are always using any type of trick.”

The high school girl seems to be a common victim. Why is that?
Sighs  “Personally I don't like it. In Japan, so many maniac people like the innocent type of young girl. It is their taste. It is almost criminal.
I don't like the style of some young girl being kidnapped or raped. I like a style based on a Japanese samurai or ninja falling in love with a regular girl.
My style is obscene. But from my point of view it is totally different.”

What was behind the creation of the landmark Urotsuki Doji?
“At that time, I was dealing with manga for an adult magazine. I really wanted to create something different for adults. The chief editor was against my idea, but I insisted.”

What were your early days as a cartoonist like?
“ Before I became an independent cartoonist, I was wondering which way to go: manga for kids or manga for grownups. I did some work as a kids' manga cartoonist actually, but as soon as I began to do my work I was fed up with the rules and codes. I chose manga for grownups because there are so many taboo in kids' manga...not only sensual scenes, but also religion and political themes.

Do you ever have young kids that wish to be apprentices under you?
Grimaces.  “So many kids. They want to be a professional cartoonist through my firm. If they have enough balls, you know, or are smart enough, or have a unique enough outlook, I think they can make it as a professional. It has nothing to do with their skills in doing art.”

Can you discuss your upcoming contribution to the women's hentai manga magazine?
“Actually women's hentai is totally different. It is from a woman's point of view. It looks similar but the concept is totally different.
No one in Western countries can imagine that this type of magazine is quite popular among Japanese ladies because Japanese ladies are considered conservative. But actually, they are maniacs sometimes.
When women know I am a cartoonist for x-rated manga, they openly talk about sex with me. They don't hesitate to talk about themselves - how they are horny, or how they are lonely...using a dildo. But I don't believe it. Well, actually I don't like to believe it. Personally, I like a conservative lady - innocent, old-fashioned type.”